I figured RT was going to be a work in progress, but Jagusah getting smoked a few times yesterday wasn’t confidence inspiring. I just hope we can manufacture offense in different ways this year, which we should be able to do with Leonard and Denbrock.
Most good teams don't have the luxury of an elite OL every year. Elite OL simply requires too much experience. Difference is, top teams with good QB play, a competent OC, and enough playmakers to challenge defenses can score in spite of warts at OL. Hell. Bama's OL was a mess for much of last season and they made it to the playoffs. Problem is, ND has been built to rely on elite OL play, and when that broke down we were fucked. That pendulum seems to be swinging the other direction. Truth is, it's relative. Our OL won't be elite by our standards, but talent, depth and experience-wise, more teams than not would still trade with us in a heartbeat.
Right? Like the Micah Bell/KK Smith matchup was fun in the second half, and you could see that those guys have the potential to make a big impact one day. But this year neither will probably be needed much, as all.
we’ve discussed it to death a million times so I won’t rehash it but because ND is ND (both good and bad) this program has to have very good OL play at a minimum for any chance at success. Thankfully that’s been the case most of the time in recent history - even if it takes until midseason or later to get to that point. Obviously the jury is out on these guys but having Denbrock back is about the best protection possible for a young and inexperienced group.
Having a competent OC helps. I wouldn’t guess he is as locked into his own ideas and can scheme to fix problems, which is new.
I'd argue with the right team around them, you can lower that bar to competent. The uniform or name at the top of the roster doesn't change the impact that a potentially elite defense, very good and experienced OC, reliable QB play (wow) and deep and talented skill positions can make. ND has always had to have very good OL play because they've never had all of those other things at once, not because of their name, location, academics, etc.
It’s actually even better than that. Kelly always had 3-4 “4” star guys who didn’t have a committable offer from anyone in the t15.
correct, and while things are trending in a better direction and better than they’ve been at about any point in the last 10-15 years they’re still not there. Also its naive to think that all of those things you listed about haven’t played a part in why they’ve struggled to have an elite D, competent QB play, next level skill players etc at the same time
ND unveiled plans for one of the most expensive facility upgrades in the country this weekend. They went out and stole an OC from fricking LSU this offseason. They've lured the top transfer QB the last two offseasons with large NIL offers. It's time to let yourself admit that this isn't Grandpa's Fighting Irish anymore.
I couldn’t watch live much yesterday but watched this morning. There is an insane amount of talent on this team. Think it will really come down to the o-line but won’t be worried about that until they actually suck at a&m.
Pete Sampson has been one of the loudest critics of nd and it’s want to be great. He did 20 minutes on his podcast gushing about how they are doing everything they can. Loy has said that nd is there on NIL (even for high schoolers). this is the hardest they have worked for football since the mid-80’s
We really can't do much more than we're doing Major facilities upgrades, NIL the hell out of the portal, stepping up NIL for HS, paying Denbrock and Golden massive money to have one of the top coordinator duos in the sport. Anything more we'd do in admissions probably minimal. No complaints right now other than we need to convert on the field
I didn’t get to watch live yesterday, but just watched the highlights Payne looks like a completely different player. Quick, decisive, light on his feet. McCullough is a wizard
His quickness and burst were markedly different Love still looks rail thin but he’s so exciting with the ball in his hands
