Here’s some quotes and info on Notre Dame’s newest verbal commitment Robert Hughes…
From the Chicago Tribune:
Hughes, who goes 5-11, 226 pounds and runs a 4.6 40-yard dash, is regarded as one of the nation’s 10 best running backs.
“There’s no wiggle to him,” CSTV recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said. “He’s a north-south runner with great hands, a Darius Walker-type with more power. Robert’s not a runaway guy; he runs over people.”
I really don’t like the Darius Walker comparison here from Lemming because I think the two backs are completely different. Walker excelled at using his vision and using his acceleration to change direction without losing much speed. Walker was NOT a power back and all one needs to do is watch the many, many instances where Walker ran out of bounds at the end of runs (even against USC when we needed to kill the clock… but I digress). Hughes is NOT that kind of back. Hughes is a smashmouth, run you over kind of running back that will be able to convert short yardage situations. One of Walker’s limitations was his ineffectiveness in short yardage situations.
Walker was, however, a better receiver out of the backfield than Hughes coming out of high school. The only real similarity between the two is that both lack top end speed. Hughes power and ability to break tackles will more than compensate for a lack of blazing speed.
More from the Chicago Tribune:
Former Notre Dame and Bears defensive tackle Chris Zorich, who attended Hughes’ announcement, said he’s encouraged by the Irish’s recent efforts to sign Public Leaguers.
“There has been such a gap, and I don’t want to blame the coaching staffs from that time period,” said Zorich, a Chicago Vocational product. “But do you want to tell me that there haven’t been good enough athletes in the Public League? Obviously, that’s not true.”
From his Scout.com profile:
Runs with power and a good pad level…Good forward lean…Tough in the red zone…Good hands out of the backfield…Very good burst…Size, naturally strong with thick legs…Quick but lacks top end speed…Not a shifty runner…Same skill set as former Florida State running back Greg Jones.
That pretty sums of Hughes perfectly. He isn’t going to win any track meets, but he is going to be a work horse running back for the Irish that will wear down defenses as games develop. I like the comparison to Greg Jones too as Hughes has the ability to be that kind of powerful runner for the Irish.
From the Chicago Sun Times (October 28, 2006)
In overtime, the game plan was simple — give it to Hughes, a 6- 1, 230-pound running back, and let him carry the ball. Hughes ran for six yards and then three before his third-down touchdown.
“That one yard seemed like a 200-yard game all by itself,” Hughes said. “I thought I ran a mile. We were losing at the half, and everyone’s head was down in the locker room. I just told them, ‘Let’s get it done.’ I closed my eyes and prayed that we would just have a chance.
You get the sense from a lot of Hughes’ comments that he could be a real team leader for the Irish. He’s very level headed and seems like a no non-sense, old school football player.
More from the Sun Times (May 19, 2006)
Robert Hughes has given up his favorite Chinese takeout, beef fried rice, to keep in top shape. But Hubbard’s 6-foot, 225-pound running back admits it is a small price to pay to achieve his goals.
“I’d rather give that up than $1 million,” he said.
From ChicagoSports.com (October 28, 2006)
[tags]Robert Hughes, Notre Dame Recruiting, Notre Dame Football[/tags]Hughes scored on a 13-yard run with 6:36 remaining in the 4th to tie the game at 20-20. Hughes carried 32 times for 190 yards and 2 TDs. QB Sean Catthouse rushed for 78 yards on 14 carries, and threw for a TD in the win. “We’ve all got heart,” Hughes said. “A few mistakes here and there is not the deciding factor in the game. It’s how you finish.”
It was nice to see that some of you also think we need to turn some offensive players into defensive. The moment Robert Hughes comitted, I thought “Luke Schmidt for linebacker or defensive end”. He has the height, speed, and most likely enjoys the contact. He needs to lead the way. A premier athlete like him acting unselfishly is what I have always thought Irish football was about. Two of last years “Tight ends” are already comitted to playing defense and are lifting weights to prepare.
We lost Major Wright to Florida today…(I’d love to know what Meyer is promising those kids) We have to accept that this years defense will be coming from within the existing program. I’m sure Corwin Brown will be an exciting change.
STEP UP LUKE!!
ND needs a player who hits- and hits hard- like Major Wright. He would be icing on the cake of what is already a phenomenal, and vastly underrated recruiting class. We garnered brutes on offense and maybe not top notch talent on D, but remember that it’s not the number of stars that inidicates the value and talent of the player. Weis wouldn’t recruit a three star athlete unless he thought they could contribute.
