If you watch these recruiting sites, there is actually quite a bit of movement in the number of stars some kids get. If someone gets wind of a bigtime school showing interest in a player, he may get another star. Not because he became a better player but just because a good coach saw something in him. :?
ooops...Sorry about that! I've been reading a lot of good things about Book, I think most think he's a good pickup for the team. Good fit in a lot of ways and an underrated QB. You'd have to say that the Pirate has a pretty good eye for a QB. Also apparently even though he's labeled a Pro Style QB, he's not exactly a statue back there so he should fit with our offense, won't be a powerful runner like Zaire but then neither is the much desired Hunter Johnson.
Someone mentioned earlier their concern that our academics might have a negative impact on our recruiting. This article highlights our recruiting success after Kelly's recent comments about the academic challenges: http://www.ndinsider.com/football/n...cle_6c3a1abc-3bd8-11e5-946e-0fc42167358f.html The article also does a nice job analyzing the gaping holes in the "ND must join a conference" argument. Tim, sorry! Jim,you have a good memory. Mine is fading with age. I watched the video of Ian Book (love the name). He has an accurate arm. He can throw equally well going to either his left or right. He "feels" the pressure and seems to be able to escape it, at least at the HS level. He can throw the fade to the corner of the end zone. This quality alone qualifies him for success in our system.
ND <r>I read the article and it's the last line that really struck me. <QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> <br/> Only the new QB recruit:<br/> <QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> Again, I'm not trying to disparage the kid at all but do you see him running the read option?</r>
Read Option. I think Kelly has shown that he can adapt to his QB's talents, Golson was not a read option QB either, he could hurt you though if you backed off of him, but he's not the runner Zaire is or even close. Kizer is not as good a runner as Zaire either but like Golson can hurt you if you give him a chance. Winbush probably is as strong a runner as Zaire though and Hunter Johnson is definitely not a read option kid, he's another kid who can hurt you but again not considered in the same class as Zaire. In fact Johnson is the #1 Pro Style QB by Rivals. So it's not a stretch to see Book being an effective QB in Kelly's offense, plus he has a stronger arm than Tommy Rees!!
Academics: Lots of discussion on ND Academics. Terrell Lambert made a tweet or something where he professed his love for ND but said the academics were really hard and he had to work much harder than kids he knew at other schools. He's proud of his ND degree but thinks the school needs to do more. Maybe so, but we are talking about the school that inspite of players like Greg Bryant and his academic problems, and Golson's academic problems, and the "Frozen Five" who didn't really have academic problems they had cheating problems. Still with all this we are always one of the top schools in college football when it comes to graduation rate. So maybe we do need to do more to help the kids, so maybe Kelly's on to something when he thinks that we should look at lightening the load in the fall to say 12 hours. But it's also on the kids to take advantage of the resources that are already in place. There are a lot of demands on athletes times even with the NCAA mandated 20 hrs max for practices. There are also a lot of things they have to do to be successful, such as do their weight training, watch film, etc. So I trust that ND will figure out if they need to change some things, provide more resources, counseling, etc to help the players succeed off the field. To me that's always been the most important covenant you work hard at your sport that got you the free ride, and we'll work hard to help you be successful in the classroom and get your degree. We've always had guys flop on academics, that's why we don't have 100% grad rates every year, some kids you just can't help. I've heard that opposing coaches are using these things against us, I find that funny...supposedly Mark Dantonio and his staff are one of the worst at telling kids that ND doesn't take care of their players...have you looked at ND grad rates vs MSU grad rates? It's laughable.
Also Kolin Hill gone..announced he's transfering, didn't say to where. In May Mike Frank wrote an article about the building of the 2015 defense, he mentioned a lot of players who were going to be critical to the success in 2015, he mentioned a lot of young players who he hoped would develop and be productive in the future. The one thing he didn't mention was Kolin Hill, long article on defense no mention of Kolin Hill and his future in the defense. So while we'll never know now what his future would have been at ND, he certainly didn't seem to be a key cog in the 2015 defense. Good luck to him.
Oh and if you were hoping Ishaq would be on the team. Don't hold your breath, he's not even gong to practice with the team in August. He still has mountains of NCAA related problems that aren't going away.
Well, The Irish only mustered 13 sacks in 2014 and Kolin Hill had two of them in extremely limited playing time. There is no way you can dismiss the loss of two DEs before the season begins as inconsequential. Depth is critical.
No doubt, but I also doubt that Kelly/BVG were counting on Ishaq. Kelly has been very cagy every time he's been asked about him. Hill did have an excellent game vs Michigan but then sort of disappeared, not sure why and Jhonny Williams the other transfer ended up at Toledo so that says something about his talents. I'd have rather had Hill than not have him, and we aren't exactly killing it on the recruiting trail at DE either. So it might be that a dominant defense is not in the immediate future. Crank up the offense and out score'm boys!
I'm not ready to sound the alarm quite yet. From column written by Scott Polacek: Six DEs on a team that has had reasonable success recruiting should not be considered a critical shortage. Of course, time will tell.
ND <r><QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> O.K, I feel better now <E>:lol:</E> <E>:lol:</E> <E>:lol:</E> <E>:lol:</E> <E>:lol:</E></r>
ND <r><QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> We'll find out. Count me as a doubter at this point and hope to be proven wrong.</r>
:shock: Where in the world did this stuff come from? I see no comparison between Tommy Rees and Ian Book! I posted game videos of Book and he is impressive! Solid arm; makes all the throws; quick feet and above average running ability. Do you see anybody blocking for him? I don't. Yet he escapes again and again to make a play. He's a high I.Q. type who KNOWS where ALL of his receivers are on every play. Tommy Rees had several physical limitations coming in. This kid has NONE. He's exactly what they wanted at Boise State and now that Boise coach is running the Irish offense and he went out and got the same QB. I'm very happy to see Ian Book on the roster. Tommy Rees my arse.
ND <t>JO'Co,<br/> <br/> No, you're right from what I see on video, Rees and Book are different as you mentioned by the mobility Book seems to have. <br/> <br/> With all due respect to Tommy Rees, I guess I just never want to have us end up with a QB that had his limitations.</t>
I agree with Jim. My positive feelings about Tommy Rees are well known here (for anyone who pays attention to my rants :wink: ). However, the only thing the two have in common is the 3 star rating. Beyond that, they are as different as night and day.
Are you guys talking about the same Timmy Rees who saved us a half dozen times in the undefeated season? The one who came in every time Golson had a meltdown? Naw.