DE/LB Mike Vrabel (KC Chiefs-NE super bowl champion)

[CleveBucks]

How many of those ND players were good enough to leave after their junior year? Surely not close to as many as OSU has produced in the last decade.

[NOTREDAMECHIEF]

Originally Posted by CleveBucks

How many of those ND players were good enough to leave after their junior year? Surely not close to as many as OSU has produced in the last decade.

If OSU had 3-4 a year leaving early I could see your point but one every 2-3 years or so is not making that much of a difference.

[ekeen]

Why has this discussion gotten so far off topic? I thought we were congratulating Mike Vrabel for getting his degree?

Should we move on to the fact that a Notre Dame alum ruined the Cubs' chance of going to the world series last year?

[NOTREDAMECHIEF]

That was the stupidest EXCUSE for loosing a baseball game that I have ever heard!! CUB FANS !!

If the don't like loosing then they should change teams!!

[FKAGobucks877]

Just to contribute to the off-topic chatter, I'm getting really sick of NDchump trying to relate every frickin thread to ND. This isn't a domer site; in fact most people here despise the boys choir team. NDchief: Get this through your head--Notre Dame SUCKS ASS on the football field. Their past days of glory are just that-past. If you can't talk Buckeye football, then get the hell out of here. This is not a ND vs. OSU debate site.

[redskinbucksfan]

Originally Posted by FKAGobucks877

Just to contribute to the off-topic chatter, I'm getting really sick of NDchump trying to relate every frickin thread to ND. This isn't a domer site; in fact most people here despise the boys choir team. NDchief: Get this through your head--Notre Dame SUCKS ASS on the football field. Their past days of glory are just that-past. If you can't talk Buckeye football, then get the hell out of here. This is not a ND vs. OSU debate site.

And take LouiseMartinez with you on the way out.

[Clarity]

Originally Posted by NOTREDAMECHIEF

Wishing you were pounding- It's not like OSU'S grad. rates are anywhere near ND's and as I said it would only make at the most a 7% diff.

According to NFLPLAYERS.COM ND has 45 OSU 40 !! And yes I realize the gap is closing FAST.......

OSU has 49 players actively on teams in the NFL. That includes dropping Scott McMullen after the Eagles dropped him. If you don't believe me, I can point you to the list. It also doesn't include the 16 or so players who are currently free agents. It also doesn't include the dozen or so people we have in other pro leagues (AFL/AFL2/CFL).

NFLPLAYERS.COM is misinformed.

But I did notice that you didn't bother to argue the monsterous difference between the talent level we bring in, and what you bring in. Cite whatever reason you want for that, but the fact of the matter is you don't, and comparing Notre Dame to Ohio State in a discussion like this is apples and oranges.

Compare us to USC, LSU, Oklahoma, Michigan or Miami if you wish -- and do so under the tenure of our current coach. But not Notre Dame. If you want to pull them into the discussion, then let's do so with a proper comparison. Say, Notre Dame to Northwestern, or Boston College, or Rutgers. Someone closer to an even playing field.

[RugbyBuck]

Just to continue off topic, a friend who happens to be a Domer had to leave our firm yesterday having failed to pass the GA bar exam the second time. I'd be interested in comparisons of bar/CPA/medical boards/etc. passage rates for OSU, ND and scUM.

[3yardsandacloud]

http://www.boston.com/sports/footbal...ield_complete/

Ruling on field: complete
By Michael Smith, Globe Staff *|* June 13, 2004

FOXBOROUGH -- Tonight Mike Vrabel will miss receiving his second Super Bowl ring so that this afternoon he can receive something he's long felt has been missing.

Eleven years after enrolling at Ohio State, Vrabel, 28, will receive his degree in exercise science in Columbus, Ohio. As part of the NFL's Continuing Education Program, Vrabel completed his final course, in chemistry, this offseason, attending class on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

He wasn't in attendance for most of the Patriots' offseason program, instead working out at Ohio State's first-class facility, but he returned to Gillette Stadium for passing camps.

"I just let that thing hang over my head too long," Vrabel said yesterday after the final practice of minicamp. "I took a couple of classes right when I got out [in 1997], but just had one class that I needed for a while, and finally was able to get it taken care of.

"It was just a formality. It's exciting. It's something I needed to get done. Something I needed to finish, put some work in and get it out of the way."

When he is finished playing, Vrabel would like to return to Columbus to coach for the Buckeyes. He has fulfilled his final requirement.

"To go back there and want to be able to coach one day, you've got to get your degree," he said.

By tonight, many of the Patriots will have two of what many players feel validates a career: an NFL championship ring. The team will receive its jewelry at owner Robert Kraft's home in Brookline.

"That ring ceremony, it's a nice event," Vrabel said. "It's an honor to receive that ring. Everybody knows what that stands for. A lot of guys don't wear them. I don't wear mine. I always say, the only people that want to wear them are the ones that have never won it.

"It's going to be a nice event, and I certainly wish I could be there. Looking down the road, it'll be a good trade-off."

