Oct. 25, 2006

Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis talks about Irish junior middle linebacker Maurice Crum, Jr. …

Q. You touched on Mo Crum. Here is a guy that didn’t do a lot in spring practice from a physical standpoint, wasn’t exactly sure where he was going to line up in the fall. Can you talk about him a little bit more. Also is middle linebacker the best position of those three?

COACH WEIS: Well, there’s two that’s two parts for me. The first part is that one thing he did do the whole spring, even though he wasn’t physically repping, it gave him an opportunity to mentally rep all three positions. Normally you only can mentally rep one position. That’s the one you’re playing. But when you’re not playing, and you have the time to sit there and watch it, it gave him an opportunity to really study. He really studied all three positions. He was going to be ready to put in wherever we needed to.

Now, the second part of your question is, I think your middle linebacker has got to be the guy that runs your defense. That’s the guy who runs your defense. Every defense, the middle linebacker is the guy who runs it.

I think putting him in the position, could he be suited well at Will or Sam? Absolutely. But we like the fact that our best player is running the defense. So, therefore, for us at this time, that’s the best place for him.