To say that Marcus Freeman has made a big splash at ND since he stepped on campus is an understatement. His hit the ground running and has had people already talking about they hope that he stays long enough to replace Kelly when he retires and more than a few who still don't really care for Kelly hope that's after a couple of more years. Before he hit campus when the topic of the next ND coach came up people always talked about coaches who had been very successful other places and had a long resume including working under other successful coaches. They point to Ara working for Woody, Lou working for Woody ...hmmm Woody, that seemed to be the key! Anyway elevating coordinators was seen as a non-starter after Davie, and Charlie. But now Freeman is the front runner and he's not coached a game at ND. Also he has never been a HC and also his biggest success came at Cincinnati ...who does that sound like. Anyway if his defense this year is as good as hoped for, there might be a hit put out on Kelly! One of the things that his really ground a lot of fans is Kelly's effort on the recruiting front. Marcus Freeman is a dynamo. Here's what he said in a press conference after today's practice....music to the fans of the Irish. "We're going to continue to be the most aggressive and hardest working recruiting staff in the country. That's a goal of mine and that's a philosophy of mine. Let's outwork everybody in the country. That's in terms of evaluations, developing relationships and I think we've done a really good job of identifying the guys that we feel are the best players that fit Notre Dame. "That's something I said in our first press conference. I think at times, it can be easy to recruit at Notre Dame because you're Notre Dame. There's a certain group of kids that would die to come to Notre Dame. "I think for us to continue to elevate and be National Champions and be able to close that gap with Alabama, we got to continue to acquire some of the best football players in the country. Those guys might not always be dying to come to Notre Dame, but if we understand they're the right fit and we do our research and they can be successful here at Notre Dame - our job is to convince them. To let these guys know what makes the University of Notre Dame special.
From what I am reading a few things are starting to clear up. 1. Zeke Correll is going to be the starting center and Jarett Patterson will be a starter at either G or T. Now they are trying to figure out the next 3 guys and it could be a couple of freshmen who apparently have outstanding camps in Blake Fisher and Rocco Spindler. Josh Lugg also could be in the starting 5 although he's got a chronic back problem. 2. Jack Coan and Drew Pyne are battling for the starting job, most expect Coan's experience to win out in the end but Pyne has shown he's capable of starting and winning games. So unlike last year where we'd have been SOL if Book went down, we actually have a backup that we should have confidence. 3. Front 7 on defense is going to be strong. The move of Myron Tagolivoa-Amarosa to End seems to hve been a good one, and linebacker depth is good. The key will be the development of the CB's if that happens we could have a really good defense. 4. Braden Lenzy seems to be having a good camp and if he stays healthy will give us a deep threat. Hope is that Kevin Austin is healthy in the fall and he'll be another WR to lean on. 5. TE's are solid as are the RB's.
Irish Baseball wins another weekend series, they went to Boston College and won 2 out of 3, both of them big comeback wins. They remain just behind Louisville in the Atlantic Division of the ACC. I don't know if this is a CWS team, but they have had a really good season. Irish Softball sweeps a 4 game road series with Va.Tech, they stand at 5th place in the ACC. The Blue/Gold game will be this Saturday. Kelly said it's going to be a traditional game, they'll split the squad and have regular scoring. Spring has gone pretty well for the Irish. We haven't had any major injuries, Drew White has a high ankle sprain but has returned to practice, Kelly said it's up in the air whether or not he plays in the Spring game. Those players who have missed the Spring, like Kevin Austin, Kyle Hamilton and Jarrett Patterson are all on track with their rehab.
On the recruiting front I don't think anybody expects any new verbals/commits to come till after official visits starting in June.
Won't see Kevin Austin till Fall camp, but we should see quite a bit of Jack Coan on Saturday. I imagine that both Pyne and Buchner will also get quite a few snaps as well. From what I can tell Coan has fit in quite well and is going to be the starter. Also from what I can tell Avery Davis, Lenzy and Keys have done well this spring. I was hoping our 5 star freshman Jordan Johnson would have had a break out spring but that doesn't appear to have happened.
Since WR is the biggest question mark for the Irish offense right now, here is Pete Sampson's comment on Jordan Johnson our 5 star WR who basically was a no show last year and seemed to me to be in Kelly's doghouse for reasons unknown. He compares him to the other top rated receivers in his recruiting class. Another reader asked whether it’s time to hit the panic button on Jordan Johnson. I wouldn’t go that far. Johnson was simply more of a developmental prospect than his recruiting ranking would have predicted. Remember that Johnson was rated No. 6 in the 247Sports Composite at wideout. Of the five receivers rated above Johnson, only Kayshon Boutte (LSU) had a breakout freshman season: 45 catches, 735 yards and five touchdowns. Rakim Jarrett (Maryland) was good, with 17 catches for 252 yards and two touchdowns. Ohio State’s two five-star receivers — Julian Fleming and Jaxon Smith-Njigba — totaled 17 catches for 123 yards and one touchdown. Demon Demas (Texas A&M) didn’t catch a pass. The four receivers ranked immediately after Johnson to round out the top 10 — Gary Bryant (USC), Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint (Georgia), Arian Smith (Georgia) and Gee Scott (Ohio State) — totaled 13 catches for 199 yards. If we’re having this same conversation about Jordan Johnson a year from now, well, that’s a different conversation.
Weather should be in the 70's for the Spring Game, no rain is predicted...but it's going to be windy so that's going to make it tough on the QB's.
Shock of the draft for ND fans is that JOK didn't get drafted in the 1st round. Every single mock draft had him in the 15-20 slot. Feel bad for the guy, he's going to be fine but it has to be a big disappointment to have everybody tell you that you were a 1st rounder and then not get drafted in the 1st round.
Ref: Pyne: I have absolutely no confidence in this young man. I know we have seen him only in very limited play time mop up duty last year but he didn't look good then. Maybe he will prove me wrong, I certainly hope so. Just saw the Home game start times and I had forgotten that our in-state friends are back on the schedule this year, PURDUE no less. Made my day. Right.
Speaking of the draft, just how much talent did the Tide have? Not one Big 12 player chosen in the first round and Northwestern had TWO!!!! As to JOK, Claypool went in the second round last year. He lit up the NFL.
JOK has a lot of talent, but it is a mystery why he fell to late in the 2nd round. Echienberg to the Dolphins and Aaron Banks to the 49ner's.
I read this AM that JOK was actually on the strong consideration list for Browns 1st round pick. They were ecstatic and astounded that he was available so late and quickly traded up to grab him as soon as they could. Reading between the lines it seems as if maybe he is a bit undersized for a classic LB thus causing him to fall lower in the draft...but his size, speed, and abilities fit in with what the Brown's envision as the "hybrid" LB of the future...sort of half LB, and half DB. The Browns love DBs and play a lot of 2 LB sets...they need DBs who can stop the run and want LBs who can cover tight ends (if that makes any sense, because I am certainly not a football strategist and could be interpreting it wrong.)