they are taking a second TE. The CBs now show every year so jack nickel is next class, not the current one. So its all Evans
Mayer/Bauman/Berrong/Mitch Evans/Jack Nickel is a pretty ridiculous string of TEs and a great mix of different types as well...Tommy must be planning to call a ton of 3 TE sets
Am I stupid (good chance) or am I looking at this ND/ACC thing overly simplistically? ND already has six ACC games scheduled and if they want to go to 8 or 9 they will get scheduled games against ACC games that aren't playing OOC games? Listening to these talking heads saying ND won't have games is patently stupid.
I think ND needs at least 8 ACC games now, will likely need to go on the road for any adds is my guess. I think Navy stays, wouldn't be surprised to see a BYU home and away deal plus a MAC school or UConn. I think the MAC will still allow its schools to take buy games if they can find them Gives ND 12 games when everyone else plays 8 or 9
Is this one of those years where nd will be able to just claim a nc? Although bama will probably beat nd to the punch
Theoretically ND could go undefeated this year and easily get left out of the playoff so yes its possible
If we were doing a better job at recruiting running backs I would think that Rees is trying to move to a more power based offense with tons of backs and TE's like SF and what LaFleur appears to be doing in Green Bay. When everyone else is spreading everything out defenses are built to defend speed and not power. Power offense with Lenzy and Tyree could work. Just need Quinn to get the OL going
It’s wishful thinking from people who have historically wanted ND to join a conference. They’ve been waiting on a comeuppance occurring at some point, and this appears to be their best chance...at least in their minds.
I mean people aren't wrong that the rest of the NCAA could completely screw ND this year and potentially force a deal, but they could also do that in any other year and it seems unlikely that sort of collusion would take place in a year in which every team is going to be starving for cash.
This is where having partial status with the ACC and a ton of revenue driving ability comes into play. We’ll simply add more ACC games, if needed.
Loy on Rocco Spoiler Clarkston (Mich.) high school four-star offensive guard Rocco Spindler is just about ready to announce his commitment. The 6-5, 315-pounder from the class of 2021 has narrowed his recruitment down to five finalists — Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State and LSU — and it’s just about time to find out which lucky school will secure a commitment from the Under Armour All-American. Here’s the latest from Irish Illustrated after talking to a few sources closely connected to this recruitment. As we reported earlier this week, Spindler is expected to make his commitment on Aug. 8 at Clarkston high school. The full details of that announcement are expected to come out very soon directly from Spindler. It seems as though Notre Dame and Michigan are the two teams at the top, but from what I’ve gathered, all five schools are still pushing really hard to land him. I’m told nobody has given up or taken a step back because they feel they are out, which is impressive this late in the game. From Notre Dame’s side of things, I’m told it’s business as usual. The Fighting Irish coaching staff has been recruiting him as hard as anyone since day one and the staff isn’t trying to change things up, press him, do anything over the top, or focus its attention on anything other than making sure he continues to know he’s priority No. 1 in this class. Head coach Brian Kelly, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, offensive line coach Jeff Quinn, special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator Brian Polian and running backs coach Lance Taylor have all been pushing for Spindler and will continue to do so until Aug. 8. In addition, offensive line commit Blake Fisher continues to lead the way as the primary recruiter for Spindler, at least from a recruit perspective. I can tell you this, whether Spindler ends up at Notre Dame, Michigan or another program, these two will likely have a lifelong friendship. They have developed a close bond since day one. Notre Dame has also been able to get Spindler in touch with former Fighting Irish All-American and NFL Pro Bowler Quenton Nelson. The two have stayed in touch for a while and talk every few weeks about football, life, and more. I’m told Spindler has also talked with another NFL Pro Bowler and former Fighting Irish offensive line great Zack Martin. In addition, look for Spindler to speak with Dallas Cowboys linebacker, NFL Pro Bowler, and Notre Dame alum Jaylon Smith in the very near future. One interesting tidbit I picked up this week was that, from what I’m told, every current Notre Dame offensive linemen took it upon themselves to reach out to Spindler recently on his birthday. They wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday and show some love from South Bend. Lastly, due to the fact that Spindler takes things as serious off the field as he does on it, I’m told Notre Dame got him in touch with former Fighting Irish basketball player Christopher Stevens, who is currently a professor in the Mendoza College of Business, and one of the three original developers of the Keurig Premium Coffee System. I’m told that was a call Spindler really enjoyed from an academic perspective. Regarding his commitment that is coming Aug. 8, look for Spindler to inform the schools of his decision a day or so prior to the public announcement and make a silent commitment at that time. I’m told that he knows very well that these things tend to leak and he’s going to do his best to avoid that. Either way, it looks like we will know in just a few short weeks where he’s headed. Surely there will be plenty of twists and turns down the stretch, as multiple schools are optimistic at this point.
If we've thrown everything at him and that's as far as Loy is willing to go as far as confidence, he's going to Michigan
I think ND's "All Second Choice" team would be pretty incredibly stellar. It feels like for a lot of these players it comes down to the logical choice (Clemson for Shipley, UM for Rocco) vs. ND and it's almost always the logical choice.
Holtz also had some comparison between playing football this fall and storming th3 beaches of normandy. Its becoming less and less cute and more and more harmful
In fairness, a lot of those coaches would. Dabo is the closest I can see to those old school work em til they drop coaches and look at him right now.
