Lol 24 players from Fiesta bowl invited to combine How either team didn't make the final four is a head scratcher
Loy says that it's a player leaving football altogether. Not transferring, just not playing football anymore.
Excuse the terminology, but part of the reason I went to ND and like rooting for ND football is because we're an institution for enlightened jocks. That's part of what makes us different - in a good way. I like the fact we have guys who aspire to do more than just run, jump and tackle for the rest of their lives.
UPDATE — Feb. 11 from Tom Loy Was just informed that the news will more than likely come out tomorrow [Friday] from Notre Dame. Again, it's regarding a player leaving the program. I think it's pretty clear who we are referencing at this point, but we said we would let Notre Dame "break" this story itself, as they are trying to do right by the young man. Not sure why others were making this seem like a bigger deal than it truly is. This young man is not going to another program. This is likely the last he'll see of a football field.
i will never forgive baratti for that missed tackle. i can't even remember what game it was but it made my eyes bleed.
I get it, and I'm not going to tell you you shouldn't feel that way. But I don't. I'm perfectly willing to admit my desire to see the team win surpasses all of that other stuff.
I'm in the middle on the academic/athletic argument. I think you have to find kids who love competing and football isn't their everything but it's refreshing to see kids compete like football is how their going to eat. When people play with that hunger their hard to beat
See: Alabama. Kids come to ND knowing they can succeed on or off the field at the next level, Bama kids know they are (and this certainly is not the case in all situations) going back the the Quick Lube for their career if they don't "win" at their position.
If a kid just wants to JUST play football, he's going to Alabama, Ohio State, or the 5-10 other schools that get you a degree and pump out kids to the NFL. The only way we compete for elite guys is by pushing the "40 year decision" stuff and getting guys where faith/supplemental stuff matters and getting your Tillerys or Elmers who are 4 stars but that stuff matters.
Spoiler The Notre Dame alumnus sat down with Irish247 to discuss how the school plans to enhance its football facilities, where it is in the process of building a basketball facility, the status of the NCAA's investigation in the school's academic dishonesty scandal and others topics surrounding the state of Notre Dame athletics. Details in part one are specific to football, future schedules and the basketball programs. Swarbrick expands on matters pertaining to Notre Dame’s role in the evolving world of college athletics in part two, which will run Friday morning. Irish247: Brian Kelly’s new contract was announced a week before national signing day. Was timing a factor in when the announcement was made? Jack Swarbrick: I understand why people think it would, but in point of fact it’s timed to our trustee meeting. The announcement was made at the conclusion of the trusting meeting, the university trustee meeting, and we don’t have any control over that schedule. It really was not driven by recruiting. Am I happy we could do it on that timetable? Yes, but it was all about the schedule for meetings over which we don’t have any control. Irish247: Is the extension something you discussed before the season? JS: This is the schedule in which we anticipated doing it for some time. I think in this industry you want the coach and the coaching staff to not get within two years, if you can, when you get to the last two years of the contract to be discussing the future. It’s a time in which we like to engage in the discussion. We discussed it before the year started, that at the end of the year we’d have a discussion about it. Irish247: From your perspective, how comfortable and settled is Brian Kelly now versus where he was a few years ago? JS: I think that Brian has an understanding and a comfort with coaching here that you can only acquire with time. In so many ways I see on a day-to-day basis him reflecting that comfort. I think he’s as centered as he’s ever been, and I feel great about that. It goes to one of Brian’s great strengths, and that is that he is always reexamining his approach and what he does, and how to get better. He has just continued to do that here, and part of the byproduct of that is not only building the program that fits the university so well but also understanding the university better. Irish247: How important was it to bring in two Notre Dame alums (Todd Lyght and Autry Denson) when the football staff was looking at coaching options? JS: You’re going to pick people because they’re the best coaches. That we could find people who are great coaches and Notre Dame grads is a big plus, not just because they understand the place, and they obviously do very well, but because they are passionate about what it’s done for them personally, and that at its core is what we talk to young men about; what the university will do to help them become men. And both of those individuals speak so eloquently and so passionately about that impact on their own lives. Again, they’ve got to be great coaches. But when you can find a great coach that understands that about this place, that’s a huge plus. Irish247: Bruce Feldman of FoxSports.com reported that Notre Dame “is expected to also invest in facilities and other program enhancements to improve the student-athlete experience.” What are those improvements? JS: When annually Brian and I review the program and talk about what the next areas of focus are, we have focused a lot on sports science in the past two years. We focused a lot on nutrition. As you start to get those things where you want them, you’re then looking at what are the next things. The [Guglielmino Athletics Complex] has reached an age where reinvestment in it is going to be important, and it goes to some of those other things. We need a better system for feeding the students in that facility. We need a better system for delivering some of the sports science services. So it’s just time as our approach to the program has changed, for the building in which we do it to catch up with those changes. Irish247: What specific changes are being explored? JS: We use our recruiting lounge for our training table now. We need a training table area that can be supported by a kitchen, so that’s an obvious nutrition one. We need sports science space where we can do some of the analytic work we’re doing, staff, some of that function, but also conduct