5th Year Fever

Here come the 5th years.

• Geoff Price #17 Punter
• Dwight Stephenson #57 Defensive End
• Trevor Laws #98 Defensive Tackle
• John Carlson #89 Tight End
• Ambrose Wooden #22 Cornerback
• John Sullivan #78 Center
• Joe Brockington #52 Linebacker
• Travis Thomas #26 Running Back/ Linebacker CAPTAIN
• Tom Zbikowski #9 Safety CAPTAIN

This is an excellent group of veteran players. Here are a few tidbits about these Grad Students.

• 8 of the 9 players were starters during the 2006 season.(Stephenson did not, but he may end up being this years Corey Mays).
• 4 of these players are going to end their ND Career as 4 year starters.(Zibby, Wooden, Sullivan, and Laws).
• 2 of the 3 Captains of the 2006 team are returning. (Zibby and Thomas).
• All are quality guys and all should make considerable contributions to ND on and off the field.

There are a lot of Domers out there that are getting a little zealous for the younger guys and have spurned the fact that these players are returning. If you think ND would be better off without them, go talk to a shrink. Why do we want them back?

• As stated before, there are a lot of starters here. They are good enough to play and I believe defensive guys are in a better position than last year with Brown as the Defensive Coordinator.
• Depth, depth, depth. You can never have enough.
• The young guys are talented, but they could use another year of learning while still getting ample playing time just as Weis has done since he has been at ND.
• Leadership. The more upperclassmen in football the better.
• It helps all of these guys draft status (which is why they are all returning) which in turn is good for the program and the university as a whole.

I am excited about these guys and I know they can help us win. It will be an exciting spring game... but I'll get to that later.