ND Offers a HS Sophomore Star in Georgia!

Brian Kelly & Company have definitely changed Notre Dame's approach to recruiting.  Charlie Weis typically offered 35 to 40 kids and never until after their junior season.  Well, there's a new sheriff in town and he's offering every talented football player in the country whether they're in ninth, tenth or eleventh grade.

Trey Johnson, a sophomore linebacker out of Central Gwinnett High School in Lawrencevill, GA -- is the latest underclassmen to be offered by the IRISH.  Here's a link to his highlight video from this past season:

LINK:  TREY JOHNSON -- IRISH OFFER!

Notre Dame Lacrosse on ESPNU Today!

The fourth seeded Fighting Irish of Notre Dame Men's Lacrosse team kicks off action in the NCAA Division 1 Men's Lacrosse Championships against unseeded Penn at 2:30 PM EST on ESPNU.  The First Round game is a "home" game for the Irish at Arlotta Stadium.  Here's a link to the media notes on today's game:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME vs. PENN -- NCAA TOURNAMENT

NATIONAL CHAMPS IN THE CLASSROOM!

The University of Notre Dame dominated the 2010 NCAA Graduation Success Rate -- National Rankings -- AGAIN!

MEN'S TEAMS -- NINE ARE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!
-- Baseball at 100 tied for first with Boston College, Stanford, the U.S. Air Force Academy, Virginia and Wake Forest.
-- Men's basketball at 100 tied for first with BYU, Illinois, Marshall, Utah State, Wake Forest and Western Kentucky.
-- Men's cross country/track and field at 100 tied for first - with Central Florida, Miami (Fla.), Rice, Stanford, Tulane and Virginia Tech.
-- Men's fencing at 100 tied for first with Boston College, North Carolina, Rutgers and Stanford.
-- Men's golf at 100 tied for first with 39 other schools.
-- Men's lacrosse at 100 tied for first with Duke.
-- Men's soccer at 100 tied for first with Northwestern.
-- Men's swimming at 100 tied for first with nine other schools.
-- Football at 96 finished first - ahead of Duke and Northwestern at 95.
-- Hockey at 95 ranked second - behind the U.S. Air Force Academy at 96.


WOMEN'S TEAMS -- ELEVEN ARE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!
-- Women's basketball at 100 tied for first with 29 other schools.
-- Women's cross country/track and field at 100 tied for first - with10 other schools.
-- Women's crew/rowing at 100 tied for first with Boston College, Duke, North Carolina, USC and Stanford.
-- Women's fencing at 100 tied for first with Boston College, Duke, North Carolina, Northwestern, Rutgers, Stanford and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
-- Women's golf at 100 tied for first with 62 other schools.
-- Women's lacrosse at 100 tied for first with Boston College, Connecticut, Duke, Northwestern, Ohio State, the U.S. Naval Academy, Vanderbilt and Virginia.
-- Women's soccer at 100 tied for first with 25 other schools.
-- Softball at 100 tied for first with 17 other schools.
-- Women's swimming at 100 tied for first with 28 other schools.
-- Women's tennis at 100 finished tied for first with 67 other schools.
-- Women's volleyball at 100 ranked tied for first with 42 other schools.

 
Here's a link to the story:  NATIONAL CHAMPS IN THE CLASSROOM!

CA Candidate Plays the "Rudy" Card In TV Spot

You can't make this stuff up!  A Californian by the name of Dan Adler hired Sean Astin (Rudy) to help him in his run for the U.S. Congress.  You've got to wonder why this former Creative Artists and Disney executive is using "Notre Dame" to sell Los Angeles area voters in the 36th District. 

Is he brilliant?

Thought Irish fans would get a kick out of this:

LINK:  PLAYING THE RUDY CARD

Irish Recruit -- 200 Meter National Champion!

The Fighting Irish received a commitment last month from Ronald Darby -- who just happens to be the NATIONAL CHAMPION in the Indoor 200 Meters.  Darby is also one of the top defensive backs in the Class of 2012 and will bring a "little speed" to the Bend.  Here's a link to his interview after winning the national title:

LINK:  RONALD DARBY -- NATIONAL CHAMPION

Notre Dame Offers a Freshman Football Star!

To show you how the game of recruiting has changed in college football -- word leaked yesterday that the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish had made a verbal offer to a high school freshman football star in Florida!  His name is Sony Michel -- and as an eighth grader he was clocked in the 100 meters at 10.9.  He's scheduled to graduate from American Heritage High School in Plantation, FL in June of 2014.  

Besides Notre Dame -- Florida State and Miami, FL have already made offers.  Here's a link to highlights of his eighth grade football season and his recent freshman football season.

LINK:  SONY MICHEL AS AN EIGHTH GRADER

LINK:  SONY MICHEL AS A NINTH GRADER

Davis & May to Join the Irish Golf Legends!

ESPN College Football Gameday hosts Reece Davis (Alabama) and Mark May (Pittsburgh) have agreed to host the Irish Golf Legends golf tournament on Monday, June 27th.  The fifth annual event honors the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation, Lou Holtz Charitable Foundation and the Kelly Cares Foundation.  Here's some more information:

LINK:  IRISH GOLF LEGENDS 

LINK:  OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Mendoza College of Business Ten Top Tens!

