NOTRE DAME BEGINS SPRING PRACTICE

Coming off a disastrous 2007 season it looks as if head coach Charlie Weis is adapting to the "maybe I'm not such a football genius" after all thought. It's pretty simple in terms of outlook for the 2008 season for the Irish in what will determine their success on the football field: the development of the offensive line.

If the offensive line gels and lives up to their collective hype coming out of high school the Irish will have a very successful season which could translate into 10 wins. But on the flip side if they don't gel or mature and miss assignments like last season the Irish will be lucky to keep QB Jimmy Clausen(who has added weight but still needs to add some more) healthy and their offense on the field. The Irish have a ton of talent at every position not including defensive line and it will be interesting to see how the team reacts to Weis delegating the play calling to offensive coordinator Haywood and how the defense reacts to incoming Jon Tenuta to help bring some aggressive blitzing and attacking schemes to Corwin Brown's defense.

Make no mistake, the Irish need to get nasty on the football field and it looks like they will be having full contact, no holding back, get in your face hitting and blocking starting on the third day of practice. To hear this makes these Irish eyes glimmer with hope. But hope doesn't translate into victories and if the Irish want to return to kick ass football they will need to execute and develop a "me against the world" attitude and practice their asses off this spring. Or maybe just give the ball to Robert Hughes, James Aldridge, and Armando Allen and let them do what they do which is run over, around, and through opposing defenses. Either way there are no excuses for this upcoming season(I'm looking at you offensive line).