some of the data gathering we want to do. And it’s time to reinvest in the weight room, so that’s another example. I could go on. It is taking those areas and having them sort of catch up with the reality of what we now do in them. They were designed for what you did in those spaces 16 or 17 years ago. How we’re using them has changed. Irish247: Is there a timetable for when those changes will occur? JS: It’s the sort of thing that will go on over a period of years. So if there’s something we can do this summer to begin to make improvements, we’ll do them. But we want to start the process. It won’t be like a new building coming out of the ground. It will be a number of things over the time that helps make the facility better. Irish247: How close are you to finalizing the 2017 football schedule? JS: We’re very close, and I am hopeful that it will be accompanied, as we did last time, with the release of [the schedule] for a number of years. I would be disappointed if we didn’t have that done by the end of the month. We may time it to the spring game, but we’ll be done soon. Irish247: What is the likelihood there won’t be a Shamrock Series game in 2017 because of the Campus Crossroads project? JS: I still think that’s likely. It hasn’t been fully settled, but that we will do—because of the opening of crossroads—do all the games here that year. Irish247: And the Shamrock Series games would be continued in 2018, 2019… JS: Yes. Irish247: What is your priority when you schedule Shamrock Series game, in terms of the geographical location, venue and quality of opponent is concerned? JS: All of those elements come into it. I don’t know that I can tell you a priority among them. You want to be in a market that makes sense for the university. Not for the football program, for the university. A place…either because of its catholic tradition or its history with Notre Dame, or in D.C. it’s the federal government relations, in cities where you can clearly articulate a university purpose and why it would benefit the university. That’s one piece of it. The second piece of it is iconic venues. We love taking our team into great venues. It represents a nice marriage between the tradition and history of Notre Dame and the tradition and history of those venues. And then third is the opponent. The game we have come to discover I think works best is when you’re close to the opponent’s market. [Boston College] in Boston. Maryland in D.C. Arizona State in Dallas worked pretty well, so those are the three pieces that come together in the puzzle. Irish247: After two cycles of the College Football Playoff, are you comfortable with Notre Dame’s status as an independent, without a 13th game? Or has anything altered your thinking? JS: I’m very pleased with the way the CFP has operated in its first two years. It has realized much of the hopes that those of us on the managing committee had for it when we created it. We have always understood that there would be years in which our independence, in regard to not having a 13th game, may work against us. We understand that and we accept it. Based on two years, you can’t evaluate the extent of that and how often or how much that may impact you. I continue to believe that as long as we continue to build schedules that are among the toughest in the country we’ll be OK. I was fascinated with an article that appeared online two days ago, ranking the toughest schedules in the country and they ranked I think the top seven or eight. We were an opponent for almost all of them, and I thought that said a lot. They were only ranking conference schedules, hence we weren’t a candidate to be one of the eight or 10. But they said Texas had one of the toughest schedules in the country, and of course they have us on it. Michigan State had one of the toughest schedules in the country. It was sort of an indirect confirmation of just how hard next year’s schedule will be. Irish247: Is there an area of the country you’re focused on for placing the Shamrock Series game in 2018? JS: No. Just having those pieces come together. You may have a venue and city you like, but you just can’t find the right opponent. You may have an opponent who’s interested, but you can’t find the right city. We’re going to continue to look at it as a university broadly. There may be the occasional year where we don’t have one or it takes a different form. I don’t know. We’ll just continue to look at it, but we believe in the concept. Irish247: Has there been much communication with Michigan in regard to scheduling a game? JS: There has been some, and as I’ve said many times, I have no doubt that Notre Dame and Michigan will play football again. I’ve never thought otherwise. And so we will certainly get there. Irish247: There was discussion about the possibility of vacating wins as a penalty stemming from the academic dishonesty investigation. Where does the NCAA investigation stand? JS: The NCAA process continues, which I think is important for people to remember. I think a lot of people sort of think with the resolution of the individual student situations the matter was over. It’s only when you’ve completed that does the NCAA process really begin, and so we have been in that process and it’s ongoing. I don’t have any way to predict the final resolution of it. Irish247: Or the timetable… JS: Yes. It’s an ongoing process. (What's next for Notre Dame? Make sure you're in the loop -- take five seconds to sign up for our FREE Fighting Irish newsletter now!) Irsh247: Where are you in the process of building a basketball facility? JS: We’re in the planning stages and the fundraising stages. Both are critical elements of bringing it together. It is our very top facility priority as a department. I couldn’t agree more that we need it and we’ve got to get about getting it done. It’s one of the more complex facility developments I’ve been involved in here. Beyond telling you it’s our top priority and we’re working on it, I don’t have any news. Irish247: Is the plan still to renovate the Rolfs Sports Recreation Center and have the facility there? JS: That’s the sort of planning assumption. We’re testing it a little bit right now to whether it’s the right one. But we’re testing it now, because the new rec center will open in the west building of crossroads. Irish247: Last summer Mike Brey said 2018-19 would be the earliest a basketball facility would be ready. Is that timetable still accurate? JS: It probably is. My goal is to be sooner…I’m still working to see if we can’t get it done even sooner than that, but for planning purpose, that’s probably a reasonable working assumption. Part two will run Friday morning.
