We’ve Made It This Far…

Well, it’s been 96 days since a Notre Dame Football Player has taken part in an organized football activity (I’m not counting Senior Bowl or NFL Combine activities), so I suppose we can make it 28 more days.

The Irish football program has released their 2008 Spring Football Practice Schedule.

2008 Spring Football Practice Dates
Day Date
Wed. March 26
Fri. March 28
Sat. March 29
Mon. March 31
Wed. April 2
Fri. April 4 – Notre Dame Football Coaches Clinic
Sat. April 5 – Notre Dame Football Coaches Clinic
Mon. April 7
Wed. April 9
Fri. April 11
Sat. April 12
Mon. April 14
Wed. April 16
Fri. April 18
Sat. April 19 – Blue-Gold Spring Football Game

Given that schedule, we’ll only need to suffer through 140 days between the Blue-Gold game and the season opener against San Diego State. Of course, if we had an AD worth his paycheck, we’d only have to wait 133 days, but who’s counting, right?

Of special note is the fact that the “Coaches Clinic” is now open to “fans” as well. And yup, at least one of us is planning to attend. (We long ago stopped thinking we could have ever played for Notre Dame, but we still dream that we could coach Notre Dame) So if you’re planning to attend as well, let us know and maybe we can meet for beers.

At the coaching clinic, ND Special Teams Coach, Brian Polian’s father, Bill Polian, President of the Indianapolis Colts will be speaking. But I’m particularly interested to hear from the other 2 speakers, Mount Union College HC, Larry Kehres and Grand Valley State HC, Chuck Martin. In 22 seasons at Mount Union, Kehres has lead the Purple Raiders to 16 undefeated seasons, including an undefeated streak from 1995 to 2004 and 9 D3 National Championships. And at Grand Valley State, Martin has won two D2 National Championships in 3 years of helming the Lakers and currently holds the nation’s longest active winning streak (28). These guys clearly know how to coach, and with records like that, it really doesn’t matter on what level they’re doing it. In fact, these guys tend to have to do what they do with some challenges unique to their divisions and programs, so hearing what they have to say in the context of Notre Dame Football, a program with its own unique set of challenges, should be very compelling.

Meanwhile, as Notre Dame has only planned their Spring activities, several programs have already fully begun their spring practices.

• Harbaugh has elected to make Stanford’s Spring activities more “pro like.” No doubt many Irish fans will be interested to see how well that idea “translates to the college game.”
• LSU has to start Spring Practice tomorrow with none of QB Ryan Perrilloux’s on-field talents but all of his off-field distractions.
• Texas not only got started with Spring Practice last week but even got a visit from POTUS Candidate Barak Obama.

My initial reaction to all this news about various programs already starting their Spring Practice is jealousy. Jealousy that their fans get to consume some actual news about their respective teams so early in the year and jealousy that their schools are located in geographies that lend themselves to such early activities. It’s still the “dead of winter” in South Bend, after all. But when I give it even a moment’s thought, I think, “Thank God that’s not us.” Because this ND teams is still very young, and probably more than anything right now, this team will benefit from 28 more days in the weight room. Sure, you can still hit the weights and run sprints in Spring practice, but if you’ve ever really worked on a dedicated weight regimen, you know that 100% dedication to that program is the only way to maximize gains. And this very young team really needs to maximize their gains. So rather than thinking, “we’ve got to wait 28 more days for some ND football,” I now think, “Crap! They’ve only got 4 more weeks worth of weight training before the Spring!”