A quick rundown of who ruled college football in ‘09. National media opinions need not apply.

QB-Jimmy Clausen (ND)-Clausen didn’t win any major awards, and by season’s end he was overshadowed by quarterbacks with prettier winning numbers. But, with all due respect to McCoy, Tebow, and Case Keenum, the quarterback who played for the Irish was the best. He displayed more NFL skills than any other (combination of intelligence, accuracy, and ability to make all the throws). Without Clausen, Notre Dame’s success would have been equal to the success Beta had against VHS in the days before dvd (that would be no success if you are not a veteran of the 80’s).

RB-C.J. Spiller (Clemson)-The most dynamic college player in college football. He crossed the goal line in every contest, doing it running, receiving, and on kick returns. He even threw for a score. He goes from 0-60 faster than McLaren F1, and is the best all-purpose player since Reggie Bush.

RB-LaMichael James (Oregon)- A true freshman that saved Oregon from the LeGarrette Blount fiasco by imitating Superman to such an extent that even the Kryptonians couldn’t tell them apart. Almost went for 1,500 yards, and scored 14 touchdowns. James gets the edge over the Pac-10’s leading rusher (Toby Gerhart) due to his penchant for the big play. Led the nation with 20 carries for over 20 yards.

WR-Golden Tate (Notre Dame)-If C.J. Spiller is the Coke of dynamic plays, Tate would be the Pepsi. 18 touchdowns, and was responsible for more big plays than Bob Saget was for fathers getting kicked in the nuts. If the Blarney could, it would put Tate on every single position on this list.

WR-A.J. Green (Georgia)-A lot of receivers had much better numbers, but every time I saw Green play, he did something to make me jump from my chair. He was a forgotten man due to Georgia’s struggles, but that won’t be the case when the NFL draft rolls around next season.

TE-Aaron Hernandez (Florida)-A tight end that almost had 800 receiving yards, and constantly makes plays that give the momentum to the Gators. Has a ninja-like sneakiness on the shovel pass, and could probably hit you between the eyes with throwing stars from 20 yards away, on a pitch-black night. Maybe the only guy that Tim Tebow truly trusted to get the ball to besides himself.

Tackle-Anthony Davis (Rutgers)-Again, no love on other All-American teams, but there is only one way to leave early for the NFL at a school like Rutgers where it is impossible to be over-hyped: Be really, scary good. Davis is. This guy is so big and strong, he could have some Kodiak Bear blood running through his veins.

Guard-Michael Johnson (Alabama)-When you are the anchor of a running team that beats the opposition into submission with the relentlessness of Jared telling us Subway in the only way to do fast food healthy-you earn this spot.

Center-Bryan Bulaga (Iowa)-The Hawkeyes lack the skill talent and speed of a high school drama club, so when they can ride their running game and defense to the Orange Bowl, a member of their offensive line deserves props.

Guard-Maurkice Pouncey (Florida)-This guy is one of the main reasons that Tebow has more rushing touchdowns than anyone else in SEC history, is nearly impossible to stop in 4th and short, and is crammed down our throats with the same ferocity that marketers tried to burn the buzzword “Web 2.0″ into our brains.

Tackle- Russell Okung (Oklahoma State)-This guy is universally respected as top draft pick, and paves the way for an offense that is almost as explosive as the rants of its head coach.

Good read on BlueandGold.com today. Lou Somogyi speaks his piece about rule#1 of winning in college football.

GET GOOD PLAYERS.

Play calls look so much better when Golden Tate catches the pass, reverses field twice, stops suddenly as a defender flies by him, pulls a Matrix dodging bullets-style move to get past the Safety, and takes it to the house. Ha! Just like it was drawn up.

Somogyi’s story talks about the teamwork between Lou Holtz and Vinny Cerrato during the glory days of Lou’s run (when Notre Dame really did get the finest athletes in the country), and has some interesting tidbits.