It would be cool if they were to invest in the Sport Science stuff that if the academic side could benefit from that as well. Use the bright minds on campus in a way that enriches athletics, but is also a field that is going to have huge demand in the real world as well.
There you go, he acknowledges they know there is risk of getting jobbed out of the playoff and are comfortable with their independence.
Translation: yea we know there's a possibility of sitting on it awkwardly or getting it caught in our zipper but we're comfortable with our big dick anyways
That and I won't complain about ND getting left out of the playoff until they go undefeated. Until then ND needs to worry about themselves and not phantom boogie men and conspiracies (talking to you Mike Frank) out to get them.
Will have lots of you disagree with me, but a horrible game going down in btown tonight. Need Iowa to keep winning
feel like you would want a team that beat you to get better in the rankings than a team you beat potentially taking a completely reasonable loss
Nope. we want Iowa to win every game the rest of the year. The loss to IU won't ever be a "bad" loss. The win against Iowa has the ability of being a great win. And that's more important
well simply put, Iowa's not running the table in the B1G and will remain a great win regardless, they won't be worse than a 2 seed
That's probably true, but ND is still better off with Iowa winning. Not going to root Iowa to lose just bc they will probably lose games down the line.
Unfortunately Iowa is nowhere near as good as their ranking, however, fuck IU. Seeding will screw ND regardless so I'm far more concerned about the Irish finishing well then this B1G drivel.
Yeah Iowa climbing this high has been thoroughly confusing to me this year. We were not a good team when we beat them this year. We've improved since then after adding Pflueger and Burgett into the rotation but I'm still not ready to call us a good squad.
That Iowa game is so weird. Seems like most ND fans didn't watch/barely remember that we beat Iowa. And like red Rover said, that was not a good ND team at that point. That said, I still hope they win every game the rest of this year.
We were legit bad, that's the team that lost to Alabama...better now, and seem to be improving, but, "that" squad had me thinking .500.
