Former Irish Wideout Now a Pitcher

Last year Jeff Samardzija was the number one wideout for the University f Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He caught 78 passes, racked up over 1,000 yards and scored 12 touchdowns. His stats for the year before that were just slightly better. Samardizija was supposed to be a number one pick- low first rounder or maybe a high second rounder. After being Brady Quinn’s go-to receiver, Samardzija might have even been picked before Brady himself. Instead, he ran a route from the draft… to a minor league baseball team in Florida.

It’s true. Those of you who got Notre Dame Fighting Irish tickets at StubHub.com to see Jeff Samardzija catch might not have known that this multi-sport athlete could also throw. Right now he is guaranteed $16.5 million over the next five years, a pretty sweet deal- almost surely better than he would have gotten in the NFL. He has a loyal Notre Dame fan base wherever he pitches.

I think it might have been nice to see another two sport athlete out there. We haven’t had a good one since Deion Sanders.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 25, 2007 - Post a comment