Recruiting class gives Notre Dame a boost

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Charlie Weis exhausted his superlatives, but the tape kept running.

With video highlights of wide receiver Michael Floyd playing in the background during the Notre Dame head coach's national signing day news conference, Weis turned to watch the ultra-talented wide receiver score another touchdown. And another. And another.

"It's always good when the highlight film is long," Weis quipped.

The Notre Dame video department proved more judicious with the rest of this 23-player class, but only because there wasn't enough time to give every player the Floyd treatment.

Weis' third full class ranks as his best and one of the elite anywhere, slotted as top-five material according to Rivals.com, Scout.com and Tom Lemming. The Irish also showed balance in meeting their broad needs and tempered the dreaded de-commitment virus that's swept through recruiting.

While the Irish did lose defensive tackle Omar Hunter to Florida last month, they picked up defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore on signing day. That's better than a year ago, when the Irish lost three commitments down the stretch, turning signing day into a referendum on Weis' recruiting approach.

Not so this year, not after a 3-9 season left Notre Dame yearning for a feel-good story.

"I think our program needed this boost," Weis said.

Particularly on the defensive line, where the Irish landed five prospects, including jumbo defensive end Sean Cwynar of Woodstock. The Marian Central Catholic star won the inaugural Mr. Football award in Illinois and is already enrolled at Notre Dame.

The Irish did well in Chicago too, getting signatures from linebacker Steve Filer of Mt. Carmel and Darius Fleming from Catholic League rival St. Rita. Add it up and Notre Dame's recruiting in the front seven represents a step in the right direction for Weis.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame's offensive recruiting was more of the same.

Not that that's a bad thing.

With so much young talent on the roster, Weis faced the challenge of convincing elite prospects to come with little playing time to sell. But the Irish did it, most notably at quarterback where Notre Dame landed five-star quarterback Dayne Crist a year after taking the country's top overall prospect in Jimmy Clausen.

The receiver haul shined too with Floyd, Deion Walker and John Goodman.

Yet, what impressed Weis most about this class wasn't its talent but the way it stuck together during the worst Irish season in more than 40 years. Despite overtures coming from other programs to Notre Dame's recruits as late as Wednesday morning, Weis walked into the Guglielmino Center confident in what he had assembled.

"You've got to give a lot of credit to these young men for the intestinal fortitude they showed because our performance on the field was far below expectations and far below average," Weis said. "Try being those guys walking into their schools and walking into their grocery stores and everyone in town is saying, 'You're going to Notre Dame? Why are you going to Notre Dame?'Ȧ"

That's been a good question the past five months.

But after the binding letters of intent came in, it also became a moot one.