haha yeah a win over the a 1/2 seed Iowa team sandwiched between losses to monmouth and bama really hoping we come out strong on saturday against lou. we have a tough* 3 game stretch the next week. need to win all our home games, if possible. *not tough in terms of who we play, but 3 road games in 7 days
Yea that was the ND team early when Auguste looked like he had his basketball powers stolen by the Monstarz
i hope jack stays till he is dead: Spoiler Details in part one of two included matters specific to football, scheduling and the basketball teams. Swarbrick expands on matters pertaining to Notre Dame’s role in the evolving world of college athletics in part two, which will run Friday morning. Click hereto read part one. Irish247: This season men’s basketball and hockey tickets were made available for free, provided students sign up in advance. What type of feedback have you received? Jack Swarbrick: Very favorable, but more importantly I’ve been very pleased with the student response. I think our student support has been excellent. I love the environment they’re creating at the venues. I thank them for their partnership here. Irish247: You’re about to complete your eighth year as director of athletics; what do you view as the most important or significant contribution the athletic department’s made over the last eight years? JS: I’m going to answer that two ways. At its core, it’s continuing to do what Notre Dame has done well and continues to do well. It’s continuing to give very tangible evidence that you can run an elite athletic program and have it be an integral element of a great academic institution. That’s reflective, of course, in things like graduation success rate, but more importantly it’s having a group of coaches who take their role as educators so seriously. We have some of the best educators in the athletic world working at Notre Dame, and it’s one of the reasons they work here: because they believe in that. So it’s continuing what sort of defines Notre Dame is one part of that answer. The second part is what’s new, what’s different, and I want to point to a few things. One is I think our investment in digital media has really helped to define the program in an important way, our engagements in the science of sports success, nutrition and strength and conditioning. Medical services. We were pretty far behind and I think we’ve become a leader in both those areas, and so both of those areas of focus are really important. I think our overall level of success. I would also point to a year and a half ago now we finished third in the Directors’ Cup, by far the best we’ve ever done. I think it speaks to the overall quality of the program and getting everybody up to that level where they can compete at that level nationally. (Note: Notre Dame finished No. 9, No. 3 and No. 10 in the last three Directors’ Cups after finishing outside the top-10 for six seasons.) Irish247: What’s your next goal? JS: I think there are two important things that I’m focused on going forward. One is the leadership role I think this university needs to play about college athletics and what its future is…the role I’ve been able to play through a number of organizations, the roles our staff is playing and our coaches, it’s really important for Notre Dame to accept that responsibility and participate, and I think we’re doing it very effectively. The other is I want to leave here knowing that a long-term, sustainable business model is in place for Notre Dame athletics, especially as the world changes so rapidly and that becomes more and more important. That’s a priority. Irish247: What is the role of cost-of-attendance in the discussion of compensating student-athletes? JS: It is just one part of a larger discussion about the relationship between student-athletes and the university. It’s an important one, and in some ways an easy and long overdue one. The notion that we couldn’t pay the cost of attendance was a bit of an artificial rule designed to limit expenses that was adopted at the NCAA level. You’re able to do that for any other scholarship recipient, and so why would you treat a student who’s engaged in athletics differently than a merit scholar who would be eligible for those funds? It didn’t make any sense. What I would describe as a clear error was resolved and appropriately so. It is more about fixing that inequity than saying here’s how we’re going to support these students going forward. There will still be elements of that discussion to continue, but I think [Notre Dame president Rev. John I Jenkins’] interview with the New York Times was a very good articulation of Notre Dame’s view in that regard. We want to continue to be open to ways that meet the needs of those students and minimize the distinctions between their treatment and other students. We will never go to a place where they’re not students anymore, or where their relationship to us is not that between school or university and student, or rather that between employer and employee. Irish247: What do you think are the next issues to be addressed in college athletics? JS: I think there are a number of critical issues. I think in this area there is work to be done on values associated with name, image and likeness, and what the right approaches are to that issue. There are ways in which other students who aren’t athletes are able to capture their name, image and likeness in things they might do. Surely a student who’s an athlete shouldn’t be excluded by that simply because they’re an athlete. Having said that, it also occurs in a different environment that requires a different set of rules, and so that’s what we have to figure out. That will be an area of focus. I think more broadly outside the economics of it, I think time expectations for students who are athletes is going to be an important issue