FanHouse MarcTyler

Although Evan Sharpley had seemed to play his way into the starting job at Notre Dame a few weeks ago, it was only on Tuesday that Irish head coach Charlie Weis gave him the nod.

During his weekly news conference, Weis told reporters, ""I think Evan this week gives us the best chance of winning," implying that Sharpley had wrestled the job away from high school phenom Jimmy Clausen. However, it is what he did not say that is more telling.

According to Clausen's high school teammate and USC running back Marc Tyler, the reason Jimmy won't be playing has nothing to do with his sucktitude and the Irish's 1-6 record--Clausen is injured: ""I wish he were starting," Tyler said. "He said his hip bothered him."

So Saint Charlie foold the Domer Nation and the press! What a genius!!!

Sorry, No Photos

For the uninitiated, the 'Best in the West' is an annual publication of the Long Beach Press-Telegram. It is a list of the west's top high school football players, as voted on by a panel of recruitniks. It used to be a lot more prestigious but still carries weight. To be eligible, players must be from Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah or Washington.

Atop the list is Arizona defensive end Everson Griffen. If you saw the US Army High School All America game you know what this kid can do. He's ridiculously fast and is headed to USC.

After Griffen are national names like Jimmy Clausen (quarterback headed to Notre Dame), Chris Galippo (LB-USC), Marc Tyler (RB/LB-USC), Donovan Warren (CB-Undecided), Kris O'Dowd (OL-USC), Ryan Miller (OT-Colorado), Brian Price (DT-UCLA) and Aaron Corp (QB-USC).

You can see the full list after the jump.

The BIW is notable because it's a reasonable assessment of elite talent coming out of western high schools. As they note in the release:

Out of all 746 BIW players, 52 have been drafted in the first round by an NFL franchise. When Cincinnati chose Carson Palmer in the 2003 draft, he joined John Elway as the only two Best in the West players selected with the first overall pick.