Garvo, I agree about recruiting guys from smaller schools. Michael Hart attended Onodaga, a school right here in Syracuse, and no one thought he’d make it at Michigan.
And its safe to say he sure as hell proved them all wrong, even if he doesn’t play another down of football in his career.
Irish Realist and Cloudy the last 2 years of recruiting has just focused of the O side of the ball and pretty much let the D go. Yes Weis has has gone after speed on the defense and that has been addressed. But I beleive that weis consentrated on the O side because ND has lost alot of talent on that side of the ball the last 2 years. Remember Trattou would have been one of only 2 incoming freshman that would have been on the line. The other kid out of Florida I beleive is Williams is coming. Will weis give some of the other kids a chance to play D line? I beleive he’ll have choice but to do so. Irish Realist you are absolutly correct when you said Holtz took some of the young talent put them on the defensive side and it worked out for him. If nothing els Weis should use the remainng slots for the defensive side of the ball even if he has to look at the lower levels of high school football because there are alot of talented kids that because they don’t play in the big conferences in high school they don’t get the exposure they need to be looked at by the big schools. For example here in INDY catholic schools almost always send at least 4 schools onto state every year and win. 1A= THE SMALLEST SCHOOLS all the way up to 5A= the largest. The Schools here are loaded with talent but because Indiana is known for basketball the state is over looked in football. I know that ND has to recruit on a national level but I’m telling everyone that the smaller schools and that includes all over the USA have talent that no one seems to want or they don’t hear about the kids. The D needs help up front and now that the offence has been restocked it’s high time to restock the D for the next 2 years Weis won’t have a choice if he wants to keep his job.
Cloudy, I wish I had an answer as to why to top-flight WR didn’t follow Clausen. Hell, I remember last year when Arkansas conned Mitch Mustain into committing & it immediately led to 2 top WR from out of state (Florida & Louisiana respectively I think) to commit. Of course, we know how that story took a turn for the worst.
I think we’re delusional if we don’t think that the Irish getting blown out in the Sugar Bowl didn’t have an adverse effect on recruits who were on the bubble. I mean Will Blackwell chooses LSU over ND where the Tigers are loaded at D-line & then Trattou does the same at Florida. Granted, Blackwell may want to stay in his home state but then Marvin Austin chooses to move from the upper midwest down to Baton Rouge b/c he knows he’ll be showcased & most likely be a top draft pick after his Jr. season. Meyer has now stolen 8 recruits from other schools; the likes of which incl Texas, FSU, & ND. Tom Lemming said he thought it was unfair, in his opinion, to recruit a kid who is verbally committed unless they reopen their recruiting, but he also said “All’s fair in love & recruiting”. Hopefully this will fire up Weis & staff as far as focusing on out-recruiting the elites for defensive front 7 help.
With all of the O-linemen from last year’s class & this year, weis needs to evaluate his kids to see which ones would make a solid, dependable d-lineman. Andrew Nuss has already agreed & I expect someone like Eric Olsen to be there, too. That’s what Holtz did in his early yrs. to get over the top. He moved an average FB, Frank Stams, to LB where he led the ’88 squad to the NC & was named AA to boot. Same w/ Wes Pritchett who was moved from TE to defense. :ater in his stint, he successfully used athletes like Jeff Burris on both sides of the ball.
Garvo, I hope I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t expect any more kids joining this class. Major Wright is their only hope. Malcolm Smith verballed to USC today & Martez Wilson is firm on Illinois. On a positive note, the offense should be unstoppable in a year or so. Weis’ stable of RB reminds me of all the ones Holtz had in the late 80s early 90s when he had Rickey Watters, Jerome Bettis, Rodney Culver, Dorsey Levens, Rocket Ismail, Anthony Johnson & others. For a stretch there, we were RB U.
