Ram Vela Stars as 'The Fugitive'

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- Six months before Ram Vela's notorious sack of Evan Sharpley in the 2007 Navy-Notre Dame game, the Midshipmen linebacker was sacked himself ... by the Secret Service. At the White House.

Each spring the team that wins the Commander-in-Chief's trophy (the unofficial round-robin tourney between the Air Force Academy, Army and Navy) is invited to the White House for a reception. In the spring of 2007, Vela (No. 34 above) was a freshman who had not seen any varsity action the previous season.

"I hung near the back of the line as we approached the security gate," Vela, a 5-foot-9, 193-pound outside linebacker, recalled on Thursday. "I hadn't played so I didn't feel as much like I deserved to be up near the front. I was back with some of the higher-ranking officers, the Commandant and even the dean."

When Vela made it to the gate, a female agent looked him over and spoke into a radio, "He's here."

"About two seconds later another agent appeared," Vela said, "and asked me to step aside. I was trying to recall what I had done wrong. Unpaid parking tickets? I didn't know."

It turned out that there was a fugitive on the FBI's Most Wanted list who not only was the same height, weight and age as Vela, but even had the same name.

"They asked me where I was from and I told them 'San Antonio'," said Vela, who this time next year will begin his five-year commitment to the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare officer on board a ship. "Born and raised there. Lived there my entire life."

The fugitive was from Minnesota. To this day Vela has no idea if his doppelganger has been apprehended. He has returned to the White House twice, however, without incident. His teammates, however, have since dubbed him "The Fugitive".

As for his sack on Sharpley on fourth-and-8 in the final minute of regulation, a play on which he leaped over Armando Allen, Vela recalled, "I was just trying to make any play that I could. Earlier in the game I'd missed a sack on a fourth down. I came in and the quarterback stepped up and completed it to the tight end for a first down. I just wanted to redeem myself."

That he did. Vela's sack essentially forced overtime, in which the Middies were able to defeat the Irish for the first time since 1963. As for Saturday's contest, Vela sees a lot of similarities between the Irish offense and Navy's defense.

"They're a much different team as a product of their development," he said. "There's a lot of juniors and seniors and they've grown up together. Same with our team. Guys on our defense, we've been together three years."

Ten of Navy's eleven starters on defense are upperclassmen and most were starters last year as well. The only underclassman in the group, defensive end Jabaree Tuani, may be the most talented player on the unit (does this at all sound familiar to you?) Vela understands that even though all three teams that Navy (6-3) has lost to have at least seven wins (Ohio State and Temple are 7-2 while Pittsburgh is 7-1), too many fans still consider them a doormat. I asked Vela if that outside perception surprises him.

"It's more disappointing than it is shocking," he said. "But hopefully we can keep surprising people."

Receivers Receptive to Floyd
"Fresh legs!"

"Ol' fresh legs!"

The Irish wideouts were in a frisky mood on Tuesday, no doubt happy to welcome back to the fold sophomore Michael Floyd (one more in the fold means a lower frequency of practice reps, you see?) Even though he plays the "Z" receiver position, Floyd is the X factor for Saturday's game with Navy. Charlie Weis, when asked what Floyd adds to the offense this weekend, replied, "He's got fresh legs. He looks very spry."

Tate, by the way, plays the "X" receiver position in the Irish offense.

C.C. Sabbath-ia
That's C.C., as in Clausen and Crist. It seems as if we've made that leap into people, this reporter included, attempting to read the tea leaves on a daily basis concerning the Irish quarterback situation in 2010. At Thurdsay night's informal presser, Weis registered a slight amount of irritation at the supposed certainty of prognosticators concerning Clausen's future.

"Trust me, they don't know because I don't know," Weis told us. "I will use my resources in the NFL (to advise Clausen as to where he would be drafted). Normally scouts, they don't write up juniors but in this case ..."

Weis added that he'd likely obtain the same type of information regarding draft potential for No. 23 but cautioned, "There's a lot of football yet to be played."

As for Crist, who is to have surgery to repair the torn ACL in his right knee today in South Bend, Weis reminded that the sophomore QB's injury was not as catastrophic as Tom Brady's ... or even Weis'. "When I hurt my knee, it was the ACL, the MCL and the PCL," said Weis. "Dayne's prognosis is much better. Four to six months. Come spring, he'll be able to do seven-on-seven drills. He'll want to do more, but we'll hold him back."

