Samardzija Signs One-Year $5.3 Million Deal

The Chicago Cubs came to terms yesterday afternoon with former Notre Dame All-American wide receiver Jeff Samardzija, on a one-year deal worth $5,345,000 -- avoiding arbitration.

Jeff was seeking $6.2 million and the Cubs were offering $4.4 million -- they split the difference.

With this contract -- Samardzija will have earned $15,345,000 in his first six years in professional baseball.

Now, when you consider the average length of an NFL career for a wide receiver is 2.91 years -- you'll know why Jeff is smiling in this photograph!  He made a great decision!

Samardzija finished fourth in the National League last year with 214 strikeouts in 213 innings pitched.  Here's how he stacked up in a number of other pitching categories in the National League last season:

• Games Started -- tied for second with 33 starts
• Innings Pitched -- fifth place with 213.2 innings
• Complete Games -- tied for fifth place with 2

Congratulations Jeff!

LINK:  SAMARDZIJA AND CUBS AGREE

Muffet's Irish: 4 Road Wins Over Top Ten Teams

How's this been for a schedule!

Notre Dame has played four teams currently in the TOP TEN in both women's college basketball polls and all four games have been on the ROAD...

• Notre Dame 77 -- #9 Penn State 67
• Notre Dame 86 -- #8 Tennessee 70
• Notre Dame 87 -- #10 Maryland 83
• Notre Dame 88 -- #5 Duke 67

LINK:  WOMEN'S BASKETBALL RANKINGS

Three ND Football Recruits in All-Star Game

Three future Notre Dame football players played last night for TEAM USA in the 2014 International Bowl on ESPN3 -- if you'd like to watch the replay click on the link below.  You'll see Jay Hayes (#7), Nile Sykes (#9) and Greer Martini (#47) on the defensive side of the football for America's team.

You will have to have some patience with the broadcast team -- they make a number of mistakes on where the players have committed to...

But, first -- click on the top link -- you'll see all three being interviewed about playing for Notre Dame!

LINK:  INTERVIEW OF NOTRE DAME RECRUITS

LINK:  GAME REPLAY

Debbie Brown Talks USA's Moscow Boycott

Notre Dame women's volleyball coach Debbie Brown was featured on NBC's Nightly News tonight in a story about the United States' boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games.

Brown and her USA volleyball teammates missed out on competing for a medal when President Jimmy Carter ordered the boycott.  Click on the link below to see this news feature:

LINK:  MOSCOW BOYCOTT

Brian Kelly Playing AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Well, after two rounds of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am -- Notre Dame head football coach and his professional playing partner Michael Thompson are -10 and in a tie for 42nd place.

To make the cut -- Coach Kelly's team must finish in the top-25 and ties.  Right now they're three strokes off the cut line which is currently at -13.  

Thompson, an Alabama grad is -3 on his own ball -- meaning Coach Kelly has contributed -7 on his own ball (with his 12 handicap) these first two rounds!  The Tournament will be televised LIVE tomorrow on the GOLF CHANEL and CBS.  Here's the schedule:

• Golf Channel:  1:00 PM ET to 2:30 PM ET
• CBS:  3:00 PM ET to 6:00 PM ET

LINK:  SCOREBOARD

LINK:  CELEBRITY PLAYERS

Andrew & Nic Weishar -- A Brother's Love...

Notre Dame football recruit Nic Weishar lost his brother Andrew to cancer in October of 2012. 

You're going to want to know this story...

LINK:  THE WEISHAR BOYS

Recruiting a Heisman Trophy Winner...

Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown tells a recruiting story... 

You'll want to watch this!

LINK:  TIM BROWN TELLS A STORY

Nine ND Football Players: NFL Combine Invite

The NFL's annual talent show -- THE NFL SCOUTING COMBINE -- invited nine former Notre Dame student-athletes to participate this February in Indianapolis.  Here's the list of the Fighting Irish:

• George Atkinson III
• Bennett Jackson
• T.J. Jones
• Zach Martin
• Troy Niklas
• Louis Nix III
• Prince Shembo
• Stephon Tuitt
• Chris Watt

The list of all participants receiving an invite -- see list below:


LINK:  NFL COMBINE INVITATION LIST

Local News Stories on ND Footbal Recruits

Took a lap around the worldwide web this evening to see if there were any local news stories about the commitment of their local high school football stars to the University of Notre Dame.  Here's what I found:

LINK:  QUENTON NELSON

LINK:  JIMMY BYRNE

LINK:  NYLES MORGAN

LINK:  COREY HOLMES

LINK:  PETER MOKWUAH

LINK:  DESHONE KIZER

LINK:  SAM MUSTIPHER

LINK:  DRUE TRANQUILL

Fr. Edward Sorin's 200th Birthday Today!

