John Walters

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - His forehead read Ash Wednesday, but Charlie Weis' smile suggested Christmas morning.

"This obviously is a good day for our program," the Notre Dame head coach said moments after the clock struck noon on Wednesday. The Fighting Irish, coming off arguably the worst season in school history, signed its best recruiting class in nearly two decades.

The faxes began streaming in at 7:03 a.m. First through were defensive back Jamoris Slaughter and center Mike Golic, Jr. Soon, the five-star faxes followed. Wide receiver Michael Floyd. Defensive end Ethan Johnson. Tight end Kyle Rudolph. Quarterback Dayne Crist.

By 9:30 a.m. the Irish football staff had received 23 signed, faxed letters of commitment from what experts are calling anywhere from the best to third-best recruiting class in the nation. Best of all for Weis, there were no phone calls of regret from any of Notre Dame's verbally committed.

"I went to sleep at 11 o'clock last night," said Weis, who now has hauled in his third consecutive top ten-rated freshman class. "I figured if there was a problem, someone would wake me up."

Weis slept well.

"The whole program needed this boost," said Weis. Indeed, Wednesday, February 6th may be the best day the program has had since Weis was hired in December 2004. Then again, the perception of the latter depends upon the performance of the former.

"This is a significant boost," said Weis. "The right type of players, the right type of kids, okay, and the right type of day. This is the type of day where everyone has got to feel good and say, God, what a good day. And I think that we all needed that, especially me, because I don't want to go home and be abused by my son or my wife."

Maura and Charlie, Jr., would only have been the first in a long line of disgruntled followers.

During last year's 3-9 debacle, Notre Dame started eleven true freshmen at different times. Not by choice. Many positions (e.g. quarterback, wide receiver, linebacker) simply had no returning starter. Next season, however, the Irish could see more true freshmen starting due to their precocious and prodigious talent.

Floyd, for example. The 6-3 wideout from St. Paul, Minn., may already be the most gifted gamebreaker the Irish have. The Irish return 14 of their top 15 pass catchers from a year ago, but do not be surprised to see Floyd crack the starting lineup.

Only tight end John Carlson, the team's leading receiver, has left. And with the OWI ("Operating While Impaired") arrest and subsequent indefinite suspension given backup Will Yeatman, suddenly that spot is wide open. Kyle Rudolph, a 6-7 tight end from Cincinnati whom Weis described as "All-Everything" on Wednesday afternoon, may start as soon as September 6th. Either he or fellow 6-7 frosh Joseph Fauria from Encino, Calif., whose uncle, Christian Fauria, Weis coached when he was with the New England Patriots.

"These two tight ends are going to press to get involved in the mix pretty quickly," said Weis, giving a subtle shot to Yeatman and the rest of the returning Irish. Those words may be true, but they also sent a message: there is incoming talent ready and eager to replace you.

Last year's signing day at Notre Dame was overshadowed by the last-minute defections of defensive end Justin Trattou (Florida) and wide receiver Greg Little (North Carolina). Weis, using an analogy that his wife, Maura, supplied him, likens the recruiting game to courting for marriage. And in 2007 the Irish were left at the altar--twice.

"We learned a valuable lesson on the right and wrong way of doing it," said Weis.

Afterward, Weis and recruiting coordinator Rob Ianello altered their policy. No longer would there be a distinction between a hard verbal commitment (we've set the date) and a soft verbal (we're engaged to be engaged). Give Notre Dame a verbal commitment, promised Weis, and we will stop looking at that spot. But give that verbal commitment and then take another campus visit, and the engagement is broken.

"If you're looking, we're looking," said Weis, whose three-year record at his alma mater is 22-15.

The gambit was a risky one. What if the nation's most talented prep players, the ones Notre Dame relies upon in order to return to upper echelon status, had no desire to commit several months before the NCAA mandates that they can? What if a five-star recruit wanted to continue playing the field all the way up until signing day?

"Was I worried?" said Weis. "Yes. But there's still a right way and wrong way of doing it."

Fortunately for the Irish, the coaching staff early identified a few top recruits who also bought into the commitment theme. Quarterback Dayne Crist, for example. Or center Braxston Cave, a local product (Mishawaka, Ind.) who is named after former Irish running back Braxston Banks. "(Braxston) has been one of the key people in this recruiting class in terms of recruiting the class," said Weis. "I don't know how many pasta dinners his mom has made (for visiting recruits). The only problem with Braxston is I see him too much."

Crist, too, was cited as being a top-notch unpaid recruiter for the Irish, steadily text-messaging and emailing his prospective teammates. Surname aside (it's pronounced like "wrist" and not like the university namesake's Son), the southern Californian almost seems too perfect a fit. He played at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, where he wore the same number, 10, as Brady Quinn. Crist, 6-5, as did Quinn, rises at 6 a.m. to lift weights before school.

"People joke about it and say, yeah, you're trying to be like Brady Quinn," Crist told Brian Hamilton of the <i> Chicago Tribune </i> recently. "You're absolutely right."

Eighteen of the 23 members of this incoming class verbally committed to Notre Dame last summer. Only one, five-star defensive tackle Omar Hunter from Georgia, broke ranks. Indeed, this incoming freshman class at times seems more like a platoon, such loyal soldiers are they. Consider that all of them had front-row seats, literally, to some of Notre Dame's most embarrassing performances in decades (the 38-0 loss to Southen Cal, the overtime defeat to Navy). All but one never wavered.

The question is, Why not more?

"I don't know," said Weis. "I just think when you go 3-9 and end up with one of the best recruiting classes in the country, there are a lot of people to commend."

Weis, to use a Wall Street term, is buying on margin. With not much to leverage (a 3-9 record? Four rusty Super Bowl rings?), he was able to grab a blue-chip group of high-performing stocks. Now, with a roster that is almost entirely composed of players he recruited, he must deliver.

Notre Dame lured possibly the top pool of talent to South Bend on the strength of its brand, its academics, its performance in Weis' first two seasons (a 19-6 record, two BCS bowls), in the commitment its coaching staff made to communicating with these seniors, and in the communication and leadership demonstrated amongst the recruits themselves.

They have faith. They have seen, and yet still they believe.

"I think you've got to give a lot of credit to these young men for the intestinal fortitude that they've showed," said Weis, "because, as we know, our performance on the field this year was far below expectations and far below average."

The Class of 2012 made good on their promise. Now Weis and his staff must make good on theirs. If they can, this will be the first of many "good days" in Notre Dame's near future. If not, signing day 2009 may not transpire as seamlessly as this one did.

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