With rookie tight end Ben Watson (leg) out, Vrabel, he of the touchdown catch in the Super Bowl, got in some work with the tight ends yesterday morning. He isn't expecting to have as much of a role on offense this year.

"I like it," Vrabel said, "but I don't think it's going to be in the plans. I think when they drafted a tight end in the first round, that pretty much told me that my days as a tight end are numbered."

[jlb1705]

Double congratulations are in order for Mr. Vrabel. I'd like to see him return to Ohio State in some capacity in the future, but I hope it's not for quite some time.

[gbearbuck]

good for him... nice to see he would like to coach when his playing days are over... something tells me he might be able to teach some guys a thing or two about Defense...

[LightningRod]

Major congrats.

[osugrad21]

I love reading about the guys who want to come home one day...congrats Mike

[DEBuckeye]

Nice. Way to go, Mr. Vrabel.

[Buckskin86]

Great article on Mike!!

FOXBORO Smart guys such as Mike Vrabel enable Patriots coach Bill Belichick to flex his substantial brain matter each week without his defense short-circuiting due to X's and O's overload.
Belichick's genius meanwhile has enabled Vrabel to thrive as nobody but Belichick envisioned he would when this former Steeler signed with the Patriots three years ago as an unrestricted free agent.

Vrabel, who during the off-season volunteers at a football camp in Columbus, Ohio, aspires to be a coach himself someday. He has become the consummate Belichick guy, the poster child for Patriots football, which has resulted in two Super Bowl titles in three years and 5,000 fans flocking to each training-camp practice.

"He is smart. He is instinctive. I think the game comes pretty easily to him," said Belichick about Vrabel. "He'll be a good coach someday,"

Vrabel was part of the Patriots' 2001 free-agent haul written off as non-descript and merely affordable by critics who were abundant and loud following Belichick's 5-11 debut with New England in 2000. That free-agent class also included Roman Phifer, Bobby Hamilton, Antowain Smith, Larry Izzo, David Patten, Mike Compton and Anthony Pleasant, in whom Belichick also envisioned the championships that have secured his coaching greatness.

Vrabel had been a role-playing 3-4 pass-rushing defensive end/linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers for four seasons.

"It was either go back to Pittsburgh or come here. Those were the two options," said Vrabel yesterday when asked about Belichick selling him on New England. "I thought I could get a little bit more playing time by coming here."

Belichick saw in former defensive end Vrabel an outstanding starting outside linebacker, who in his first season with New England would make more tackles (60) than in his four seasons with the Steelers combined (43).

Last season the 6-foot-4, 261-pounder led the Patriots with 9.5 sacks, the most of any Patriot of the Belichick Era, despite missing three games with a broken arm. He was AFC Defensive Player of the Month last December.

"You don't ever think those things are going to work out like that, and you're going to have that kind of success," admitted Vrabel. "But you continue to work. And if you continue to work, and you stay grounded, you can have success."

"In Mike's case, it doesn't surprise me that he is a productive starting outside linebacker," said Belichick. "Based on what we saw of him at Pittsburgh, and even going back to Ohio State (school-record 36 career sacks), we felt he probably would be (a productive player) if he was put in the right situation. He's worked hard, and he's made a lot of plays, and taken advantage of the opportunities that he had."

Vrabel has worked hard to please his coach. To please his parents, who are both high school principals, and to set a solid example for his young sons Tyler and Carter, Vrabel returned to Ohio State this past off-season to pass bio-chemistry and fulfill the final requirement for his degree in exercise science.

"I saved the hardest class for last," said Vrabel, who left Ohio State seven years ago as a third-round draft pick of the Steelers, but without his degree.

"It was just something that was long overdue," said Vrabel, who turns 29 on Saturday. "One year out became two years out and it snowballed. You're going to have to raise your kids, and you want them to go to college. They may or may not play sports who knows. But you're going to still want to say, 'Hey, you've got to go to class.'"

Vrabel already has more than enough football stories for the grandkids someday. He made the plays that led to the Patriots' first touchdowns in each of their Super Bowl victories.

His borderline-legal clobbering of Kurt Warner caused the wobbling pass that Ty Law intercepted and returned for a touchdown that started the Patriots on their way to upsetting the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.

His strip sack of Jake Delhomme in the second quarter of Super Bowl XXXVIII set up the game's first touchdown.

In his occasional role as a goal-line tight end, Vrabel also had a one-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter to give the Patriots a 29-22 lead in their eventual 32-29 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

Vrabel, who was a tight end at Walsh Jesuit High in Stowe, Ohio, became the first defensive player to score an offensive touchdown in the Super Bowl since William "Refrigerator" Perry of the Chicago Bears piled humiliation on the Patriots in Super Bowl XX.

"Pretty much everybody asks me about it," said Vrabel about his Super Bowl catch. "It seems to be a topic of conversation."

"He always comes back to the huddle and says he's open," said Belichick. "There could be eight guys on him, but in his mind he was wide open. He has a lot of confidence in himself. Mike takes a lot of pride in whatever you ask him to do."

http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1...325627,00.html