ToT Spoiler "As I told the players, let's utilize the teaching opportunities that a game like this provides, but also, continue to use these first 15 practices as a barometer to continue moving forward. I don't want to start back over. I want to use what we've developed over these 15 practices and continue to use it as a springboard as we move into the last couple of weeks of the semester, and then give them a little break and bring them back for the summer. "I'm really, really pleased with where the progression of this group is going." - Marcus Freeman following 93rd annual Blue-Gold Game • When you consider that the previous Saturday's scrimmage was controlled by the Notre Dame defense, the seven touchdowns scored by the Irish offense in the 93rd annual Blue-Gold Game – a 28-21 victory by the Blue -- was the ideal way to wrap up the 15-practice spring. There's little doubt that the Notre Dame defense under third-year coordinator Al Golden will once again be one of the most dominant stop units in the country in 2024. Meanwhile, the offense under first-year coordinator Mike Denbrock has some issues at tackle while his troops learn a new offense with new terminology and a new quarterback. (For the complete analysis of the Blue-Gold Game by Tim Prister, make sure you've read the post-game Snap Judgments. https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/article/snap-judgments-blue-gold-game-230752383/) Quarterbacks Steve Angeli, Kenny Minchey and C.J. Carr were a combined 44-of-67 (.656) for 516 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. Angeli was 17-of-25 (.680) for 228 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Carr was a combined 15-of-23 (.652) for 165 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions while playing for the Blue and Gold squads. Minchey threw the one pick by S-Luke Talich while completing 12-of-19 for 123 yards with a touchdown. • Truth be told, Angeli – working as the No. 1 quarterback while Riley Leonard continues to recover from ankle surgery – was the most inconsistent of the three. He seemed to struggle with the breezy conditions throwing toward the north end zone in the opening drive, although he did lead a 13-play, 72-yard march on his second possession, which was capped by a 21-yard touchdown pass to TE-Eli Raridon. Angeli led three of the seven scoring drives, including the game-winning hook-up with WR-Kris Mitchell, whose double move on walk-on CB-Isaiah Dunn led to an easy 62-yard pitch-and-catch with 3:54 remaining. • Minchey seemed to get better as the day wore on. He is the greater running threat among the three quarterbacks who participated Saturday and took advantage of being live along with Carr. Angeli played with a red jersey signifying that he was not to be tackled/hit. Minchey rushed for 48 yards on six carries with a sack mixed in. Minchey led two touchdown drives, one in each half. With his Gold team trailing 14-0, Minchey and the offense embarked upon an 11-play, 75-yard drive to pull his squad to within a touchdown when he completed 3-of-4 passes. He then ran it into the end zone from five yards out. Minchey's second scoring drive was a snappy four-play, 72-yarder that was launched by a 38-yard connection with WR-K.K. Smith and a 26-yard touchdown toss to WR-Micah Gilbert, who beat CB-Micah Bell off the snap. • Carr threw the most pinpoint passes on the day, including an 18-yarder rolling to his right to WR-Deion Colzie. Carr – as he did throughout his high school career – looks very comfortable throwing on the run to his right. "As impressed as I've been with C.J. Carr in the pocket, I'm more impressed with him out of the pocket," said analyst Jason Garrett. Carr's touchdown pass to Micah Gilbert in the fourth quarter was slipped between walk-on CB-Mickey Brown and S-Luke Talich. There was the 12-yard gain to K.K. Smith on a speed cut out route over the defender. Even a Carr incompletion to Smith near the goal-line pylon was perfectly thrown but Smith's contact with the ground dislodged the football. Coupled with his accuracy in the previous week's scrimmage in Notre Dame Stadium, Carr finished the spring on a rapid rise. He did make a very poor decision in the shadow of his own end zone when he rolled to his left and stepped out of bounds for a five-yard loss instead of throwing it away. But it's not exaggerated hype. The kid shows a ton of ability. • To be sure, there could have been more than the one pick by S-Luke Talich. S-Ben Minich got his hand on an ill-advised force by Minchey that could have been intercepted if not taken to the house. CB-Christian Gray had an opportunity to victimize Carr on another ill-advised throw. And as mentioned in Saturday's Snap Judgments, Angeli threw a couple of "change-ups" that looked a bit lazy in effort. But when you complete a collective 65.6 percent of your throws with four touchdowns and one interception, it's a successful conclusion to