Irish opened up their fall camp yesterday. Kelly had a presser and he cleared up a lot of things. 1. Jack Coan is going to be the starter, he didn't specifically say that but they way he phrased it, hard to come to any other conclusion. 2. Jarrett Patterson is the center, Josh Lugg will start, hard to not figure it as anything other than RT. 3. Zeke Correll is getting the first shot at LG 4. Blake Fisher is the LT. 5. John Dirksen surprisingly was 1st team over Cain Madden at RG. 6. He put to rest all the rumors about Jordan Bothello, who the internet had on his way out of town for unknown reasons. 7. High praise for Joe Wilkens, Braden Lenzy and Lawrence Keys and the progress they made in the off season. Hope he's spot on! Cautiously optimistic on Kevin Austin. 8. Likes the leadership on the team... as Sid would tell us, you can't have a great season without great leadership from the veterans...especially the seniors. CJ Wright is supposed to announce this afternoon, hopefully he will pick the Irish. He's a highly rated WR from California.
Well that didn't take long, CJ Williams gave his verbal to the Irish. 4 star, top 100 player. Out of Mater Dei, a SoCal USC feeder school. This was a big win for much criticized Tom Rees and Del Alexander.
Now we just have to hold on to Amorion Walker who was the 1st WR in the class and while not as highly ranked as the two most recent verbal's is still a very talented kid. The ND internet blew up when he went on a visit to Ann Arbor, over reactions everywhere. Cut him loose now!! What a traitor, etc. Oh well nothing like an internet mob with very little information.
Both Notre Dame and Wisconsin will be wearing special uniforms for their meeting at Soldier Field this fall. It's a Shamrock Series game for the Irish. Uniforms are pretty tame compared to previous Shamrock Series editions.
Sid will have to give me the 411 on Merrillville Indiana. How does a small catholic school in Merrillville have a 5 star linebacker? I looked it up on the google map, I thought maybe it might be one of those Indy suburbs like where Sid lives, but it's up by Gary. One of the top overall targets for Notre Dame in the class of 2023 has narrowed his list of 30-plus scholarship offers down to five. As expected, Notre Dame made the cut. Merrillville (Ind.) Andrean five-star linebacker Drayk Bowen is getting closer to a decision. On Monday, the 6-2, 215-pounder trimmed his list to the Fighting Irish, Clemson, Auburn, LSU and Indiana.
The biggest unknown going to FSU is Kevin Austin. Also it appears that freshman Lorenzo Styles Jr. has a shot at playing time, something freshmen WR's haven't done much of under Kelly. Snippet from The Athletic The last time the media watched a Notre Dame practice in person, Kevin Austin toyed with any defensive back that got too close. In that moment, 18 months and two foot fractures ago, Austin looked like the heir apparent to Chase Claypool and Miles Boykin. On Saturday, Austin worked with the second team, catching passes from Drew Pyne. It was not a triumphant return to action, which Notre Dame will be fine with for most of August. “Kevin Austin’s always been a physical presence,” Kelly said. “We want to be measured with Kevin as we go through. And so we’re going to be very careful with him as we get him back to football shape.” Freshman Lorenzo Styles Jr. and senior Lawrence Keys joined Austin on the second team. Avery Davis, Braden Lenzy and Joe Wilkins Jr. ran with the first team, with Wilkins (now wearing No. 5) and Austin lined up at the same position. While there’s an expectation Austin ultimately returns to the starting lineup, that elevation won’t be automatic without the senior shaking off what amounts to two years of rust.
Captains will be named this afternoon by Kelly, Tim O'Malley speculates 7. Jarrett Patterson Kurt Hinish Drew White Kyle Hamilton Avery Davis Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa Kyren Williams Not a bad group. Mostly Seniors with Kyle Hamilton a Jr along with Kyren Williams. 3 Offense, 4 Defense. We've had several special teams Captians in recent years but maybe not this year.
The entire 3 county area in the NW corner of the state is nicknamed "The Region". It turns out some solid college athletes in all three major sports. I believe Andrean is the only Catholic school in the Region. Several years ago an Andrean player came to ND, Josh Barajas. After two years he transferred to a MAC school, Illinois State, I think. If the kid has offers from the schools you mentioned, he must be a good one. It shouldn't hurt ND's chances that he goes to a Catholic school.
I misread O'Malley's piece on Captains. Obviously, they were not named yesterday. He did say that it will be a team vote, not sure what Kelly's input will be as I doubt, he'd let them vote just anybody as a Captain, not that they would but you never know. He mentioned the vote would be from among 14 candidates which I assume Kelly approved and Kelly can determine if they take the top 4, 5, 6, 7 etc.
Everything I read says that the Staff/Rees/Kelly are very impressed with Jack Coan. My only worry about him is that he'll be playing behind a rebuilt OL and with a Freshman manning the LT position, and while Blake Fisher is not your usual freshman OL he's still a freshman. Coan is a good athlete but he's not Ian Book in terms of escapability so I imagine that the FSU DCoord is focusing a game plan to take advantage of the rebuilt lines first game action and really come after the QB hard with a lot of different blitz packages.
I hope this years Irish team doesn't suffer the same fate as the 2006 Weis team lead by Brady Quinn and Jeff Samarzdja. They barely got by Ga. Tech in Atlanta to open the season, and then were just run over by Michigan at home, and finished off the season by getting hammered by USC in L.A. and LSU in the Bowl game. A USAToday writer identified the Irish as one of 5 overrated teams in the Coaches poll. ND USC Miami Texas Ole Miss
Yeah we had a lot coming back and I really was pumped for the opening game. After barely getting by Ga.Tech and then Penn State I thought we'd regain our mojo by beating a very good UM team at home...it went wrong from the 1st snap and never got better.
I don't know when we've had as much depth on the DL and LB Corp as this years team. DB's have talent and Kyle Hamilton but they are also unknowns. Is Houston Griffith going to finally be the player he was projected to be, what about CB's? Is Bracy going to be able to hold up, what about Clarence Lewis he played a lot as a true freshman, we'll have to wait and see. One thing is always certain is that if you have a good pass rush that helps those DB's look a lot better.
Kelly had another Press Conference today, you can find the transcript on all the sites. Things that stood out to me. 1. High praise for both Kevin Austin and Braden Lenzy. Boy if those 2 guys have great years, what a boost to the offence. 2. Blake Fisher has missed some practices due to concussion issue, is expected back soon and is working through the protocols. 3. Myron Tagovaiola-Amosa is missing because his father suddenly passed away. Tending to family duties. 4. The 2 freshmen RB's are looking good esp Audric Estime who has that baby bull look and could be a good option in the red zone. 5. Captains will be named Friday afternoon.
Captains were announced. It was as O'Malley predicted, it's a good group IMHO. Jarrett Patterson Kurt Hinish Drew White Kyle Hamilton Avery Davis Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa Kyren Williams