How Did Weis Lure Crist?

According to the Chicago Tribune, Charlie Weis did some rather unconventional, psychologically demanding recruiting to get Dayne Crist to come to Notre Dame. The highly touted quarterback was on a recruiting visit to Notre Dame, looking at a few other schools as well, notably LSU.  Weis knew it was going to be a long shot getting Crist to come to UND, given the fact that they’d just signed another top QB, Jimmy Clausen, a year before, and LSU was looking for somebody to start immediately. Weis said to Crist on his visit, “This is a courtesy visit because you’re afraid to compete with Clausen, right?” Well, the reverse psychology paid off. Crist was irked and challenged by the statement, signed with the Irish and has been playing ferociously in practice to try to get the starting job.

So what do you think of this type of recruiting?  The Notre Dame Blog thinks it’s well within bounds- even kind of clever. With all the recruiting shenanigans and payoffs going around these days, it’s almost refreshing to see a coach try to lure a kid with wits rather than cars and women. Of course, we hope to see Dayne in action in his Junior and senior years with the Irish. We hope he came here to play not just the chance to compete to play.

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Permalink - Posted in General on April 23, 2009 - Post a comment