The Wake-up Call Podcast

To listen to the commercial-free broadcast of today’s show on www.sportstownchicago.com you can click here http://snd.sc/LCV8g1 where I give you my take on the highly anticipated Cubs debut of Anthony Rizzo.

The impact of the Kevin Youkilis trade for the White Sox and what he means to their division title aspirations.

And last but not least, the death of the BCS with the news of a 4-team playoff format beginning in the 2014 season.

Notre Dame 2012 Season Outlook

English: EL PASO, Texas (December 31, 2010) University of Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees calls an audible at the 2010 Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, Dec. 31. Rees (15-29, 201 yards, 2 TDs) and the Irish gave blue and gold Sun Bowl fans something to cheer about when they defeated the University of Miami Hurricanes, 33-17. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The story of the 2012 season will hinge largely on the play of quarterback Tommy Rees. Entering summer practice as the presumptive starter after previously splitting time with Dayne Crist, who has since transferred to Kansas to play for former Notre Dame Coach, Charlie Weis, will be counted on running head coach Brian Kelly’s high-octane offense.

Rees, a former Lake Forest prep star shown flashes of greatness last year, but also showed mental lapses and the need for further development as his 14 interceptions indicate, including throwing eight int’s in five ND losses. Kelly will need to harness the talent in the quarterback’s right arm and limit the mistakes for the Irish to hold off Andrew Hendrix and early-enrollee Gunner Kiel.

The freshman from Columbus, Indiana took the circuitous route to South Bend after committing to Indiana then changing his mind to LSU before ultimately deciding to stay close to home and attend the very same university his uncle Blair attended from 1980-83 starting 29 games at quarterback. Kiel will be lurking on the sidelines and if Rees and Hendrix struggle, don’t be surprised to see the 6’4’’ 220 gunslinger taking the snaps for The Irish.

Notre Dame’s quarterbacks will have to cope with the loss of the school’s most productive receiver and first round draft pick of the Arizona Cardinals, Michael Floyd and tailback Jonas Gray, who led the team with 12 rushing touchdowns.

However, The Irish return potential first round pick Tyler Eifert at tight end, leading rusher Cierre Wood, and receivers Theo Reddick and TJ Jones are looking to emerge from Floyd’s large shadow. Incoming freshman Justin Ferguson, a wide receiver from Florida will likely be thrown in the mix in summer practice to see if the 6’1’’ target can help fill the immense void left by Floyd.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Irish will be led by senior Manti Te’o, who returned after bypassing the NFL. The middle linebacker is facing big expectations after turning down the payday the NFL would have provided. One player who has left South Bend is safety Harrison Smith, who was a first round pick of the Minnesota Vikings, and finding his replacement is every bit of a concern as replacing Floyd as the Irish pass defense, who also lose senior cornerback Robert Blanton, has been suspect in recent years.

The remedy for a poor secondary is often a relentless pass rush and the Irish lost one of the more promising defensive ends in the country when freshman All-American, Aaron Lynch decided to take his talents to South Florida. The onus will be on rising sophomore Ishaq Williams, to step into the defensive line rotation and provide the consistent pass rush the Irish front seven will need to create to aid the secondary.

The Irish will not get any relief when looking at the 2012 schedule as familiar foes Michigan, Michigan State, Stanford, Boston College, and USC are all on the docket. Looming large for Brian Kelly’s squad are an October match-up at Soldier Field with Miami, FL (which will provide a large home-field advantage), and a date at Norman, Oklahoma to take on the Sooners.

The Irish leave the comfort of South Bend and travel across the pond to take on the Navy Midshipmen in Dublin, Ireland in the season opener before returning to the States for the home opener vs. The Purdue Boilermakers.

