'11 IA ATH Christian French (Oregon Verbal)

[IrishLax]

In all honesty it is probably a better fit for him. Not a great 40 year decision but it is a great 4 year decision. He would probably be sitting for a couple years at ND at WR or OLB... at Oregon he could potentially come in and play pretty early. They don't really have any stud TEs or WRs.

 

[Kingbish01]

Stings for sure, but I read ND was intrested in him as a LB.....We all see how much these verbals really means...Chip Kelly goes to Florida he is probably as good as gone. Look at Miami, down to 4.

 

[bigeasy47]

next move focus on the positions we need not the luxury of all out athletes. if anything we wouldve been a pet project for kelly

 

[BestBIrish47]

Win some, Lose some... exciting times regardless at ND

 

[Irish Man3]

I dont know if it should really sting at this point. I think we went out on a limb by offering him a shot at WR. He beongs on defense and this just makes Ishaq more important.

No knock on Christian for his choice. Oregon is in the NC so it can't be a bad choice at his point. We will see what happens with Chip and the domino effect from there. Good luck to Christian and the ducks.

 

[Legacy]

Much as I wish he would have come to ND, Chip Kelly is doing some great things in Eugene. They have a very stable coaching staff and Chip has some values that he is not afraid to enforce. Best of luck to Christian and his family.

 

[InKellyITrust]

Agreed. Good choice by a good kid. I felt that it is going to take him a few years to develop into something special (& figure out if he should be on offense or defense), so this doesn't hurt as much as missing out on other recruits such as Ishaq and Huggins who I feel would make a more immediate impact.

 

[tray dub]

(Oregon fan here)

You guys are being good sports about this. A few too many Duck fans tend to start lobbing insults at kids who decide elsewhere.

I just am posting to mention that we Duck fans have good reason to not be very concerned about Chip leaving for Florida. His parents are building a house an hour away, he signed a major extension last year, he's got a very nice salary, and Florida would have to wait until mid-January to get him, which would really hurt their recruiting.

Not saying it's impossible, but it's far from likely IMO.

 

[aubeirish]

(Oregon fan here)

You guys are being good sports about this. A few too many Duck fans tend to start lobbing insults at kids who decide elsewhere.

I just am posting to mention that we Duck fans have good reason to not be very concerned about Chip leaving for Florida. His parents are building a house an hour away, he signed a major extension last year, he's got a very nice salary, and Florida would have to wait until mid-January to get him, which would really hurt their recruiting.

Not saying it's impossible, but it's far from likely IMO.

I agree, it wouldn't make any sense...

 

[Ben E.]

WOW! didnt see this coming! cant believe that this kid got out of big ten country!

 

[OlympiaIrishFan]

I have to agree, this is a great choice for him. I live 4 hours away from Eugene, been there many times. Raced there as a college athlete, coached against them as a NCAA Coach. Great place. Not Notre Dame, but a good choice none the less.

The facilities are absolutely awesome, they have a good coach, very nice place to live, and they are playing for the national championship.

We are not there yet. We have a great place, nice facilities, great fans, but we are not playing for the national championship--yet. I wish we got him, we need athletes like that.

They have great fans, I went to the Ducks versus the U. of Washington Huskies last month at Autzen Stadium, it was great. The Ducks kicked the crap out of the Huskies--which I can't stand. The fans were great to me, in my Notre Dame coat. And that is were in the row in front of me Joe Montana, his wife, daugher, and Nate Montana were sitting watching the youngest Montana at UW.

Anyhow, enough is enough. Time to spend our effort on athletes that want to be Irish.

I'm heading to the bowl game, hope to see other IrishEnvy posters there!

Go Irish!

 

[AdmiralBackhand]

So Oregon has a verbal from French. NSD isn't here yet.

 

[mgriff]

Can't fault him for the choice. Good luck to Christian and the Ducks in the National Championship game.

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

I wish him the best of luck.

 

[OCIrish]

Good for him and congrats to the Ducks. Getting a good athlete IMO.

 

[jonesman]

I am dissapointed, BUT I have total respect for the way that Christian handled this. He has been weighing the options and made the choice he believes is best for him.