the day/spring. Most of the throws were high percentage as Mike Denbrock used a lot of quick-throw stop routes as opposed to showing an elaborate downfield passing game with a combination of routes. The offense needed a feel-good finale heading into the spring and got it. Now to the issues at hand. • The Irish clearly have issues at offensive tackle that need addressing. Will the Irish seek help at tackle from the transfer portal? Yes, if it's available. But at this stage of the process, there likely isn't a better alternative than working with two highly-decorated prep offensive linemen LT-Charles Jagusah and RT-Tosh Baker. When it comes to run blocking, Irish fans can feel pretty good about these two, particularly Jagusah, who as has been said many times, is a better guard than tackle. But speed rushers are racing by Jagusah and Baker. DE-RJ Oben abused Jagusah on the last play of the first half, and that was with Jagusah aligning in a two-point stance in preparation for Oben's rush. It was never close. • Jagusah and Baker will now be turned over to Director of Football Performance Loren Landow, who is tasked with getting the duo in the best physical condition of their lives to improve their off-the-snap quickness. They'll get better, but when I think of Louisville DE-Ashton Gillotte coming off the edge against the Irish, Notre Dame's running backs will need to tighten up their pass-blocking endeavors. No matter how much they improve, there will be some jailbreaks against the Irish offensive line. There's no shortcut to Notre Dame's tackle position at the present time. Could Aamil Wagner pack on another 10-to-15 pounds and still maintain the quickness to be a better alternative as a pass blocker? Possibly but you don't want it to come at the expense of the run game. Baker had 31 pounds on Wagner according to the spring roster. Maybe Wagner could play left tackle with Jagusah on the right, although offensive line coach Joe Rudolph probably would have aligned them that way in the Sun Bowl had that been a better option. Is Sullivan Absher a possible alternative at left tackle with Jagusah moving to a more manageable right tackle? Maybe but Absher is probably a year or two away from his best football. Could incoming freshman Guerby Lambert give the Irish a Joe Alt/Blake Fisher-like surprise as a true freshman? He has a ton of athletic/physical talent but those are high odds. Notre Dame's best options likely lie within rather than from without. The Irish probably would have found an option in the transfer portal by now, and the portal will close again soon. No easy solutions but also no reason to panic just yet. RJ Oben has beaten a lot of quality offensive tackles with his best work coming against the best competition he faced at Duke. But Notre Dame's offensive tackles are going to have to make significant progress to plug the hole that sprung a leak this spring. • Meanwhile, it's mostly sunny, cloudless skies on the defensive side of the football where DC-Al Golden has built a mini-defensive dynasty in the last year-plus after a rocky start to his Notre Dame tenure in 2022 when the Irish finished last in the country in red-zone touchdown percentage. The return of interior defensive linemen Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills, the addition of DE-RJ Oben, the improvement of pass-rush threat LB-Jaylen Sneed, the development of and movement to Vyper end by Jordan Botelho, the development of DE-Josh Burnham, the next step up for DE-Boubacar Traore, the promise of ultra-long freshman DE-Bryce Young and Golden's multitude of blitz packages from the second level have the Notre Dame defensive front humming heading into the summer of 2024. Traore had an unblocked sack in the Blue-Gold Game. Burnham was active of the edge with a tackle for loss. Young's length showed on a reaching/twisting throw-down of running back Gi'Bran Payne, and Oben repeatedly abused Jagusah. Opponents will be hard-pressed to reach 20 points against this defense in 2024, particularly with seven of the upcoming foes ranking 125th (Navy), 113th (Army), 112th (Stanford), 95th (Virginia), 87th (Purdue), 81st (Northern Illinois) and 79th (Miami of Ohio) in 2023 scoring offense. (Note: the two best scoring offenses – USC at No. 3 and Florida State at No. 18 – both lost their triggerman at quarterback). (Photo: Matt Cashore, Irish Illustrated) • There is so much to love about this young linebacker corps, led by the lone veteran – Jack Kiser – who rightfully played sparingly