To be honest though. That d the talent we have on offense and a slightly above average special teams could easily make a 9 or even 10 win regular season. Keep in mind the post bvg defense gave up about 110 yards a game less and of that pace was keer up for a season i think they wouldve ranked about 30th nationally. Its just that the offense was already checked out by then.
The only viable hope is that Crawford comes back and is a stud and Hayes breaks out. There would still be holes but + players at those to spots can cover up other weaknesses.
The offense specifically Kizer and special teams killed ND in the last 5 games I thought the defense improved quite a bit but I can't see them being a top 30 unit with no safeties and Drue Tranquil being the relied upon playmaker I'd be shocked if Drue makes it past Sept uninjured
you just have access to innovation park lots (library lot for navy)? or are you seeing joyce lots for any games? just want to make sure i'm not missing anything
I'll bet you complained that the buns were stale and the hot dogs were cold. They probably were, though.
Really wanted to make a joke similar to that one(but better) :) I just could not mustard it since I am also a miserable cunt about Nd football
Looking to EE as well. Also read one part where coach Lea told him his wife is pregnant and they are naming their kid Jack. I wonder if he told Ovie the same thing.
After one day of training camp it sounds like Deshone Kizer is the black Tom Brady. Thanks and stay #blessed
He switched his pick yesterday but yea, waited last second and wasn't the first to call it yesterday.
Spoiler People not playing close attention may not realize what Notre Dame is getting in Jack Lamb. The 2018 California native who committed to the Irish on Thursday isn't your typical tackle-to-tackle Mike linebacker. "He's the complete opposite," Ground Zero 7-on-7 coach Armond Hawkins told Irish Sports Daily. "He's very athletic. He has hips to turn and run. He's long, athletic. He can run. He has great ball skills as well." He's more CJ Mosley than Riley Bullough. In fact, the 6-foot-4, 224-pounder didn't play all that much linebacker for Ground Zero. "We didn't really play him at linebacker much, we were able to play him at cornerback because he's long and can run and can cover," Hawkins told Irish Sports Daily. "When we first got Jack two years ago, we started training him to cover versus being a linebacker." Aside from his physical gifts, Lamb has the intelligence to succeed at Mike. "In a nutshell, he's smart," Hawkins said. "He's a smart kid. He picks things up real quick." Every high school player needs to work on every aspect of their game to prepare for the next level and Hawkins believes Lamb will make the biggest strides when he gets into Notre Dame's strength program. "It's not that he's not strong, but once he gets cut, he'll be an action figure," Hawkins laughed. When he visited South Bend back in June, the Irish coaches talked about adding 15 to 20 pounds to Lamb's frame without slowing him down. "Easy," Hawkins agreed. Lamb's athleticism, smarts and frame offer Notre Dame the chance to play him at multiple spots. "He could end up in the middle, he could end up on the outside, he could end up playing rush end," Hawkins said. "He could end up doing whatever they want." Lamb is a quiet, mild-mannered young man who doesn't feel the need to do much trash-talking on the field, but multiple sources have told us he has a switch he can flip and when he does, watch out. His easy-going demeanor would allow him to naturally fit in in locker room and he should fit in with the Irish especially well. He's been taught when he's a member of a team, the team comes first and he's had the opportunity to prove that. Here at Irish Sports Daily, we've highlighted the fact Lamb was given the advice to be selfish with his decision, but other than that one instance, he's not the kind of kid who would consider an opportunity to help himself if it came at the detriment of his team and he's demonstrated that fact. TREMBLE TRENDING TOWARD ND-UGA BATTLE: Notre Dame is going to have a battle on its hands to add a second tight end after all, but it's not one the Irish can't win. After a visit to South Bend last month, the Irish looked to be on the verge of landing 2018 Georgia tight end Tommy Tremble. He named Notre Dame his top school after the visit and there was talk about the potential of a decision before the end of the summer. But after an unofficial visit to Georgia, Tremble is now set on taking officials before a final decision and the Irish and Bulldogs as co-leaders atop his list with UCLA in the mix as well. He'll take officials to all three and could also make stops at Tennessee and South Carolina this fall too. He'll be in South Bend for the Irish's game against Georgia, which will allow him to compare how each team uses its tight ends side-by-side. The outcome of the game may not be of major importance as long as one team doesn't get blown out. Tremble's father played at Georgia, but even before he was offered by Notre Dame, we said we didn't see him as a lock to the Bulldogs. Part of the reason for that was the fact that Tremble's mother felt the program had sort of tossed his father to the side after he suffered an injury, but that was addressed during their last visit to Athens. He has his mother's blessing to pick either Notre Dame or Georgia. While the other schools remain in the picture, this looks to be a Georgia-Notre Dame battle and the Irish will now indeed have to overcome the fact Tremble grew up wanting to be a Bulldog. CRAIG KEEPS LOW PROFILE: One thing we were struck by when we spoke with 2018 California