he's not wrong. kelly blaming everything and everyone for his shortcomings. hopefully those get exposed in the "AL EAST"
Brian Kelly is in peak Brian Kelly form. No, that doesn't mean he's working hard at getting his team ready to reach its full potential. That version of Brian Kelly is long gone. The Brian Kelly I'm referring to is the one who seems to spend as much time creating narratives and playing golf as he does coaching football. And don't get me started on recruiting. You know the Brian Kelly I'm talking about, it's the Brian Kelly that taps into his political pedigree to create narratives that are either loosely based on facts, or those that are just pure spin. A sad attempt to blame everyone else for his own failures. Remember the "This is the best coaching job of Brian Kelly's career" this past year at Notre Dame. Yes, the year in which Notre Dame went 11-1 ..... but 0-1 against ranked opponents, was the best coaching job of Kelly's career. That was peak Kelly as a coach at Notre Dame. A lot of wins, very few, if any, against opponents that were on his team's level. I doubt Kelly actually believed that. It was nothing more than yet another attempt by him to extort more money from Notre Dame off the work being done by his assistants and of course, the work being put in by his players. What I do feel is at the core of Kelly's belief system is the absurd quote he gave the Associated Press. “It’s been awesome because you’ve got incredible facilities, you’ve got players that want to be great,” Kelly told Ralph Russo of the Associated Press regarding his decision to head to LSU. "I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship." Notre Dame Commits Move Up And Down In Latest ESPN Rankings APR 5, 2022 Latest Nuggets On Five-Star Notre Dame Commit Keon Keeley MAR 28, 2022 Carnell Tate Talks Notre Dame, His Game, Recruiting, Decision Timeline And Much, Much More APR 4, 2022 Now, we see Kelly all but blaming his players not wanting to be great (that's his quote) and Notre Dame's lack of support for his failures. Make no mistake, Kelly's failures on the big stage, Kelly being 0-fer in major bowl games, the BCS championship and the College Football Playoff was about his inadequacy, not inadequacy on his roster, or a lack of support from the institution. Kelly will throw under the bus anyone that stands in the way of his legacy. That includes his players, his assistants, and the AD who supported him through a 4-8 season, a pair of tragic deaths of Notre Dame students and an academic scandal that saw Notre Dame forfeit 21 games over two seasons. David Grimes anyone? Kelly went through multiple periods during his Notre Dame career that had many calling for his job, and if my sources are correct (and they almost always are) after the 2016 season that included some very important and influential people. There was a strong movement on campus to have Kelly removed, but Kelly had one very, very important supporter. Jack Swarbrick. Since leaving Notre Dame, Kelly has thrown several sideways jabs at Swarbrick. You know, the man who made the push in the last decade to raise and spend well over $600 million dollars to add a new playing surface, completely overhaul and renovate the stadium, to overhaul the practice fields, who fought for big pay raises for assistants and who gave Kelly one of the very finest indoor football facilities in the country. Oh, and the guy who gave Notre Dame a watered down schedule that allowed Kelly to go 54-9 while going just 10-9 against opponents that finished the season ranked in the Top 25, and just 2-6 against teams that finished ranked in the Top 10. Kelly was always quick to take the credit but never accepted the blame, and that clearly hasn't changed. Now, do Notre Dame's facilities still have room for improvement? Of course, no one at Notre Dame denies that. But Kelly acting as if his players, and the lack of facilities, and the lack of support kept Notre Dame from winning a championship says more about him than it does Notre Dame. Notre Dame certainly didn't lack the talent to win a title in 2015 or 2017. Notre Dame had a Brian Kelly problem in those seasons. In 2015 his failure to address the issues with the strength program and at defensive coordinator, problems that were evident during Notre Dame's epic November collapse in 2014, wasted an absolutely loaded roster. That defensive coordinator decision held back one of the greatest linebackers to ever lace it up for Notre Dame. From the moment Marcus Freeman arrived at Notre Dame he conducted himself as the anti-Kelly. Instead of blaming Notre Dame for any shortcomings, Freeman has pointed to what makes Notre Dame unique as the reason he and the program have had the success it has had. Let's not forget Notre Dame has the No. 1 ranked recruiting class in the country and is in the process of closing on a number of 5-star recruits. Freeman is also shopping down a different aisle, but it's an aisle filled with elite players. It's amazing what happens when a coach with character who values his players and is willing to work his tail off gets hired at Notre Dame. It's not a coincidence that Freeman, in less than a year and a half, has destroyed all the false recruiting narratives Kelly worked hard to create. I mean, it was some of the hardest work Kelly put in at Notre Dame, building up this narrative. Notre Dame's facilities haven't changed since Kelly left. The admissions standards haven't changed since Kelly left. There has really only been one big change, and that is Freeman is here and Kelly is gone. That's the difference. You see, Freeman isn't an excuse maker. He's a doer. He hired a staff filled with doers. He put together a group of coaches who embrace Notre Dame's uniqueness, and as I've written about in the past, that is why Freeman will succeed in areas Kelly could not. You see, it was never about Notre Dame, it was always about Brian Kelly.