Saturday. Jaylen Sneed is now showing a consistent presence on the field. Opponents will have to account for him. Jaiden Ausberry – at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds – has the uncanny ability to defend slot receivers (mainly tight ends). He shows more like a red-shirt sophomore than a red-shirt freshman. Likewise with Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, who shows the abilities and football awareness of a red-shirt freshman or red-shirt sophomore, not an early-entry freshman. The linebacker that is expected to be in the rotation that probably has the most to prove is sophomore Drayk Bowen, not because he has done anything wrong or shows a particular shortcoming. But he still needs to show a consistent ability to be in the thick of the action and make plays. He was productive Saturday with seven tackles. But he'll be threatened by Viliamu-Asa, particularly as a blitzer, on passing downs. KVA is – in my opinion -- the better of the two as a pass-dropper and as a pass-rusher. He was sensational running 25 yards downfield to defend Jaden Greathouse. Bowen, of course, will be a key cog with the rest of the frontrunners but possibly more on run downs than passing downs. The frontline linebackers are so good that it will be difficult for productive players like Kahanu Kia and Preston Zinter to see action in 2024 outside of special teams. Frankly, Kia's dominant play in the Blue-Gold Game – 12 tackles, two for loss – looked a lot like the way little brother Ko'o Kia dominated his junior prep season in Hawaii. Both are bouncy, light on their feet and extremely active. Zinter has a chance to be an impactful linebacker at Notre Dame someday, particularly if he's willing to play the long game (five years) as a current red-shirt freshman. Zinter had three stops Saturday and was around the football a whole bunch. Notre Dame's linebacker corps will match up against most of the top ones in the country, although probably without some of the pre-season fanfare because they're mostly young and aren't known across the country. But this unit is going to be sensational, particularly the deeper they get into the '24 season. • A testament to the improved Notre Dame's wideout corps is the fact that the group flashed Saturday without Jayden Harrison, Jordan Faison, Cam Williams, Jayden Thomas, Beaux Collins and Logan Saldate. Think about that because Harrison, Faison, Thomas and Collins are almost undoubtedly among the top six or seven in the group. It was a mostly quiet day (three catches on six targets for 38 yards) for Jaden Greathouse, who came up lame on the last play of the game. It looked as if a defender landed on him and jammed his right foot into the ground. The look on trainer Mike Bean's face as Greathouse exited the field didn't elicit concern, although the long-time Notre Dame employee is not one to flash a whole bunch of emotion as it is. • The most productive wideout Saturday ultimately was Micah Gilbert, who caught five passes on nine targets for 79 yards, including a pair of touchdowns. The 26-yarder by Gilbert as he zipped by CB-Micah Bell and the 29-yarder between a pair of defenders on a beautifully-thrown ball by C.J. Carr highlighted his day. Irish Illustrated has said that Gilbert, not more highly-rated freshman Cam Williams, would emerge first between the duo. Williams had an excellent scrimmage the previous Saturday before pulling a hamstring that kept him out of the game. Gilbert is stronger, more experienced against quality competition, and a stronger route runner with a better understanding of coverages. His background allowed him to arrive with an advantage. Gilbert – at 6-foot-2, 206 pounds – will have a whole bunch of veterans ahead of him this fall. He could be very impressive and come away from the season with six catches. It's just the nature of the position and Notre Dame's pecking order heading into 2024. But he's going to be very-good-to-great with the Irish. Gilbert, the early-entry freshman, was indeed the 2024 version of Jaden Greathouse, who was an impressive early-entry freshman in 2023 with 11 grabs in the Blue-Gold Game. • Kudos to Deion Colzie, the 6-foot-4, 209-pound senior who was difficult to reach for coaches Del Alexander and Chansi Stuckey. Consistency of performance/effort has been a shortcoming in his game. Mike Brown has brought out the best Colzie has offered. He caught four passes on seven targets for 58 yards. Again, most of Denbrock's offense was underneath stuff, sitting in pockets against the