One of the big names at the game was Nebraska commit, Carter Nelson who is highly thought of by the staff. He reportedly had a great time and fits in well. Will he flip? Nobody knows. He's from a small Nebraska town and his parents ability to see him play is a big factor.
Season is flying by, the Irish only have 4 games left to play. Bye Pitt @Clemson Bye Wake Forrest @Stanford Should be no worse than 9-3,and certainly Clemson while still a talented team is not the Clemson of a few years ago. So 10-2 is not out of reach.
We have some deficiencies especially at WR and in my opinion OC. We did take a step back in special teams but Mason was irreplicable. The most important thing about this year's team is that in the 2 biggest games we played, the team was ready and played hard.
Nothing personal but after that visit on Saturday and that atmosphere, if he doesn’t commit to ND he’s not what we want anyway.
Big win for Notre Dame. Gators had a big win also against South Carolina but not as important or as big as this one by the Irish.
I will say that I am looking forward to basketball season. I don't know what to expect from the Men's team but the vibe around the program is really good, Coach Shrewsberry has infused a spark. They have so many new players that it's hard to imagine them getting it all together early, and I think most of the predictions have us dead last in the ACC. Still I'm eager to see what Shrewsberry can do in his first year. Totally different vibe around the Women's team, we have a lot of talent on the team and should be a very good squad competing for the ACC title. Might be the favorite if Olivia Miles was back 100% from her ACL surgery, but it's hard to imagine her playing till January at the earliest and she'll be rusty. The good news is that everybody is excited about new girl Hannah Hildalgo at PG. Different type of player from Miles but very dynamic. Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld, and Kylee Watson are the core of the veteran group. Young players like Cassandra Prosper, KK Bransford and true freshman Emma Risch are all highly talented players. This should be a fun team to watch and certainly capable of being a top 10 team and taking a deep run in the NCAA's. Schedule is tough though in the 2023 with games with South Carolina, Tenn, Illinois, UConn and Purdue in non-conference to go with a very tough and competitive ACC schedule. Coach Ivie just recently got a verbal from maybe the top player in the 2024 class in Kate Korval a Ukranian Post player who has been competing here in the US at Long Island Lutheran. Five-star post player commits to Notre Dame women's basketball
The other Irish football teams are doing well, the Men's Soccer team is a top 10 squad and the Women are a top 15 squad, both should make the NCAA's and make good runs.
This is all everybody is talking about, and it's painfully obvious when you watch teams with good WR's who can get off the ball and get down field past the 1st down line like the USC and Ohio State kids did while Sam Hartman's choices usually end up being a check down 4 yards short of the line to gain. Parker of course is coming under tremendous criticism and a lot of people want him replaced now (ridiculous) or at the very least at the end of the season. From Matt Freeman of ISD. jerboski: Is Parker the OC next year? If no, who is a name you would like them to try for? Matt: Yes. I'm not sure I necessarily see the same issues that flood the board in terms of the run game having slow-developing plays and some of other hot topics. Parker has 8 games under his belt, which isn't a large sample size. Duke wasn't going to be favorable for any offensive coordinator with three healthy scholarship receivers, which included a struggling sophomore, a true freshman and a kid who moved to receiver in the spring. Ohio State, I didn't see an issue. If Sam Hartman converts 4th-and-1 one time (or both times) then that game looks different. If Notre Dame executed a routine handoff in a four-minute situation, Parker wouldn't have been in a position to call a screen pass on 2nd-and-15, which the Ohio State player just made an elite play. Louisville was bad. There's no excuse for that. That said, the game came down to Notre Dame not being able to block in short-yardage situations and Sam Hartman turning the ball over five times. No team is going to win turning it over five times regardless of who the offensive coordinator is. Parker definitely has to be better and continue to grow, but the receiver situation would be a thorn in the side of any offensive coordinator right now. If Notre Dame had average receiver recruiting, I think this offense would look very different, but the misses prior to Chansi Stuckey and company arriving are shining bright.
I give Freeman a ton of credit for how tactfully and thoughtfully he handled the question. On the other hand, we're fortunate to have hundreds of coaches following the team and providing their (unsolicited) input in an effort to improve the team's and the coaches' performance. Certainly, none of these coaches is a chronic complainer or someone who retrospectively would criticize a coaching decision just for the sake of sounding off. I'm sure every last one of them knows exactly what is best for the program.
If your team is repeatedly not handling blocking in short yardage situations, do you keep running the same plays anyway?
This week the ND sites have brought up an issue for Coach Freeman regarding next year. Apparently there are 15 or 16 guys who could come back using their Covid year. Sounds like a good thing, but it impacts the team makeup since those guys all now count against the 85, for a couple of years they didn't count or I think you could have 8 or 9 of them not count. Also it's been brought up that with none of the backups having any experience, even Steve Angeli has only very limited experience that if another Jack Coan or Sam Hartman is available as a Grad Transfer that Freeman should consider taking one.
Irish picked up a commitment from Green Bay (Wis.) Notre Dame Academy star James Flanigan. Flanigan is a 6-5, 225-pound TE standout that earned a 4.0-star and a Top 150 caliber ranking grade. Flanigan is IRISH! Imagine that!!
Funny thing is that I have seen some posts that there are some TE's out there that the online recruitniks think Freeman should have slow played Flanny till they made up their minds.