D-Day Minus-1

Look, I'll admit that new Irish O-line coach Frank Verducci is sort of handsome in a New Jersey way (if not in a SoCal way), but I'm tired of seeing his mug at the top of my blog, so I have to throw something up here.

National Signing Day for high school football recruits is tomorrow, so the geekiest of all the Notre Dame football fans are working themselves up into a lather about which 18 year old kids will commit to Our Lady's University tomorrow and which will plunge a dagger into our little green hearts by choosing to play football (and possibly attend classes) at a lesser institution.

I, for one, have my fingers crossed. But other than that, I'm trying not to let all the hype and speculation get to me. Right now, Notre Dame's incoming class looks solid, although not currently rated as high as the last two classes. I think part of the reason for the lower ranking is that we have fewer players from the "flash" positions in this class (like QB and WR), and also have commitments from a 3-star kicker, a 3-star punter a 2-star long snapper, and a 3-star Golic. The stars of the class as of today are 5-star RB Cierre Wood, 5-star OG Chris Watt, and 4-star players coming in at DT, RB, WR, OG, OT and S. If those guys stick tomorrow and don't pull a spectacular signing day stunt, we'll have a very solid class, especially considering the uncertainty that surrounded Charlie Weis' future just a few short weeks ago.

The biggest suspense surrounds Hawaii LB Manti Te'o, who is expected to be a huge impact player in the middle of the defense wherever he goes. He has narrowed the field to ND, USC and UCLA after surprising everyone by telling BYU he was taking them off his final list. Te'o took an official recruiting visit to USC last weekend, and rumors are swirling that he wasn't overly impressed by the Trojans. If true, that would bode extremely well for Irish chances of landing him. Luring Te'o to South bend would be an enormous win for Charlie Weis and his staff. Not only do the Irish badly need a player of that caliber at linebacker (he's just like Mo Crum except he's bigger, faster, more athletic, more aggressive, has better football instincts and more talent), it would be a win in a head-to-head battle against Pete Carroll and USC. You have to win your share of those battles to remain credible with recruits in future years.

Because I'm hopelessly and unrealistically optimistic when it comes to Notre Dame football, I expect Coach Weis to have at least a couple of surprises (good surprises) in store for the Irish faithful tomorrow, ending up with a class rated in the Top 15, if not the Top 10.

Off-Topic. I really enjoyed the Super Bowl on Sunday, but as has become the norm for that annual spectacle, most of the buzz from the game revolves around the commercials and the half-time show. We're big Springsteen fans at OC Domer HQ, so we enjoyed watching the Boss perform for the whole world and I thought he did a terrific job. The commercials were, on the whole, a bit of a let down. To me, the best commercial of the day wasn't even shown during the game, but just before and after the game. It was an E*Trade ad that I thought was much better than the E*Trade commercial they chose to air during the game itself. So, to give folks a diversion from the stress of National Signing Day I offer the OC Domer choice for the best commercial from Super Sunday:

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