imirish06
05/03/06, 08:55 AM
New Jersey tight end Mike Ragone became the fourth Irish verbal commitment on Sunday night. The four-star prospect chose the Irish over many of the nation's top programs including USC, Penn State, Miami, Ohio State and Florida State.
Irish Eyes spoke with Mike Ragone and confirmed that he will announce his commitment to Notre Dame tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. during a press conference to be held at his high school.
“There was no one thing about Notre Dame, it was everything,” Ragone said of the factors that lead him to chose Notre Dame. “First, Charlie Weis he’s going to be a legendary coach. He’s won Super Bowls. The first time I met him he said he only wanted one tight end and he said he wanted me. That made a lot of things good.
“Second, we’ll have the best quarterback in the country going there – Jimmy Clausen.
“Then it came down to my visit for the spring game. I had such a great vibe for it and I had such a great feel for the school I didn’t want to hold out and mess with everyone. The whole weekend went great for me. It went so good for me that I thought it was time, so I pulled the trigger. I just thought it was the right thing to do is to commit right now.
Charlie Weis was a big reason Ragone chose Notre Dame. He certainly likes how Weis uses the tight end, and even though the Irish depth will be thin at tight end when Ragone arrives in South Bend, Mike wasn’t concerned about competition.
“It’s also a tight end friendly offense,” Ragone said about the Irish offense. “Everywhere you go, you’re going to have to compete, so why not compete at Notre Dame. I’m just going to do my best and go from there."
Although Mike does attend a Catholic high school, he didn’t grow up rooting for the Irish. You could say he became a Notre Dame fan, because of his future head coach.
“I got an offer from Rutgers before my junior year, but I really didn’t think about playing football,” recalled Ragone. “Then I started getting letters from Notre Dame, I watched them with Charlie Weis and he’s done such great things with the program and turned the whole thing around."
Mike will be a guest on Irish Eyes Power Hour Monday night at 7:00 p.m.
Irish Eyes spoke with Mike Ragone and confirmed that he will announce his commitment to Notre Dame tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. during a press conference to be held at his high school.
“There was no one thing about Notre Dame, it was everything,” Ragone said of the factors that lead him to chose Notre Dame. “First, Charlie Weis he’s going to be a legendary coach. He’s won Super Bowls. The first time I met him he said he only wanted one tight end and he said he wanted me. That made a lot of things good.
“Second, we’ll have the best quarterback in the country going there – Jimmy Clausen.
“Then it came down to my visit for the spring game. I had such a great vibe for it and I had such a great feel for the school I didn’t want to hold out and mess with everyone. The whole weekend went great for me. It went so good for me that I thought it was time, so I pulled the trigger. I just thought it was the right thing to do is to commit right now.
Charlie Weis was a big reason Ragone chose Notre Dame. He certainly likes how Weis uses the tight end, and even though the Irish depth will be thin at tight end when Ragone arrives in South Bend, Mike wasn’t concerned about competition.
“It’s also a tight end friendly offense,” Ragone said about the Irish offense. “Everywhere you go, you’re going to have to compete, so why not compete at Notre Dame. I’m just going to do my best and go from there."
Although Mike does attend a Catholic high school, he didn’t grow up rooting for the Irish. You could say he became a Notre Dame fan, because of his future head coach.
“I got an offer from Rutgers before my junior year, but I really didn’t think about playing football,” recalled Ragone. “Then I started getting letters from Notre Dame, I watched them with Charlie Weis and he’s done such great things with the program and turned the whole thing around."
Mike will be a guest on Irish Eyes Power Hour Monday night at 7:00 p.m.