ND <r><QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> I like it. As we know, Rees is a smart young man. Always thought he would end up coaching.</r>
This is a free article on the ISD site. It's a good read on what the elites are doing in college football compared to what ND does. The Irish are supposedly committed to competing with Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, etc. ...but really we do it lamely, sure they have better coaches than we do (it's clear Kelly is not now nor will he ever be in the same class with Dabo,Nick or Urban) and we tie one hand behind our backs. http://irishsportsdaily.com/s/1750/analyze-this
Interesting food for thought. Appreciate his research and conclusions. Not sure I buy what he is selling, but he presents it in a very intelligent way.
I hope Rees works out as a capable coach for the Irish. Frankly, I think it is a huge jump for the young man. This is one of those advantages for seniors, we can express ourselves without really being wrong! :wink:
Former Irish QB, All American and College HOF member, Ralph Gugelielmi passed away this week. I only remember him by reputation, I don't think I ever saw him play, certainly not at ND but I don't think I watched Pro Football back when he played in the NFL. A NDNation guy posted this.
from Eric Hansen chat: On the late offers: One thing I'll add is that some of these players are a really good fit for Mike Elko's defense. Russell Yeast and Jeremiah Owuzu-Koramoah are better than some of the players that ND was recruiting earlier in the cycle. As for the 2018 class, I think Notre Dame has put itself in a good position with the six early commits. QB Phil Jurkovec is great, Bo Bauer might be Notre Dame's best LB commit since Nyles Morgan, and the Ademilola twins are talented players at tough positions to recruit on the defensive line. I have high expectations for Brandon Wimbush. When he was recruited by Notre Dame, I said he's the best fit for Brian Kelly's offense that he's been able to recruit to Notre Dame. I think Ian Book is was bit underrated, but I also think it's fair to be nervous about him being the next guy in line. I like Russ Yeast. I'm not sure that he'll come to Notre Dame, and I'm not sure why he wasn't offered earlier. I also think it'd be worth getting excited for any defensive end Notre Dame adds because it's always important.
Well some good news, ND flipped CAL commit Jordan Genmark-Heath, he's from San Diego Cathedral HS, same HS as Rick Mirer's son who will attend ND on a Lacrosse scholarship. Projected as a Safety but in Elko's scheme he could grow into the Rover (LB) position. Also Tim Grunhard's son will be a preferred walkon at ND, he's a Center. Glad to see legacies get a chance.
Nice win for the women last night at home vs Duke. It was tight for most of the game. This team still not really playing like a team that can make the final four though. Coach has a lot of work to do to even win the ACC.
Recruiting is really coming down to the last day. I was reading the Irish Sports Daily predictions and it looks like all the rest of our targets are going to be down to the wire and we'll be waiting on faxes Wed. Jafar Armstrong (WR), Oliver Martin (WR), Jalen Harris (DE) and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa (DE) seem to be our best bets...but not sure things. This is likely to be Kelly's worst class in terms of rankings. But the poor season, followed by all the staff shakeups and the rumors that Kelly doesn't want to coach at ND anymore but has no other options..haven't helped with the pitch to the kids. The new guys, Elko, Lea and Alexander are all reportedly good recruiters but they were given a short stick to work with and a short time. It's really been a frustration for me to read that BVG bascially wouldn't recruit, Booker was not a good recruiter, and Kelly himself is lazy when compared to Meyer, Saban and Harbaugh. As much as Charlie Weis was a failure as a coach, it wasn't because he was a lazy recruiter he was never outworked that's for sure.
Indiana native David Ballou added to the S&C staff. http://www.indystar.com/story/sport...lou-added-notre-dame-strength-staff/97083994/
Irish lose to GA Tech 62-60 on a re-creation of the Danny Ainge buzzer beating full court layup. Tough loss. We didn't play defense with energy and had too many turnovers.
ND <t>Terry,<br/> <br/> <br/> I'm not sure that this will be Kelly's worst class. From what I'm hearing we may just end up with a solid class afterall. Especially considering it was a 4-8 season. <br/> <br/> I don't like hearing about the coaches who didn't like recruiting either. I don't care what school your coaching at all the coaches gotta get off their butts and recruit.</t>
Since Lou Holtz we have been losing to an increasing number of teams who have recruiting classes that have been universally graded as lower in quality than ours. The big questions with Notre Dame football are does the system fit the talent and is the talent developed to its potential by the coaches. I am not convinced the answer is Yes to either question under Brian Kelly.
I think the answer is mixed on Kelly developing talent. Certainly some players have developed but it's not the same as the development that seems to go on at Mich State, at Wisconsin and a few other places that as has been pointed out get mediocre classes by ND standards. Not to mention, while there was no doubting the toughness of the 2012 ND squad in the regualar season, I wouldn't say Kelly's squads are noted for being tough outfits. Whether or not the new hires turn the tide for Kelly I don't know. These hires were outside his usual hires in that they aren't coaches he has a history with at past jobs. While we'll never know it could be that Swarbrick, who is getting roasted as much as Kelly, forced Kelly to go outside his old contacts. Hopefully these guys will be good, there is some talent on this team, not Alabama talent but talent enough that we should be able to win 9 or 10 games this coming year. There is some spark in the finish to recruiting, we won't get all the players we would like but it appears we'll get some good players and finish with around 20 kids. It would be a stretch to say we finished strong, but it's not weak either. Have to wait till the fax machines stop on Wed. Irish women beat UVA today at home. They continue to be a good team but not the great team that Muffett has been putting out there for the last 5 or 6 years. Maybe they are too young, they don't seem to have the leadership that they have had in the past. But there is time for them to round into a sold tournament team and they can win both the ACC and the ACC tournament or neither. I would think that anything beyond the Sweet 16 would be a great finish for them. The Men are in trouble they have Duke, UNC and FSU in their next 4 games. All of which put more talent out on the floor than the Irish. 2-2 would be about the best I think we could hope for and 1-3 is certainly a likely outcome with only Wake Forrest being a possible win. They need to have everybody to have excellent games, they just don't have the margin for error as Duke, UNC, and FSU.
Well we got a commit from a Kicker, Johnathon Doerer. He flipped from Maryland. Word is that Justin Yoon might have a pretty serious knee issue that could cause him to miss 2017. We also picked up a WR Jafar Armstrong, from a Kansas Catholic HS . He flipped from Missouri. Some have said they liked him better than the Pouncey kid who dumped us a few weeks ago for supposedly Miami, but now Texas people think he's going to be a Longhorn. Things reportedly looking good for the Harris kid who is an AZ verbal, he's a a AZ legacy but had a very good visit this weekend. It might happen or not. Also the Yeast kid might or might not happen as well. So anybody who is against kids changing their minds at the end, well the Irish are big time beneficiaries of the process. All of our closing signatures will be flippers. :wink: Oh yeah and FWIW I'm not a big fan of the flippers. But it's the way things are these days.
ND <t>Flip, flip, flip!! Wow. I hate being on the other end of this flipping but if it's going on our way it's hard to complain. Like I said before, we might just end up with a good recruiting class for this year dispite the win loss record.</t>