Here are our 20 commits plus the 10 kids with decisions pending to fill out this class: QB Phil Jurkovec RB Jahmir Smith WR Kevin Austin WR Micah Jones TE Tommy Tremble TE George Takacs OL John Dirksen OL Cole Mabry DT Jayson Ademilola DT JaMion Franklin DE Justin Ademilola LB Jack Lamb LB Matthew "Bo" Bauer LB Shayne Simon LB Ovie Oghoufo DB Houston Griffith DB Tariq Bracy DB Joe Wilkins Jr. DB Derrik Allen DB Paul Moala Waiting on: WR Amon-Ra St. Brown OL Nicholas Petit-Frere LB Solomon Tuliaupupu DB Julius Irvin DB Kyler Gordon WR Braden Lenzy WR Lawrence Keys CB Noah Boykin OL Luke Jones DE Malik Langham
:idea: TEs are valuable people to have. Besides playing TE they can add weight and become an OL; add speed and become a tall WR; play H-back ( big blocking slot back); red zone Ally Oop receiver; switch to DE or strong side LB; and play special teams like kick-off return team where they add insurance against onside kicks, because of their good hands. Very few players make good TEs, but TEs can play almost anywhere.
Irish lost a tough one today to IU. They had 2 free throws to win the game in regulation and missed them both. Then in OT they had the lead (3pt lead) and with about 11 secs left the IU kid makes a basket and is fouled he then missed the FT that would have tied the game. But Bonzie Colson failed to box out the IU kid who got the FT rebound and made a good quick pass to a teammate who made the basket and got fouled ...game over.
Notre Dame <t>Being an IU basketball fan almost all my life and a ND football fan this game is always hard for me to watch. So as usual I didn't. Can't say I'm happy with the outcome one way or another. If it was a football game it would be easy for me, I can't root against ND but this was basketball and I am and always will be a Hoosier when it comes to B Ball. So I'm hopeful both teams do very well the rest of their seasons.</t>
Markese Stepp has committed to Southern California. https://www.indystar.com/story/spor...cathedral-makes-his-college-choice/959562001/
It's been rumored that it was an academic issue, nobody has said if it was a test score, or GPA, or that he's missing a class that ND requires in HS. He was so gung ho ND for a long time that I can't imagine that he bailed because of no longer wanting to go to ND. The other thing about him though is that he was a rising star as a soph, but lost most of his Jr. year to injury and came back this year as a Sr. and wasn't able to play the whole season due to injury again. So people wonder now if he's ever going to be the player he was projected to be as a soph. Of course on Academics we all know that USC is more flexible than the Irish so it's no surprise that he can be admitted to USC.
I know for a fact that it was an academic issue and that ND allowed him the dignity of decommitting rather than publicizing that he was ineligible. Because of a promise I made, that's all I can say. I agree with Terry's analysis. Neither he nor his team distinguished themselves this past season. When I first read that he had decommitted, I wasn't concerned. I'm not sure what appealed to USC, but que sera sera.
Tom Noie's observation on the Irish Men... Brey has a lot of work to do. To me the biggest surprise this year is that Rex Pflugger hasn't developed at all as a scorer. We needed him to not be the top scorer on the team that's Bonzie and Farrell but dang he passed up open 3pts shots vs IU in favor of some off balance drive. We need him to play great defense and to at least be an option as a scorer. Irish women beat DePaul Sunday, our Neb transfer Jessica Shepard had 39 points. She is working out very well for the Irish. We are thin though with 8 scholarship players due to season ending injuries.
Noie's opinion is similar to mine. I love Brey and I hope he continues to coach ND for a long time to come. He produces good teams. Some years, his teams are very good. Other years his teams are outstanding. We've seen some of each over the past 5-6 seasons. So far, this team is good but not capable of winning close games regardless of the level of the opponent, e.g., Ball State and IU. IMO last season's team leaders are not leading. Could it be senioritis? Who knows? Let's see what happens when we get into ACC play.
On the recruiting front a lot of predictions that Braden Lenzy will sign with the Irish this week, and that Luke Jones is not going to sign with anybody. New target at OL from Houston kid names Fillip might sign with us on Wed. Positive vibes on the DB Irvin. Everybody else is who knows. I can't wait to see how many verbals across the country sign and how many opt to pass and wait till Feb. Not signing after giving your verbal is for the most part a decommitment no matter what they say about wanting to make sure it's the right thing for them. Irish Men get back to the court tonight at home vs Dartmouth, hopefully they will put a beat down on them and get the mojo going in the right direction. Irish Women will face unranked Marquette on Wed night at home. For you Hockey fans there is a nice article on NY Islander Anders Lee a former ND Hockey player who is doing very well in the NHL. I don't really follow all that closely so I don't know much about the various players. But Anders was an All-State Football Player at QB in Minnesota and could have played college football. https://www.sny.tv/islanders/news/how-anders-lee-chose-hockey-over-football/263704138
On Mike Brey. He is who he is, it seems like it sometimes takes him awhile to get the team sorted out. I have no doubt that he will in the end get it figured out and we'll have a good season. There may have been expectations that were higher than the reality. I think with Bonzie Colson coming back and Matt Farrell a Sr. along with guys like Rex Pflugger and Gibbs that we'd be a contender in the ACC and a team that if things fell right could make a deep run in the NCAA's maybe even a final four run. Reality bites! Not that we can't still all do those things, but Brey has to figure out this team and the Sr. leaders like Bonzie and Farrell have to be those leader s like Pat Connaughton and Jerian Grant were as Sr's for all that to happen.
ND's OL won the Joe Moore Award as the top collegiate OL. I hope they validate that award with a great game vs a tough LSU defense. It would be a great finish for McGlinchy and Nelson to have a terrific day and the Irish running game to dominate. We'll see. Twitter Link
Wow. I'm shocked. As good as they looked in 8 games. they woefully under performed vs. Georgia and the last three. I believe the under performance was at least 60% of the reason for the Georgia loss and at least 50% vs. Miami and Stanford. Just shocked. :shock: