So Nat'l signing day is today, and the Irish don't have anybody who will be sending in their LOI's. The class is done and in the barn. We are in winter conditioning now and the next event will be Spring Drills. They usually wrap those around the Spring Break which at ND will be March 7 through 15. But that doesn't seem to work this year if the Spring game is going to be April 18th. You get 20 days of workouts so it would seem Spring Drills would start somewhere in the last week of March. Men's Basketball continues to show some life, but still it's highly unlikely we'll be a NCAA tourney team unless we win the ACC tournament. This is a down year in the ACC and instead of people talking about the ACC getting as many as 10 teams in they are talking about getting as few as 4 teams into the NCAA's. Women's Basketball continues on it's track to maybe the worst season in program history. Even losing all 5 starters off of last years NCAA finals team, nobody saw this coming. It was thought we'd be a top 25 team, but more transfers, injuries have gutted this season. Hockey, very up and down. Need to win the Big 10 tournament to have a shot at the Frozen 4. Lacrosse is starting up, Irish Men are a top 10 pre-season team, as are the Irish Women. Baseball should be firing up soon and we have a new Men's coach, so hopefully the program will start to trend up as it's been languishing for quite awhile now. Softball isn't a top 25 program, but they have made the NCAA tourney and I expect similar results, a good team just not a team that threatens the top echelon of Softball.
Tim is no doubt happy that the Irish class of 2021 picked up a safety yesterday. He's not a highly rated kid, but his stock was rising with new offers from other Power 5 schools. Justin Walters from Illinois.
Irish hire a analyst off the Penn State staff to coach the TE''s. John McNulty. He has a lot of coaching experience, has been in the NFL as well as college. Hopefully he will be good.
Irish Men beat Clemson yesterday, it was their 4th win in a row. Team is looking much better, even if it is against the weaker ACC teams. Next up is Virginia on Tues and then Duke on Sat, both road games. Irish Women got a win as well, beating Pitt handily. That was their 3rd win in a row, next up is a road game at BC. They are still unlikely to make any post season, though.
I'm reading that Cincinnati DB coach Mike Mickens has been offered but not acccepted the open position on the ND staff. With Luke Fickell likely to go to Mich State you have to wonder if Mickens will be following him to MSU. The other name is a HS coach from St. Louis DeSmet Jesuit, Robert Steeples, if Mickens doesn't accept it could be Steeples.
Breaking news....Freshman early entree Jay Brunelle is having Shoulder Surgery and will miss Spring Drills. I've heard shoulder surgery is one of the most annoying recovery's because it's so hard to find a comfortable sleeping position. Lots of people end up sleeping in a lounger. It's an injury from this past football season, not a new injury he's incurred since arriving at ND.
As that article points out Sid, he has a wide range of experience. Hopefully that translates into being a good fit at ND. He hasn't a lot of experience as a TE coach but with his experience as an OCoord I wouldn't think he'll have a problem transitioning into that role. Hopefully he'll be a hard working recruiter along with the coaching duties.
ISD had a good article on the Irish freshman of 2019, we all of course know about Kyle Hamilton, Jacob Lacey (DT) and Jay Bramblett who played all year as true freshmen. The other 19 members of the class of 2019 were redshirted. Some didn't play at all, a couple like Quinn Correll who was a crown jewell OL and tore up his knee in August were injured. But many of them got in their 4 games before they were shut down. Isiah Foskey got his 4th game vs Stanford and had the blocked punt But some of these kids will be in the mix after their year on the scout team and in the weight room. Kyren Williams had a spectacular HS career, but wasn't ready last year at RB will be in the mix Kendall Abdur-Rahman a WR with spectacular athleticism and speed, transitioning from HS QB to WR. KJ Wallace and Isiah Rutherford both CB's who could be impact players, we're thin at the position. Andrew Kristofic an OL who could maybe get some PT, has a bright future. Isiah Foskey, DL...this guy is a star in the making Marist Liufau, LB...we're loaded at LB, but he has tremendous potential. Will get a lot of exposure in the Spring because Jack Lamb and Shayne Simon are recovering from injuries.
I just got the news that my wife's best friend is getting married in southeast Georgia the day of the Clemson game... anyone want to kidnap me?
Irish are going to be down quite a few OL's for Spring. Kraemer...recovering from knee surg Hainsey..recovering from knee surg Carroll ...recovering from knee surg Banks...recurrance of foot problem from last August Gibbons ...foot problems Mabry ...neck problems Rhuland ...graduated. That leaves these guys to shoulder the load. They don't have enough for 2 full lines for the Spring game so they will have to get creative, I don't know how many walk on OL's they have but if they are going to field 2 full lines for the Spring game they will need to use walk-ons. Jarrett Patterson, Colin Grunhard Zeke Correll John Dirksen John Olmstead Liam Eichenberg Josh Lugg Andrew Kristofic.
Yeah he does seem like a good hire. Staff is complete. Only concern I have is that he seemed to have a hard time pulling the trigger on the job, it's clear he liked working for Luke Fickell and at UC. So I hope he finds a home at Notre Dame and South Bend that makes him glad he made the move.
The more I read about QB Drew Pyne, the more I like this kid. He's been a ND fan all his life and very well liked by everybody where he went to HS. This article is not a pay article. It's not really about football is just about Drew and his old HS. Drew Pyne Says Thanks
Well the Irish men got a much needed win last night vs UNC. They got that game winning 3 point shot to seal it and then didn't allow the last second shot by UNC as 1.8 secs were left. Just this past weekend the Irish women lost when they made a great play to go up by 1 with 1.6 secs left but they allowed an inbounds pass to a post under the basket who banked it in for the win, snatching a loss from the jaws of victory! UNC though having a terrible season but a win is a win!
Irish are reportedly talking with Grad Transfer, Trevor Speights, from Stanford. He had a great HS career in Texas, not in the highest level of competition though. But he's had injury issues and hasn't really done much in his college career. He was recruited by Lance Taylor to Stanford so there is familiarity. He has speed, reportedly around a 4.4, but as I said hasn't done much in college and didn't play at all last year at Stanford. So it would seem to be a risk as we have plenty of RB on the roster but no proven bell cow type of players. If they find a spot for him, then I would think that would spell the end of Avery Davis as a RB.
I’m not sure if taking Speights is a good idea. Seems like he should have done a little more in his time at Stanford for ND to offer him a scholarship.