ND <t>from the reports coming out of practice Kelly intends to use Davaris Daniels, the frosh WR a lot this season. I really wanted this kid bad when ND was recruiting him and he had to do a lot of work to get his academics up to get into ND. Looks like it will be paying off for him and ND.</t>
re: Neuheisel This is it for Skippy. He must have a winning season and go to a bowl game or he's outta there, and he's admitted that himself. BTW- Neuheisel has called Shaq Evans "the fastest guy in the school." I wish him well. re: Devaris Daniels I also have that guy pegged for big things. He seems to be a complete package as an athlete. re: Irish defense What we know for sure is that the defense has real depth at all positions for the first time since Holtz was there, and it's bigger, faster and better than it's been in a long time. When was the last time that we had three strings of nose guards? How about DEs or LBs? I see that Badger is trying to hustle back from his Mormon mission early, before the team runs out of open safety jobs. He should be concerned if he wants to play. The depth chart is nearly full...
Just an observation from reading and watching interviews...but Sid is always talking about Sr. Leadership on a team being important. I'm not sure it's strictly Sr's as Manti Te'o is not a Sr. but there does seem to be a strong upper class leadership on this team. That bodes well for us.
Hey. Whatever it takes, as long as there IS leadership. Traditionally, it's the time-tested seniors, but if you have a special guy Manti T'eo or other non-seniors who are willing to take the reins of leadership, go for it.
:idea: Sid is right on the mark there. Go back and review that clip of the end of last year's Irish-USC game. Watch senior Robert Hughes put the entire school on his back and carry it home. He was a guy who could have made a million excuses for not becoming the big star that everyone predicted coming out of high school. He could have sulked and become a poisonous weed infecting the team with bitterness and bile...or he could have transferred to another school...or fill in the blank. We've all seen it a million times before. But he didn't do any of those things. He was the real tough guy; the true believer who bided his time and waited until the team needed him most; then he charged over, around and through that Trojan team like an avenging angel clearing a path for justice to finally find it's way. All Lane Kiffin could say after the game was, "We didn't think they could do that." A lot of famous players at Notre Dame are now forgotten, but it will be a long time before I forget Robert Hughes. THAT is senior leadership.
Well said about Hughes and about the character and perserverance it takes to emerge as a leader. It's not always the guys in the spotlight. Sometimes it's the Robert Hughes's. Who will it be this year? Stay tuned. Very well expressed, Jim.
ND <r>well Kelly says he will announce the starting QB on tuesday. Any bets on if it will be Crist or Rees? My uneducated guess is its Crist. I like Rees for a lot of reasons but I still believe our best bet to win the majority of the games this season rides with Crist. Let's hope he can stay healthy this year. <E></E></r>
IMO, a #1 (Crist) and #1A (Rees) would be a smart coaching move, given Crist's injury-prone history and Rees' obvious ability to lead the team to wins, as shown last season. Having said that, I agree with Tim that Crist is the better choice as the starter.
I like the upside for Crist a lot, but it's good to know that we have another QB who can step in and take over if Dayne continues to be injury prone or falters.
I think Crist will start and Rees will back him up, but I still like Andrew Hendrix the best. I hope he gets a chance to prove me right without anybody getting hurt.
No surprise Dayne is named the starter. The big surprise is that Dan Fox beat out Carlo and is the starter at WLB. Must have been a hell of a battle. Also Jamoris Slaughter beat out Zeke Motta, another case of I think we'll still see a lot of Zeke. Kyle Brindenza is going to kick off, has a very strong leg.
Crist <t>Yep, no surprise on Crist. I'm a little surprised at Fox too but both he and Carlo should see plenty of playing time. I see Brindza will be handling kick- offs. Kid has a leg for sure.</t>
Maybe I'm wrong but isn't Fox a bit light in the ass? Maybe he plays better in space but Carlo is more of a run package guy at this time? Eh, as long as they are both laying the wood.. I'm good with it. The fact that we're deep enough for Carlo to even be in a battle makes me a little optimistic.
Carlo listed as 6'1"/245 Dan Fox 6'3"/240 Fox faster more athletic than Carlo, wonder if Kelly was thinking of speed on defense when going up against Shoelaces. Same thing for Jamorous Slaughter over Zeke... Slaughter faster. But I expect we'll see plenty of both Carlo and Zeke this year.
Yeah, that's what I figured.. flexibility is a good thing and I hope we see a steady rotation. Hell, Navy didn't run around us.. they ran right over us. Guys like Motta and Carlo go a long way to stopping that stuff.
Makes me want to head butt Sid! <iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Wb1Q7mDr1qE" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Wow! I agree, Terry. I'm ready to jump out of my shoes after watching that video. Reggie Bush! Todd Lyght! Joey Getherall! Julius Jones! and so many more!
re: Fox, Carlo, Zeke, Slaughter This is the run package vs. the pass package. All four of these guys are going to play a lot...
I agree. We have depth and we're not used to it. Haven't had much of it in 20 years. I want to head butt Sid too. 8)