Did Prister listen to the same broadcast? That was one of the worst play by play calls I've heard in a while.
I’m going after the bye week that our freshman receivers are more ready to take some snaps. wishful thinking on my end, but the hope nonetheless.
Loy says he expects good news for ND with JJ Starling committing tomorrow. No clue why a kid that good wants to be part of this program. Incredible if Brey actually pulls this off.
It’s amazing what taking out two 285 lb OL and replacing them with guys 20 pounds heavier can do. Like someone said, why did it take this long?
I have no idea why moving Carrel off C was a thing. Maybe they felt he was a good C but Patterson was clearly better and wanted to stay at that spot. So they were left with the option of having a guy with some exp who looked ok at Center be a backup to your best OL or try to move him. Just weird it still took 6 weeks to figure it out. The LT thing I don't blame them. You can't expect Alt to be ready. When they took him the thought wad they loved his upside but he needed time considering his growth spurt and was a TE not long ago. Now Tosh still looking like a basketball player and being not ready isn't a good look
alt came in more ready than the other guys already in the program because alt got better coaching at home.
Starling at .9876 would be the highest ND basketball recruit since 2000 slightly over DJ at .9869 I'm trying to squint and see why he's doing this
I have no idea where Alt played HS, but he only played OL for 1 year and by the same logic Tosh Baker would have been an all American because he came from a solid HS program and had played OL a lot longer.
As soon as I saw that ND offered Alt and that his dad was a former TE turned Pro Bowl LT for the Chiefs, I knew he was going to be good and I was hoping he would pick ND. The bloodlines matter and his dad can talk him through the process of doing what he did to become elite. I do agree that playing Alt at LT early in the year probably would have been a disaster. He's literally been playing Tackle for 1 year and he's still adjusting/growing into the 50 to 60 lbs of weight he's put on in one year. They were very smart to give him some TE reps early and a few LT reps here and there instead of just putting him in there after Fisher went down. He's probably a lot more mentally prepared to handle it now than he would have been at Toledo. Tosh and Carmody were both probably better Tackles than Alt was during camp so I totally get why they got their chances to be LT before Alt, but it's clear Alt is better than them now so he should get his chance. All I know is that Alt and Blake at Tackle is going to be amazing for the next 3 years.
Spoiler It’s the bye week for the Notre Dame football staff. The Irish are off to a 5-1 start with wins over Florida State, Toledo, Purdue, Wisconsin and Virginia Tech, while they suffered one loss to Cincinnati. Ahead of the team’s next matchup against USC inside Notre Dame Stadium on Oct. 23, the staff will hit the recruiting trail and check in on top targets and commits from the 2022 and 2023 classes. Here’s the latest update from Irish Illustrated and 247Sports. Scituate (Mass.) Boston College high school three-star offensive tackle Johnny Garrett tells me that offensive line coach Jeff Quinn is going to stop by the school and check in on the class of 2022 prospect on Thursday. Garrett is a 6-5, 265-pounder ranked as the No. 10 player in Massachusetts this cycle. He is committed to Virginia Tech and has been since June 21. Garrett was actually in attendance at the Notre Dame-Virginia Tech game this weekend in Lane Stadium and shared some thoughts on the game and his commitment stays with Evan Watkins of our 247Sports Virginia Tech site. “It definitely reinforced my decision,” Garrett told 247Sports. “It was great. A tough loss, no doubt deserved that win. The stadium was crazy… I showed up in the late afternoon and had to leave right after the game pretty much, so I wasn’t really there for a while, but it was fun being back for sure.” It’ll be interesting to see if this visit from Quinn results in a Notre Dame offer or not. There is a feeling inside the Gug that an offer from the Fighting Irish would give him quite a bit to think about, but things remain early on that front. I wouldn't be surprised if Quinn watches him workout at practice that day to see if he can get a better idea of Garrett as a player. There is little to no offensive line tape, but he's clearly athletic. The length is coveted by the Notre Dame staff, especially offensive coordinator coach Tommy Rees. If Quinn and Rees like what they can find out about him, an offer could eventually come his way. 49COMMENTS As of today, Notre Dame has three offensive line commitments from four-star offensive guard Joey Tanona, four-star offensive tackle Ty Chan and four-star center Ashton Craig, who is only a three-star recruit per the 247Sports Composite Rankings. The staff is looking at potentially two more additions to bring this total to five offensive line commits by the time National Signing Day comes around. Of note, Quinn will be by the high schools of Tanona, Chan and Craig this week. He’ll see others as well, which will be reported in time by Irish Illustrated.
I wanted to add, Driskell didn't think much of the Alt pickup. Sure he got a 4.5 "Upside" grade but the way he always talked about the Oline class and tried to talk about how Quinn could not recruit like Harry was ridiculous. It's always about Blake and Rocco and maybe Alt was ok and could go either way. Coogan was basically only ever going to be a backup and Caleb Johnson wasn't anything special. Yes Blake and Rocco are elite, I knew Alt was going to be elite too. Coogan had LSU and Ohio State offers and Caleb Johnson was committed to Auburn before ND flipped him. It's not like these guys were MAC guys. It's clear he had something against Quinn since before he was even hired.
