For those that have followed Notre Dame since the Lou Holtz era ended, the NFL Draft has always acted like a dose of sodium thiopental to our brains (never give this to Jack Bauer, unless you want to know how and when he is going to kill you after you cross him) as to why the Irish haven’t fared better on the gridiron.

The truth?

Not enough good players.

And especially not enough difference makers.

Since Lou stepped down following the ‘96 season, the Irish have produced a whopping (in case you can’t see it, “whopping” is supposed to contain a David Spade-level of sarcasm) four 1st round draft picks. (For comparison, the Thomas Jefferson High School For Science and Technology has produced more 1st round NFLers from their chess team in the same period.) Beside that, the Irish only added 12 more picks in the first 3 rounds of the draft during this time. (That kind of action is any given year for a Miami, Ohio State or USC.)

Can’t win like that. No sir, no way. I could go on and name some more teams like I did above, but the only thing that needs to be known is that the programs that win on Saturdays, have plenty of players that end up playing on Sundays.

The 2 coaches between Holtz and Weis couldn’t even figure that part out. No matter what was said about Charlie- at least he knew the Irish needed to get some difference makers.

And that is what he relentlessly tried to do. Through long hours studying film, and long West Coast recruiting trips-Weis gave it his all to upgrade the talent level.

As far as offensive skill talent goes, he did just that.

Mel Kiper has proved that with having both Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate in his mock first round this year. (I realize this is only a mock draft, but even in that sense, having two ND skill players in the 1st round has been about as likely as a childhood star becoming a productive member of society. Gary Coleman? Corey Haim? Dana Plato?)

Following that, Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph will add to those numbers in the next few years.

So, in his short tenure, Charlie Weis will have equaled a ten year output of 1st round talent. (And his guys look to be far more impressive than the ones before-a few decent offensive lineman, and Brady Quinn.)

If the Irish are to win, BK is gonna have to realize what Charlie did, but get even better results (some defensive players would be a good start).