Ah damn. I may just run to the 4HL and tell them I heard from a very reliable source that Dante will be announcing on his birthday. Mix it up a little, ya know
Say you live in the area and got invited to the party at his high school and the evite mentions a surprise that will shock the world. Say there were no more specifics but the colors were all green and yellow so you're not sure what to make of it. Then ask Loy if he factored this into his private CB.
"Have a friend who works at Nike who said something about some QB from Michigan who he needs to take on a tour of the Nike campus and load his family up on a bunch of Oregon apparel before some big announcement? He said its Tuesday, 5/24 - any relevance/chance its Dante?"
Loy’s update next week… “As we’ve been reporting for months, we think ND has just as good a chance to land Dante as anyone else, but it sounds like Oregon is making a real push…”
Our right wing zealot leader describes him as a more athletic Alohi Gilman with infinitely better ball skills
The coaches on the road updates daily have been funny: Rees, Washington, Stuckey, McClendon, and O’Leary are seemingly always at high profile schools. Harry goes and sees one random top 200 OL per day, Golden goes and sees commits which I get since he came on late. Parker and Mason are always off in the wild just winging it- feels like they get all the oddball states: Iowa & South Carolina today. Think it was Kentucky and Wisconsin yesterday or some shit. Pretty sure Mason spent 4 days in Indiana
EJ Holland is Tom Loy with less self awareness. He just pumps out content on how everyone is going to Michigan for clicks and when they don’t, he never walks anything back or gives anyone else credit.
i attempted to listen to his podcast when he was working for nd, and my god it was the worst i ever heard and mike frank exists.
For those of you that don’t actually know Druce personally, congratulations. He’s even worse in real life. He is however independently wealthy. That, paired with his lack of integrity and low moral character, makes him the perfect bag man.
James was asked who he wanted in the class on the IPC space last night. He said Greathouse and Dante, he made it pretty clear Dante was all but in but the fans need to show love. Kid is doing this for follows and I can’t blame him.
Rico Flores top 3 is UGA/OSU/ND I'd be more than happy to take OSU's leftovers. If it's good enough for Bama, it's good enough for us too
seems obvious if you follow the visits and dates: off the board- Tate 1) James 2) Greathouse 3) Gallagher 4) Flores/Hanafin 5) MO kid/Elzy think ND would take any 5 but will slow play the last two
If Freeman can become a great HC, we are going to win natties with his recruiting it takes someone special to be able to communicate like he does Spoiler • When I think of…Marcus Freeman’s interview with Notre Dame Vice President of University Relations Lou Nanni Wednesday, it was another example of how the first-year Irish head coach knows how to touch the hearts of Notre Dame football followers with his passion for the job and an authentic delivery of his message. Nanni asked many of the questions that we’ve heard Freeman address, particularly the importance of family, his visible presentation of his family to the team, what Notre Dame has to offer recruits, seeking advice, bringing back former players for the Blue-Gold Game, etc. One thing in particular that stood out to me was the art of being a great listener, which Freeman applies to his never-ending quest on the recruiting trail. Nanni brought up a story he’d heard in which Freeman referred to rapper Jay-Z to one of his recruits, which coming from Nanni had the makings of an uncomfortable give-and-take. Then Freeman explained and it all made sense. “It starts off by listening,” Freeman said. “Great recruiters listen. That’s something that isn’t talked about enough. Everybody thinks great recruiters sell, sell, sell. No, you listen, and then you’re able to sell based off the things you know are important to the consumer. “We had a young person I talked to and I said, ‘Who’s your favorite rapper?’ And he said, ‘Jay-Z.’ I said, ‘I’m glad you told me that because that’s what Notre Dame is. When Jay-Z was a young rapper, he was the best rapper in the game. He could rap. Everybody loved him. But Jay-Z also knew at some point you’re going to phase out of being the best rapper in the music industry. So Jay-Z was making decisions while he was rapping. He bought the music company title. He was really smart. He married this woman named Beyonce. What he was able to do was make decisions and now he’s a billionaire and he’s one of the most successful individuals in America and the world, music industry or not.’ “That’s what I tell young people. While you’re at the top of your game – just like Jay-Z when he was young – you can be an unbelievable football player here at Notre Dame. You can move on to the NFL while you’re at the top of the game and be an unbelievable football player in the NFL. But at some point, this game will end and you’re no longer going to be the young football player, the young rapper. “Notre Dame helps you make decisions while you’re playing that will continue to make sure you have success through the longevity of your life. That’s why I love this place. But it all starts with listening. If you can listen, then you have a chance to make sure you get to their heart.” When Freeman finished the statement, I pictured him saying that with an audience sitting in front of him as opposed to a Zoom meeting with Nanni. The audience either would have sat there in stunned silence at the magnitude of the message or given him an ovation. It was a beautiful application of the present-day life of a recognizable figure to whom many student-athletes can relate and the aspirations of some of the most talented football prospects in the country. It was a drop the mic moment in the 40-minute interview. • When I think of…other impactful moments Freeman is creating for Notre Dame football, I think of the clip of Peyton and Eli Manning during their recent visit to the campus. No, they weren’t there to see what kind of NIL deal nephew Arch Manning could get from Notre Dame. But they did address the team in the Guglielmino Athletics Complex. https://und.com/peyton-and-eli-manning-address-the-notre-dame-football-team/ It was typical motivational, be-a-good-teammate type stuff that the players have heard throughout their lives. Peyton talked about how the best players practiced the hardest and great things happened when the most talented players set the tone through unselfishness. Eli spoke about how he wanted to win a Super Bowl for veteran defensive lineman Michael Strahan, and then quipped about how his teammates wanted him to win a second Super Bowl “so I’d have one more than my brother.” Not necessarily ground-breaking stuff, but it was the Manning brothers! Another example of Freeman providing his players with a perspective on how Notre Dame can get to the top of the mountain from two guys who spent most of their professional careers sitting on top of the mountain. I’ve said this recently and I think it’s worth repeating. Notre Dame is not going to out-spend its competition, get into an arms race for facilities and match them dollar-for-dollar, just to keep up with the Joneses. They’re not going to promise immediate riches through NIL deals that aren’t really NIL deals at all, but rather, an “acquisition fee.” Freeman continues to reach for the hearts of current players, recruits and their families. He’s trying to build – escalate – the love for Notre Dame, what it stands for and what it can be. What makes the message all the more powerful is the passion/emotion by which Freeman delivers it. Everywhere the Notre Dame players have turned this spring, it’s been Brady Quinn moderating the hiring of Freeman, Jerome Bettis, Kyle Rudolph, Quenton Nelson, Zack and Nick Martin, and more than 260 former players at the Blue-Gold Game. It’s been a long time since the Notre Dame football family was this unified, this motivated, this optimistic about the future. It’s one thing added to another added to another. The momentum continues and it’s Freeman and his off-the-field decision-making that’s at the forefront of it all. • When I think of…where Notre Dame is headed with its offensive line recruiting, the group being assembled in the Class of 2023 has a chance to be pretty special. Let the record show that as of this writing, Notre Dame has just one public verbal commitment from an offensive lineman and that’s Sam Pendleton, who is the lowest-ranked player (No. 375 composite) among the 12 committed to the Irish. But four-star Sullivan Absher (Belmont, NC) is set to make an announcement Friday, May 13. It looks promising. The Irish appear well-positioned for top 100s four-star tackles Charles Jagusah (Rock Island, Ill.) and Monroe Freeling (Mount Pleasant, SC) as well as unranked/underappreciated beast-like interior offensive lineman Joe Otting (Topeka, Kansas). If those five offensive linemen sign with Notre Dame, there will be competitors of the Irish who sign a higher-ranked class because of Pendleton’s and Otting’s lower listings. But the film doesn’t lie. This would be an outstanding offensive line haul for the Irish. • When I think of…Mike Brey’s recent comments about college basketball coaches dealing