nationally. I think we’re going to have to reexamine some of the recruiting dynamics that are going on nationally. There will be a focus on graduate transfers that will be an important part of the dynamic going forward. I could go on. The agenda’s full. There are a lot of things we’re focused on nationally. Irish247: Last fall Brian Kelly said you’re an individual who pushed Notre Dame to explore the issue of concussions. What specifically has Notre Dame done to explore the subject? JS: It covers a broad swath. I’m a big believer that the best way to do that is in partnership with others and not to go solo, so we have participated in a number of national studies. We’ve worked with the schools, especially schools that have medical centers that are focused on this research to share our data. To learn from them, that’s been an important part of it. Individually, there are members of the faculty at Notre Dame working and researching this area, which has proved very beneficial and I think helpful to the national discussion to try and find the answers. So that’s the second way, and in some ways the most important way that Notre Dame’s participated. Thirdly, based on the information that we’ve been able to gather, we modified our approach in a host of ways; our approach to practice. Our process for determining when there’s a potential that a concussion may have occurred, for evaluating that concussion. For deciding when you can return to play and when you can return to school if you’ve been concussed. So trying to review all of our policies in that area and make them better. The last thing I’ll focus on is playing a role in the national discussion on rules, and safety and equipment. Working with Under Armour to make sure we’re doing everything we can to make our equipment as safe as it can be, but also be involved in the discussions not just in football; in hockey, in soccer, about what we have to do to the rules to help ensure the safety of our students. Concussions are a focus, but it’s not limited to that. Irish247: There are two ways a student-athlete’s insurance policy; he or she can finance the premium, or it can come from the Student Assistance Fund provided by the NCAA. Does Notre Dame have a hard stance on whether it will use SAF money to aid the student-athletes, or do student-athletes finance it on their own? JS: First of all, we absolutely support the opportunity for students to insure their futures in that way, both through disability insurance and through loss of value insurance. The way the loss of value policy works, we’re able to secure it without paying the premium at the time you secure the policy, because the way it tends to work is if you have a claim, which you hopefully don’t have, the premium is deducted from the claim settlement. If you don’t have a claim, it’s deducted from your first contract, and you’re only covered until the time that contract is signed. So there is a way to do it now without direct university underwriting the premium. I think it’s appropriate for universities to be in a position to pay the premium. I think that would be a good thing for us in collegiate sports to do. What I’m not necessarily in favor of is making the [Student Assistance Fund] the sole, acceptable vehicle for doing that, because what happens if you do that is it depletes that fund to where it’s benefiting one or two or three students, rather than 740 like it does now. I want those funds, which are limited in nature by the NCAA, to make sure they’re available when somebody needs to get home for a family emergency or needs an article of clothing that he or she doesn’t have, or needs a laptop they can’t afford. That’s when that fund is having its most power, so I support the insurance. I want us to be able to help with the premiums, but I don’t want to deplete the student athlete fund in order to it. Irish247: Did Notre Dame use SAF funds to cover premiums for Ronnie Stanley, Sheldon Day or Jaylon Smith? JS: No. It’s through this normal mechanism of sort of future payment based on getting their contract or having the settlement claim. It’s one of those legislative items we’ve got to get to here at the NCAA level.
Intel Spoiler There’s bound to be some changes on Notre Dame’s offensive line in 2016 – exactly how many remains to be seen – but we’ve heard of at least one change that is a distinct possibility – and according to some a probability. Keep an eye out for Mike McGlinchey possibly moving from right tackle to left tackle to replace Ronnie Stanley. At this point, it looks like Hunter Bivin would be first in line to fill the opening on the right side. If Bivin does end up taking over the top spot at right tackle, he’ll do so with great confidence after learning from guys like Nick Martin and Stanley. “I think he has an edge that no other offensive tackle in the country really has,” a source told us. “He had debatably one of the best offensive guards in the NFL that he learned from when he was a freshman and sophomore. Then he’s got an undisputed first-rounder that he played behind and got really close with this last season in Ronnie Stanley. I think he’s got that edge that you can’t really get anywhere else besides Notre Dame. “Hunter has had three years to prepare and he’s really, really confident in the knowledge he’s gotten from Zach and Ronnie and everybody he’s played behind. He’s pretty confident about this year and really excited about it.” Bivin’s potential goes beyond having waited and learned though. “I’m not giving all of the credit to somebody else,” the source said. “Hunter is a great player. He’s really athletic. He can move side to side and he’s bulked up enough – he’s about 310, 315 now – where he can handle that bull rush along with being athletic enough and having long enough arms to handle the athletic defensive ends that he’ll