Cloudy keep in mind that 10 years of floundering and sub par coaching and very poor recruiting is what Weis has taken over and just now with just 2 recruiting classes under his belt that the talent pool has increased more than thought possible. I’ll also say the kids today want everthing handed to them and they want it now. That is what I think led Trattou down the road. His thinking is probably why should I have earn it while I’ll be given what I want. And the gators have shown their true colors and are willing to blow smoke up some kids ass just to get them. Will he start probably not.Not one Dlineman left the gators and I don’t think they’re are just going to roll over for Trattou. Yes it would be great if some of the other kids would have followed JC to ND but like I said most of the elite kids want to have it given to them and not have to earn it. That kind of player wouldn’t last long under Weis. There is no I in team and Trattou showed what he is all about. You can’t count on his word either.Remember Weis went to Trattou’s house to cinfirm his commitment to ND and 2 days later Meyer and company showed up. The other 2 coaches with meyers at one time coached at ND and were probably let go so you can imagine what was said. Character seems to be lacking in Coaches and kids today.Win at all cost thinking is on meyers brain and gator land.
I have a feeling that Weis will come out of this looking good. Who knows a lot of the Olineman that have been recruited also played D in highschool. There is talent out there. This new DC I think will rekindle the fire needed to bring in the players.
Garvo
I suspect like I think you do that there is an abundance of talent on the sidelines at ND and much more than Minter had us believe. Maybe not to the extent that all are legit first rate starters but much better than we were able to witness in 06.
My feeling is that Trattou is not all together as a person and is easily lead by the moment. If so he may quite possibly be out of his element away from home and it’s best the Gators take him on.
My thoughts are; I’d like it a lot better if ND were in the running for the elite athletes. Again I just don’t understand why if an elite QB such as Clausen commits somewhere, that the elite WR’s don’t follow suit. It’s just logic. Did ND not know of these other athletes, or is it ND is to spread out over the entire country to get a handle on it all?
Just being curious I guess.
IR seems to have good answers most of the time or maybe the maize-peeler has stats on that. I know he’s out there and itching.
Ok I jumped the gun on the 300lbs guys but remember that there many more fish in the sea than who we all know of. Weis I’m sure is very dissappointed with Trattou but I really beleive that he Trattou has been led down the wrong path by the Gators. When you bring 2 coaches with you who just happened to coach at ND at one time you can only imagin what they told Trattou.Trattou said he likes to play agressive ball well that’s exactly what has been missing up at ND and Weis brought someone who will be agressive. He would have prbably started to. Well let him go. He certainly won’t have to study too hard down in gator land. It would be interesting to find out exactly what was said.I venture to say there’s more to it than we’re being told.Trattou is listed as a DEFENSIVE END not a lineman which is what ND needs badly.
Just keep an eye on the next couple of weeks see what happens with the remaing 10 spots left. I would think that after Trattou jumped over board “without a life jacket” that Weis will help out the new DC on the recruiting end of the game. There are some good kids still out there that ND has offered so lets see what happens.
Irish Realist lets keep in mind that Trattou will be heading to a school that didn’t graduate anyone from the Dline and I don’t think any of them will move over to let Trattou play. I also beleive that he’ll be on the sidelines more than on the field. Florida has brought in 7 Dlinemen to begin with an they are really good. I don’t beleive that you can cater one individual on the team and just let him play the position he wants. He looks good now but it’s also a crapp shoot with all the players. He might not be able to play at the next level. We’ll see soon enough.
As I recall for the last 2 years Minter never really made any changes to the dedense and he didn’t always play the best players either. He thought the upper classmen regardless of talent should play. Even many of the players were saying that the best players are on the second team. I know the the new DC will make the changes that will be needed. He already said that but I won’t really beleive it until I see it. He said he will use the defense that will give them the best chace to win. Something that minter appearently couldn’t figure out.
As far as not being able to recruit big time players I’m not going to worry too much about it. I will say this on the returning roster there are some big boys returning to play and they are on the defensive line and do weigh over 300lbs. Why we didn’t see them last year I’m not sure. I beleive that not being an upper classman might have had something to do with that though.R
Irish Realist lets keep in mind that Trattou will be heading to a school that didn’t graduate anyone from the Dline and I don’t think any of them will move over to let Trattou play. I also beleive that he’ll be on the sidelines more than on the field. Florida has brought in 7 Dlinemen to begin with an they really good. I don’t beleive that you can cater one individual on the team and just let him play the position he wants. He looks good now but it’s also a crapp shoot with all the players. He might not be able to play at the next level. We’ll see soon enough.