zone, and short gains. But as we said in the post-game Instant Analysis, neither I nor O'Malley have ever uttered the words "Colzie had a good spring" or "Colzie had a good camp." He changed that tune a bit this spring, but the competition remains stiff. (Photo: Matt Cashore, Irish Illustrated) • Kris Mitchell scored the game-winning touchdown as the defensive back fell down on the play. Credit for a very deceptive double-move route. Mitchell had caught just one pass for seven yards prior to that. K.K. Smith had a mixed-bag day with three catches for 54 yards, including a 38-yarder. He had a drop late and could have made a falling catch on a beautiful ball by C.J. Carr that Smith couldn't corral. All accounts from Notre Dame were that Smith had a noteworthy spring. • That was just a taste of what can be expected of junior Eli Raridon, who unfortunately has burned two years of eligibility while playing just 12 of a 26 games the last two seasons. Raridon caught five passes on seven targets (two drops) for 41 yards, including a juggling 21-yard touchdown grab from Steve Angeli to start the scoring. The drops came on two low throws, which makes sense with a 6-foot-7, 248-pounder. Something for him to work on during the summer. But he's such an inviting target and such a difficult defend for the opposition. He has tight end length with wide receiver assets. He and Mitchell Evans – whenever he returns from his knee injury – should be huge beneficiaries of the matchup advantages they'll have with a much-improved wideout corps on the field. One can only hope that Raridon/the Irish benefit from his skillset for a full season with him as the primary tight end. A healthy Evans would get most of the snaps in Mike Denbrock's 11-personnel-heavy offense. Raridon's big season may not come until 2025, but you'd sure like to see him have a full, healthy season as the man at tight end. • Note: Interesting information from Jason Garrett – he has a lot of that if people would just give him a chance and listen to what he has to say – regarding 11 personnel under Denbrock. Peacock showed a graphic revealing that LSU ran 11 personnel 91.4 percent of the time compared to Notre Dame's 48.7 percent in '23. Notre Dame ran 12 personnel 35.2 percent of time – the 16th most in the FBS – and it seemed like more. Denbrock said Notre Dame would look more like his Cincinnati offense, which was about 65 percent 11 personnel. • I think it's a tossup as to which of two players will come away deemed the best Notre Dame offensive lineman in 2024. It's between C-Ashton Craig and RG-Billy Schrauth. Both will be sensational college football players. Both will play in the NFL. It's a bit early to speculate on where they'll be drafted since both are just getting started. But I love Craig's game. He moves people around. He carves space. He seals off defenders. Schrauth covers great width as a blocker. Love the wide base with which he plays. As good as both seem to be now, they are just scratching the surface. This will be fun to watch develop. • I said after the Blue-Gold Game that I believe Rocco Spindler will win the starting job over Pat Coogan. I amended that to say that I wouldn't be surprised if Spindler beats out Coogan. Hard to believe I'm saying those words with how adamant I was early in Spindler's career that he wasn't going to pan out. He wouldn't have panned out under Harry Hiestand because he likely wouldn't have played. Schrauth would have started from the beginning of the season. Spindler's starting to pan out now after starting 10 games in '23 before suffering a knee injury. On one series Saturday, he pushed Brenan Vernon, Sean Sevillano Jr. and Donovan Hinish off the football. That's not like saying he pushed Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills off the ball. But still. It's not because I think Coogan is a bad football player. He was unjustly criticized and evaluated after starting the first 13 games of his career as a red-shirt sophomore last year. Sure, he was inconsistent. Yes, he lacked pop. But he answered the bell all 13 games. Including bowl opt-outs, Coogan was the lone 13-game starter on the offensive line in '23. He struggled in pass coverage, but overall, he was solid, particularly as a first-time college starter. Spindler is on the rise as he bounces back from a knee injury. I believe he's stronger than Coogan and will maintain that edge, perhaps even expanding upon it. If you saw Spindler on the move at times last season, he was a physical presence in