see. Even if he is given the first crack though, he won’t be handed anything, which is why Bivin has dedicated himself to winning the spot and succeeding on the field if he does. “This is what he’s been working for,” the source said. “Obviously, he planned on playing sooner than this, but he knows at a place like Notre Dame, if you get two full years of starting, you’re pretty fortunate. He’s worked his butt off for it. He’s got his mind on business. You can really tell he’s really locked down this offseason to get bigger and stronger for the fall.” CONEY COULD BE IN FOR BIG FUTURE:As we’ve reported before, we’ve been told Notre Dame wished it had more opportunities to get Te’von Coney on the field during the linebacker’s freshman season. Those opportunities are likely to come in 2016. Coney’s former high school coach at Palm Beach Gardens, Rob Freeman, has heard similar feelings, but that’s not what impressed him most about the one-time early enrollee’s first year in South Bend. “I’ve heard a lot of good things,” Freeman said. “I’ve even heard good things with the off-the-field stuff with his performance. The academic support staff has been raving about his attitude, his preparation to do a good job in that area. I heard similar things from the strength and conditioning and nutrition people. “He’s been very mature about his approach for a freshman, especially one who enrolled early. He’s just a young guy and to have that more mature approach (is great). That’s what I’ve heard the most about him.” Freeman is proud to hear his former pupil has his priorities in order. “The football part will take care of itself, but for me, hearing those other pieces, that makes me feel like success is definitely in his future,” the coach said. Freeman expects to hear similar things about this year’s early enrollee from Palm Beach Gardens, safety Devin Studstill. “To be honest, knowing Devin the way I do, Devin will be the exact same way. Notre Dame hasn’t been to our school in a long time and to have a couple guys who not only have the athletic ability, but also have the academic credentials and the character traits they were looking for, we’re pretty proud of that.” ND MAKES STRONG FIRST IMPRESSION ON TX RB:Notre Dame offered 2017 Texas running backJ.K. Dobbinson National Signing Day and it was obvious to us he would be a fit in South Bend from the first time we spoke to him. We checked in with his coach this week, which only strengthened our beliefs that Notre Dame should have more than a fair shot at landing in the four-star’s top group. LaGrange High School head coach Matt Kates called Dobbins a “once-in-a-lifetime” player who has the work ethic to go along with his talent. Judging by the numbers, Dobbins is more than impressive for a junior in high school. “His 0-60 is incredible,” Kates told Irish Sports Daily. “He can go from a jump-cut to gone and it’s something I have never seen before. Being 5-foot-10, 200 pounds, he is hard to tackle too. He is around a 600-pound squat and benches about 400 pounds. J.K. is not one to tackle if you are able to touch him.” Kates also let us inside his past and also where recruiter Autry Denson stands within his own mind. “Coach Denson came by right before Christmas in December,” explained Kates. “He got some eyes on him and on Signing Day they spoke. I have been in contact with Coach Denson as well. “It’s kind of a funny with me being a Texas kid. I grew up in a Catholic family, so I wasn’t raised a Texas or Texas A&M fan, but a Notre Dame fan. Autry is a couple years older than me, but watching those guys was fun. I was number 50 in high school, because of Chris Zorich. It’s fun when they come around, but at the same time it’s a neat deal for J.K. to be so wanted.” Junior Highlights ST. BROWN STILL HIGH ON ND, STANFORD:Long before his recruiting process had kicked into full gear – even before his older brother picked his own school – at least one school hadOsiris St. Brown’sfull attention and that school was Stanford. As it became clear his brother, Equanimeous, was leaning toward Notre Dame, the younger St. Brown also became intrigued with the Irish and after Equanimeous privately told the Irish coaches he was in, they extended an offer to Osiris, securing a spot toward the top of his list. On National Signing Day, Stanford secured its own spot by extending an offer the 2017 California wide receiver had been waiting for. The younger St. Brown is interested in majoring in Computer Science and the lure of Silicon Valley certainly gives the Cardinal an advantage in that area. Notre Dame has his brother. But while it’s a dream of their father to see the two paired again – and eventually with the youngest brother 2018 prospect Amon-Ra – Osiris isn’t just going to head to South Bend because Equanimeous is there. Still, the brothers are similar and Osiris has told us in the past that he usually likes what his brother likes and his brother likes Notre Dame. Obviously the Irish have much more to sell than the mere presence of his older brother and they have done a good job doing so while also forming strong relationship throughout the process. Notre Dame is hoping to get Osiris on campus this spring, but at this time, it sounds more likely that a visit would come during the summer. The good news for the Irish is that after not being able to make the trip to the Midwest last fall because of his football schedule at Mater Dei, the younger St. Brown seems adamant about getting to South Bend for an official this fall, even if it means taking a red-eye. St. Brown still has other schools on his list besides Notre Dame and Stanford, but we see those two as the early favorites. He isn’t expected to make a final decision until December or January. Junior Highlights ST. BROWN SAYS DANIELS IS REAL DEAL:Notre Dame will always have a presence at Mater