Don't really follow track but I see that the Irish Men's Cross Country team finished in the runner up in the NCAA's. I know we've had some good distance runners, Molly Huddle a two time Olympian amongst some others. STILLWATER, Okla. – The Notre Dame men’s cross country team turned in one of the best performances in program history on Monday at the NCAA Championships, recording a second place finish with 87 points. The second place finish is the best for the Irish since winning the title in 1957. “I’ve talked about this to these guys when I recruited them four years ago, we were coming off 14th place in the region,” said men’s cross country head coach Sean Carlson. “To see this through with them has been an awesome journey. I’m proud of every single one of our guys and love them like family. DON’T EVER COUNT NOTRE DAME OUT!” The Irish placed six runners in the top 40 finishers, giving the team six All-America honors, more than any other program in the country as the next closest team was Northern Arizona with four.
As expected the Irish picked up the verbal of Michigan LB Joshua Burnham a 4 star rated player. He's in the top 10 at his position (ILB) and the #115 rated player in the 247 Composite. Everybody is excited about him being Irish. But we also picked up a Preferred Walk on LB from Maryland. Reading about him he's a ND kid for sure high academics and a really good HS football player. He didn't have an impressive offer list, service academies and the Ivies but maybe he'll be the next Joe Schmidt.
Irish baseball continues it's revival with Link Jarett at the helm. We win the 1st 2 in our 3 game home opening series with Duke. Irish Softball has won 2 out of 3 at Ga.Tech with a final game today. Win today and we get our ACC record to .500
Shocker, Irish Hockey makes the Frozen Four. They made it as the replacement team for St. Lawrence who had to drop out due to Covid. They face the #2 overall seed in old enemy Boston College in the Albany region. Fighting Hawks of North Dakota are the overall #1 seed. Minn, Wisconsin and Michigan are the other Big 10 teams in the Frozen Four.
Mike Brey has come out and said he's 100% coming back for 2021/22 season. A lot of people are wary of this situation. Not so much next season, but worry that if he makes the NCAA's next year and then retires he's literally leaving the cupboard bare for the next coach due to his poor recruiting lately.
Blue-Gold Game moved to May 1st. The working date for the annual Blue-Gold Game had been Saturday, April 24. But with COVID-19 stoppages during winter workouts, coupled with the Easter weekend in early April, sources have told Irish Illustrated that the Blue-Gold Game -- signifying the conclusion of 15 spring practices – will be pushed back to Saturday, May 1. Notre Dame has yet to make the announcement, but will soon with the likely start of spring drills slated for Saturday, March 27. The starting date for spring drills also was pushed back from March 24.
It's official Irish Spring Practice starts this Saturday. Article in The Athletic says these are key players to watch. Kevin Austin - WR ..will be limited likely though due to foot issues and rehab. Tosh Baker -OL ..very talented Soph, much is expected of him in his ND career...will it start now? TaRiq Bracey ..DB ...lost his job to true freshman Clarence Lewis, but there is a big need for him to bounce back and be a part of the rotation. Tyle Buchner - QB ...true frosh and much anticipated, but didn't play last fall due to Covid restrictions in Calif. Likely to watch and learn this season. Jack Coan..QB ...experienced QB who was very good at Wisc. Irish expect him to be the starter and be a very good QB, different from Book but still a lot is expected. Isiah Foskey DE...a De La Salle kid, has had some moments so far but had a lot of great players ahead of him so it's his time. He has the tools. Houston Griffith ..S ...very disappointing career so far, was a highly rated S coming out of HS. He was in the transfer portal till Marcus Freeman came and talked him back on the team. We defiinitely need him to be the player at Safety that we expected. Jordan Johnson WR ...highly rated 5*, but was incognito last year as a true freshman. It's assumed that he had trouble adjusting to ND Academics and being responsible. A no no with Kelly. So he was buried in the Dog House. Is he ready now? With Kevin Austin limited, it's his time to shine. He has speed and hands. Marist Liufau LB...another kid with a ton of talent who has been spotty in his play so far, it's not sure where they will play him even could be at Rover. But another kid whose time has come, has the potential to be a big time player. Marcus Freeman will be challenged to take all the talent that he has and produce a great defense, if he can he'll be lionized by ND fans. Jarrett Patterson OL ..our best returning OL, and likely NFL OL. He will be limited this Spring and Jeff Quinn will have to figure out if he's the Left Tackle or the Center. I'm guess that if Zeke Correll has a good spring at Center, Patterson will line up at Left Tackle.
Irish Hockey who got into the Frozen Four due to St. Lawrence having Covid issues, is also now out due to Covid issues. That's the kind of season it's been for Irish Hockey.
Irish baseball splits with Louisville, the first win since 2011 over the Cards. 3rd game canceled due to weather as was the Softball game with NCSTATE. Softball took 3 games though. Big news was another National Championship for the Irish Fencers, they won their 11th National Championship!! Softbal
Irish Baseball continues on it's good run, takes another weekend series at Pitt 2 out of 3 games. Irish softball was run off the field down at FSU, beaten unmercifully by the Seminoles...4 games 1 run total scored by softball while giving up 24.
The transfer portal is active even in Hockey, the Irish lost a goaltender to Quinnipiac and picked up one from Cornell. Free for all across all the NCAA sports right now.