offensive lineman Will Craig at The Opening earlier this month was him acknowledging he's told college coaches he wasn't interested in having extensive conversations on the phone all of the time. Some kids aren't into all of the communication of the process and he said coaches have respected that, but it must be difficult to recruit a kid with such limited contact. "Will has earned a lot of interest from the college coaches and they have done their duty in contacting him," Jeff Evans, his coach at Granite Bay High School told us earlier this week. "I know it is frustrating for them because they have limited time to contact players, and the truth is, Will probably spends half of his day away from his cell phone." His coach is sure to make it clear Craig's preference has nothing to with being arrogant in any way. "He is not married to his phone, that is for sure!" Evans said. "He went two weeks this summer without a phone because it was broken and he really didn't seem to mind. Try finding another teenager you can say that about!" Craig seemed to be nearing the end of his recruitment when Notre Dame offered back in June. He still could make a final decision without visiting South Bend, but Craig was excited by the Irish offer and he wasn't the only one. "It is Notre Dame bro!" his coach said. "Joe Montana! The Golden Dome! When Notre Dame calls, your heart skips a beat for a moment. It is impossible to not feel that history. "Hell, my heart skipped a beat when Notre Dame called. I walked around school that day feeling pretty cool and they weren't even calling for me!" AUSTIN COMING TO THE END: Earlier this week, Kevin Austin Jr. announced he'll be making his college commitment on August 11th. The 2018 Florida wide receiver is still down to the four schools he trimmed his list to a couple months back Notre Dame, Miami, Duke and Tennessee. Austin has been huddling with his family and going over the strengths of each school, searching for the program that fits what he's looking for on and off the field best. "It is a lot of pressure and it's a lot for a 16 and 17-year-old," one source told us this week. His parents are certainly involved and offering a ton of guidance, but this will be Austin's decision in the end. "Once he makes the decision, he can enjoy his senior year and be confident that, 'This is where I want to go,' and he can start planning for his college life," we were told. "He's the one who has to live there for four years and he's the one who has to have these relationships. "It's where he feels comfortable. 'Can I live here for four years? Can I play with this team? Can I work with this coach and coaches for four years?' It's really up to him." We know he's remained in contact with the Notre Dame staff. Over the last several months, he's formed a very strong bond with fellow South Florida native Autry Denson. Austin and Denson don't just share a geographical background, they shared the same Little League coach growing up, one both point to for teaching them values on and off the field they take with them today. Distance will not be an issue at all, so that shouldn't work against Notre Dame in comparison to a school like Miami. In fact, we're told there's a chance Austin's mother could move with him if he decides to go away. We still like our Notre Dame predictions here. JONES AFTER AUSTIN: Notre Dame wide receiver commit Micah Jones is certainly hoping Austin joins him in South Bend. Jones pointed to Austin, along with Maryland defensive lineman Thomas Booker and Georgia cornerback Donte Burton as the guys he and his fellow commits are currently working hardest on now that Lamb and Shayne Simon are in the fold. Austin's style of play and talent has Jones excited about the possibility of pairing up with him at Notre Dame. "Just being the receiver he is," Jones said of why Austin is so coveted. "He's lengthy as well as really fast. "Having me and him on the outside could be two dangerous threats to stretch the field. We're both really big kids who are also really fast, so it'd be a really big get for us." JONES GETS TO WORK: Meanwhile, Jones has been spending his summer working with multiple trainers trying to improve his entire game. Jones spends time at EFT Sports Performance, Deep Impact Performance Training and Throw It Deep, a quarterback training facility. "I go to EFT for the footwork and skills stuff as well as DIPT, which is the place out by me, which works on my footwork," said Jones. "I also go to Throw It Deep to work with Jeff Christensen, which is really cool. He's taught me a lot of stuff. He's a really good quarterback coach, so he lets me know how I'm doing and stuff like that." Christensen spent eight years in the NFL and trains dozens of current NFL quarterbacks, including Kirk Cousins, Ryan Tannehill and Brock Osweiler. As a receiver, Jones finds it helpful to understand what quarterbacks are thinking. "Just knowing their direction and knowing what they're looking for really helps," said Jones. "Getting out of breaks faster, getting out of breaks at the time they need you to, knowing when they're going to throw the ball off their footwork really helps a lot." ND STAFF MADE SMITH A PRIORITY: Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chip Long wasn't 2018 running back Jahmir Smith's primary recruiter, but he more than filled in for Autry Denson last weekend when the three-star North Carolina running back visited. Long was sick, but bit the bullet to make sure Smith knew he was a priority according to Foster Cates, Smith's assistant coach who accompanied him on the visit. "We got to spend a little bit of time with Coach Long and he was actually under the weather and