Wednesday Practice Observations 11-15-06

Twas a cold, rainy day in South Bend on Wednesday so Notre Dame moved inside for the second straight day:

• Practice chatter was considerably lower Wednesday among the assistant coaches, although wide receivers coach Rob Ianello and quarterbacks coach Peter Vaas took some time to rib sophomore wide receiver D.J. Hord, who has pedaled the equivalent of all of Lance Armstrong's Tour de France wins during this season. While pedaling lightly with a smile on his face, Ianello said "Spring game, 08-09," joshing about his anticipated return.
• Running backs coach Michael Haywood didn't seem too happy today, yelling at the backs to "sprint past the cone." Then again, Haywood had his own mini-workout moving the blocking sled into position for a drill. Haywood, although he doesn't say much to the media, has quite a personality on the practice field.
• The defensive backs had to wait momentarily during a drill for the defensive linemen to shuffle past. Ahh, the joys of working inside in fairly cramped space.

Don't forget about our predictions contest -- and please e-mail your guesses to mrothstein@jg.net instead of posting them as comments. It makes it easier for the big guy calculator over here. And no one won last week although Terry Doyle, Bill Goetz and Bill Brereton came within one point. Sorry guys, doesn't win though.

-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette