Spring Practice Observations, 3/26/08

Well, we're back in South Bend and at the first spring practice and, sorry, Charlie -- these guys don't look too much bigger than when we last saw them twirly-birding off the field in Northern California.

• Starting with sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen, the California kid doesn't look to be much bigger than last season -- even though he did gain a significant amount of weight up to 212 pounds. But as Weis did with many of the players earlier today, he said it was lean muscle gain.
• Good news for Asaph Schwapp. For the first time in a while, he's able to sidestep -- doing the drills along with all his other teammates.
• Suspended tight end Will Yeatman was at practice, throwing the ball around with Notre Dame Director of Football Personnel Tim McDonnell. Apparently Yeatman has a pretty good spiral.
• Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White and men's basketball coach Mike Brey were at practice.
• Offensive tackle Sam Young is still a giant -- but not as much giant as a 330-pounder might seem.
• Early-enrollee freshman offensive lineman Trevor Robinson has John Sullivan's old number -- and already looks meaner than the former center. Meet Robinson, a native of Elkhorn, Neb.: He has long, wavy hair that comes way out of his helmet and tattoos that wrap most of his arms coming out of his jersey. Dude looks like an offensive lineman -- just not big enough yet.
• Center Dan Wenger was wearing what appeared to be a yellow cast on his left wrist. It was either that or a really bulky tape job.
• All size aside, Chris Stewart looks a lot bigger.
• To give you an idea of tight end depth: When Bernie Parmalee ran across the field during drills, four players followed. That's it. That's all of Notre Dame's tight ends this spring. And none of them looked particularly big, either.
• Weis spent much of the media portion of practice with his arms folded, not saying a word as he watched the offensive line.
• One of Jimmy Clausen's only red jersey counterparts -- sophomore walk-on Nick Lezynski of Newton, Pa. -- looks awful small for a quarterback. Well, he actually looks like a pee-wee player in his No. 12 Irish jersey.  It could be because he's all of 5-foot-8, 157 pounds.

Anyone you want us to watch out for Friday, let us know in the comment box below.
-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette

Comments

[PM]

Geez, could you sound anymore negative.

[felixchick]

could you watch out friday? that would be nice to get the "inside" scoop.

[Kevin]

Love to hear more about the battle for who is going to replace Zibby at Safety. Thanks.

[Jason]

Love to hear more about the d-line situation, particularly about Ian Williams, and freshman Sean Cywnar.

[Michael Rothstein]

Jason,
Read Thursday's Journal Gazette. I wrote about Ian Williams and Justin Brown needing to begin to replace Trevor Laws.
Thanks,
Michael Rothstein

[Chris]

Mike,

Were cameras allowed in for the practice session? I'm dying to get a look at Sam and Jimmy. I know you said they don't LOOK much bigger but I want to see for myself.

Thanks.

[irishman]

By the read of your comments, it sounds like we shouldn't even field a team for 2008. thanks for giving us a half-empty analysis.

[Irish Tiger]

How is Richard Jackson looking? I know his hands have always been an issue, but will he have any chance of seeing the field in '08?

[Golden Domer]

Mike:

I know that for some the reality of the state of Irish football hurts, so thanks for providing your observations.

I would like to hear more about Barry Gallup since he is from my home state. I would also like to hear about the frequency of practices attended by Golden Tate and Kamara since it appears that neither of the two will be there full time.

I am very interested in hearing about the LB's as well as the RB's. I really thought the AA would be the man, but I think he has a challenge with Aldridge and Hughes.

For giggles, can you ask Charlie if ND has approached him about extending his contract?

If he won't answer that one, can you ask him if he will pledge a % of his contact back to the University if he doesn't win 7 games?

[Jeff]

Let us know how Armando Allen looks. He, more than anyone else, needs to be a game-breaker this year. I like him and Robert Hughes in the backfield. Aldridge just doesn't do it for me.

Thanks

[Andrew Breau]

Mike, you should just feel blessed that you can attend these practices! I live in Canada and being such a huge fan is hard when it would cost me a fortune to attend a game someday.. (I WILL SOMEDAY THOUGH!! I HAVE TO!!) Anyways - moving on - Obviously the O-Line is important, but I would like to know about Jimmy's arm strength because it was supposed to be unbelievable, and I didn't see that arm strenght - supposedly because of his "injury" last year..
Thanks,
Still wishing we had some receivers like in 2005,2006,
Andrew

[Mike]

Wow, is someone a little overly negative or what? So to sum up your "observations" the team is small and weak and the our head coach is probably disinterested in practice. Maybe Notre Dame should just quit football altogether based on what you see.

[Will]

Hows Gary Gray doing, so far?

[Mike Ipsen]

I am interested in the developement of Taylor Dever (OL).I went to the same high school as he did (46 years earlier). I believe he is the only FB player from NUHS to play at ND.

[Golden Domer]

Stay Classy Southbend!

[Children Anxiety Disorder]

I really like the tattos with style...

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