It was a big weekend for the Irish-securing 4 national recruits in just two days. I don’t recall too many times over the years where there has been this kind of rapid-fire success for an Irish coaching staff. Charlie Weis had some big Blue and Gold game spring weekends, securing 5-star guys like Jimmy Clausen in 2006, and 5-star DE Chris Martin (who would later renege) two years ago, and Brian Kelly himself started surprisingly well, nabbing studs Ben Koyack and Matthew Hegarty before spring evaluation period was over. But, to do something like this, earning pledges from a group of national recruits in a dead recruiting period (The initial excitement of the Kelly era is long gone, and will no longer sway recruits, while the season is a month away, so the on-field results aren’t there yet for the recruits to see momentum.), during his first year, is impressive.

If Kelly was a prize fighter, this weekend showed his mettle in the ring. He can “sting like a bee”, indeed. There were positives in every recruit that committed this weekend, which is something that Kelly still needs to show at this stage in his coaching career. While BK has won every step of the way, and has helped form a battle cry against those that think the Irish are dead (Brian Kelly is in town, he took Cincinnati to #3, and they tailgate in parking garages for crying out loud!), the fact is he needs to “up” his recruiting game. He needs to compete against Alabama, Florida, Ohio State, and USC for kids. Cute acronyms like “RKG” are worthless. (What the hell is an “RKG”? What the hell is a “TPS” report, for that matter? Nobody knows what these acronyms are supposed to mean.)

Notre Dame needs to recruit the nation’s best. Not a few of the nation’s best, like Weis did at the skill offensive positions, but an entire roster filled with speed and depth. The Irish need to go into the big name states (Florida, Texas, California, etc.), and walk away with some of their best players. If he can do this, the Irish will be back, you can write that down and stick it to your refrigerator.

Here are some quick notes on the verbals, all of which are further ammo that Brian Kelly can recruit like the Irish need him to.

Justice Hayes, RB. Speed, and elusiveness are the names of his game. His high school coach likes him as a better threat catching the ball out of the backfield than reigning Heisman-winner Mark Ingram. Michigan and Tennessee were after him, and he is a Rivals100 recruit.

Anthony Rabasa, DE. Big (6′3″ frame) and athletic, Rabasa hails from Florida, talent-rich Dade County, no less. (ND must keep recruiting that state well). The Florida big boys, and schools like LSU an Auburn were after him.

Jalen Brown, CB. I don’t know a lot about him, but the defensive-minded Bo Pelini was after him, and he is a Texas kid-a state where Notre Dame would really like to get a pipeline going.

Aaron Lynch, DE. A huge pick up. A 6′5″ frame with room to grow, he can be a terror off the edge. Another Florida boy, another Rivals100 guy, and his offer list is the cream of the crop in college football.

With fall camp just over a week away, it is time to highlight a few major points that the Irish must do to win at a high level this season. No in-depth analysis, no numbers, no bell curves, no means, no anything that would give the statisticians of the world a big bulge in their pants.

Just good old fashioned observations, combined with at least a rudimentary understanding of how football works (at least I think that last part is true).

Here we go.

5 Things Notre Dame Needs To Do This Season

1.) Make the opposition fight for their points. Too many times last year, the Irish gave up points with ease. The 2000 Baltimore Ravens aren’t walking through the door, so the Irish will give up some scores, but the key is to keep the opposing offense out of rhythm, and make it about as difficult to score touchdowns as it is for a non-stoner to sit through The Big Lebowski.

2.) Win the turnover battle. Turning the ball over more than your opponent equals losing. Period. You may never reach Joe Pa status, but you could make a lengthy career out of coaching just by preaching this rule.

3.) Win on 3rd down. That is, on offense, convert and keep moving the chains, and on defense, stop the bad guys, and get off the field. If you need to know how important getting off is, ask a guy like Pee-Wee Herman, who doesn’t even like to wait until he is home.

4.) Average between 4.0 and 5.0 rushing yards per attempt. Football has changed, they don’t play in a “phone booth” anymore, the game is spread out. There are no workhorse running backs like Jerome Bettis hogging the ball these days, so the carries have to count. To quote a .99 menu, the key is to get “more bang for your buck”.

5.) Continue to make explosive plays on offense. The one thing that Charlie Weis’s team could do (it helps having Mike Floyd and Golden Tate). It is hard damn work to drive 80 yards on a football field every possession to score, so why bother? The best way to overcome that is to shorten the field with the big play. Having a play book as thick as War and Peace to get by a defense is for losers. Back in the day, Super Tecmo Bowl only had 8 options. Why? All you had to do was throw a slant to Jerry Rice, and watch him keep running until the goal line stopped him.

Paul Hornung, ND’ original “golden boy”, is the namesake for college football’s newest honor: “most versatile player”. What does than mean? Well, to give you a proper picture, the Paul Hornung Award would have gone to either C.J. Spiller, or ND’s own Golden Tate if it were awarded this year (a player that can help their team the most in a large variety of ways).

Hornung is one of college football’s all-time greats (think the original Rocket Ismail, plus he could throw, and play defense), the only player special enough to win the Heisman on a losing team, so his name belongs right up there with the Biletnikoffs and Nagurskis.

However, he might have even more fame for the statement “ND must lower admissions to get the black athlete and win”. Technically, he may be right on lowering admissions, he just made the mistake of using the qualifying term “black”. (That’s what we call racial profiling.)

So, occasionally in his honor, the Blarney will bring you Hornung’s Words of Wisdom, or technically true statements that are worded wrong, and perhaps show some prejudice or some kind of political incorrectness.

Paul Hornung’s Words of Wisdom For 7-28-10:

“Life is about more than winning and losing. It’s about being true to your beliefs, and living a life that you can look back on and think-Hey, I must have done something right. Oh, and it’s about making sure you never, ever turn out like Amy Winehouse.”