Few things. #1 Not sure when's the last time I personally updated my coaching situation. But I got hired at Mansfield Timberview in Texas. Very fertile area in Dallas/FW area. If you regonize the Mansfield part it is the same ISD as David Abiarra as he is a HS about 7 miles away. #2 I watched film of my new school vs Abiarra last year (we won't play this year as we're different classifications newly). He is a specimen. He can do some things, really long, well put together, gets off ball well, and has long arms. His game IQ is low right now and he chases big plays and gets out of position. That is the good news because I think his raw ability is good but he needs to be coached better and become more disciplined. #3 We have some legit talent (Graduated 5* CB who went to UGA last year). Our DE Terrell Tilmon is a 3* who is committed to Oregon and we have an OLB who is a stud. 6'4 200 a little thin but can run and is LOOOOOONG. Needless to say we also have a likely top 100 4* 2022 guy in Landon Hullaby. He is being recruited by a lot of big boys. Brother just signed at UT. #4 I've seen a decent amount of all 22 college film this looooong offseason. I watched ND vs UGA, ND vs. Iowa St and ND vs. Michigan, Ugghh I know. Takeaways-OL not as good as hyped. I've been a guy who hasn't been as harsh on Quinn as others but this needs to improve big. Book was solid vs UGA but missed a couple open guys, same vs. Iowa St. Vs. Michigan he was terrible but they had us scouted really well. Their Defense killed us. I will say ND athletes didn't look to out of place vs UGA or Michigan expect our RBs who were slowwww and when Jafar came back he looked so timid. Needless to say we will miss Claypool and Kmet bigtime in passing game but Kmet really was a poor blocker, we blew a couple plays that had chances to break open if Kmet makes his block. Anyways it was not ND's defense that I got to watch as it was the other teams defensive films I got to breakdown.
i love these types of posts, keep them coming. and I am harsh on Quinn, this should be his last year If this oline is not elite
Sorry to hear you have left SD (and Poway). I now live in your old backyard (PQ). Good luck in Texas. Sounds like a good gig and fun. Send a few dudes to ND while you're at it.
We pump out OLine talent regularly, but the unit is never as good as the sum of its parts. Two games per year (generally the biggest ones), they get beaten soundly and a running game isn’t even an option. This even occurred with Nelson and McGlinchy.
Yeah the blocking always seemed somewhat hit or miss in the good years. Many big runs but also way too many runs for barely anything. Its like the OL was so drilled to get to the second they ignored the initial task of moving guys around a bit/keeping DL at their spot
Financially and with football it just made a lot of sense. I have a cousin and sister in Texas so we're not alone. Good fit for me professionally and personally and we do have some talent. That is my goal, to get some good enough and to sell ND to somebody.
I've always thought we have some tell on the O-Line (splits? different stance pressures? just really high probability tendencies?) that scripts a lot of our plays if really smart DCs are paying attention that we never fixed or didn't fix until it was too late. I don't know how to explain some of those games in seasons where we had two top 10 picks and 2-3 other draftees on the line where we couldn't run for 2 yards on 1st and 10 or convert a 3rd and 1 to save our lives.
I think in today's game it's tougher to count on blocking up 3 yards every carry and converting short yard situations, but there are more long runs broken. I remember the VA Tech game in Blacksburg a couple years back. We couldn't run for shit and then Dex breaks one for like 90. Kelly said afterwards that they were crowding the box and shooting gaps and he knew they had a shot at breaking one if they stuck with it. Teams don't have the 330# nt and a run stopping Mike linebacker anymore, it's more speed and disruption.
It was brought up by both Miami and Bama players that they knew exactly what we were doing on both sides of the ball pre-snap. Then when you watch the film, the results aren’t surprising. Im not entirely sure what the problem is. But it certainly isn’t a talent issue.
Both extreme examples, in both cases ND had a playbook of a 3rd grade team because the QB couldn't function. I wouldn't say that's the case right now with Book, ND has been pretty creative with him. (Too creative at times- see Michigan)
I don't think so, we were fine on offense against Clemson and Georgia. Mental aspects destroyed those gameplans (dropped balls, false starts). Although those gameplans were try to score 24 and hold the other team to 17, not exactly what we've seen from current champions
Against Georgia in 2019... - 14 attempts for 46 yards as a team - Leading rusher had 9 carries for 21 yards Against Georgia in 2017 - 37 attempts for 55 yards as a team - Leading rusher had 19 carries for 53 yards Against Clemson in 2019 - 35 attempts for 88 yards as a team - Leading rusher had 16 carries for 54 yards Against Clemson in 2015 - 32 attempts for 111 yards as a team - Leading rusher had 14 carries for 55 yards (this was our QB) We were not fine on offense against those teams, particularly on the ground. The most we scored in any of those games was 22 points.
This is good and doesn’t even take in to account the numerous times our early round draft picks at T were easily beaten on the edge.
It also doesn’t stop there. Look at Michigan in 2019, Miami in 2017, and even the win against Michigan in 2018. Our rushing numbers are dreadful across the board. Like I said above, we constantly produce elite offensive line talent. But roughly twice per year - and usually against the best defensive fronts they face - our offensive line consistently gets emasculated. It’s not an elite unit if it can’t compete with good or better defensive units.
so things need to be nuanced a bit more. Its tough to run great against a team like clemson 2015 Clemson: we ran at a greater ypa than both bama and oklahoma against them 2019 Clemson: we ran at a greater ypa than aTm but we were exactly their average, not goood but not tragic 2019 UGA: Ran at a higher ypa than almost everybody 2017 uga: that was just bad
That’s the bar though. If the goal is to legitimately compete for a playoff spot/national title then that’s the level needed. And we’re not saying they need to rush for 200+ but it needs to at least be semi-effective.