with the ups and downs of NIL/the transfer portal, it’s typical of Brey to accept the parameters and offer a c’est la vie response toward change. “We’ve got to stop complaining. This is the world we live in,” said Brey in response to the moaning he’s heard from other college coaches. “Last time I checked, you make pretty good money. So everybody should shut up and adjust. “We’ve had it pretty good here, and it’s a great job. It’s high-risk, high-reward, but we all know what we signed up for.” Brey’s comments are believed to have come about at least partially because of the “threats” made by Miami standout Isaiah Wong, who reportedly suggested he’d transfer from the Hurricanes if not offered more NIL money. Brey’s remarks also came in the wake of Pittsburgh wide receiver Jordan Addison reportedly being pursued by USC head coach Lincoln Riley before actually entering the transfer portal. It isn’t often that you hear major college coaches admit to how good they have it financially. Millions of dollars are made coaching football and basketball in particular. It is indeed high-risk, high-reward. Head-coaching positions can be short-lived, fleeting. But for those that have them, their lives are impacted financially in ways most couldn’t have imagined when they began pursuing a coaching career. Many started on the high school level, perhaps never expecting to ascend to the land of seven- and eight-figure salaries. Many who have been in the industry and are unaccustomed to the level of kowtowing that goes on in today’s recruiting world will grouse about the game “moving their cheese.” Brey’s personality is not such to complain about the inner-workings of the process. The process is the process. You accept the hand your dealt, give it your best shot and move on. Of course, Brey has not been one through the years to “overextend” himself on the recruiting trail, and thus, doesn’t apply the pressure to land players the way some other dogged recruiters do. He’s adjusted by making a somewhat greater effort in recent years, which finally paid dividends with an NCAA tournament bid. Now it’s a matter of finding a big man in the transfer portal and bringing back Nate Laszewski. The one-and-done with Blake Wesley appears inevitable now. But if anyone is equipped to offer the “stop complaining” pitch, it’s Brey, who rolls with the punches as well as anyone in the business. • When I think of…the NCAA reacting – now! – to NIL abuses in an attempt to “put the toothpaste back in the tube,” I, like many, can’t help but shake my head and say, ‘Where have you been? What have you been doing? Why did you wait until now?’ The NCAA’s enforcement staff has decided now is the time to crack down on “booster collectives” and insert themselves into “third-party assistance” to curb “the most severe violations of recruiting rules or payments for athletics performance.” The next step is to put the student-athletes who have benefitted the most from NIL under the microscope to see how they obtained their new-found riches. The notion is not to take punitive action against the student-athletes, but to get them to spill the beans on the offending parties. That won’t go well because they’ll be reluctant to “bite the hand that fed them.” We can go over the mistakes the NCAA has made along the way and how this all came about because the NCAA refused to be proactive and must now be reactive. But they’re involved now and if done correctly, the toothpaste can be put back in the tube. You can’t take away from the student-athletes who already have been paid, but you can curb the abuses moving forward. It’s just going to be more difficult with all the dollars that have flowed freely in an unregulated college athletics world.
On the NIL stuff, Bomani Jones made a good point. Schools aren’t pissed that these kids are making the money from these boosters, they’ve known forever that this was happening. What they are pissed at is that these players are getting the booster money that the schools used to get. When it was bag men moving money, schools kept their eyes closed and allowed it. Now that these crazy amounts of cash are going directly to players instead of adding a fountain in the middle of the football center, they want to crack down. Should have just paid them instead of spending that money to fight this in the first place. I do wonder who the first school they crack down on will be and how mad will Miami fans be when it happens?
Texas am would be an obvious name to slap around. They are blatant, a serious name but they dont really matter at the same time
I think Flores is a June commit that was teased on coach ds forum yesterday. Seems to make sense with Tate to osu I bet