Irish Sports Daily

Notre Dame will probably only have 18 or 19 scholarships in the 2011 recruiting class. The Irish have obvious needs on the defensive side of the ball and a considerable amount of their recruiting focus has been there. Because of this they will need to be very selective about the players they take at positions where the depth chart is already fairly deep. As a result, it’s safe to say, that any player offered at one of those positions must be very highly regarded. Last week Irish Sports Daily’s Steve Wiltfong spoke to a couple of targets on the Notre Dame recruiting board, one at a position of need and one at a position of want. What have you been missing by not being a member of Irish Sports Daily?

Connor Wujciak, DE/OLB, 6-3, 245, Seton Hall Preparatory School, West Orange, NJ visited Notre Dame on the last weekend of June. He was accompanied by his father, Alan, a member of the 1973 Notre Dame National Championship team. For Connor it was the second time he visited the Notre Dame campus though he was only in second grade the last time he trekked to South Bend. For his father it was a chance to see all the changes since he had last been to campus and to talk with his son about how Notre Dame was when he attended. The younger Wujciak’s versatility and toughness makes him very appealing to an Irish staff that wants to upgrade its defense.

“It was good,” said Wujciak. “It was nice going around and seeing everything. After being there again, I realized there were a lot more buildings there. It was upgraded a lot. They definitely helped themselves.”

Wujciak toured the campus and got to sit down with defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, defensive line coach Mike Elston and linebackers coach Kerry Cooks. He liked what they had to say.

“It was real cool,” exclaimed Wujciak. “They talk about how they have a 3-4, but they will play a 4-3 also. I saw they were real serious about both football and academics. They weren’t going to mess around with either one. Both were real important.”

As a junior Wujciak recorded 64 tackles, 11 sacks, three fumble recoveries, one blocked punt and one blocked field goal. This performance has led to scholarship offers from such notable schools as Notre Dame, Boston College, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Michigan State and Central Florida. He has already visited Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Maryland and plans to take a trip to Boston College after his Irish visit. He hopes to make a decision before fall.

Justin Worley, QB, 6-5, 210, Northwestern High School, Rock Hill, SC planned to arrive in South Bend on Sunday, June 28 and not leave until Wednesday morning. This visit will, in all likelihood, be his last before making a college decision. Since this is Worley’s first visit to Notre Dame the Irish coaching staff will undoubtedly pull out all the stops to impress the South Carolina signal-caller.

“We’re kind of using June to visit the schools high on Justin’s list,” explained Peyton Worley, Justin’s father. “Those are the schools that have kind of risen to the top. As far as a decision goes, he’s not going to make any decisions before visiting Notre Dame. How soon he makes a decision, your guess is as good as mine.”

Earlier in June, the Worleys visited his other top schools, LSU, Florida State and Tennessee.

Worley’s passing statistics have been phenomenal. He has led his team to the South Carolina state championship game two years in a row. As a sophomore he passed for 3641 yards and 50 touchdowns while completing 57 percent of his passes. He returned his junior season and passed for 4366 yards and 42 touchdown passes while completing 70 percent of his throws.

After having signed three quarterbacks in the class of 2010 as well as adding junior college quarterback Nate Montana, quarterback is not a position of huge need in the 2011 Irish recruiting class. Nevertheless, a talent like Worley’s simply can’t be ignored and the Notre Dame clearly hopes to win the battle for his services.

“He (offensive coordinator Charley Molnar) told us they really like Justin on tape and they’re hoping to have a guy that can make a decision pretty soon, so they can head into July knowing where they stand with the quarterback position,” said Peyton Worley. We’re going up to Notre Dame with an open mind.”

These two summaries represent just a sample of the Notre Dame football recruiting information available each week on Irish Sports Daily.

Every day he works out, class-of-2012 receiver prospect Gehrig Dieter (South Bend, Ind./Washington) gets an in-your-face reminder of what it takes to be a high-end Division-I football player.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Dieter appears close to reaching that level himself.

Dieter’s head coach is Antwon Jones, a former Notre Dame defensive lineman (1996-99) that serves the South Bend community as a police officer. His receiver’s coach is former Irish pass catcher Jay Johnson (1997-00), who is wrapping up getting his teaching license, and his secondary coach is former Irish safety Jarvis Edison (1994-97), now a local salesman. Jones demands that all of his assistants workout and interact with the players.

“We don’t just lift and run with them,” Jones stated. “In the off-season, we’ll get on the mats and wrestle with the kids. When we do our swimming, we’re doing it. Basketball, same thing.