BusinessWeek ranked how well the undergraduate business schools in the country teach 14 specialty areas: quantitative methods, operations management, ethics, sustainability, calculus, microeconomics, macroeconomics, accounting, financial management, marketing management, business law, and corporate strategy, as well as entrepreneurship and international business, which were added this year.

The University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business (which is the #1 ranked undergraduate business school in America two years running) ranked in the top 10 in ten of the fourteen specialty areas!  Only ND and Emory University can claim this many top ten rankings.  Here's a link to the story:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME LEADS THE WAY!

Irish Softball Big East Regular Season Champs!

It took a grand slam from senior catcher Alexia Clay (pictured)  in the final at bat against UCONN, as the Irish scored five times in the top of the seventh to overcome an 11-9 deficit to win the Big East regular season title!  ESPN's Graham Hays wrote a story today about the Big East Championships this weekend in Louisville -- here's a link.  Go IRISH!

LINK:  IRISH WIN REGULAR SEASON TITLE!

Notre Dame Coach Kelly on WFAN in New York

Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly was a guest this afternoon on WFAN in NYC.  You'll enjoy listening to the podcast -- he's on the air for just under five minutes:

LINK:  BRIAN KELLY ON WFAN

Carleton Scott to Leave ND Early for NBA Draft!

In what I would call "shocking news" -- University of Notre Dame graduating senior, Carleton Scott -- decided to forgo his final year of eligibility with the IRISH to enter the 2011 NBA Draft.  Scott, who will graduate with the Class of 2011 May 22nd in South Bend, had til midnight last night to make his decision.

Here's what's shocking.  Only the players drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft have guaranteed contracts -- meaning you'd have to be one of the top 30 players drafted.  Only 60 players are drafted in total.   

Scott is currently ranked #120 in the NBA Draft by ESPN. 

I'm guessing Carleton's decided to play in Europe for one of the professional leagues there.  Salaries range from $150,000 to $750,000 annually in Europe, depending on what you can negotiate.

Here's a link to a few of the news stories surrounding his decision:

LINK:  CHICAGO TRIBUNE

LINK:  ESPN

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

Happy Mother's Day!

Here's a link to the University of Notre Dame Liturgical Choir singing "Notre Dame Our Mother."  Thought this was the perfect post for Mother's Day.  Enjoy!

LINK:  NOTRE DAME OUR MOTHER!

Irish Move Up in ESPN's 'Way Too Early' Poll

Pre-season polls make news and our friends at ESPN have more than most.  Here's a link to ESPN college football writer Brian Bennett's blog post on why he voted the Irish into his top-twenty along with a link to the actual poll -- which you'll see is typical for ESPN, not factual about Notre Dame:

LINK:  ESPN'S POST SPRING WAY TOO EARLY POLL

LINK:  BRIAN BENNETT'S BLOG POST ON THE IRISH

A Notre Dame Football Promotional Video

Looks like Coach Kelly's enthusiasm is rubbing off on others at Notre Dame.  Here's a link to a video posted on the Notre Dame Football Facebook page.  You might need a Facebook account to view this.  Here's the link:

LINK:   COACH KELLY "MOTIVATING"

ND Hockey Team Takes Tour of New Home!

The Compton Family Center -- the new home of Notre Dame Hockey received its first visit by the Fighting Irish who will call it home.  Jeff Jackson's Irish received a tour of the facility -- which opens November 19th against Boston College.  The only team member who didn't take the tour was Jackson himself -- who stood outside.  The Head Coach has decided he doesn't want to step foot into the building until it is completely done.  Here's a link to the WNDU-TV coverage of the tour:

LINK:  ND'S NEW HOCKEY CATHEDRAL

Top Undrafted Player -- Ian Williams Per CBS

CBS Sports' Chad Reuter did a story today on the top "un-drafted" college football players and Notre Dame nose tackle Ian Williams is at the head of his class.  Here's a link to the story:

LINK:  IAN WILLIAMS -- TOP UNDRAFTED PLAYER!

ESPN's Talkin' Heads -- Talk Notre Dame

The folks at ESPN can't help themselves -- they ranked the Fighting Irish #17 in their preseason poll for the 2011 season -- but, they still don't want to believe we're back.  One of these days they might want to do their homework and have all of their facts straight about Notre Dame.  You may have to check your "blood pressure" from time to time.  Here's the link:

LINK:  ESPN'S TAKE ON NOTRE DAME

OT -- Photo of the Day!

The Ohio State University Marching Band has been working on some new formations for the upcoming 2011 football season.  Thought you'd enjoy this "sneak preview."

Mike Lee Profiled in USA Today -- Today!

Former three-time "Bengal Bouts" Champion and ND Alum Mike Lee was profiled today in USA Today.  Irish fans will recall that Mike chose to put his ND degree aside to pursue the Light Heavyweight Championship of the World.  You'll enjoy this story:

LINK:  THE FIGHTER!

The Haka Dance @ Notre Dame's O.S.C.A.R.S.

Notre Dame football player Kona Schwenke led a group of Irish athletes on stage last night at the O.S.C.A.R.S. -- the talent show that ND Athletics puts on each year.  You'll enjoy this!

LINK:  HAKA DANCE AT NOTRE DAME