April 22, 2002

The Irish head into their third and final week of spring workouts culminating with the 73rd Annual Blue-Gold Football Game Saturday, April 26, at 1:30 p.m. at Notre Dame Stadium. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for children before the game and $10 and $8 the day of the game. Tickets are still available by calling the Notre Dame Ticket Office at (574) 631-7356.

Head coach Tyrone Willingham knows the rigors of spring practice can take their toll on his players and is doing everything possible to keep things fresh and positive, in addition to making every practice count.

“I think it is something we stress all of the time,” Willingham said.

“We believe if you are going to do something, do it well and make it count. That is the way we structure our whole practice. We tell our players that we will not waste your time and we hope that you will not waste ours. We all have the same thoughts and goals in mind, therefore we can take advantage of the time we have.”

Although the format of the game is yet to be determined, Willingham looks forward to finally seeing the guys in game-like conditions and have some fun. Likewise, Willingham hopes the game is entertaining for the fans as well.

“We are still hopeful of making it a game with two teams,” Willingham said. “We are still evaluating the injury situation and hope to make some decisions by Wednesday. We want to make it a fun situation for our team and fans.

“Hopefully it will be an opportunity for the fans to come out and have some fun and also see what the young men have been doing the past 14 practices. It is also a chance for the fans to watch the young men play and see how they perform in game-like conditions. For our coaches, it is an opportunity to cut back a bit and see how our young men play.”

Willingham and his staff are now in the process of mentally preparing their players for Saturday’s game. Does he cut back on the intensity of practices leading up to the game?

“We do start to taper (the intensity) back just a little bit this week. That is not an indicator of what we yet have to put in. It instead gives the players an opportunity to catch up to some degree so the things we have put in, they can feel good about come Saturday.”

Notre Dame and Stanford Have Six Player Taken in the NFL Draft

Willingham’s former team Stanford and Notre Dame both had six players selected in the 2002 NFL draft over the weekend. In addition to Anthony Weaver (Baltimore), Rocky Boiman (Tennessee), John Owens (Detroit), Javin Hunter (Baltimore), Tyreo Harrison (Philadelphia) and David Givens (New England), five other Irish players signed free agent contracts Monday including Tony Fisher (Green Bay), Grant Irons (Buffalo), Ron Israel (Washington), Jason Murray (Cincinnati) and Kurt Vollers (Indianapolis).

“It brings a smile to my face to hear that both programs had so many players drafted,” Willingham said.

“That says a lot of good things about both programs.”