The Holy Cross priest who founded the University of Notre Dame du Lac was born 200 years ago today in Ahuille, France.  Notre Dame is planning a number of events today and throughout the year to celebrate this bi-centennial.

Notre Dame Women's Soccer Recruiting Class

The Notre Dame women's soccer team signed their first recruiting class in 15 years without Coach Randy Waldrum at the helm.  Here's the list of girls who have signed -- which includes two sets of twins and another recruit who has a twin sister-- to play for the Fighting Irish!

LINK:  GINNY MCGOWAN -- RANKED #11

LINK:  SABRINA FLORES -- RANKED #17

LINK:  KAITLIN KLAWUNDER -- RANKED #30

LINK:  KATIE UHLER -- RANKED #39

LINK:  MEGAN MCCASHLAND -- RANKED #44

LINK:  MONICA FLORES -- RANKED #58

LINK:  TAYLOR KLAWUNDER -- RANKED #70 

LINK:  LEXI NICHOLAS -- RANKED #79

LINK:  PAIGE CROWLEY

LINK:  MEGHAN DOYLE

Rankings of ND's 2014 Recruiting Class

Took a lap around the worldwide web this evening to see how the experts are ranking Notre Dame's recruiting class.  Just click on the links below to see how the Fighting Irish stack up:

LINK:  SCOUT -- ND #6 

LINK:  TOM LEMMING -- ND #7

LINK:  MAXPREPS -- ND #9

LINK:  RIVALS -- ND #11

LINK:  ESPN -- ND #11

Coach Brian Kelly Talks 2014 Recruiting Class

Notre Dame football released the names of the 23 members of their 2014 recruiting class -- and it's one of the best in the country!  To see what Coach Kelly had to say about these young men -- click on the links below:

LINK:  COACH KELLY ON SIGNING DAY SHOW

LINK:  COACH KELLY'S PRESS CONFERENCE

Greer Martini Commits to Notre Dame Today!

Here is a photo of Woodberry Forest High School's Greer Martini after signing his National Letter of Intent to become a student-athlete at the University of Notre Dame!

LINK:  GREER MARTINI BIO

Tyler Luatua Commits to Notre Dame Today!

Notre Dame's lone commitment from California this year -- Tyler Luatua -- puts on a Notre Dame hat at his signing ceremony at La Mirada High School today!

LINK:  TYLER LUATUA BIO

Jhonny Williams Commits to Notre Dame!

Here is a photo of Berrien Springs High School's Jhonny Williams after he signed his National Letter of Intent to become a student-athlete at the University of Notre Dame!

LINK:  WSBT-TV INTERVIEW

LINK:  JHONNY WILLIAMS BIO

Corey Holmes Commits to Notre Dame!

Here's a photo taken today at St. Thomas Aquinas High School of Corey Holmes signing his National Letter of Intent to become a student-athlete at the University of Notre Dame!

LINK:  COREY HOLMES BIO

Drue Tranquill Signs With Notre Dame!

Here's a photo of today's signing ceremony at Carroll High School for Drue Tranquill -- who signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame!

LINK:  TRANQUILL BIO

Golden Tate at Seattle's Super Bowl Celebration

Here's a couple of photos of former Notre Dame All-American Golden Tate waiving the #12th Man flag at Seattle's celebration of their Super Bowl XLVIII win!  More than 700,000 people turned out!

Also note the photos of the Boeing plane painted up specifically for this event...  Pretty impressive!

LINK:  VIDEO OF CELEBRATION

Notre Dame's National Signing Day Coverage

Folks, today's the day we find out who will be next to don the GOLD HELMET at the University of Notre Dame!

To keep track of what is transpiring -- the first NLI came in this morning and it's from punter Tyler Newsome (Georgia) -- be sure to go to UND.COM or to TWITTER and @NDFootball.  They will have all of the information as soon as it can be publicly announced by Notre Dame.

At 11:00 AM ET -- UND.COM will go live with their National Signing Day Show and then at NOON ET -- Coach Kelly will meet with the media to unveil this year's recruiting class.

LINK:  NATIONAL SIGNING DAY COVERAGE

LINK:  NATIONAL SIGNING DAY SHOW AND COACH KELLY PRESSER