space. He needs to be more consistent and not get caught on his heels as he sometimes did in '23. But there's a feeling around Notre Dame that Spindler has the higher upside. So it would not be a surprise if he emerges as the frontrunner in August. • And if Coogan is the first interior offensive lineman off the bench with promising Sam Pendleton next, that's a good situation for the Irish. Speaking of Pendleton, yes, he's having trouble with his shotgun snaps. He hasn't developed the muscle memory for it yet. He will. He'll snap the football hundreds of times and it will become second nature. But his best position is guard, where he has a chance to be a standout once the competition ahead of him clears a bit. • Jeremiyah Love caught eight passes for 77 yards and a touchdown last season. Knowing what Mike Denbrock likes to do in the passing game with the running backs, and knowing that Love will line up as a receiver at times, I feel strongly that Love will at least triple his number of catches from '23. He caught five passes on five targets for 41 yards Saturday, including a sensational 32-yarder in which he broke a couple of tackles and then brought CB-Chance Tucker along for the ride. It was yet another example of how Love has improved his strength since the fall. He ran over Adon Shuler as well in the April 13 scrimmage. I don't believe Love will ever be the running back that Ricky Watters was for the Irish. Watters would go on to have seven 1,000-yard rushing seasons in the NFL and totaled more than 10,000 yards on the ground. Unbeknownst to many, Watters also caught 467 passes for nearly 4,300 yards in the NFL. But that is the mold in which Love was formed. Watch Denbrock take massive advantage of him in space. • I made some sharp comments regarding red-shirt sophomore Ty Chan after he was walked back into the quarterback more than once and resorted to a facemask penalty in an attempt to keep his quarterback clean. It was harsh, but it's true, and the opinion is based upon much more than the Blue-Gold Game. He can't play at this level, so his alternatives are to get a Notre Dame degree or go somewhere else and play. The Notre Dame degree – considering Chan does not have a future in football beyond the collegiate level – would be a solid route to take. • There's a lot to like about S-Adon Shuler, the red-shirt freshman. He had eight tackles – and a game-high seven solos – with a pass broken up. He still needs a strong summer of strength conditioning. He missed too many tackles in the April 13 scrimmage and April 20 Blue-Gold Game. He caught a bad break when he broke up the pass to Eli Raridon inside the 10-yard line but Raridon kept it alive for the touchdown…In addition to the strong play of LB-Preston Zinter, he drew a holding penalty from TE-Davis Sherwood…Massive hit by LB-Kahanu Kia on Aneyas Williams for a one-yard loss. But underrated and unacknowledged by the announcers was the play made by red-shirt freshman DT-Devan Houston, who made first contact with Williams when he beat Sullivan Absher to the punch. Houstan also pressured C.J. Carr on the near Christian Gray pick. Those are the first positive plays I personally have seen since Houstan arrived last year. Very promising to see…Very impressed by RB-Aneyas Williams, who at 5-foot-10, 207 pounds, is a strong – and strong-willed – runner. That lower-body strength keeps his feet churning… • We – including The Athletic's Pete Sampson -- offered considerable praise of sophomore TE-Cooper Flanagan following the April 13 scrimmage in Notre Dame Stadium. Flanagan made a great diving grab on a 4th-and-15 in the Blue-Gold Game and finished with three catches on seven targets for 34 yards. Otherwise, I thought it was an inconsistent pass-catching and blocking day for Flanagan. He's a better player than what he showed Saturday…Freshman TE-Jack Larsen showed pretty well in his first Blue-Gold Game. He caught four passes on five targets for 41 yards, including a 19-yarder prior to Jeremiyah Love's six-yard touchdown run. He'll always battle the undersized tag that came with him to Notre Dame as a 6-foot-3 tight end. But he showed something in the passing game, which isn't a surprise, and also threw a couple of nice blocks, including wiping out Kahanu Kia on Aneyas Williams' seven-yard touchdown run…A nice wrap-around pass rush by DT-Donovan Hinish in tandem with RJ Oben on the Kenny Minchey interception toss…Devyn Ford, who has converted to safety, sure looked like a running back on his 13-yard run… • Excellent pass-drop by LB-Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and a pass broken up on WR-Jaden Greathouse. This was a tough play. KVA had to turn and run well downfield to defense Greathouse, who got a step on him. KVA then turned his head from one side to the other to make the PBU…Kudos to Notre Dame for honoring Jaden Mickey's mother Nilka Mickey, who died of colon cancer last year. The t-shirts the players wore pre-game honored her with a bible passage from Romans 15:13: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."