Mike Golic Jr. Follows Father’s Footsteps to Notre Dame

(UHND.com) – Notre Dame got its first verbal commitment for the 2007-2008 recruiting season on Monday when Mike Golic Jr, a talented offensive line prospect from Connecticut, decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, Mike, and his Uncle Bob. Golic Jr. is a great start to this year’s recruiting efforts with the Irish needing to continue to build depth along the offensive line.

Golic (6’5”, 260 lbs) comes to Notre Dame from Northwest Catholic in West Hartford, Connecticut and adds some versatility to next year’s as a potential offensive or defensive linemen much like Andrew Nuss and Emeka Nwankwo was this year. Golic played both this past season, but many project him as a center along the offensive line.

One of the biggest hurdles for Golic to overcome between now and next year will be adding some weight to a frame that can easily handle it as well as practicing his technique against competition that he can easily over power.

Golic’s competition is not all that great and because of this it is easy for him to physically dominate his opponents with sheer strength. The problem with playing against lesser competition is that his technique will need a lot of work once he gets the to the next level.

Despite the work that Golic will need to do before he reports to Notre Dame next year, this was a great pickup and start to this year’s class for Notre Dame. Golic Sr. may have had some harsh words for Notre Dame initially after the firing of Willingham, but he was quickly won over by Weis and served as an honorary coach for last year’s Blue-Gold game.

Notre Dame will need to land a full class of five offensive linemen this year, especially if Nuss and Nwankwo end up on the defensive side of the ball, which makes the pickup of a quality line prospect this year a promising beginning for the Irish.

What also makes Golic Jr.’s commitment great news for Notre Dame fans is that it is pretty clear that he truly wants to be at Notre Dame after making his decision as soon as he got his offer. After the last month of this past year’s recruiting season, it is always nice to see kids who truly want to be part of Notre Dame get that chance.