Dei and that figures to be the case for years to come. Not only is St. Brown at the California powerhouse, but so is 2019 quarterback J.T. Daniels, who recently reported an offer from the Irish. Unlike others, St. Brown wasn’t surprised to hear the Irish had such a serious early interest in Daniels following the quarterback’s freshman season. “His IQ for football is really high,” St. Brown said of Daniels. “I remember one play, I was doing a stop-and-go. I stopped and when I turned around the DB was running like he knew the play or something, so I stopped the route. He already knew. As soon as I turned, the ball was already coming to my back shoulder. I didn’t even expect it.” The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Daniels, who also claims early offers from UCLA, Cal, Washington and Arizona State, took over as starter for the elite program early in his freshman season when the previous starter went down with an injury. “When you see him throw, you know he’s a good quarterback,” St. Brown continued. “He’s really mature. He watches a lot of film. He’s really a brainy guy, so he knows what’s up.” The two have talked about Notre Dame, according to St. Brown. “He talked to me a little bit about it and asked me, ‘How do you like Notre Dame? Are you going to get up there?’” St. Brown explained. “I just tell him it’s great. I think he wants to take a visit out there sometime soon and he’ll see it for himself.” Freshman Highlights IRISH CHECK IN ON 2017 NC QB:Notre Dame has been very selective in offering quarterbacks under Mike Sanford and the 2017 class only has two offers out to Avery Davis and Clemson commit Hunter Johnson. A name to watch is North Carolina rising three-star quarterbackHendon Hooker. We caught up with Hooker at the U.S. Army Combine, where he had a great showing, but Sanford made a stop at Dudley High School recently to check on the 6-foot-5, 200-pounder. “It was a blessing for him to take time to come visit my school,” Hooker told Irish Sports Daily. “He's really nice and it's been great talking with him.” Hooker will be the first to admit he doesn’t know everything about Notre Dame, but he’s familiar with the basics and that could lead to a spring visit to South Bend. “I know it's steeped in tradition with an awesome fan base and excellent academics,” stated Hooker. “I am trying to put it on the schedule.” While Hooker might not be too familiar with the Irish program, he knows his game fits any scheme and an offer from Notre Dame would mean a lot to the Greensboro native. “I can operate in any system and I am a student of the game,” explained Hooker. “Any offer is a big offer to me.” Junior Highlights 2017 CA QB COULD BE ANOTHER TO WATCH:Jack Searsis another 2017 quarterback who could be worth keeping an eye on. The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder from San Clemente hasn’t had much personal contact with Notre Dame yet, but it’s a school he would definitely love to hear more from. “If you’re looking for a big football school and a great education, that’s definitely a place to go,” said Sears. Sears is certainly an athletic quarterback, having played receiver when USC freshman quarterback Sam Darnold was at San Clemente, but he considers himself a blend of a dual-threat and pocket passer. He earned his first offer from Utah prior to his junior season and has picked up offers from Boston College, Dartmouth, Arizona State, Tennessee, Oregon State and Hawaii in the last few weeks alone. Seen by some as similar to top-rated Hawaii quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Sears could see himself go on another run once Tagovailoa’s favorites become more clear. Sears has family on the East Coast and says he location won’t be a major factor when picking a school. Coming from an Irish-Catholic family, he’s already been to South Bend for multiple games as a fan and even camped at Notre Dame a couple summers ago. Junior Year Playoff Highlights QB COACH ROLE WELL DEFINED:As he prepares to report to Notre Dame this summer, 2016 Irish quarterback signee Ian Book continues to work with his quarterback coach at The Range, Will Hewlett, who makes sure to avoid stepping on the toes of college coaches. “I know Mike Sanford pretty well,” said Hewlett. “I was the initial guy who introduced him to Ian when he was at Boise. Mike’s come out to The Range facility before just to hang out. He knows what my style of coaching is. “Listen, he’s going to Notre Dame, he’s going to be a Notre Dame football player. There’s a very clear understanding that I’m not going to interfere with anything they’re trying to get across. I think, in the industry, I’ve got enough respect from people to know that I’m going to help him at the next level.” Hewlett, who has trained more than 60 Division-I quarterbacks over the past several years, has a clear understanding of his role. “I try to keep my coaching very focused on the mechanical end of it,” he said. “When they go to a place like Notre Dame, they’ll focus on those things too, but now it caters to their system. I’m not going to try to make him a better Notre Dame quarterback, that’s their job, I’m just going to try to make him a better quarterback in general. “You don’t want to give a kid cross-messages. You want the Notre Dame coaches to have absolute control over what he’s going to do. I just try to help fill in the gaps because they have limited access and I think I have a good expertise on the mechanical side of it.” 40 HYPE:As you know, 10 former Notre Dame players were invited to the NFL combine at the end of this month. We will have more during combine week, but we can tell you former Irish receiver Chris Brown will be looking to turn heads in the 40 while in Indianapolis. We’re told Brown clocked times of 4.39 and 4.31 in the 40 earlier this week during training sessions.