“What was kind of funny is when we first got there, Coach (Holtz) said, ‘We’ll be able to out-coach all these people,’ ” recalled Cerrato a couple of years ago on the Irish Huddle, a radio show on BlueandGold.com.

“After the game he comes up to me in the bus, sits next to me and say, ‘We’ve got to get some players! We’ve got to get players like they’ve got!’ ” Cerrato chuckled.

That’s why, even though I am glad Notre Dame got Kelly, I am in “wait and see” mode. I want to see how he recruits-and of course, what the Saturday results are. So, while some people get pumped about his tweeting, or the fact that he says the goal is to win championships, or that Notre Dame is his “dream job”, or that the fans “better start working out, because they will be doing a lot of push-ups, that kind of of talk just makes me yawn.

What would get me excited? To see Brian Kelly win recruiting battles against the likes of Alabama and Florida for 20-25 players a year. (Not just a quarterback, or a wideout here and there, but at every position.) His “right kind of guy” method of developing players was enough to get it done in the Big East, but Notre Dame will get a few games a year (USC, Oklahoma) that are tougher than anything Cincinnati faced during its regular season (though the schedule is not the “murderer’s row” of games Lou had to deal with).

Somogyi also talks about the need to recruiting with the best:

Every time since 1991 that an Irish recruiting class is not considered bona fide top 10 caliber, when that group became seniors, Notre Dame has faltered.

For example, that 1991 group branded itself as “The Illegitimate Class,” and it helped prompt Cerrato to move to the NFL. They were carried by the great 1990 haul led by Young, Burris, Aaron Taylor, Jerome Bettis, etc., most of their careers, but when they became seniors in 1994, it wasn’t by accident Notre Dame fell from 11-1 to 6-5-1.

During Florida State’s run in the ’90’s Bowden would try to explain why he had no problem starting some freshman over seniors. “I’ll take my chances with talent.” His philosophy did okay by him.

Les Miles won a championship in 2007, and was dubbed the “Mad Hatter” because he always wore a hat, and would do crazy things like going for it on 4th and 1 from his own 1 while up by a touchdown. (He has also been known to court a woman by standing in front of her house for hours, and holding a boombox above his head as it played Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes”). And he could get away with doing things like that because he had talent.

In other words, Brian Kelly’s first mission is to get more talent. Let’s see if he realizes that mission in the next few years.

So…coaching has been a serious concern for the Irish for the last few years. And no coach has had more questions than the Strength & Conditioning Coach (Ruben Mendoza).

He has been blamed for Notre Dame’s failures more than anyone (except for maybe the Head Coach, or maybe the Defensive Coordinator, or maybe the Offensive Line Coach, or maybe…okay, the Irish have had questionable coaching from just about everywhere).

Seriously, strength and conditioning have been a concern. Notre Dame has had top 10 (8,8,2, and 21) 3 out of the last 4 years, according to Rivals. The product on the field is nowhere near that. Many fans believe that the players have not been developing physically once they arrive at Notre Dame.

And you can see there is a problem by noting these facts:

-Notre Dame defenders lost 13lbs on average during the 2009 season.

-Manti Te’o came in as a bronzed and sculpted specimen, showing off his glowing pecks (lathered in oil, of course), but finished with so much flab that girls had to kneel down to feel on his buttocks as it sagged to the ground.

-Brian Smith lost an an arm-wrestling match to a girl scout when he tried to win a box of Thin Mints.

-Arizona Cardinal (and former Notre Dame star) Bert Berry noted the whole defense what not in “football shape” during spring practice, and was concerned that Ethan Johnson sounded like a dead-on impersonation of Fatty McGee while he was on the treadmill.

Jack Swarbrick has noted these facts and it is believes that the Irish are finally going to institute a “training table” (nutrition and supplement program strictly for the athletes-and separate from regular south dining hall eating).

But maybe, it would help most if Brian Kelly hired these guys as a duo for Strength and Conditioning Coach.