If you were among the many thousands of Notre Dame fans around the country monitoring the Army All-American Bowl and the ESPN/Under Armour High School All-American Game, you had to be laughing your ass off at Braxton Cave’s dominance over “arguably the best defensive tackle recruit in the country” on Saturday.
Cave not only won virtually ALL of his battles with Hunter, but his first quarter pancake of the Florida bound nose tackle became one of the highlights of the day for Domers and Subway Domers across the country.
Meanwhile, back in San Antonio, Brandon Newman was stealing the show in the practices leading up to the Army All-American Game.
“Beyond Marcus Forston (Miami), I don’t see another lineman who can compare,” CSTV recruiting analyst Tom Lemming commented to The South Bend Tribune on Newman, a 6-foot-1, 300-pound nose tackle from Louisville poised to sign with Notre Dame.
Suddenly, the word “arguably” seems to be the functional adverb when discussing who is “arguably the best defensive lineman recruit in the country”. Incidentally, Forston looked pretty damn dominant himself on Saturday, so maybe even the use of the term “arguably” is now inappropriate. In my opinion, Hunter probably played himself out of the top three this weekend.
Not that one game a player makes, but as we all know, this was the national stage that would pit college-level player against college-level player and if a young man wants to boost his stock, this was the weekend to do it.
The likes of Tom Lemming don’t really care, despite knowing that this was merely one game, what these recruits did before this weekend, and neither do the “powers that be” who will decide which program lays claim to the top recruiting class in the country. As we all know, that would be Notre Dame as of right now, however there was some speculation that it might change after the defection of Hunter. Somehow, I don’t think that will be the case.
Straight from the “More Great News” Department
The Irish received their 23rd verbal commitment from 6-foot-4, 186 pound WR Deion Walker. Some fans have voiced a preference for “athlete” Gerell Robinson, but I couldn’t have been happier about Notre Dame landing true wide receiver Walker, who will pair with Mike Floyd for one of the most potent freshman receiving duos in 2008.
“He (Weis) is an offensive-minded coach who knows the game and how to get the ball to his wide receivers.” Walker told ESPN “Coach sees me as a receiver who can play in the slot and also split out wide. He said I have the green light to come in and challenge for a starting job.”
Robinson, who had maintained that he would not announce his decision at the All-American game, changed his mind during the course of the week and decided to make his decision official. Many fans felt that Robinson was swayed by the pressure of the 15 Notre Dame recruits surrounding him in San Antonio, but Gerell shocked the recruiting world by choosing Arizona State.
Rivals.com had Deion Walker ranked as the No.35 ranked recruit in their top 100, Gerell Robinson was ranked at No.52.
The best part of Walker choosing Notre Dame? It’s another small recruiting victory over PSU and USC.
Injury Front
Notre Dame came out of All-American Weekend virtually unscathed in the injury department (knocks on wood), however there was a small setback for the recruiting class when four-star Irish corner prospect Jamoris Slaughter tore the meniscus in one of his knees in the practice week leading up to the game.
Slaughter was set to start in the game after a solid week of practice until the injury sidelined him for the game.
“It just kind of happened,” Slaughter told Mike Frank of Scout.com. “I’m just trying to stay off it right now. They took a look at it. It’s just a meniscus. (The recovery time) is pretty quick. I’ve just got to go in and get it scoped and I should be back within a month or so. I was just glad that was all it was.”
Surprise of the Weekend
Who would have thought that Bishop Dwenger sensation John Goodman would haul in the winning touchdown in this weekend’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl?
Michael Floyd didn’t look too shabby either, reeling in four catches for 118 and two touchdowns, but that was somewhat expected. With Dayne Crist tossing him the rock, the tandem teamed up for a glimpse of the future for the Irish. But Goodman was the real story, and a “feel-good” one at that.
“The game itself was one of the highlights of my life, and especially to get that touchdown,” Goodman told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. “It was just awesome altogether.”
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