The new Gary Williams? Mike Brey, Notre Dame own Tobacco Road http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25481464 Spoiler Conference realignment is a funny thing. Twenty years from now, we might look back at the last decade of movement as one of the most "turbulent" times in college athletics, but as we're here in the moment, it seems less dramatic. The coaches, players and fans have been directed to detours from their established traditions, as powerless as a daily commuter dealing with road construction. For Notre Dame, the move from the Big East to the ACC in 24 of 26 sports, including men's basketball, was part of "arguably the most noteworthy across-the-board change in the history of Notre Dame's sports programs." For Mike Brey, it was a chance to return to familiar territory and start the next chapter of his career. "My biggest worry was that we had an unbelievably consistent identity in the Big East, and could we do it in this new league," Brey said this week. "After the first year, the jury was kind of out." That first year, the 2013-14 season, was the only losing season in Brey's tenure as coach of the Irish. The Rockville, Md. native and former Duke assistant (1987-95) saw his team lose its best player, Jerian Grant, to an academic suspension and though Notre Dame beat the Blue Devils in their first ACC game, the team finished with a 6-12 record in conference play and a 1-5 mark against Tobacco Road (Duke, North Carolina, NC State and Wake Forest). That season is not a glamorous moment in Notre Dame, or Mike Brey's, basketball history, but the players who endured that season have been the same ones who orchestrated second-best single-season turnaround in ACC history. Grant returned to be one of the best players in the country, while Pat Connaughton, Zach Auguste, Demetrius Jackson, Steve Vasturia and V.J. Beachem all played a role in leading the Irish to the program's first Elite Eight appearance since 1979. Notre Dame stacked wins against the program's blue bloods along the way, becoming just the third team in ACC history to beat both Duke and North Carolina in an ACC Tournament title run. That trend has continued in 2016 with wins against the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium and last Saturday against then-No. 2 North Carolina, giving Brey and the Irish a 9-1 record against Tobacco Road teams over the last two years. Before he retired and Maryland left the league to join the Big Ten, it was Gary Williams and Maryland that carried the reputation of being the thorn in the side of the ACC establishment. South Bend is a good bit farther from Duke and North Carolina than College Park, but it's looking more and more like Brey, a DeMatha product and childhood Terps fan, has taken over that role in the lore of modern day ACC hoops. "Hey do some stats for me, was Gary ever 9-1 against Tobacco Road? I'll tell him that when I see him in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware at our favorite bar," Brey joked when I pitched him the idea that Notre Dame is the new Maryland and he is the new Williams. "I think what's helped me is that I'm familiar with the league. I lived on Tobacco Road. That's probably helped me and our program," Brey continued. "Certainly when you have that kind of success in ACC country, the heart of ACC country, it gives you great credibility for your program early in this league." That credibility extends beyond college basketball. Brey speaks now about the importance of getting guys like Jerian Grant and other former Notre Dame players now in the NBA back on campus and wearing their gear with pride. Matt Carroll, now working for the Charlotte Hornets, tells him how great it is to celebrate the Irish in the heart of ACC country. Chris Quinn, now an assistant for the Miami Heat, reports back with photos of Justise Winslow in Notre Dame gear after the Irish beat Duke. It pumps Brey up, arguably as much as seeing this group round into form at the right time in ACC play. When discussing the 2016 team, Brey is quick to mention leadership. There doesn't seem to be one player in particular, but we assume it's the same players -- Jackson, Auguste, Beachem, Vasturia -- that were there for the low points of 2014 and the wild ride of 2015. He hopes that because they've got the nucleus of a team that was part of an ACC championship, "that guys remember the formula." Notre Dame just picked up another huge victory over UNC last weekend. (USATSI) Notre Dame has shown some mental and physical toughness in the last couple games, including a hard fought win at Clemson on Monday that earned the team a few days off. The Irish return to action on Saturday against Louisville, looking to stay in the hunt for a top-four seed in the ACC tournament, something that interestingly enough is much more likely thanks to the Cardinals' self-imposed postseason ban. "Certainly we remember the double-bye, from the Big East days, and it's helped us get to the semifinals and it's something to shoot for," Brey said. Getting that spot improves the chances of winning another ACC tournament title and likely getting another shot at Duke or North Carolina. Winning another ACC tournament title would also double Williams' total from his days in the ACC as the enemy of Tobacco Road, and give Brey plenty more to brag about when the two coaches meet at their favorite bar in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
That JK Dobbins kid's film is ridiculous. Rather have him more than any RB in the country... Even over Najee Harris
I wonder if it was that or if he was just needed for the role he was in, guy that can get a tough catch on 3rd down. With Fuller clearly being the best speed guy they needed someone to do the dirty work.
He is really good. Would be shocked if he didn't go to Texas though regardless of how big of a nd fan his coach is. His family is pushing him there and he's a big Texas fan.