Weis said that when Crist begins his rehab, he will put his latest protege in touch with his legendary one. "I'll put them in touch for rehab," said Weis, "because that's what they'll have in common."

Asked if Crist's rehab will include near-daily rounds at Bel Air Country Club, a guest appearance on "Entourage" and TLC from a Brazilian supermodel, Weis smirked. "I don't think Gisele's sister is coming here," he said.

Special Special Teams Play
Irish special teams coach Brian Polian was asked about Mike Ragone's rundown of Washington State safety Chima Nwachukwu following the blocked PAT on Saturday. "One of the all-time effort plays I've ever been a part of," says Polian, who as a youngster was on the sidelines of Super Bowl XXVII to see Don Beebe's legendary rundown of Leon Lett. "For a tight end to run down a skill guy ..."

Polian said that after Nick Tausch's kick was blocked, he thought the play was over. He looked down at his clipboard to make a note and then "I picked my eyes up and just saw Mike, well, he hawked him down. After the play I just went over and hugged him and said, 'That was awesome.'"

By the way, if you want to feel old, Polian noted that the names Don Beebe and Leon Lett do not register with his players.

Even though the season is only two-thirds done, it has been quite the bizarre year for special teams plays involving the Irish -- especially when you consider that none of those players involve a punt or kickoff return for a TD by the Domers. We asked Polian to recount his most curious plays of the season thus far:

1) "Guess you'd have to begin with a false start by the kicker on a PAT (vs. Michigan State). Never seen that before."
2) "The fake field goal versus USC was pretty cool, and the fact that they were still complaining about it the following week was pretty cool, too." (Please note: Chance that Pete Carroll will devise a trick play to avenge that ruse for next year's game in the Coliseum, 101 percent.)
3) "The designated fake field goal versus B.C. where we score except that an O-lineman holds a safety (let's be real -- Lane Clelland practically tackled him) when all he had to do was get in his way. You only get a couple chances all season to pull off a play like that."
4) "An onside kick bouncing backward (after first traveling the requisite 10 yards; versus Michigan State)."
5) "A frosh kicker making 14 field goals in a row, which is kind of special around here."

After that last item, Pete Sampson of Irish Illustrated asked Polian if he'd ever been around a kicker who had a greater field-goal conversion percentage than PAT conversion percentage. The boyish Irish coach chuckled at that. For the record, Tausch is 14 of 15 on field goal tries (93.3%) and 24 of 27 on PATs (88.8%).

Stann's the Man
You know the line about how Superman has a poster of Tim Tebow on his bedroom wall? In that same vein, Chuck Norris, he of the legendary "Chuck Norris Facts" (e.g. "Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table because he only recognizes the element of surprise"), could hang a photo of Brian Stann in his home.

Who is Brian Stann? He's the kind of man most little boys want to grow up to become when they are six years old. The Dalton, Pa., native played linebacker at the U.S. Naval Academy between 1999-2002. Afterward he accepted a commission with the U.S. Marines and soon after was deployed for the first of his two tours of duty in Iraq. Stann, whose chiseled features make him recruiting poster material, saw intense combat while securing a bridge over the Euphrates River in northwest Iraq. At one point in a firefight his platoon was surrounded 360 degrees by enemy fire. All 42 men under Stann's command returned safely home and for his valor he was awarded the Silver Star.

If only his story ended there. The ultimate warrior is now a professional mixed martial arts fighter. In his fourth pro fight, then under the World Extreme Cagefighting banner, Stann knocked out opponent Miguel Cosio in a WEC-record 16 seconds. Stann, who is stationed at Camp LeJeune, N.C., has since moved on to the UFC. His career record is 7-2 and his unique background has even landed him on the Howard Stern show.

For anyone still unimpressed, Stann proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Teressa Ruspi, then a Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader, at the 50-yard line of Lincoln Financial Field on New Year's Day, 2006, following a Redskins-Eagles game (one year and one day before Ian Johnson of Boise State pulled the same stunt).

Brian Stann. A real-life action figure.