One last note on the oline and i'll be done with my ranting today Yes the oline sucked the first 5 games and they probably should have been better than what they showed, but how in the world can they build any sort of continuity on the oline when you have had to play 4 different guys at LT? I am certain things would have been fixed so much faster if Blake didn't get hurt. He wasn't just better than Baker and Carmody, he was A LOT better than the two of them and would have completely stabilized that position and then they could have focused on fixing the OG position next time him. Quinn does not get a free pass, but going through 4 LTs (2 true freshmen and 2 redshirt freshman) in 6 games is a guaranteed recipe for disaster no matter who the coach is. Seriously, what would McGlinchey have looked like as a LT as a true freshmen??? He would have gotten destroyed.
Wasn't Tosh always thought of as a high risk/reward type prospect? I do think it is time to replace Quinn, or send him back to being an analyst if Kelly thinks there is value there. I do think there is some confluence of bad luck with how this line came together with injuries and what might be misses in recruiting. Problem being that it should never have gotten that bad as it did. IIRC the friction with Long was a lot of that he flat out did not have a working relationship with Quinn, and Rees obviously did not get on the same page with protection early this year so it sounds like that is on Quinn.
yes, Tosh was pretty raw coming out of HS but the profile/size was there. He was a legit basketball player with pretty incredible athleticism for his size that's a legit 6'7 or 6'8 but he was 280 lbs because he wanted to play basketball all the time. His biggest mistake (IMO) was that he chose to play basketball in spring of his senior season instead of enrolling early at ND. Instead of building strength and learning how to play OT, he got hurt playing basketball and then he couldn't lift or practice when he got to ND and that set his growth back quite a bit. I absolutely loved Tosh coming out of HS but he's been a bust so far but he really did it to himself. He'd be much further along and probably ready to play if he had EE'd.
IIRC Tosh was highly rated because of his upside. He was basically a basketball player leaning to play OL. Usually when you see this the players are TE but he basically sized out of that. I’m stunned he isn’t better because he should have good feet but he doesn’t. I will say if he can’t put on weight, him as a giant blocking TE would be pretty exciting to see.
I think it comes down to being able to scout defenses, plan for what they are going to try to do, coming up with a plan to protect against those looks, and working with Tees and Kelly on a game plan that hides your deficiencies as much as possible. I think it sounds like that might be where Quinn comes up short based on Long pretty much not even having a working relationship with him. It's not like more time with the sleds working on technique is the problem. When Brady/Rodgers/Brees/etc lose pieces on their line they are often able to mitigate the problem because they are callimg the offense on the field, see what the defense is doing, and know where they are vulnerable. We are a long ass way from that.
I do think the communication is a major issue between the coaches (Long and Quinn especially) and it sounds like it's been a problem between the players as well (BK has hinted some protection calls have been missed by the QBs). On top of that, you have a literal statue at QB who seems to like to walk into sacks for some odd reason.
The upside grades crack me up. “I think this guy is pretty good now, but, he could be great, or he might suck. 3* with 5* upside!”
And Urban. Someone said to me that Urban will end up somewhere like USC or Texas. I said there is no way he’s going anywhere where people put two fingers up in the air.
Urban will end up at USC or LSU with all of their histories of bad shit with women because irony is dead and buried.
Tosh Baker fucked himself over when he chose to not enroll early and play high school basketball instead. Granted, it was 2020 spring but any time in a college weight room is massive for OL prospects.
Interesting to realize that the OL has gotten better, but in that time Coan has gotten a lot worse mentally. He’s been making the OL look even worse than they have been the past couple of weeks. Amazing how you get a run threat back there and the OL looks like an entirely different unit. Ideally, I think we have Pyne and Buchner QB’ing the rest of the way. But I guess we’ll see.
Just need to put Coan in better positions to make quick reads and throws to get into a rhythm where he’s not worrying AS much about getting sacked on each play. He does great in 2 minute drills, we have to be able to incorporate some of those tempo concepts on certain drives to help him out.
I'm fully on board with this...make it easier for him by doing tempo and spreading the field out w/ more targets and give him easy outs if the first read is covered. Also, having a real LT he can trust might keep the clock in his head from malfunctioning
Stepping back from all the BS and anxiety for a bye week, there was a legitimate time this week when we had our 3rd string QB handing off to our 4th string RB to run behind our 3rd string LT and 3rd string TE giving blocks with a true freshman WR on the perimeter, and we still somehow got out of Blacksburg with a win after spotting them a 10-0 start.
well when you put it that way.... seriously, reading the thread after the game on Mondays is always one of the highlights of my week the overreaction to each play is off the charts and the VT game might be the high water mark this year
It’s been hitting me more the past couple of days… just legendary stuff from Coan to do what he did to finish that game off. Sometimes it’s less about wins and losses and more about the stories of grit and perseverance. I know it’s all extremely cliche, but nonetheless I’m in awe of what that dude did and the mental toughness that takes. He may not be the right starting QB for this particular ND team, but I’m happy for him that he could live out this dream and have these types of moments at the school he grew up dreaming he’d play for.
Talked to his dad after the game. They were thrilled but had a quiet “it’s what he does” vibe. He’s also no where near healthy according to dad so there’s that. Buchner also got on the bus without a boot so that’s probably good.,
The state of our program couldn’t be stronger, even if this year’s team has tons of holes. We’re basically winning entirely on culture, depth, and talent right now. The other side is it would be nice to not always have a major hole somewhere or other every year. And if/when we do, not allow it to have such an impact on the team. An elite QB certainly smooths everything over though.
the wildest part of the 2 PT conversion outside of the obvious facemask is how mobile Coan looked. If he played in the pocket like that all game, it'd be a totally different offense.