NOTRE DAME 2012 SCHEDULE

09/01 – Navy @Dublin, Ireland
09/08 – Purdue
09/15 – at Michigan State
09/22 – Michigan
10/06 – Miami FL @Chicago, IL
10/13 – Stanford
10/20 – Brigham Young
10/27 – at Oklahoma
11/03 – Pittsburgh
11/10 – at Boston College
11/17 – Wake Forest
11/24 – at Southern California

The schedule features two teams likely to be in the pre-season top 5 in USC and Oklahoma and Michigan and Michigan will possibly rank inside the top 10. Other than those match-ups the Irish may find themselves the favorite in the rest of their games, with the lone exception being the Michigan State game in East Lansing. However, The Irish did defeat the Spartans last season at home.

My early prediction: 9-3

Follow me on Twitter @PatrickASchmidt

Patrick is a diehard Chicago sports fan and an avid college football fan, particularly the SEC. Patrick is the host of “The Wake-up Call,” a weekly sports show on Sportstownchicago.com every Wednesday morning from 8-10. View his show’s website here.

Northwestern Football 2012 Preview

Coach Fitz (Photo credit: Markfive)

Memorial Day has passed and the unofficial countdown to college football is underway, and for the die-hard college football fan September 1 cannot come soon enough.  In many ways this is the eye of the hurricane.  The spring semester just wrapped up and the student-athletes have some downtime before summer practices kick off.

This is also the time of year when coaches and athletic directors have to be biting their fingernails and hoping their players are staying out of trouble and out of the back of a police car.

One college that usually does not have to worry about that type of behavior on their campus or from their team is Northwestern University.  Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald has done a fine job in the six years on-the-job after taking over after the sudden passing of Randy Walker.

Fitzgerald carries a 40-36 career record at the university in Evanston, Illinois, and is coming off a season in which the ‘Cats went 6-7 (3-5 in the Big Ten).

Still one of the youngest coaches in the NCAA at 37, Fitzgerald has led his alma mater to four straight bowl appearances; however, they were defeats for the school still searching for the Wildcats first bowl win since the Rose Bowl in 1948.

Around this time last year the Northwestern athletic department was touting senior quarterback, Dan Persa as a Heisman contender.  In fact, Heisman voters received seven-pound purple dumbbells in the mail signifying the number seven Persa wears on his jersey and the fact he is pound for pound one of the game’s best at his position.

Furthermore, a billboard soared over the Kennedy expressway in Chicago with the depiction of Persa and the caption “Chicago’s Heisman Candidate” and a website, persastrong.com, where fans can learn more about the NU signal caller.

After a senior season marred by injuries Persa has since graduated and last year’s jack-of-all-trade Kain Kolter will take the snaps for the ‘Cats in what appears to be a transitional year.

The ‘Cats are projected to return only 12 starters to a team that lost the aforementioned Persa also lost starting RB, Jacob Schmidt to graduation, top WR Jeremy Ebert and TE Drake Dunsmore to the National Football League.   The absence of reliable offensive playmakers will hurt, and the onus will be on the ninth ranked defense in the Big Ten to improve until the offense gets their feet wet.

Fitzgerald and his staff will have to find the next wave of Wildcats to insert into the lineup to have a shot at a fifth consecutive bowl trip.  The schedule will not offer much relief either with a challenging non-conference schedule that includes the road opener at Syracuse before returning home to upstart Vanderbilt and Boston College.

Northwestern catches a break slightly with their conference schedule as Ohio State and Wisconsin are not on the docket this season, but trips to Michigan and Michigan State loom large for a team void of senior leadership.

Depending on how quickly Kolter and the rest of the Northwestern offense replaces the departed seniors it may very well be a rough start to the season and will only get more difficult in conference play.

My early prediction: 4-8.

Follow me on Twitter @PatrickASchmidt

Patrick is a diehard Chicago sports fan and an avid college football fan, particularly the SEC.  Patrick is the host of “The Wake-up Call,” a weekly sports show on Sportstownchicago.com every Wednesday morning from 8-10.  View his show’s website here.

Chicago Bears select Shea McClellin

With the 19th pick in the NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears drafted Shea McClellin, DE Boise State.