…Keep an eye on freshman NT-Sean Sevillano Jr. He's too heavy at 330 pounds-plus. But if he can shave off the weight that hinders his stamina, he has a chance to be a difference-maker. He is ultra-quick off the football. He was so quick with his swim move that he whipped C-Joe Otting, who barely got a fingertip on him…. • Love the direction DT-Jason Onye is headed. Three tackles, a pair of sacks, and a way better pad level. If he's effective coming off the bench on the interior, that's another notch in the Notre Dame defense's belt…Notre Dame radio/TV voice Tony Simeone is a professional and once again did a nice job as the play-by-play man for the Blue-Gold Game on Peacock. He and Jason Garrett mixed up pronunciations on Luke Talich and Ben Minich. The ch is sounded out in Talich's name while it's a ck sound at the end of Minich's name. But that stuff happens…Noted the comment from Marcus Freeman to Garrett regarding Mike Denbrock in response to which player is the leader of the offense: "HE'S (Denbrock's) the leader of the offense."…Credit to Garrett for stating at the end of the broadcast that Notre Dame's "offensive line is a question mark."…Note the pacing of the offense with the headset communication from the sideline. There will be more plays run because of it, although communication will be shut off with 15 seconds left on the play clock. So signaling will still be part of the process at times…Do we really need a two-minute warning at the end of the first half? It's been instituted. One year they're trying to shorten the game, the next they're adding a timeout and more commercials… • Interesting to hear Garrett mention Denbrock's development of Cincinnati QB-Desmond Ridder and LSU/Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels. That's some pretty heady stuff…Don't know if there were no punts as a result of Bryce McFerson's decision to enter the transfer portal, but when I asked Freeman point-blank where they'll find a punter, he said outside the program…Also interesting to hear Freeman say that if this had been a real game, "it would have been hard to keep Riley Leonard off the field."…Al Golden told the broadcasters he's not interested in having the No. 1-ranked rushing defense because "that exposes too much in the passing game." That makes sense but it's a comment never heard before…Who was the graduate assistant in constant communication with the Notre Dame quarterbacks on the sideline? Michael Bearden, who spent time at Cal as quality control coach and graduate assistant and Northwestern as a student assistant. Look for a complete rundown of Notre Dame football support staff personnel later this week on Irish Illustrated.
Blake Fisher coming back and being LT would’ve made our team and himself muchhhh better. Probably could’ve ended up a 1st or 2nd rounder
it is great in theory but Blake had zero interest in being at school another year so this just wasn't possible even if it was the right decision
Oh 100%. Surprising that he couldn’t bear 2 more semesters when his first contract would be likely multiple millions higher though
Even staying at RT could have helped him get paid. Especially considering it would be continued growth, rather than any bumps in the road associated with a position change. And it still would have helped ND. While Jagusah obviously has a way to go, at least there's room to improve. Baker, on the other hand, is what he is, after all this time, and it sounds like he's the biggest concern of the 5.
Some team is getting an 8yr starter at RG in rd3. I hope it’s the Colts. *Same with Cam, getting a multi-year starter if he stays healthy in rd3-4
From all reports, Bell was being groomed as our next slot CB so that would be a pretty substantial loss
One day perhaps, but day one JCL at RG. Scouts and draftniks have said he’d be a multi Pro Bowler at G.
Apparently she is visiting, would be a solid add. https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/player/gamelog/_/id/4596309/liatu-king