Notre Dame 2006

[Guest]

Hey OCC what position does Trattou play? Its more good news for sure. I used to hate ND as a kid but I am eagerly looking forward to cheering for them every week.

 

[REDNOSE]

Trattou is currently a DE but may bulk up to DT. Great player for my new favorite team. Another converted fan that used to hate ND but Weis has put the Irish look back in Fighting Irish!

 

[ocaamikedm11]

I'm really hoping Paskorz can get a shot to play at RB, but if not, I'm sure he'll be a stud at LB.. but yeah Trattou is a DE from NJ powerhouse Don Bosco Prep.

 

[Triad]

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs agreed to a contract Sunday with fifth-round draft pick Jeff Samardzija of Notre Dame, a star wide receiver for the Fighting Irish football team.

Samardzija's deal is for five years and worth up to $7.25 million, a source close to Samardzija told ESPN's Joe Schad.

Once the deal is approved by the commissioner's office, Samardzija will join the Boise Hawks, an advanced rookie club of the Northwest League.

Samardzija will be able to play at Notre Dame this fall. His plan is to play professional baseball and football after graduating Notre Dame and he is a possible first round draft choice in the next NFL draft.

The deal is backloaded and Samrdzija would have to continue to play baseball in order to approach the maximum value of the contract.

The Valparaiso, Ind., native caught a record 15 touchdown passes last fall. He then went 8-2 with a 4.33 ERA in 15 starts for the baseball team.

 

[white lightning]

A modern day athlete who is actually a kid to root for.We could really use a two sport star to show that whites can be just as athletic as say a D.Sanders.I remember Danny Ainge who was a incredble all around athlete.Good luck to Jeff.I am more excited about seeing him catching the football than pitching though!

 

[Don Wassall]

Mel Kiper has moved Tommy Z. up to a projected first round pick, joining Samardjiza and Brady Quinn. Matt Jones is the only white wide receiver to go in the first round in the past 30 years, and Adam Archuleta is the only white safety to go that high in a long time. Having two do it from the same team in the same draft will be great.

 

[Don Wassall]

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs agreed to a contract Sunday with fifth-round draft pick Jeff Samardzija of Notre Dame, a star wide receiver for the Fighting Irish football team.

Samardzija's deal is for five years and worth up to $7.25 million, a source close to Samardzija told ESPN's Joe Schad.

Baseball Americais reporting that the $7.25 million is all bonus money, if Samardzija makes baseball his primary sport over football. That's a big big chunk of change, especially for a baseball player starting off, given how much they can make down the road if they're successful. Given that kind of bonus and how long he can play pro baseball as opposed to pro football, it wouldn't be surprising if Samardzija ends up choosing baseball. I would guess that he would almost have to be a surefire 1st round pick in the NFL to choose football over baseball. We need caste-buster Samardzija in the NFL.


But that report may be erroneous, given that Samardzija was a 5th round draft pick of the Cubs. That sounds like way too much bonus money to give to someone drafted that low.


Baseball America reported the Cubs plan to give their fifth-round draft pick, Jeff Samardzija, a $7.25 million bonus if he winds up making baseball his primary sport over football. Samardzija, a wide receiver for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and the Cubs have agreed in principle to a five-year deal that will be backloaded so the Cubs will pay out less than $1 million over one year if he opts for the NFL and gives up baseball.
-- Chicago TribuneEdited by: Don Wassall

 

[Colonel_Reb]

For those who care, Notre Dame's current roster has 43 blacks on it and 56 whites. Hmm, I wonder what happened to the "Notre Dame's roster is 55% African American" we kept hearing after the Paul Hornung incident. It seems as though, at least right now, they are 56.5% WHITE. Keeping it real-CR

 

[robcat]

Paul Hornung is good evidence that its not only black athletes who suffer from IQ deficiencies.

 

[jcolec02]

f**k Paul Hornung and Larry Bird for saying the stupid sh*t they said

 

[white is right]

The "Golden Boy" is a known drunk, he might have been having a few Jack Daniels shots when he talked to reporters....

Edited by: white is right

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Actually, it was the reporters who were saying, usually after they finished the story on Hornung, that Notre Dame's roster was 55% "African-American." So I see it as a media mistake, which wouldn't be uncommon, or either Notre Dame has become over 10% whiter in the last year.

 

[ocaamikedm11]

Notre Dame added another white commitment, upping its total to 6 whites out of 8. This could be their best recruiting class ever!

