A bit surprised that Phil is going B. C. They have a new coach who I am not sure if he has a OCoord yet and he is a defensive coach. But they definitely need a QB
Not much joy around ND winter sports. Men's Basketball lost, Women's basketball lost to BC, and likely to lose to NC State today, Hockey was swept by Michigan. All those programs are decidedly mediocre to bad right now. No news on the new football coaches front. Recruiting for 2020 is done. All we have right now is griping about how bad Kelly is as a coach.
Am I the only one who is not concerned about Jurkovec leaving. Look, he obviously got little playing time at all and other than that all we saw of him was during Spring ball and the spring game. Still, I never saw anything to indicate he was going to be something special...nothing. We have 2 QBs now in SB who I think both have more potential upside than PJ. We also have a potential star coming in the next class. We will be just fine.
I would agree that the loss of Jurkovec is not a big deal, we've got some pretty good QB's behind him and the word is that he couldn't beat out Book in practices so it's not like Kelly was holding him back. Mainly I am disappointed that with a storybook HS career that he couldn't continue that at ND. I had high hopes for him.
Just because this guy couldn't write a story book ending at ND, doesn't mean that there isn't another QB on the roster who won't write his.
Irish finish #12 in the final rankings, about right I guess. I do object to being behind 4 loss Wisconsin. But I imagine the Irish getting mauled at Mich vs Wisconsin beating them handily was the determining factor.
Tom Loy reported that he's hearing that Rees is gaining momentum as the next OCoord, but then I've also seen that it's still up in the air and that Kelly is going to interview outside candidates. Moorhead and Monken are still the names people talk about. The replacement for Toddy Lyght, it seems like a lot of people think it's a guy who is with the Packers, Christian Parker. He's been at ND once before as a GA and then moved with Elko to A&M before going to the Packers. Todd Lyght is quoted as saying he has a chance to be a great coach, and other positive things.
I listened to Mike Franks most recent Power Hour, the part that stood out for me was the talk about Brendan Clark now that he's likely to be the backup to Book. They said everybody has been impressed with his development this past year, that he has a stronger arm than Book and is a very strong runner. All very positive. I'd have rather that Jurkovec stay, but I get it why these guys feel the need to move on and I wish him well, so Clark it is and then there is Drew Pyne who really seems like a heady young QB with a lot of skill sets that will work well in the college game. So bottom line is right now I'm not really worried about QB for 2020. If Book goes down, we don't know how Jurkovec would have worked out as a replacement since we really never saw him play so Clark is an unknown just like Phil would have been.
If you scroll back to our opening game, I believe you'll find that some of us thought that Clark looked better than PJ. I guess the word is getting out now that Clark almost beat PJ out for the #2 spot entering Spring but PJ held him off and got the reps during the remainder of the season. I believe if the Irish are to take the 'next step' the problem isn't QB, but rather along the OL... just my 2 cents, anyway.
Tom Rees is the new OCoord. No real shock there, I wonder if Kelly really even did a search like he claims he did. Lance Taylor is the run game coordinator. I hope Rees does a good job.
Well that will set the boards on fire. Not sure how I feel about it yet. It does give continuity but...
I wonder if Coach Kelly seems to think Rees can be controlled without too much fuss? Hiring someone more experienced might not be controlled so easily. Kelly is very conservative and seems to want complete control.
Well if Tom is the OC then what does a Run game coordinator do or is that just a glorified RB Coach title with a bigger salary?
As predicted the so-called ND fans on many of the boards are pissed and letting the whole world know how stupid they think Kelly is for naming Rees as OC. My main concern is that Rees doesn’t have a lot of experience as OC but any ND fan knows that coaching is in his blood and even during his playing years with the Irish you could see he was going to make a good coach someday. Well someday is here. As I mentioned it does give the offense continuity as many things will remain the same as it was with Long there. He was going to be someone else’s OC soon and if he went somewhere else and became successful we would all be saying “ why didn’t we keep him”? It’s a big move for him. It’s a lot different from being up in the booth to down on the field calling plays when the pressure is on but again, as a player Tommy was always good under pressure. Kelly knows the next few year can be special for the Irish and he has a shot at getting back to the Title game with the talent we have and whats on the way. As far As the Kelly hating crowd goes it wasn’t going to make any difference who he picked for OC, they weren’t going to like it. Here’s hoping Tommy has a great OC career with ND and who knows, 5 yrs from now when Kelly retires he Rees could be.... we’ll leave that alone for now
I think many wanted Moorhead and would have welcomed it. Now the fear is that this means that Quinn will be retained. Who is going to coach TE?