Been low key impressed by the recruiting of two of the new coaches so far: Parker at TE- dude has like 5 top 300 2024 TE’s visiting this spring Mason at ST- seemingly every top K, P, and LS in the nation has visited ND this spring I like the effort
“It's been somewhat a secret as I'm not sure he wanted it out, but Joey Tanona's concussion issues came from a horrific car accident he was in prior to spring ball starting with his sister. Harry Hiestand confirmed the story today at interviews. From what I was told previously, Tanona and his sister were essentially t-boned and the car hit on the side Tanona was sitting. He's extremely lucky to be alive according to a source and has a road ahead of him to get back on the field as he deals with several issues post-accident, including his hearing. “ -Matt Freeman
this was from Singer last night Spoiler Here are tonight’s Lucky Charms, a Monday-Thursday nightly insider notes article on Notre Dame football recruiting. *** I left my house at 7 a.m. this morning and got back at 7 p.m. for a swing out to Charlotte, and the main purpose of the trip was to sit down with Belmont (N.C.) South Point’s Sullivan Absher, the No. 171 overall player and No. 13 offensive tackle per the 2023 On3 Consensus. While we all know to never say never in recruiting, a big takeaway from my time with Absher is that rumors of him committing to Clemson during his visit there this weekend are not true. He dispelled that when we were chatting. Could that change? Absolutely. But he’s booked to visit Notre Dame for the Blue-Gold game weekend. He has no intentions of committing any time soon. I’m not buying that Clemson has pulled ahead of Notre Dame; I still get the sense that Notre Dame leads for Absher. He went in-depth about his top three schools list of Clemson, N.C. State and Notre Dame, and I felt that he has the best relationships with the Irish staff among the trio. Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman and Chad Bowden have connected well with Absher on a personal level. Ge and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees share a common love of golf that they’ve bonded over. And Absher is very excited about the prospects of playing under offensive line coach Harry Hiestand. It’s a tight battle between Clemson and Notre Dame, but my pick is on the Irish, and I’m sticking with it. I’m not ruling N.C. State out, but my read is that they’re trailing behind Clemson and Notre Dame. *** Charlotte (N.C.) Catholic class of 2024 tight end Jack Larsen will visit Notre Dame April 12, he told me today. Larsen has long been on Notre Dame’s radar going back to last summer, and new tight ends coach Gerad Parker extended an offer to the 6-3, 212-pounder on St. Patrick’s Day. The Fighting Irish should be considered the team to beat early on for Larsen, at least in my opinion. Alabama recently offered Larsen, and the likes of N.C. State, South Carolina, North Carolina and Michigan are all factors for him as well. *** I made a brief stop today at Harrisburg (N.C.) Hickory Ridge to see 2023 wide receiver Christian Hamilton, who Notre Dame had been recruiting for a while. But it seems the communication between the two parties have fallen off. Hamilton all but told me that he’s no longer considering the Fighting Irish. *** Notre Dame’s tight end commit in the 2023 class is Concord (Calif.) Da La Salle’s Cooper Flanagan, the No. 192 overall prospect and No. 12 player at his position per the On3 Consensus. Flanagan is visiting Notre Dame this weekend, and he’s solid by all accounts with his Irish pledge. It’s not stopping other schools from recruiting him though, particularly Alabama. Naturally, he has high praises of the Crimson Tide program, but even in an interview with an Alabama reported recently, he affirmed his pledge to the Irish. You can read the article here. really interesting from Absher since he spoke to him directly, face to face and he's doubling down that ND leads for Absher which is fantastic news
no offense to clemson, but as an offensive lineman with pro aspirations, how do you say no to heistand when he's made you a priority?