still came in to speak with Jahmir," Cates said. "They got to sit down and get to know each other and watch some cutups of what Notre Dame is going to do with their offense." The time and effort given by Long showed Smith and Cates the Notre Dame staff is willing to go the extra mile for its players. "It spoke volumes to come in while he's sick and not feeling his best," stated Cates. "He explained how they are going to feature the running back and how they are going to get downhill. Those things really appealed to Jahmir. The commitment to the kids showed by Coach Long showing up." Denson was out of town, but his message to Smith was clear and never changed throughout the process. "Coach Denson has been upfront from the very beginning," explained Cates. "He isn't one that is going to call all the time or text every night. Jahmir got to see that first-hand that Coach Denson was going to focus on his kids and the guy already there. "He has never wavered or changed throughout Jahmir's recruitment. He didn't all of a sudden start calling all the time or change up his recruiting plan. He focused on making his guys better football players, men, Christians and everything else." HANSEN HELPS OUT: As we said in this space last week, Rich Hansen lets his players at St. Peter's Prep choose the colleges they think are best, but it certainly helps the Irish that he's a fan of the program and sees many similarities between Notre Dame and The Prep. Shayne Simon became the latest Marauder to commit to Notre Dame when he announced his decision on Tuesday and Hansen was not disappointed. "He was happy," Simon said of his coach. "He thought it was a great fit for me. He's excited for me. He wants me to accomplish my goals, win a championship here and then go on to the next stage of my life." Simon was also grateful for the ability to lean on Hansen's extensive experience throughout the process. "He was really helpful. I'd never really gone through something like this before. We were kind looking at him throughout the steps of the process, 'What do we do here? What do we here?' He's been great to me and I can't thank him enough." LEA-DING MORGAN TO SUCCESS: Last week, in this space we talked about how Irish wideout Miles Boykin could be in for a boost this upcoming season with the addition of Del Alexander as Notre Dame's new receivers coach. Flipping over to the other side of the ball, the addition of Clark Lea as linebackers coach could benefit Nyles Morgan as much as anybody. Morgan could see big bump in his production working under Lea, much like Marquel Lee did last season at Wake Forest. Lee led the Demon Deacons in tackles for loss with 20 and was second in sacks with 7.5, which was more than double the production he had the previous season in both categories. While at Syracuse, Lea also helped sophomore Zaire Franklin get to double-digits in tackles for loss (11), finishing second for the Orange in that statistic in 2015. Notre Dame hasn't had an inside linebacker put up that many TFLs since Manti Te'o back in 2011, when he had 13.5. Working with Lea in new defensive coordinator Mike Elko's scheme should mean a big increase in plays made behind the line of scrimmage for Morgan this season. COULD ND HOOPS BE CLOSE TO LANDING BIG MAN?: When news came down that the Notre Dame men's basketball program had extended an offer to 2018 Massachusetts forward Nate Laszewski earlier this week, sources weren't immediately ready to talk about the potential of Laszewski making a quick decision. Sources have yet to come out and predict Laszewski to the Irish soon, but we do think his timetable could be accelerated a bit more than initially thought. One source we spoke with immediately after the offer felt Laszewski would likely take official visits in the fall before picking a school, but later in the week, sources closer to the situation talked about a decision possibly coming in a matter of weeks. Laszewski is focused on finishing the summer season strong and is currently with his New England Playaz summer squad playing in the adidas Select Series Las Vegas Summer Classic. A quick decision would likely be promising for the Irish given the fact we know the offer was a big one for him. Notre Dame seems like an ideal fit on and off the court for Laszewski, who is a stretch-4 who can put the ball on the floor, shoot, pass and rebound. He's also somebody who is serious about his academics. Geographically, it's also a fit as Laszewski's family has roots in the Midwest with his parents both attended college at Wisconsin.
Kizer was the best QB in training camp again. I know our QB's suck just figured you guys might be interested. Hue Jackson has a pretty good track record with QB's and it sounds like he really likes Kizer.
Honestly I think he's going to be great for you guys. He struggled a bit last year, but he was also fighting his way out of a dumpster fire. I wanted the Bears to take him for the value. Kid has the tools, may be a little soft mentally at times, but I think he can get over that easily. Oh and tell the Browns to trade and get Will Fuller at all costs. Those two were made for each other. (or CJ Prosise)
Dude can just flat out throw the ball I'll be at the Browns opener- would be a pleasant surprise for Kizer to be the starter
Kizer's tools are honestly insane. He's just a bit of a mental case. Getting him away from Kelly might be good for him. Those two didn't jive perfectly.
Does anyone think Rees will have the added value of knowing exactly what it feels like to take shit from Kelly and smile?
He was my favorite qb the entire draft process. We have to get a few more weapons but should have a good ol and running game