Well leading up to Spring lots of stuff going on. Kelly has been very aggressive in getting out offers to the class of 2011. In the past during this period the Irish were always seeming to be late in offering kids, and I was always reading posts that complained that they didn't understand why we haven't offered so and so. The excuse was the old staff had to see a lot of film or academics. So either the new staff doesn't watch as much film or the University has lightened up on extending offers to kids who haven't passed admissions yet. The recruiting services haven't yet established any real "pecking order" ..ie stars for the 2011 class yet so we really don't know a lot about the quality of the offers. Only reason I bring this up is that it is a subject that gets discussed a lot. Reason being that Kelly was used to working and developing players who weren't highly rated. In fact he was quoted, while at UC, that he wasn't comfortable around 4* players. People have taken that out of context to mean that he'll stick with going after 2* and 3* players at ND. So people are watching closely how he does with the 2011 class as a glimpse at how he will recruit at ND. In the end of course it's how he does on the field that will make the difference but if he doesn't recruit the usual share of 4 * and 5* (or more) that we've come to expect under Weis, it will make people feel uncomfortable and he will endure some criticism. Of course as I said that criticism can/will be muted with wins on the field. I read Coach D's evaluation of our OL over on ISD and I like what he had to say. I do hope he is right about our S&C coach Longo getting the OL into much better shape. It will be interesting to see who and when Kelly gets his first commit for 2011. Terry
Brian Kelly will be one of the Keynote Speakers at the opening of the Eddie Robinson Museum in Grambling La. Quite an coup for Kelly, They are having a banquet on Friday night and Mike Tomlin will be the keynote speaker at that, and Kelly the speaker at the opening on Saturday. I have to say I'm surprised, since I'm unaware of any connection between Kelly and Robinson or Grambling or black college football. I would have thought that all the speakers would have been associated with Robins and black college football , instrumental in the museums formation, or at the very least prominent black men and women. What an Irish Catholic Mick from Boston is doing there I have no idea. But it's good for him and good for ND. I'm sure that in Louisiana and the black community in general that it will be noticed that Kelly and ND were there!
Hey Terry, he's from Notre Dame! I don't understand his comment about not being comfortable around 4 stars. Unless he means he wants 5 star players he better get used to them. He sure isn't going to compete successfully at Notre Dame if what he goes after are lower ranked players.
Well his comment was made while he was the HC at UC, and if I remember the context of the interview was how well he'd done developing unhearlded players at UC to which he replied (jokingly) that he didn't think he'd feel comfortable around 4* players. Easy to say when it's not very likely you'll be attracting 4* players to UC. But that has caused a level of concern that he would not be "comfortable" going after 4* and 5* players. I think in the end ND fans won't really care if he wins big at ND with Nuns, but if he's just a solid coach winning 9 games a year and such with lower rated recruiting classes that will be a problem for the fans.
ND <r>Sid, <br/> <br/> I also have come back to read Terry posts several times since yesterday. Find them fascinating for some reason. <E>8)</E></r>
Golden Tate really helped himself in the Draft by running a 4.42 in the 40. He probably will be a late 1st round pick. The other thing that has come out is that Clausen didn't play last year with Turf Toe, he played with a torn tendon and had to take pain meds before every game, no mention of what pain meds he took though. If you doubted his toughness before I don't know how you could after this. There is the implication that the ND docs missed the diagnosis, and maybe he should have had surgery after the MSU game. I wonder if we would have won another game after that MSU game if Clausen had been sidelined for the year....not that we won that many anyway but it would have been worse. Even in our losses the offense kept us in those games down to the end.
I'm curious as to whether or not JC knew of his injury when he decided to go pro. Also, not surprised at his injury, when you take a cheap shot while you're already kneeling down, it can reall screw up your downed leg.
Irish announce that they will play Maryland at FedEx Field Nov 12 2011. I like this, while Maryland isn't one of the top programs in the country they are a BCS team though and playing in the DC area is good for Irish recruiting. It's close to Maryland of course so between ND fans and Maryland fans it should be a good crowd. This is the type of game that makes sense to me. Neutral site but with an opponent from the region. While I enjoyed the heck out of the Wazzu game in San Antonio a Texas program would have made so much more sense. ND vs MD
Terry As I understood it, most teams have conference tie ins with TV contracts that prevent them from playing in their conference area on other networks. Since Maryland is on the edge of the ACC and DC is not one of the ACC states, this works well.
In Maryland, in September, they are still talking college basketball and the football team doesn't do TV. College football in Maryland starts to heat up about the 3rd week in September and peaks the next weekend. Then college basketball starts up again with Midnight Madness. :wink:
Mike, I don't know how that works, I would assume that even if DC is considered in the ACC footprint, that maybe just maybe that Swarbrick and the ACC commish were able to get together and find a solution. Is Fed Ex field actually in DC or is it in Md or N.Va?
OK Doc I looked it up. Fedex is in Md. There goes that thought. Maybe the ACC TV contract isn't like the major conference ones
Ha! Crab season winds up in October, just in time for oysters and rock fish and before the conference schedule starts up for basketball.
Or maybe Swarbrick is a better negotiator than Kevin White or maybe even the ACC commish and who ever has their TV rights see's this as good exposure (national) for Maryland and the ACC and waives their rights. I mean really the ACC sort of has become the defacto Thursday night game hasn't it?
Not really Sid. What ND has run into with other teams is that their conference TV contracts dictate that any game involving a conference member being played within the definition of the conference TV territory must be televised on the conference TV network. It is why we played Wazzu in San Antonio instead of someplace on the West Coast (Seattle) and why we were going to play Baylor in New Orleans (deal was canceled) and why we are scheduled to play ASU in Dallas (Texas not in Pac10 territory). What I am assuming is that Swarbrick, the ACC Commish, the Md AD and the ACC TV network were able to work things out. It might be that Swarbrick is a better negotiator than White or it might be that the ACC wanted the Nat'l TV exposure for Md. Or maybe the ACC TV contract is not as restrictive as the B12, PAC10, B10 etc.