The South Bend Tribune has a nice piece on this year’s early enrollment recruits Sean Cwynar and Trevor Robinsontoday.
When Jimmy Clausen, Armando Allen and Gary Gray followed last year, it gave rise to Clausen-mania, Elbow-gate and certainly was a contributing, if not dominating, factor in Notre Dame setting an attendance record at its spring football game last April.
And now the 6-foot-5, 300-pound Robinson and 6-4, 283-pound defensive end Sean Cwynar of McHenry, Ill., are Nos. 7-8 in a lineage that resumed after four decades of resistance. There was never a written rule banning or even discouraging January enrollment, but the idea was never embraced, even for non-athletes.
“I really don’t look at it as that big of a deal,” Robinson said. “I think maybe it’s going to be an easier transition playing spring football than it would have been coming in the summer or fall. I don’t know, I was just ready for something different.”
Considering our depth along the defensive line, Cwynar could benefit greatly from the head start which may result in early playing time for the All American defensive tackle. As for Robinson, given our performance along the offensive line last year, it is safe to say that he too could earn some playing time this fall thanks in part to starting his Notre Dame career early.Dan Saracino did his best to make early enrollment seem like a horrible, terrible thing in the article
Saracino’s own son transferred from Cal Poly into the regular-student population at ND in January of his freshman year, shortly after his father had taken his current job roughly a decade ago.
“He came very close to transferring back to Cal Poly,” Saracino said. “Now, he has gone on to graduate, but he would tell you exactly why admitting students in January at Notre Dame isn’t a good idea. It’s gray, it’s dismal here. The winters are brutal, especially if you’re not from this part of the country.
“They had a hard time finding a roommate for him, and when they did, it was someone he was completely different from. He had a hard time meeting other freshmen. His courses were a little out of sequence. He didn’t get exactly what he wanted as far as course selection. For all those reasons and more, that’s why we’re reluctant to do it — especially with kids graduating from high school, not to mention kids transferring in.”
Gee, thanks for painting such a wonderful picture of Notre Dame Dan.
YOU CAN’T BEAT A GOOD SNOW- BALL FIGHT AND THERE IS NO SNOW IN LA OR GAINESVILLE
frank,
1. we are extremely happy that trevor and sean are happily enrolled at notre dame now.
2. they were both in the audience this evening at a sold out joyce center mens’ basketball game in which the notre dame players, after being blown out by a brilliant offensive and defensive game plan at marquette a few days ago, started slowly in the 1st half, but recovered very nicely to win easily with a fantastic second half performance.
3. naturally, cincinnati came at notre dame with the marquette game plan.
4. however, the real loyal notre dame fans cheered the notre dame players loudly throughout the game, even through an ugly 1st half, and virtually everyone in the entire crowd was on his or her feet for most of the game.
5. after those vicious horrible negative stories throughout the 2007 season from the old sbt, why should they stop being negative now? that is why they will not be employed by the new sbt.
6. given the very close relationship between notre dame’s 2008 commits for football, trevor and sean will get the word out to all of notre dame current 2008 commits and to some of the fine student athletes who are still considering notre dame, including omar hunter
7. urban meyer and greg mattison, formerly of notre dame and not very successful at notre dame, but now at florida, expected to have omar at florida last weekend to get his commitment to florida.
8. however, omar postponed the visit. he has stayed in communication with notre dame’s 2008 commits and perhaps he is realizing that he has been conned both by meyer and pete carroll.
9. we still hope that omar comes to notre dame. however, if he does not, we do understand why omar and his family and high school coaches have been deeply offended by attacks on their integrity and character in the old sbt and on certain so called notre dame fan sites and why they are confused about what real notre dame fans are like.
10. as for the weather in south bend at this time of year, it is not a secret and not very different from the weather right now where sean and trevor grew up.
11. no, the weather in south bend right now is not like the weather in los angeles.
12. i grew up in brooklyn and in europe. most people who grew up in southern california and warmer climates, for some reason, want a change when they go to college unless family reasons require them to stay close to home.
13. in the case of student athletes who grew up in southern california and warmer climates who want to play college football and have a real shot at the nfl,along with a fine education, they only have to watch the 2 nfl games this weekend to understand that they would be well advised to get a taste of south bend weather in college to be ready for the frozen tundras at green bay and where the patriots play.
14. the winters in europe are even more brutal than they are in brooklyn and in the bronx, but i sure enjoyed the education and the experience, as did everyone else from fordham college who made the academic cut and made the same decision that i did. in addition to the climate change, we had a complete change in culture and weather. fitting in was a challenge and fun and made each of us stronger and tougher for the rest of our lives.
15. while we have a residence in los angeles, we spend a good part of every winter in jackson hole, wyoming, where we have another residence.
16. the same is true of very many people who also maintain residences in southern california and other warmer climates, including hurricane prone florida.
keep up the great work,
bob gilleran
I do not think that anyone has ever accused South Bend of being a beautiful winter place. With a small and selective student body and the lifestyle of the campus it would be difficult to make the transition one semester behind everyone else, or better said, one semester ahead of your class. There would be a natural disadvantage in fitting in socially.
That being said, it is not unique to Notre Dame. Members of the football team also are immediately immersed in team life and have the socail piece of it partially eliminated that way. I do not think that it is fair to project one student’s bad experience onto every student athlete that tries to give themself an edge by enrolling early.
Anything that helps this team is a good thing right now.