agree w/ this a 100% Jagusah and Pendleton are coming this weekend for practice, I wonder which OL alumni will come to help out
Also coach d said on a podcast today that he has so much dirt on kelly he would be done coaching but out of respect for the players won’t tell
I think it’s more likely he murders the guy asking to play through because Brian measures out 6 foot putts like it’s to win the masters.
In other words, I'm not wasting my time cranking out all pros on a team with Brian Van Gorder coaching on the other side.
likely not enough room left on the schedule to get back into the ncaa tournament, but I’ll take a win at Duke any day of the week
tragic stuff, in these situations I always kind of goes to dark comedy which is probably inappropriate but I need to get it out of my system. His pocket awareness was always going to be his downfall. sorry, this shit is terrible. All of his life ahead of him and just got taken away by a silly accident
D3 team update Notre Dame is now 10 practices deep into the spring and the updates continue to roll in from various sources. Here’s what I’ve been able to gather the last couple of days. *** The deeper we get into the spring the further the gap builds between the quarterbacks. Tyler Buchner had a rough Thursday practice and he is still up and down, as you can expect, but he’s also been the consistently best player at the position. He still needs work in regards to timing and just getting comfortable in the offense, which leads to him making some big misses. This is exactly what I expected to hear when talking about a redshirt freshman. What I’m also told is he’s making some ridiculous throws at times as well, and he has grown more and more throughout the spring. Drew Pyne has made some nice throws and had some good days but he’s been turning it over more than expect and just hasn’t made enough plays, so far, to keep up with Buchner. *** As we get deeper into the spring I keep hearing more and more about Lorenzo Styles. I’ve talked to multiple sources who say he’s hands down the team’s best receiver. He truly does it all. He stretches the field, he makes plays after the catch, his route running has improved, he wins contested catches, he’s just a consistently difficult player to defend. There is no doubt, according to multiple sources, that Lorenzo isn’t just the best WR on the roster, he’s going to be an impact player. *** Haven’t heard a ton about the tight ends but the only other tight end I hear from folks other than Michael Mayer is Mitchell Evans. Have been told he’s the guy who makes the most plays in the pass game after Mayer. *** There is no way Jadarian Price doesn’t play this year, that’s my prediction. The reason is I have heard more about him the last couple weeks than any other back. Price is very, very explosive and he’s a home run waiting to happen. I’m told that not only is the staff happy with what he’s done, one source told me today that he has “star material.” He’s really coming on. Logan Diggs is also starting to pick it up in recent practices as he gets closer to practice. Then in another conversation I’m told that Audric Estime looks really good. Moral of the story. Notre Dame is LOADED at running back right now. *** I was told by another source that Rocco Spindler really needs to work on his foot quickness. He got some first team reps today (which is a good sign) but that his issue continues to be foot quickness. When he gets his hands on defenders he gets a really good push, but he gets beat more than he should into gaps by slanting and penetrating DL. If Rocco can reshape his body a bit and improve his foot quickness this summer he’ll have a chance at Notre Dame because he has good size and impressive power. *** Not much on defense at the moment but there are a couple of interesting nuggets on freshman LBs. For one, Josh Burnham is going to get a look at Vyper. He’s already over 230 pounds and I was told that the way he’s attacking the strength program he’s going to be 250 by the fall. He’s exploding physically. With Isaiah Foskey and Justin Ademilola in their final seasons the staff needs to establish depth there. Burnham is already getting some second team reps despite the move happening quickly. *** Another nugget about the freshman LB is that Niuafu Tuihalamaka, I’m told, has been the best freshman so far. I’m told that Tuihalamaka has been really, really good. Tuihalamaka is really smart and has picked the defense up with ease. He’s a bit more athletic than expected and he’s already the No. 2 Mike linebacker. Don’t be surprised if he makes a legitimate push for playing time as a true freshman