to that award (whether it's expressly stated or not), which means that ND tends to attract a lot of them.

we drive by Southern Door on Hwy. 57, Jim Flanigan's HS.

- Prince, Carufel and Jones transferred, and I don't think any of them became more than periodic contributors after that

- Gaines disappeared from the face of the Earth (I remember him not enrolling for his junior year, then never hearing from him again)

- Schmidt and Gallup never did anything that I can remember, beyond special teams, though I'm not sure that was a surprise

- Richardson became a marginal contributor

- Young and Olsen became solid members of the O-line, but unfortunately not much more

Beyond those Gatorade state POYs, Yeatman, Reuland, Richard Jackson and Zach Frazer all transferred, Webb had health issues, and George West, Kallen Wade, Toryan Smith, Paddy Mullen, Leonard Gordon and Ryan Burkhart all rode the pine. Only Aldridge, Sergio Brown, Robby Parris, Dan Wenger (who transferred for his 5th year), McNeil, Walls, John Ryan and Chris Stewart were contributors. And among those, only McNeil, Walls and Stewart were consistent starters. Which makes a total of 5 starter-caliber players in a class of 28, one of whom (Walls) spent a season elsewhere because of rumored academic problems.

Such a low hit rate speaks to how overrated that class was (no. 2 in the country, I believe), and how poor Charlie and his staff were at evaluating and developing talent.

He might be the best player in senior class....

• Click here for link

...including Mark Sanchez, Wes Welker, Terrell Suggs, Anquan Boldin, and Jerome Bettis."

Talented players to be sure, but is the best group of five they could put together when touting past winners? Mark Sanchez?

But I get your point.

But I also agree Sanchez is a stretch. Must be the GQ covers.

in part to this:

• Click here for link

He may not be a D1 talent at quarterback, but in HS he was first team all state...as a Junior.

I assume 4.09 GPA is out of a 4.0 scale (w/ weighted classes), which means he's an outstanding student and outstanding football player.

It's not a knock on Jaylon. He was Mr. Football in Indiana. But apparently this Schrader kid isn't a slouch.

is how the only picture of him they could find is blurry and headless.

Considering the overall ranking of the classes and the quality or lack there of it's amazing to me that 2003 and 2004 both have more than our most recent class.

Is Powlus our only National player of the year?

Was Davonte Neal a two year POY? Did we have any others with multiple years?

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The guy who won for Indiana doesn't even seem to show up on most of the recruiting services.