I wish him the best and say thanks to Brian Kelly for giving 110% here. We are not going to win them all. I just want a fair fight. Never seemed to fair with Urban Liar selling recruits on how bad it was at ND. Maybe Urbie should have worried more about how they would like UF.

Good Luck Christian. I hope your future team beats the crap out of the SEC cheaters!!!

 

[irishff1014]

Good try Kelly to be he doesn't want to be here oh well NEXT.

 

[CanadianIrish]

That hurts lots, he's a crazy athlete.

We need to close strong and get some of these kids we still have on the board. What are the options we have left?

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

That hurts lots, he's a crazy athlete.

We need to close strong and get some of these kids we still have on the board. What are the options we have left?

Ishaq, Scarlett, Huggins, and Shuler to name a few.

 

[NewEnglandGuy]

Nice work guys, I am with everyone else who has already posted. Glad it has been classy.

Great athlete with major potential. Good luck to him, Oregon, and Chip Kelly. Though we do not reap the benefits, I liked how this process went and felt. This is how recruiting is supposed to go...cant get them all.

 

[BornNDfan81]

A member on the rivals board posted some quotes from Iowa high school coaches and they said French was overrated, lacks toughness and didn't have the football intangibles. I'm no recruiter by any means but he does look soft if you watch his highlight tape.

 

[ryno 24]

I am impressed with this board we did a good job... and dissapointing but congrats to him

 

[BestBIrish47]

I am impressed with this board we did a good job... and dissapointing but congrats to him

I think we had a break through here today.......... see you tomorrow... get a lolly pop on your way out!

 

[jason_h537]

he will probably be a TE, use him the way they used to Dickson. If he develops, he will be deadly at Oregon

 

[ND NYC]

CK got himself a great athlete today for his program---time will tell whether or not he got a great football player.

BK gave it his all here---which sort of upsets me that we didnt land him---we need BK to be a big time closer late in the recruiting game now and in the future

good luck Christian---we hardly knew yee

 

[Stoic]

Oh well!!! Next!!

 

[IrishinSyria]

A member on the rivals board posted some quotes from Iowa high school coaches and they said French was overrated, lacks toughness and didn't have the football intangibles. I'm no recruiter by any means but he does look soft if you watch his highlight tape.

I saw the same thing in the tape of him in hitting drills.

That being said, he's an absolute freak of an athlete and has tremendous upside. Zbikowski was, apparently, a little contact shy in his first month or so at ND and we all know how that ended up.

Best wishes to French, he handled the process with class and made a mature (if wrong) decision. Oregon's a great program.

 

[ND NYC]

I saw the same thing in the tape of him in hitting drills.

That being said, he's an absolute freak of an athlete and has tremendous upside. Zbikowski was, apparently, a little contact shy in his first month or so at ND and we all know how that ended up.

Best wishes to French, he handled the process with class and made a mature (if wrong) decision. Oregon's a great program.

I'd imagine he would be with 75 amatuer boxing matches under his belt when he arrived on campus as a freshman...


(wheres that sacrasm smiley????)

 

[IrishinSyria]

I'd imagine he would be with 75 amatuer boxing matches under his belt when he arrived on campus as a freshman...


(wheres that sacrasm smiley????)

That's why it was surprising and I still remember it 6 years or so later. He was a big deal here in the northern suburbs, and everybody was a little surprised (to say the least) when Ty said that in an interview. He toughened up real quick though.

 

[Irish To The Core]

A member on the rivals board posted some quotes from Iowa high school coaches and they said French was overrated, lacks toughness and didn't have the football intangibles. I'm no recruiter by any means but he does look soft if you watch his highlight tape.

Posting this AFTER the kid turns down our offer sounds a bit like sour grapes.

I was genuinely excited about the potential of French developing under the tutelage of this Irish staff. Kelly and his staff really seem to be far better at developing players than Weis was. This young fellow has those things that nobody can teach...size speed coordination. If he is a competitor, he can most likely develop the skills.

He is one of those guys with a VERY high ceiling...there are no money back guarantees but he is exactly the kind of "project" that Kelly could only dream about when he was at Cincinnati.