Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME sophomore guard Alex Dragicevich will transfer to a school yet to be determined. The 6-7, 221-pound native of Northbrook, Ill., appeared in all 34 games for the Fighting Irish this past season, starting 10 of those contests. He averaged 6.6 points and 1.8 rebounds. When fifth-year senior Tim Abromaitis went down with a season-ending knee Irish Basketball Loses Two Players On March 27, Notre Dame men's basketball head coach Mike Brey announced that injury in late November, Dragicevich was inserted into the starting lineup and a month later scored a career-high 22 points in a 72-59 victory over No. 22 Pittsburgh in Notre Dame's Big East Conference season opener. His productivity fluctuated until he was eventually unseated by freshman Pat Connaughton against No. 1 Syracuse on Jan. 21. "I am sorry to see Alex leave our basketball program, but I fully support his decision to transfer to another school," said Brey in a released statement. "Alex has been a terrific representative of our basketball program and always has conducted himself with a great deal of class. My staff, players and I, in addition to our entire Notre Dame basketball family, wish Alex nothing but the best as he continues his playing career at another institution." In addition to Dragicevich's departure, junior forward Mike Broghammer's college career appears to be over. The 6-9 Orono, Minn., native played a total of only 251 minutes over the last three seasons, due to chronic knee problems. He'll remain at Notre Dame on a medical hardship scholarship, which won't count against the Irish basketball team. — Wes Morgan Sophomore guard Alex Dragicevich has been granted a release by men's basketball head coach Mike Brey and will pursue his basketball career at a school still to be determined. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND SHOULD NOTRE DAME CONTINUE TO RECRUIT TOP-TIER ATHLETES OR FOCUS ON PLAYERS WHO THEY KNOW WILL STICK AROUND LONG ENOUGH TO DEVELOP? Point ✦ Counterpoint: Go Big Or Go Home the moon. "Even if you come up short," she would say, "you'll still land among the stars." While she was dangerously misinformed astronomically speaking, I tend to agree with this philosophy when it comes to college football recruiting. Since Brian Kelly and his staff arrived in 2010, they have not been shy about swinging for the fences in recruiting. During the past three months they struck out — losing five-star prospects De- ontay Greenberry, Tee Shepard and most recently Aaron Lynch. That trio still likely had a positive ef- fect on the talent level currently on the Irish roster. Players want to play with other talented players. Close tabs are kept on who goes where during the recruiting season, and one big commitment can cre- ate a long wave of success in the years that follow. Did interest from players such as Lynch and Ste- DEONTAY GREENBERRY phon Tuitt nudge the less-heralded Chase Hounshell to flip from Florida to Notre Dame? Did those marquee players help bring in this year's crop of defensive linemen like early enrollee Sheldon Day and Jarron Jones? It probably didn't hurt. Shepard and Greenberry didn't work out, but the Irish held their attention long enough to start catching the eye of other highly rated skill players. Shepard's short stay in South Bend might eventually help open a pipeline to the cornerback hotbed of Fresno, Calif. Notre Dame spent tons of resources trying to rope in these top-notch players in the past two years and came away with less than they wanted. But don't forget they did bring in potential stars such as Tuitt and incoming freshman receiver Davonte Neal. South Bend is a tough sell to an 18-year-old when South Beach is an option. That doesn't mean the Irish should stop trying. Great programs are built with great players — to strive to bring in anything less on a yearly basis is submit- ting to mediocrity. 14 MAY 2012 I had a middle school teacher who often urged her students to shoot for By Dan Murphy Don't Force Them To Love You watching your most heralded defensive lineman in years transfer to South Florida, which was the case with sophomore defensive end Aaron Lynch. The high-profile recruits that left the Fighting Irish at the altar on National Signing Day in recent years and Lynch's departure can't be blamed on head coach Brian Kelly. He and his staff, so it appears, have done a thorough job of explaining to prospects what will be expected of them once they arrive on campus. Not that it requires a boatload of research on the players' end to uncover that Notre Dame holds itself to higher academic standards than the majority of other football playing institutions; that's a pretty well established fact. This place is hard. You look at recent comments from players like nose guard Louis Nix, who considered leaving the program because he too was homesick and frus- trated with Notre Dame's competitive classroom atmosphere, and it's no surprise that some actually work up enough nerve to leave it all behind for a smoother academic path. Former Irish captain and safety Harrison Smith told me recently that, even You can also shoot for the moon and end up crash landing in the ocean, By Wes Morgan after all the conversations he had with Charlie Weis and other assistants about what Notre Dame will actually be like, there was no way of fully under- standing the exact degree of difficulty until well after he signed on the dotted line. He also explained that he wouldn't change a thing and it was worth it in the end, even when his career included 31 losses. As much as Notre Dame goes out of its way to help athletes succeed in the classroom, it's still a shock to the system for some. The weather is still too crummy and the surrounding landscape a bit too dull. There are those like senior linebacker Manti Te'o, however, who don't need convincing that Notre Dame is a special place, are willing to sacrifice social time to keep pace with their fellow students and are mature enough to real- ize that homesickness is part of life and will pass. Why spend so much time and energy convincing someone to love you for what you are? BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED