For Weis, It’s Location Over Personality

By Paul Smith
paul.smith@collegeblitz.com

PORTER, IND. — Nobody will ever confuse him with, say, Bobby Bowden, Steve Spurrier or Pete Carroll when it comes to charisma.

But with Charlie Weis, as with real estate, it's location, location, location. There are no generic palm trees in the often frozen tundra of north central Indiana. Not many scantily-clad young lovelies strolling the beaches, such as they are.

There is little sun worship in the shadows of the Golden Dome, but all of this matters little. Because with Weis, architect-in-chief of Bill Belichick's hugely-successful Super Bowl championship New England Patriots offense, the selling point is two words:

Notre Dame. And isn't that a fairly rare Weis smile when the subject is recruiting? Obviously, the N.C.A.A.'s voluminous thou-shalt-nots include official no-comments from university representatives on all unsigned recruits.

But Weis's first team hasn't thrown an official block in anger yet, and already, 13 of America's very best players have orally committed to Notre Dame.

With the commitment of much-sought-after 6-feet, 1-inch, 180-pound cornerback Raeshon McNeil of Mocksville, N.C., the Irish continue to produce a class of 2006 that may be THE class of 2006.

"From what my understanding is, Notre Dame is in real bad need of cornerbacks," McNeil told the South Bend Tribune's Bob Weineke. "And I'm the first one to commit."

He draws raves from scouting services as a lockdown corner who figures to immeasurably help the Irish defense against the many high-powered passing offenses they'll face next fall.

The list of commitments is liberally laced with consensus top 100 players and suddenly, Notre Dame is in the hunt with one of the country's most sought-after corners, Darrin Walls of Pittsburgh's Woodland Hills High School.

The Irish are battling Michigan and Florida for Walls, a pair of interesting matchups because Michigan will be pretty much a regular on current and future Notre Dame schedules, and former Notre Dame assistant Urban Meyer will be going head-to-head with the school he spurned for the Gators last winter.

"If they get Darrin Walls," respected national recruiting guru Tom Lemming told Weineke, "that's quite a cornerback combo...(Notre Dame's) exactly where they wanted to be going into the season. Everything with them has gone picture-perfect so far."

There is a lot of zero-defect mentality in Charley Weis's approach. The Irish learned that Tuesday in a hellacious practice when the coach repeatedly barked at some of the team's most talented players about running precise routes, potential missed blocks, etc.

Think Belichick. And think Bill Parcells, under whose tutelage with the New York Giants, New York Jets and Patriots, Weis's pro career really took off.

What pleases Notre Dame's staff most about McNeil takes place off the field. His Davie County High School coach, Doug Illing, pointed out McNeil scored 1,100 on his S.A.T. and has a 4.0 grade-point average. "When they saw his transcript, they loved him even more," Illing told Weineke.

On the field, McNeil runs an :04.44 forty-yard dash and at Davie, he was in on 60 tackles and had five interceptions last fall.

Two key Irish recruits come from Ohio superpower Cleveland St. Ignatius -- defensive end John Ryan (6-5, 240) and 6-4, 190 wide receiver Robby Parris.

Barry Gallup, Jr., son of Boston College director of football operations Barry Gallup, is another intriguing pickup. He will likely be a quality backup to what should be a strong Irish running game.

In quarterback Zach Frazer of Mechanicsburg, Pa., the Irish get one of the nation's best high school passers, and running back James Aldridge of Merrillville (Ind.) High School, gives Weis a 6-1, 218-pound power runner highly sought by the Big Ten.

They haven't registered a first down or defensive stop, but already, despite the on-field coaching staff feistiness, Irish eyes are definitely smiling.