How Can ND Recruit so Well Given this Season? The Answer is:

It's more than just football. For some players. And those are the players ND wants.

Academics.  A community that cares about them.  A coach that cares about them as a person, rather than just as a player.  To be surrounded by other top players.  And to win. 

To boot, ND has all of those things - with the exception of the winning this year.  But ND does win.  ND is a traditional college power, had two BCS seasons out of the past 3, and is universally known for and synonymous with college football.  Not with dominance as of late, that's not what I'm saying.  But this is a well-known program that has won in the recent past.  So let's just assume that kids can see past the current season's debacle, to what Coach Weis and the ND players accomplished  in other seasons (which we should all examine, by the way).  

Is this the easiest path?  Nope. That's why it's not for everybody. You can go to a cushy state school where there's Basketweaving 101 and you can do and say whatever you want whenever you want with little or no consequence.  ND players work hard, study hard, and play hard.  And they learn from all of it.

ND is pulling in top players from around the country, and from Rivals and the other services, it sounds like these kids are firm in their decisions.  A few notes on the class so far from Yahoo!:

Consider the weekend of Oct. 20, when Southern California humiliated ND 38-0. Despite the lopsided loss, Weis landed commitments from two standout recruits visiting South Bend: Running back Jonas Gray and wide receiver Michael Floyd, the top-rated players from Michigan and Minnesota, respectively.

Notre Dame has commitments from two of the nation's top 20 prospects, or five-star players, according to Rivals.com. It also has commitments from 15 more players rated in the top 250, or four-star prospects.

An additional 15 four-star recruits are still considering Notre Dame.

The Irish have 17 [4 star+] such prospects committed thus far. In comparison, Florida's top-rated class last year featured 20 four- and five-star recruits. Of course, Florida was coming off a national championship. Notre Dame could still wind up 1-10. That's why this is so stunning.

Why are elite players verbally committing to ND?  Beyond those aspects that many other schools can boast (tradition, top-notch facilities, a path to the NFL), why are these top guys so attracted to Notre Dame, the football team and the institution?  Here are a few examples that get beyond the traditional selling points:

1)  Charlie cares about these kids. I know a lot of people don't like Charlie Weis.  They say he's arrogant, they call him fat, they don't like how he says things, that he doesn't candy coat.  But deep down, Charlie is a good guy.  How do I know this?  Evidence.  Oh, and I've met him.  The evidence?  One reason is linked in that article linked above.  When Robert Hughes' brother was killed, Robert's parents didn't call him directly.  They didn't drive to South Bend to tell him, and they didn't ask a friend or family member to tell him.  They called Charlie Weis and asked him to break the news.  You have to KNOW that a man cares about your kid to ask him to do something like that.  And you have to trust and respect him.  Since he recruited Robert Hughes, and in the few months Hughes has been on the team, he's developed so much trust, respect and mutual caring with a family that they chose him to be the one to talk to their son about their family's tragedy.  And after that?  Charlie drives Robert to Chicago himself, to be sure the kid's going to be okay.  Read the linked article:  it helped Robert a lot. 

“It showed me how much he cared about all the players on the team. It was real huge for me to actually talk to him and express the way I was feeling, and it gave me room for comfort.”

Charlie did so because he cares.   And that leadership is why more than 50 players and coaches bused to Chicago for the funeral last Friday.  Caring doesn't mean that Charlie coddles his players, or tells them what they want to hear or even says things in the way they want to hear them.  Obviously (read:  Jones, Carufel) some guys may not 'get' Charlie Weis.  And that's fine.  But I don't think you can argue that the guy doesn't care.  (Other examples - Pass Right out of his own end zone because a dying child asked for it, all of Charlie's work with Hannah & Friends on behalf of developmentally disabled kids, etc. points to this same fact, but I can't cover it all here.)

2)  Anecdotal story on why you can trust what Charlie Weis tells you. I was at the Challenge for Charity Kickoff in July in LA.  Along with some other younger fans/hangers-ons, I was waiting to get my chance to talk to Charlie, maybe snap a picture, get an autograph.  There are a ton of people but he moves towards me and I say "Hey Coach..." and we begin to talk, but then some organizer pulls him away.  He says "I'll be back son" and moves off to talk to some of the big-wigs in attendance.  Tommy Lasorda among them. 

A bit later, the bell for dinner rings and people start to file off.  I figured my chance was shot, and was pretty bummed.  (Yes, I am a lame little fan that was bummed out about missing out his chance with Coach, but the truth).  I start to head back and hear Charlie's voice - telling organizers, other fans, celebrities "Hold on, I told this young man I'd be back, so I've got to talk to him."  We chatted, I got the autograph, and the picture.  Awesome.  Now maybe that's a tiny little story that doesn't mean anything to some people.  But that taught me one thing:  Charlie Weis keeps his word.  To me.  To parents in living rooms across the country, and to their sons that want to play college football.  He'll take care of them, he'll teach them, he'll make them better people.  And they WILL win.

3)  Final example isn't much of a post.  More of just a relay of a story from the LA Times about QB Dayne Crist. Read it.

This kid is what ND is all about.  It's a rare breed - leader, athlete, student, actual nice dude and a hell of a football player.  But there are kids like this across the country - great players that need a home that's about more than football.  Charlie is selling them a place they'll fit in.  Take a look at the current recruiting class.  These guys all have that in common - it's about football, but more than that - the academics, the experience, learning and growing into something more than just a high school stud football player.  Robert Hughes' take on what his team means to him reveals this as well:

Hughes was asked Tuesday night what he learned about Notre Dame during this last, tragic week.

“That everyone here stands for goodness, especially when guys like me go through a situation like this, it’s important for everyone to rally behind you and lift you up in spirit,” Hughes said.

Dan Wetzel at Yahoo! Sports has a good take (same link as above from Yahoo!) on why things are going to turn around for ND in the near future. Sure, he takes a few digs at Weis.  (Who hasn't recently? Including yours truly).  But Weis is in the midst of his turnaround of this program.  The low point.  The bottom.   Per the article here, college football is largely about recruiting - and I think CW gets the fact that it's just as much about Talent as it is X's and O's.  The kids get that too, which is why they're filling up the spots quickly.  They want to be a part of being the team that took ND from bottom-feeder to perennial power.  I know that sounds insane given our current status as a 1-8 football team that can't do much right.  But with the talent we have coming in, assuming it keeps coming in, and with a coaching staff that I believe knows how to work with talent, I believe this will happen.  Call me crazy, call me a delusional Irish fan.  Right now?  We're not good.  Not as a team, program or coaching staff.  In 2 years?  I believe all of that will be changed.

I expect other school's fans to not get a lot of this post, and probably to mock it.  But I don't care.  This is what Notre Dame is about.  So when someone on ESPN asks "How can Charlie keep this class together despite this season?" - this is the answer.  Because while we all know that ND will be winning again soon (likely because of these recruits), we also know that we stand for something more than football.  More than academics.  And frankly, our coach gets that. 

And, thank God, so do these kids.

We are. ND.