“You look at some of those guys, Jarvis looks like he still could play, and Jay looks like a linebacker, receiver. We can still get down and dirty.”

Dieter can too.

As a sophomore, he caught 63 passes for 1,167 yards and 15 touchdowns, helping lead the Panthers to their first conference title since 1975. Dieter posted bigger numbers than fellow area receiver Daniel Smith (South Bend, IN/Clay), who signed with the Irish in February.

Very early in the recruiting process, Dieter is hearing from most of the schools in the Big Ten and Mid-American Conferences, and Notre Dame is also giving the local playmaker a look.

While working out, Dieter himself looks at guys like Johnson and Edison, and it pushes him to give every ounce of energy he has for the task at hand.

“We have probably the best coaching staff in Indiana,” Dieter said. “They’ve been in this situation before, and they were all recruited very highly, and they know what’s going on.

“They just help me by telling me what they did in certain situations, and to just keep working hard. They say everyone else is going to work hard, so you have to push yourself to work harder. They know a lot of drills, and they know what to do in certain situations, and they know drills for what I need to work on.”

Dieter added that the Washington staff has raised his competitiveness to another level, and he’s taken that attitude on the road to recent camps at Ohio State and Notre Dame.

“I think one of the biggest things with him is he’s reliable,” Jones said. “He has great hands. We know if we need a big play, he’s going to catch the ball, and he runs good routes. He doesn’t rely on his speed, he makes sure he runs good routes, and he’s a big-play possession receiver if there is one. He can make a possession reception, and turn it into a big play and go 70 yards with his size and strength.

Last Thursday, Irish receivers coach Tony Alford saw some of the things Jones was talking about. Following his workout for the Notre Dame one-day camp, Alford asked Dieter and class-of-2011 receiver Kenny Knight (Beverly Hills, Mich./Detroit Country Day) to stay late and go through a few more drills.

“It was real good,” Dieter said. “He told me that I was doing everything great, and all I needed to work on was staying low and work on my speed.

Last fall, Dieter posted more prolific numbers than future Notre Dame receiver Daniel Smith.

Following his final season at Venice, Clay Burton will be chasing QBs in an Irish uniform.

Four-star outside linebacker/defensive end Clay Burton (Venice, Fla./Venice) didn’t need much time away from Notre Dame, to know that’s where he wants to spend the college chapter of his life.

A little under a week after departing from his first-ever visit to the South Bend campus, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Burton pulled the trigger, verbally committing to Notre Dame. He chose the Irish over his other favorites, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Tennessee.

“I just slept on it for about a week, and counseled with everyone important to me, my mom, my brother, my uncle, my grandmother, and all my high school coaches, and I decided it was the best fit for me and the perfect time to get it off my shoulders and relax," Burton explained. "They’re all happy about it, and so proud of me.”

Burton becomes the 10th verbal commit in Notre Dame’s recruiting class-of-2011, and the second linebacker, joining Jarrett Grace (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain). Burton will play the CAT linebacker spot in the Irish defense, the same position currently occupied by junior Darius Fleming.

“I called coach (Tony) Alford, and talked to him and coach (Bob) Diaco and coach (Kerry) Cooks, and I’ll be talking to coach (Brian) Kelly tonight,” Burton said. As a junior he registered 80 tackles and 12 sacks. “They’re excited about it and told me to celebrate. Now, I’m just ready to finish this summer, and finish my high school season, and get up there in December and earn my spot.”

Burton was close to committing last Saturday while he was on his three-day visit to Notre Dame with his uncle, but he wanted to talk it over with the rest of his family before making the call.

“Just the culmination of the football and tradition there, the education, and the great coaching staff they have in place now," Burton said of what drove him to his decision. "I’m just a perfect fit in the defense, and I feel no reason to visit anywhere else or talk to anyone else. I’m solid with my commitment.

“I’m so honored to even have the opportunity, and I’m definitely ready to help bring Notre Dame nation to where it should be. I want to be part of the revival of the program.”

Burton sees that ending in the National Championship game against his older brother Trey, currently a freshman quarterback at Florida.

“I’m looking forward to it. It would probably be one of the best days in my life. I’m just trying to work hard and just getting ready to start my career and legacy at Notre Dame.”

Besides his favorites, Burton had scholarship offers from the likes of Boston College, Cincinnati, Duke, LSU Ole’ Miss, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Stanford, South Florida and West Virginia.