A fast rising defensive end out of Boise State was not projected to the Bears in any of the mock drafts prior to the draft, and many didn’t consider the player to be on the radar of Bears GM Phil Emery. Although it was revealed after the pick that the Bears sent their defensive line coach Mike Phair out to McClellin to put the hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker through a workout.

Apparently the workout was a successful one as the Bears bypassed selecting higher profile ends, such as Whitney Mercilus, Chandler Jones, and Nick Perry. Also on the board when the Bears made McClellin their guy were offensive lineman Riley Reiff and David Decastro as well as Baylor wide receiver Kendall Wright whom some had projected the Bears selecting.

Just shy of 6’4” and tipping the scales at 260 pounds, the Bears say McClellin will line up at left end along the Bears defensive line. A high motor, high sharacter, productive player dripping with intangibles will be counted on to rush the passer.

McClellin racked up 26 tackles for loss and 16.5 sacks over the last two seasons of his career on the blue turf at Boise State. Playing in a division where the Bears face Matthew Stafford and Aaron Rodgers four times a season, McClellin figures to get plenty of opportunities to aid a Bears pass rush that badly needed a compliment to Julius Peppers.

Late on Thursday night the Bears announced McClellin will wear #99, which was famously worn by Hall of Fame defensive lineman Dan Hampton.

If McClellin is half the player that ‘Hamp was, then Bears fans will be doing cartwheels on Sundays.

Mystery clouds Bears War Room

The Bears war room will have a new General when the NFL Draft gets underway tonight with new General Manager Phil Emery calling the shots. The rookie GM steps in for former Bears GM, Jerry Angelo, who had his share of first round hits and misses during his tenure as Bears GM.

Bears fans had been calling for Angelo’s head for the past few years after the team’s failure to find a #1 receiver, his propensity to draft players with injury history, and his philosophy of players with high floors vs. high ceilings.

In comes Emery with a background in scouting and while he has never been a GM or conducted a draft, his experience as a college scout will be on full display over the next three days and seven rounds of NFL Draft action.

Emery’s previous job was as director of college scouting with the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons overseeing the drafting of players such as Matt Ryan, Roddy White, and Eric Berry. Bears fans will be ecstatic to find a player comparable to any of these three players. Ryan and White have already been to the Pro Bowl and Berry likely would have if not for a torn ACL ended his sophomore season, after a superb rookie season, in the season opener vs. Buffalo last season.

During free agency Emery did what Angelo could not do during his run as GM, and traded for Brandon Marshall. Bears fans rejoiced and were ready to give Emery the key to the city and anoint him as Executive of the Year filling a black hole on the offense for the last decade.

Adding depth at the running back position by signing Michael Bush, backup quarterback Jason Campbell, special team aces Devin Thomas and Eric Weems, and 49ers cast-off Chilo Rachal to battle for a starting position at guard has stabilized and fortified the offense.

So where does that leave a Bears defense that features a number of marquee players on the wrong side of 30?
The Bears own the 19th pick in this year’s draft with their biggest needs at defensive end, defensive tackle, cornerback, offensive tackle, and wide receiver.

Many mock drafts have the Bears drafting a defensive end. The names differ, but the position remains the same.

Players rumored to be on the Bears wish list include: UNC’s Quentin Coples, South Carolina’s Melvin Ingram, Syracuse’s Chandler Jones, USC’s Nick Perry, and the nation’s leader in sacks last year in University of Illinois rush end Whitney Mercilus.

At 19 it is difficult targeting a specific player at that point, because when the fireworks start and players start coming off the board and players rise and fall, the Bears may find themselves in a position where a wide receiver they have ranked higher on their board than any other defensive end is available.

I have long been a proponent of drafting the best player available over taking a player at a perceived need.
If Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd, Iowa tackle Riley Reiff, or Stanford guard David DeCastro is staring them in the face at 19, then The Bears should run to the podium to draft him.