 

[bigman]

The bad news is that a 1A college DB can not moonlight as a heavyweight boxer and expect to be near peak form on the field. Dont expect TZ to have as memorable a year as 2005

 

[Colonel_Reb]

The local liberal rag, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, even has Notre Dame ranked 1 right now. They believe Brady Quinn will win the Heisman, Charlie Weiss will win National Coach of the year, and the Irish will win the National Championship. I must say it surprised me.

 

[Don Wassall]

Notice that there's no one mentioning Jeff Samardzija as a potential Heisman winner. Charlie Ward playing basketball and Bo Jackson playing baseball added to their auras and legends as college football players and played no small part in their subsequent winning of the Heisman. But there's no such similar "buzz" with JS, who is already a pro baseball pitcher after a stellar college baseball career. If Samardzija has another huge year this fall he will merit strong Heisman consideration by any objective standard, but the "buzz" just won't be there no matter how well he does.

 

[Leonardfan]

Historically it is hard for WRs to win the Heisman. If he wins the Biltenikoff over the overrated Calvin Johnson who is Mike Williams clone I think that will be a great victory.

 

[ocaamikedm11]

I think Notre Dame (and their supposed control of sports media propoganda) doesn't want Jeff built up so much because they don't want him to in the end take votes away from Brady Quinn, if it were to come down to it.. just a thought though.

 

[white is right]

Notice that there's no one mentioning Jeff Samardzija as a potential Heisman winner. Charlie Ward playing basketball and Bo Jackson playing baseball added to their auras and legends as college football players and played no small part in their subsequent winning of the Heisman. But there's no such similar "buzz" with JS, who is already a pro baseball pitcher after a stellar college baseball career. If Samardzija has another huge year this fall he will merit strong Heisman consideration by any objective standard, but the "buzz" just won't be there no matter how well he does.

Yeah but Bo had PED's to make him look like Superman. Samardzija looks like a normal guy, he can't have that otherworldly persona like Bo because of it. I wish the average fan knew why Bo got his arthritic hip, he would have fallen as hard and fast as Ben Johnson,Gatlin or Landis(to a lesser extent).

 

[Colonel_Reb]

I wish Samardzija would win it but I think Don and Ocaa both have good points. 1. The MSM (AKA-Drive By Media) doesn't allow any white player who isn't a QB to win the Heisman. 2. This is supposed to be the year of Notre Dame's return to glory, so it makes sense to the MSM to let the white Notre Dame QB have the Heisman. 3. Notre Dame is following this trend and pushing Quinn because its the easiest thing to do for them, and likely to be the most successful. I would love to see Jeff win it, but I think it is impossible, even for Notre Dame, to create enough support for a white WR to win it. With all that being said, I am pulling for the Irish to win it all and as many of their white starters to win their position awards as possible. Touchdown Jesus!

 

[whiteCB]

Another Fiesta Bowl match up of Ohio St-ND would be great to see again!

 

[white lightning]

I expect a good game tommorow against G.Tech.They will be a good test for the fighting irish.Let's hope that Brady Quinn can hit Jeff all day long.

 

[Don Wassall]

Notre Dame held off a tough Georgia Tech team on the road 14-10.


I watched a lot of it and it was a classic Caste System broadcast by the troika of Brent Musberger, Bob Davies and Kirk Herbstreit. The boys spent most of the broadcast gushing non-stop lavish praise on Georgia Tech WR Calvin Johnson. They never ran out of compliments as they all but annointed him college football's best receiver and a surefire superstar in the NFL.


By contrast, Jeff Samardzija, Notre Dame's record-setting WR and two-sport star, was referred to merely as Brady Quinn's "best option" in the passing game.


Let's compare the two:


Calvin Johnson: 6-5 235 pounds, '05 stats - 54/888/6


Jeff Samardzija: 6-5 218 pounds, '05 stats - 77/1249/15


Finally, in the 4th quarter after Samardzija made a spectacular 48 yard over the shoulder catch, Herbstreit said something to the effect of, "You know we've been talking about Calvin Johnson all game, but Jeff Samardzija is going to be a first round draft choice too."


Davies: "We have the two best receivers in the country right here in this game."


But before those admissions, the three Caste System announcers had praised Johnson at a rate of about 25 to 1 over Samardzija. Anyone from CF who watched (and listened) knows that's an accurate appraisal, yet probably less than one out of a thousand fans would've noticed what I'm talking about.

 

[C Darwin]

Zbikowski was an absolute stud against GT. The Yellow Jackets avoided his section of the field at all costs, but that didn't stop him from making several huge plays on defense. Why am I not surprised that he is has not been mentioned in today's college football reports on the Internet?

 

[bigman]

great points Don.