Daily Domer: Plenty of Time to Talk

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind -- It's fall break at Notre Dame, which means that the football team has the campus all to themselves. And that the coaching staff have the football players all to themselves. "No [time] limit this week," Charlie Weis said at the weekly Tuesday high noon presser. "When school's not in session there is no time frame, so this is a good time. This is a good time for being a football coach because the players are around a lot more now."

Today I'll have the highlights both from Charlie's press conference and also from interviews with offensive players, who were made available to the media at 1:15PM CT as opposed to after practice (circa 7PM), as they would be during a school week. I'll begin with the players.

Wide receiver Robby Parris

Parris, who had nine receptions in 2008, had the same number of catches versus USC on Saturday. He made two of the three most difficult catches of the contest for entirely different reasons. The catch on the fake field goal was hard because he had almost too much time to ruminate on it. The fourth-and-10 catch was difficult because he got drilled but hung on. We asked Parris about both.

On the fake field goal: "You're so open, you want to make a move, you want to run with the ball before you catch it. Before the play, they told me to do your best as an actor. I'm standing on the line of scrimmage and I saw all eleven of their guys rushing the kicker and I thought, This is actually going to to work. My heart started beating faster and faster.

"As soon as [holder Eric Maust] released it, [Taylor] Mays already had a full head of steam," Parris recalled. "Me outrunning a guy who has the angle and a 4.2 40 to the end zone ... I actually thought I'd gotten in, but I guess I stepped out."

On his final catch: "In the last second before the play [Jimmy Clausen] audibled to me," said Parris. "I was shocked that he threw it to me. You have so much going on in your head--catching passes is more mental than it is physical-- and I knew I was going to get hit. It says a lot about your character when you hang onto a ball like that."

On the play, Parris was sandwiched by a pair of USC players and his helmet came off (for the second time that afternoon), but he did not suffer a concussion. He suffered some minor injuries to his right ankle, knee and hip but Weis said that he is healing "remarkably well". X-rays were negative and Weis said that Parris "might be able to be used even as early as the game this week."

Parris missed the second half of his senior season in high school after dislocating his right hip and he allowed that "it definitely crossed my mind" to quit football then. "But that's what I do," he said, "I play football. Plus, I really couldn't pass up a free education."

When someone reminded Parris that, with hits such as the one he took last Saturday, there is still a price to pay, he smiled. "It helps the pockets," he said. "Your body kind of pays the price."

Did his parents dissuade him from playing again? "My parents like watching me play," said Parris who, hands down, has the best rock-star coif on the team, "even more than I like playing."

Parris has often found himself left out of the rotation at Notre Dame, first waiting behind Jeff Samardzija and Rhema McKnight and more recently behind Michael Floyd and Golden Tate. But as this season has shown, the kids is clutch. And though he only has 55 career receptions, the 6-3 senior has not given up thoughts of an NFL career.

"It's kind of crazy now that I'm a senior," Parris said. "Every week I see guys I played high school with, or lined up against, on starting lineups of NFL teams."

He mentioned wideouts, contemporaries from his Ohio prep days such as former Michigan receiver Mario Manningham (New York Giants) or former Buckeyes Brian Hartline (Miami Dolphins) and Brian Robiskie (Cleveland Browns), who are now on NFL rosters.

"A lot of it," concedes Parris, who has lost a step since his high school hip injury, "is getting in the right system. I'm not the guy you're going to throw fades to. I'm better in the slot, as a possession receiver."


Offensive guard Chris Stewart

During Weis' Sunday evening coach's show, host Jack Nolan asked tailback Armando Allen which teammate you'd most likely find in the library. Allen replied Chris Stewart. The largest man in an Irish uniform (6-5, 330 pounds), Stewart graduated cum laude with a degree in history in just 3 1/2 years. I asked Stewart, who still has a year of eligibility remaining after this season, his future academic plans.

"I want to go to law school," the Spring, Texas, native said, "get my JD and then my MBA. I'm not sure how that's all going to work out with football."

Stewart will take the GMAT, for business school, in December. He plans to take the LSAT in February. He could be the first Irish gridder, at least in my memory, to start for the football team while attending law school."


Wide receiver John Goodman

A standout quarterback and wide receiver during his prep years at Bishop Dwenger in Fort Wayne, Goodman never played as a freshman last season. He got his first career start versus USC. On Notre Dame's second play took a shotgun snap and raced 13 yards. It was the longest Irish rushing play of the day. Goodman talked about the patience he has displayed and the excitement of playing against USC.

"Leading up to the game, I told a few people here and there that I'd be playing more," said the 6-3 Goodman. "I only told my family that I was probably going to be starting. It's not like I posted it on Facebook."

I asked Goodman if fellow Hoosier Jeff Samardzija, who rarely saw the field before his junior year and then went on to post the most prolific receiving stats in Notre Dame history, inspired him as he sat last year. "It definitely inspired me," Goodman said, "because he is truly a great player. He didn't make a start here until his junior year and he became one of the greatest receivers in the country.

Goodman, who made a key reception on the final drive but then fumbled it [Armando Allen recovered], said, "My eyes got real wide on that."

On whether he prefers that he is both a wide receiver and now also a quarterback in the Leprecat (okay, the term is growing on me): "I think I was better at quarterback than as a receiver back in high school," said Goodman, who as a senior at Dwenger made current Irish frosh Tyler Eifert his top target.

Goodman did not attempt a pass out of the Leprecat versus USC. Because it is said that he has a stronger arm than either Jimmy Clausen or Dayne Crist, he was asked if there are any pass options in his Leprecat package. "I can't elaborat on it," Goodman smiled, then added, "but I'm all for it."