As I recall for the last 2 years Minter never really made any changes to the dedense and he didn’t always play the best players either. He thought the upper class regardless of talent should play. Even many of the players were saying that the best players are on the second team. I know the the new DC will make the changes that will be needed. H already said but I won’t really beleive it until I see it that he will use the defense that will give them the best chace to win. S
Trattou is now a solid verbal to Florida…we lost him. The obvious rumor is that the change in DC had an impact…he was possibly unsettled w/ the possibility of Brown switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4. I wonder if Meyer would let us trade Hughes & a player to be named later (preferably from Willingham’s class…hell everyone else from his classes are gone!) back for Trattou. This just fuels the fire regarding ND as unable to attract the top front 7 defensive players.
Frank V.!
What happened with the Justin Trattou story? Is this kid just bouncing around, a flake, or is he reconscidering his commitment? I noticed on one of the recruit pages he was only considered a “soft verbal” to ND.
You can never have to many good power runners on your team. I’m also not sure about Aldridge in that role either. Time will tell. Anyway, the postion will be wide open and the competition will push all of them to play in top form. I just wish we were doing as well in recruiting on the D side of the ball, but I guess there is at least a possibility that this guy could be switched over. It also looks like the new D coach will be a recruiting asset, at least in Chicagoland. Bout time for that to happen.
Absolutley! Better to have too much talent than not enough or none at all. Let’s hope we can find a new positive expression and let Bettis keep his label. Maybe Hughes’s excellent play will invent a new catch name, one all for himself. Now how about some top level defensive recruits joining the parade.
There is one thing I’m not understanding; if I’m a top WR and am looking for a school to go to, and I see the top rated throwing QB in the land has commited to ND why wouldn’t I want to follow him knowing I’ll likely see the ball a lot as well knowing a guy like Weis is a coach who emphasizes the pass play? Some one comment on that please.
Here is hoping for a bright furture at ND.
Grant, yeah the backfield is crowded but better to have too much talent than too little. I would have liked to see those scholarships go the defensive side of the ball but we whiffed on all those prospects and I’d rather see a top 100 rb than a desperate last ditch effort to sign some low 3 star lb types (see the recruiting classes in 2004 and 2005). I know the analogy is not even close and that I will be ridiculed for saying so but, just for fun, can we say the Bus II?
Grant I understand what you are saying but look at it this way. ND all last year never really had a short yardage threat. SWAPP I hope I spelled that correctly was on the sideline all season long. So we really don’t know what he can do as of yet. You need to be deep with talent in this position and the other positions as well and this is exactly what Weis is doing. This kid Hughes is going to be the hammer that Weis has been looking for. With all the other talent that is already there and the incoming talent this should really push all the kids to be the best. I beleive that has been and is the intent of COACH WEIS all along.
Grant I understand what you are saying but look at it this way. ND all last year never really had a short yardage threat. SWAPP I
Why did we want him!? Yes, young Mr. Hughes is probably a good player, though I don’t see him racing away down field in a blaze of speed but for that third and a yard’n’half ND hasn’t had that kind of threat between the tackles since Powers Neal(sp). An example of that is the loss to USC in 05 when several times during the game ND faced short yardage for a first down and was unable to make it. If ND had made just one of the many short yardage plays, USC would more than likely would not have had the last second opportunity for their victory. This is not to say ND would have made the plays or a play, but we would have had a better chance with Powers Neal(sp) should he have been allowed to play. (I never did learn why he was let go from the squad.) Who knows Robert Hughes may not be the answer, but what is there now certainly is not. It looks like a good situation for both Robert Hughes and ND. If he can produce the short yardage play a third of the time ND will have gotten better than what they had. Also his presence in the backfield will be threat enough to give the receivers an extra step which might be all they’ll need. ND could have used that in 06.
Are you serious? Hughes is a top 100 running back and the kind of bruising back that Notre Dame has not had in a long, long time. Hughes has said that playing time is important to him, but he has never once said he expects anything to be handed to him. This is a level headed kid who is a “Notre Dame kid” by all accounts.
How on earth anyone can ask “why did we want him” is beyond me. Why wouldn’t we want him??? You want to use Schmidt in short yardage? He has 0 career carries. Aldridge has had injury issues and Prince and Allen are not powerful running backs.
Hughes is one of the biggest recruits in this class for Notre Dame. Remember all those times we haven’t been able to convert 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1? Well now the Irish have a back who specializes in getting tough yards and you ask why did we want him? I just can’t comprehend how anyone can’t see why we wanted Hughes, but maybe I’m biased because I like to see an offense convert short yardage situations… silly me.