Carufel excited about trip to South Bend

Rivals100 offensive guard Matt Carufel out of St. Paul (Minn.) Cretin-Derham Hall is headed to South Bend this weekend to see the Irish take on Southern Cal. The 6-foot-5, 280-pounder is looking forward to the visit and the game between the two national powers.

"This is going to be my first game there and it should be awesome and hard fought. I think Notre Dame will put up a good fight and I'm excited to see it," he said. "I have small expectations for the visit, but big hopes. I've been there once before so this time I just want to see how I feel for the place."

The No. 56 player in the country plans to take officials to Florida, Iowa, Miami and Minnesota after the season.

Carufel and Cretin-Derham Hall are off to a 4-2 season.

"We've lost our last two games as we have a young team and we're on the boarder of either falling off the charts or pulling together and making a run for the title," he said. "I've been playing pretty well. Mostly I've seen an improvement on the small details like finishing blocks, better technique on pulls and everything else. I'm just a little older, better and faster."