No stranger to Irish athletics, Burlage enters his sixth season covering Notre Dame and his second year with BlueandGold.com and Blue & Gold Illustrated. He serves as the Irish football and basketball beat writer and an assistant editor. Before joining the Blue & Gold staff, Burlage spent six years covering college athletics and Notre Dame for a daily newspaper in Fort Wayne, Ind. Author of the column “Upon Further Review,” Burlage is the recipient of numerous writing awards, including an Associated Press Sports Editor national award for Best Game Story.

Delgado, a native of Torrington, Wyoming and lifelong Notre Dame fan, is another award winning writer to join the BlueandGold.com staff. He has received the San Diego Visions Award and the Bruce Kamerling Award for his work. Delgado also has a forthcoming guidebook of Baja California from Countryman Press. Look for Delgado to cover football and football recruiting throughout the year.

Another Notre Dame grad (1996), O'Leary returns to Michiana after a number of stops in New England and the Chicago area. An honorable-mention selection in the 2004 Best American Sportswriting compilation, O'Leary will be focused primarily on recruiting throughout the year.

Former Irish football player Jason Sapp has been a member of the Blue and Gold staff since the summer of 2005. During that time, he has been active on the message boards daily, calling recruits, contributed as a correspondent on various BGI shows, and shared perspective pieces on his experiences at Notre Dame. As BGI's Recruiting Analyst, he brings a unique perspective to our recruiting coverage considering he was a highly recruited prospect by Bob Davie and other prominent college programs around the country, played under Tyrone Willingham, and worked as a student-assistant in the recruiting office under head coach Charlie Weis.