Michael Brockers from LSU would be a fantastic choice if he were there at 19, if they didn’t like the available ends, and would be an anchor in the interior of the defensive line and complement rising star Henry Melton well at the defensive tackle position.

The moves made by Emery in free agency has put the Bears in a position of flexibility the team hasn’t been afforded in recent years after having to draft for need after missing or trading away first round picks under the previous regime.

Reading the tea leaves suggests the Bears will ultimately take a defensive end that can come in right away and have a huge impact on third downs.

The reigning Super Bowl Champion New York Giants have won two Lombardi trophies in recent years with a philosophy on rushing the passer and getting off the field on third downs. A stat the Bears have struggled with in past seasons, even despite having one of the premier sack artists in Julius Peppers.

The final word on the Bears first round is that whether it is to take a player on offense or defense, this rookie needs to have an instant impact to help the Bears back to the playoffs.

Follow me on Twitter @PatrickASchmidt

NFL Draft Eve

The NFL’s version of Christmas

Luck, Griffin III headline 2012 draft class

By Patrick Schmidt

On the eve of the biggest event the NFL has to offer which doesn’t take place on the gridiron is lacking suspense at the top much like when you peek into mom and dad’s rooms and peek at what “Santa” got you for Christmas that year. 

That doesn’t mean it’s still not exciting and brings your levels of anxiousness and intrigue to all new highs.

The NFL draft is set to get underway with the first round on Thursday at 6pm (EST) and many General Managers and Coaches around the league are ready to find out what’s underneath the tree and rip off the wrapping paper and see what new toy they have to play with. 

The top two picks are anti-climactic and if you’re hosting a draft party that would be the perfect time to make sure your snacks are out and prepared and that there is plenty of ice for the beverages that will no doubt consumed in high volume. 

This week the Indianapolis Colts confirmed what many had known for months and said Andrew Luck will be their pick. Many have said Luck is the best prospect at his position since the man he is replacing, the legendary Peyton Manning, who was released this offseason following a series of neck surgeries.

The second worst kept secret after who the Colts would take atop the draft is who would go immediately after him.  Once the Redskins traded with the Rams to move up four spots up to two, the cat was out of the bag and the ‘Skins were going to draft the Heisman trophy winner, Robert Griffin III and bring his unique skill set to the Nation’s capitol. 

The real intrigue begins with the Minnesota Vikings who are essentially on the clock with the third overall pick.  For weeks the prevailing thought was that USC left tackle, Matt Kalil would be the pick and give last year’s first rounder Christian Ponder protection for the quarterback’s blindside.  

However, as the war room debates have heated up in Minneapolis, the thought is that LSU cornerback, Morris Claiborne and Oklahoma State wide receiver, Justin Blackmon could be in play. Could this be more pre draft subterfuge?

Probably, but don’t discount the Vikings from trying to trade down to a team trying to trade up for Texas A&M QB, Ryan Tannehill or Trent Richardson.

The Draft is here and it’s time to celebrate the union of college football and the National Football League spread out over three days.  I holiday of sorts for football fans across the nation. 

The NFL Draft is full of big, fast, strong, and intriguing prospects that tantalize fans, GM’s, and coaches with potential and upside.  Meanwhile striking fear into their hearts when words and phrases such as, one year wonder, tweener, low motor, off the field concerns and questionable character are muttered when referring to a prospect. 

The one guarantee there is to the NFL draft is that a few teams will wind up with their version of a Red Ryder BB gun under their tree, and many more will end up stuck with a sweater knitted from grandma and the dread of waiting another year in hopes of finding that illustrious new toy.

 Follow me on Twitter @PatrickASchmidt

Patrick is a diehard sports fan and former football player from the greatest city in the world, Chicago, Illinois. The home of deep dish pizza, the greatest skyline in the world, and the best sports fans in America.  Patrick has been a fan of the Cubs, Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks since birth and is an avid college football fan.  Patrick is the host of a weekly sports show on Sportstownchicago.com every Wednesday morning from 8-10.