SI Says Jaylon Smith's Surgery a Success

Notre Dame All-American linebacker Jaylon Smith had his surgery yesterday in Dallas to repair his ACL and LCL -- which were damaged during the Fiesta Bowl game against Ohio State.

Dr. Daniel Cooper, M.D. -- the Cowboys' Team Orthopedic Doctor performed the surgery -- see his bio below.

The great news is there was no nerve damage -- and the source told SI that Smith will make a full recovery!

To learn more -- click the links below:

LINK:  SURGERY A SUCCESS

LINK:  OTHER NFL STARS WITH THIS SURGERY 

LINK:  THE DOCTOR WHO OPERATED ON JAYLON

ND's Fiesta Bowl Post Game Locker Room

Notre Dame's New Softball Spikes from UA!

These look pretty sharp!

I'm looking forward to the day the "shoe bottom" color (I love that gold color) is matched in the material used for the gold on the shoe.

Notre Dame Rolls Over Boston College Tonight

Dabo's Signature Moment: Stopping ND 2 PT

Notre Dame Ranked #6 in 2016 Football Poll

This didn't take long...

LINK:  ATHLON SPORTS CFB POLL 2016

Samardzija's Guarantee vs. Former Irish in NFL

Are you sitting down?

Former Notre Dame All-American wide receiver Jeff Samardzija -- now a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants -- signed a "guaranteed" contract this past off-season for $90,000,000.

This represents more guaranteed money than all 34 former Notre Dame football players currently playing in the NFL -- COMBINED!

The former Notre Dame football players currently on NFL rosters are guaranteed a total of $77 million in contracted income (SEE BELOW) -- $13 million less than Samardzija!

Think Samardzija made a good choice to play baseball!

LINK:  NOTRE DAME FB PLAYERS -- NFL INCOME

ND Football Players in NFL -- Total Contracts

I did some research over the Christmas break on how much our Notre Dame football players were currently being paid in the NFL.  I found this great site called Over The Cap that provided me with all of this information.

Here's some of the Highlights:

• 34 former Notre Dame student-athletes collected a NFL paycheck in 2015
• The total value of their current NFL contracts is:  $192 million
• The total amount guaranteed in their contracts is $77 million

You'll also see that the average base salary (does not include any bonuses) this year for the 34 former ND football players in the NFL this year was:  $1,168,706

Here's a link showing you each former ND football player and their contract amount, guaranteed amount and their base salary for 2015:

LINK:  ND FB PLAYERS -- NFL INCOME

2015 NFL Draft 1st Round Picks -- Contracts

As Notre Dame All-American Jaylon Smith undergoes his knee surgery today in Dallas -- here's the sobering news when it comes to the financial impact of "dropping" in the First Round of the NFL Draft.

If you were to drop from the #5 pick to the #20 pick you'll lose $10,000,000 in the value of your first contract. 

Here's the value of the first contracts signed by each of the 32 players taken in the First Round of the 2015 NFL Draft:

#1 pick:  $22.4 million
#2 pick:  $21.4 million
#3 pick:  $20.7 million
#4 pick:  $20.0 million
#5 pick:  $18.8 million
#6 pick:  $16.5 million
#7 pick:  $14.7 million
#8 pick:  $12.9 million
#9 pick:  $12.8 million
#10 pick:  $12.3 million
#11 pick:  $11.6 million
#12 pick:  $10.5 million
#13 pick:  $10.2 million
#14 pick:  $9.8 million
#15 pick:  $9.6 million
#16 pick:  $9.0 million
#17 pick:  $8.9 million
#18 pick:  $8.6 million
#19 pick:  $8.6 million
#20 pick:  $8.5 million
#21 pick:  $8.4 million
#22 pick:  $8.3 million
#23 pick:  $8.2 million
#24 pick:  $8.1 million
#25 pick:  $8.0 million
#26 pick:  $7.9 million
#27 pick:  $7.8 million
#28 pick:  $7.7 million
#29 pick:  $7.4 million
#30 pick:  $7.2 million
#31 pick:  $7.0 million
#32 pick:  $6.9 million

Here's the rankings of all of the current NFL Contracts:  NFL CONTRACTS

Domer Theo Riddick's Incredible NFL Season!

Former Notre Dame student-athlete Theo Riddick caught a team record for a running back 80 passes this seasons -- and he led all NFL players with the most broken tackles with 36!

AND, HE DIDN'T DROP A PASS ALL SEASON!!!

LINK:  THEO RIDDICK

LINK:  THEO "WIRED FOR SOUND"

Notre Dame's Men's Lacrosse Preseason #1 !!!

Kevin Corrigan's Fighting Irish -- coming off their fourth Final Four appearance in the last six seasons --- are ranked #1 in the country in the Nike/Lacrosse Magazine's preseason rankings of NCAA Division I men's lacrosse teams!

The good news here is this -- two of the last three teams ranked #1 in the preseason poll went on to win the National Championship that year!

LINK:  LACROSSE RANKINGS

WNDU-TV Report: Jaylon Smith's Injury Update

"Loss of Value" Insurance -- Student-Athletes

Here's a story that explains the insurance policies that student-athletes are buying to protect them from the impact a devastating injury could have on their draft status...

LINK:  LOSS OF VALUE INSURANCE

#1 Stadium Experience in America -- ND !!!

The folks at Stadium Journey just released their annual rankings of FBS college football stadiums' customer experience...

And, Notre Dame Stadium was ranked #1 in the country -- EVEN WITHOUT A VIDEO BOARD!!!

LINK:  RANKINGS

Showtime's "A Season With..." Ends Tonight!

#ASeasonWith @NDFootball finale finishes with the Irish preparing & competing vs @OhioStAthletics, tonight 10p ET/PT https://t.co/komLnAvf6K

— A Season With (@ASeasonWith) January 5, 2016

You can watch the last episode of "A Season With Notre Dame Football" tonight at 10 PM ET on Showtime.

Domers Niklas & Floyd Star in Toyota Video

I trust they both got a free vehicle out of this...

ESPN Looks Ahead to Notre Dame's Team 128

Fuller Joins Prosise in Declaring for NFL Draft

Notre Dame student-athletes Will Fuller and C.J. Prosise have both made the decision in the last 24 hours to declare for the NFL Draft.

See his statement above.

I want to thank Fuller for playing through his injury and representing Notre Dame to the best of his abilities during Friday's Fiesta Bowl.  Thank you!

ESPN Report: Jaylon Smith is Insured for Injury

It's being reported that Notre Dame All-American Jaylon Smith had taken out an insurance policy that would protect him (up to $5 million) should an injury drop him out of NFL DRAFT's First Round and the lucrative signing bonuses.

Here's the report...

LINK:  JAYLON SMITH

Only 244 Days Until Notre Dame Plays Texas!

It's never too early to start getting ready for TEAM 128 and their opener in Austin, TX!

GO IRISH!