Weis encouraged by Notre Dame's potential

Never in a million years did you ever think Notre Dame would be looking up from near the bottom of the college football universe.

No, it just doesn't happen to one of the most recognizable sports brands in the world that has spawned legendary football, coach Knute Rockne, the Four Horsemen, 11 national championships, seven Heisman Trophy winners, 10 Pro Football Hall of Famers, a leprechaun mascot and a fight song that you can't get out of your head.

Notre Dame -- with its tradition, recruiting base and its own network TV on NBC -- should never go 3-9 like last season. Or do the unthinkable and lose to Navy, a team it had beaten 43 straight times, the longest streak in NCAA history.

But it all happened to the Fighting Irish last year. And the clarity of the disaster smacked Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis in the chops when he stared out on the field sometime during the year and realized who he had out there playing.

"Of our 22 starters, we were starting 11 pure (true) freshmen," said Weis, who was in Memphis on Thursday speaking at a scholarship fund raiser for the area Notre Dame alumni club. "And I'm saying to myself, 'You must be nuts.'"

Brighter days have to be ahead for Weis, about to start his fourth season, because they certainly can't get much worse than last year. Notre Dame concluded its spring practice, and there were a few more bright spots, particularly on an offense that was horrible in almost every way last season. The Irish ranked in a three-way tie at No. 116 out of 119 Division 1-A teams in scoring (16.4 points per game).

For one, rising sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen, heralded as the nation's best high school QB a year ago, actually has some zip on his passes. Clausen, the younger brother of former Tennessee quarterbacks Casey and Rick Clausen, underwent arm surgery to remove a bone spur off his throwing elbow last summer, and was never himself. He started 10 games, throwing for 1,254 yards, seven touchdowns and six interceptions.

Compound Clausen's lack of arm strength with a porous offensive line that allowed 58 sacks, and it's a wonder any of the four quarterbacks that Weis used could walk without a limp at the end of the year.

"I can tell you that any time you play a freshman quarterback, especially a guy who wasn't ready to go coming off surgery and who didn't start throwing until the season started," Weis said, "you're all ready behind. He was along for the ride with a fairly inexperienced group."

Jimmy Clausen got just about all the reps in the spring. His main competitor for the job, Evan Sharpley, is a slugging first baseman for the baseball team. Weis also is looking forward to throwing incoming signee Dayne Crist, a five-star recruit from Sherman Oaks, Calif., into the mix. The offense will have nine returning starters and the defense has six returnees.

"I was encouraged by a lot of things I saw in the spring," Weis said. "Obviously, when you come off a disappointing year, it doesn't take too much to be encouraged. But I was encouraged across the board. There wasn't one position I walked out of spring feeling bad about."

Weis is hoping that a couple of top-five recruiting classes from the last two years get the Irish well in a hurry.

"Football is cyclical," said Weis, who will return to Memphis on Dec. 8 to speak to the Touchdown Club. "When I came there, we had a lot of seniors and juniors left in the program who had played a majority of the time. Last year when those guys were gone, we had to play the young guys.

"We've had a couple of successful recruiting classes, and this one coming in is special. ... Bring in another class, and now you have a stacked roster where there aren't any gaping holes in the depth chart. That's when you can compete at the highest level."

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