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Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
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ASSOCIATED PRESSSOUTH BEND, Ind. - During a recent press conference, Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis was asked if, when he took the job, he knew how important recruiting is.
“First of all, I knew that I was going to like recruiting,” Weis said, “so that wasn’t going to be the issue.”
Back-to-back-to-back top-10 finishes in February’s version of the national polls certainly would back up Weis’ statement. Four years into his tenure in South Bend, he seems to have the same energy that he had when he first arrived, when he hit the road with a right hand full of Super Bowl rings and a promise of better things to come.
The Super Bowl rings aren’t as evident as they once were, but Weis continues to take promise on the road with him. He is considered one of the best recruiting head coaches in the country, mentioned in the same breath as USC’s Pete Carroll, Texas’ Mack Brown and Florida’s Urban Meyer.
What makes Weis’ task so challenging, however, is the distance he has to travel to get the job done. While Brown, Carroll and Meyer can do a bulk of their recruiting within driving distance of their respective campuses, Weis rarely has that luxury considering Indiana isn’t exactly a hotbed for football talent.
More often than not, Weis must jump in a plane to see a recruit. Exhibit A: his recent bye week flight to Hawaii to watch coveted linebacker prospect Monti Te’o. Whether the trip is fruitful won’t be known perhaps until signing day, but Weis did gain a good amount of local attention just by showing up.
The level of attention Weis has received, however, has been a bit of a surprise.
“What I didn’t realize is the magnitude of the Internet,” he said. “I mean, you can’t do anything without it being on the Internet, and recruiting is just one of the subjects. Recruiting happens to be the subject we’re talking about, but it’s no different than if I go to the movies, to the multi-cinema on Friday night.”
Most of that attention, though, through three full cycles, has been good. The first three full classes that Weis assembled ranked eighth (2006), eighth and second (the current freshmen) by Rivals.com. The group Weis is putting together right now is currently 12th, and is expected to finish somewhere near the back end of the top 10.
Yes, there have been great recruiting successes, namely on offense where the skill players he has signed are beginning to show a firepower worthy of a national title contender. Terrific athletes are in place in the secondary and young raw talent is beginning to develop at linebacker, although more athletes are needed at the spot.
If there are areas that may stand in the way of ND developing into a title contender in the next few years, they would be in the trenches.
The offensive line talent was highly regarded, but the running game has yet to consistently develop, and the culprit seems to be the line.
And there just isn’t a lot of top-line talent along the defensive line. While the current group is serviceable, there doesn’t seem to be the game-changing force on the line that is abundant elsewhere. High-profile misses the last few years are beginning to hit harder now that those players are excelling at schools not named Notre Dame.
But overall, Weis has been a success in living rooms, enjoying more success on the recruiting trail than did his predecessor. And with that comes increased attention.
“As far as recruiting goes, no matter where you go, no matter what you do,” he said, “there’s multiple people that know about it.”
It took a while for the light bulb to go on, but when it did, Jonas Gray finally showed the talent many had expected from the blue-chip prospect from Detroit. In a recent interview, Gray, who is rehabbing an ACL injury to get ready for the NFL Scouting Combine, expressed the confidence and support he has for head coach Brian Kelly.
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