Rockne's Roundtable

Wow, either Zeke had a really bad day or he was just hidden by a good defense??? Crazy! Slower than our MLB??? Yikes

Motta had about as bad a combine as you could imagine.

Longo doesn't train our guys to put up stellar numbers at the combine. He trains our guys to play for National Championships. I think he's alright for himself.

Disagree... Look at Tyler's numbers this year and Harrison Smith and Mike Floyd from last year... I think to question coach Longos methods is a bit over dramatic, some kids just struggle with certain drills and obviously Zeke struggled this combine.. Same thing with Bama they had some disappointing combine performances but they also had some standouts... That's standard practice, can't blame the strength coach

Very good point Lou

That's true, Lou...but these guys are at the combine to hopefully impress for the next level. Over all, they didn't. Motta's combine is really shocking. Also, when recruiting high school kids, most college coaches tell them they will prepare them for the NFL. The last few years, we have put a lot of players in the NFL and I'm sure Motta, Cave, Riddick, Wood, and Teo will all get drafted. I will bet the coaches pay attention to the press this is getting.

I think it's worth noting that the only 2 actual combine tests that matter for an NFL MLB are: 3 cone and shutttle. Te'o was top ten in both...impressive for 245lbs and hitting like a mack truck.
But of course, the better selling story is his slower 40 time. Let me tell you something....if an NfL LB ever has to run 40 yards in a straight line...he is piss poor at his job already!

Yes he is, but how much did his poor combine co$t him ? I guess I just don't see any evidence that Longo's program is all its touted. He is the first strength and conditioning coach to have a training table, so it's not really fair to compare him to his predecessors. Just don't see the ND guys really impressing.

Here is the only thing I know about strength and conditioning coaches: The next one to come along is always the greatest, hard-driving, almost sinister-like taskmaster ever to walk down the pike, and the greatest thing to happen to the football program ... while his predecessor had it all wrong. Bank on it.

I measure the entire operation of a football program by the on-field results. I liked what I saw collectively last year. Now you have to do it consistently, not be a one-hit wonder. Time will tell with everything.

S&C coaches are another cog but often get way too much hype, and there isn't a head coach in the country that doesn't refer to his S&C coach as "the best in the business."

There is always room for improvement in anything. But the first obligation for everyone at Notre Dame is the University of Notre Dame, not the pro draft. If you're good enough, the pros will find you. If the program continues to win at an 11- 12-(and hopefully 13-game) clip per season, people — recruits and scouts — will flock here.

If a recruit bases his decision to attend Notre Dame on whether he will get into the NFL, that's not necessarily the right aisle in which he is shopping. That's partly because the truly elite athletes say, "It doesn't matter where I go, because I'm the best and I'm going to be in the League." There is nothing wrong with having an NFL aspiration, but there are many other factors that go into deciding on Notre Dame that go well beyond that. Just about every recruit I've ever talked to (about 300) have shared that conviction.

Peyton Manning would probably make even Merlin a probowler...

tomporazz,

I don't know who is saying we have a "unique advantage" with Longo. This isn't nuclear science. Everyone has qualified, competent people at the strength and conditioning position. Every program believes they have "the best one." They are qualified professionals who are there for a reason.

ND landed a lot of five-stars in 2008 too with Rudolph, Floyd, Crist, and in some circles Trevor Robinson too. That was after a 3-9 season.

And even during glory years, a lot of players might have been drafted, but they either didn't have pro careers or very brief ones. In fact, for much of the 1960s and 1970s, there was a stigma within the NFL of being an ND graduate because those players had degrees, something to fall back on, so the feeling was "they weren't as hungry to make it in the NFL" when it wash't quite as lucrative as today.

Yes, a Page, or Kunz and Kuechenberg or Casper would come along, but most of the premier talents or first-round picks such as Paul Seiler, Jim Seymour, Walt Patulski, Clarence Ellis, Mike Kadish, Ken MacAfee, Vagas Ferguson were not prominent pros, if they played at all. Tom Gatewood and Pete Demmerle were fantastic college receivers, but not necessarily pros. They were both also Academic All-Americans with plenty of other options in life.

Look at the 1973 national title backfield: QB Tom Clements was too small (did star in the CFL while going to law school), Wayne "The Train" Bullock and Eric Penick didn't play in the NFL (injuries), and Art Best was on special teams for three years. Shoot, Ferguson ran only like a 4.7 or 4.8. All I know and care about is he was a marvelous college running back. Same with Jerome Heavens.

Players like that get attracted to ND for other reasons. If you're good enough to make it in the NFL, the scouts will know about you wherever you go to school. At ND, the visibility does help, just like at Texas, USC, OU, Alabama, Ohio State, etc.