Re: ND's new hockey goalie. He's an All-American. Here's a nice article about him: Irish Add All-American Goaltender Matthew Galajda
Looks like Irish Hockey got a good one, of course many were surprised when their expected goalie for next season entered the portal and eventually ended up at Quinnipiac. Hopefully he's as good as his clippings !!
Sorry I haven’t been around much. Broke my leg in January ( femur) and it’s been rough. I just can’t keep myself out of the hospital. Last year my heart, this year my leg, what’s next? This getting old ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. I do like the Coan kid though. It was a great pickup for the Irish and it gives the freshman from Caly time to ease his way in. Recent recruiting has been outstanding too.
Tim, sorry to hear about your continued medical and hospital problems. Keep the faith, things will get better down the road. Tough to keep good men down!
You will have to be vaccinated if you want to enroll for the fall semester at ND. In the meantime there has been a Covid outbreak on the softball team canceling the weekends series with Clemson. Baseball will take on Ga.Tech.
Actually, Darren Agu is from Ireland. It's a fascinating story. It appears that we beat out Alabama and others. Here's a link to a news article from ND Insider which appears to be a public article. At least that's where I found it. I'm not a subscriber. Ireland native Darren Agu brings a world of potential to Notre Dame's recruiting class
This Agu kid looks very interesting to me. What little bit if video there is tells even me he could easily be really good. Odds are he will be rated much higher by the end of his SR season.
ND Football players should mostly have their 1st shot now, Kelly said it would be available to them in the April 10th to April 15th window and then 3 weeks later. ND students in general also have that same availability and ND has issued a statement that in order to return to campus in the fall all students will need to be vaccinated. They will allow exceptions for medical and religious reasons. The timing of the shots is interesting, most have few if any problems with the first shot, it's only with the 2nd shot that problems crop up (fever, chills, fatigue, really sore arm, etc). But they won't get that second shot till after Blue Gold game. So it won't cause any issues with players during Spring Drills.
If they're getting their second shot 3 weeks later, then it's the Pfizer vaccine. Moderna requires a 4-week wait for the second shot. I was fortunate. I didn't have a reaction to either shot.
Really good article on Drew Pyne on The Athletic. Personally I've always liked Drew Pyne since he was recruited. All the articles I read about him were really positive, from his long term love of ND, to his hero being Brady Quinn, etc. It seemed to me that he and ND football were a match. Of course he has to actually do it on the field and earn the job. But right now there seems to be legitimate competition with Jack Coan, everybody expects Coan with 18 starts including a Rose Bowl at Wisconsin will win the job, but he has competition from Pyne. Pyne of course isn't tall, he's 6', and most fans want their QB to be at least 6'3" so that they can see over the linemen. Didn't seem to be an issue for Drew Brees but not everybody can be Drew Brees. Also fans love guys with canon's for arms. Most of the criticism of Book has been in the he won't/can't throw the deep ball. Pyne seems to have developed and can throw that deep ball. This is from his QB coach so as always you have to consider he might see things for his student that others don't.... What Thomas Morris saw in January was a quarterback with an extra 10 yards of arm strength, who was now able to push the ball 60 yards vertically without compromising form. That arm strength showed in Pyne’s intermediate game, too, the ball arriving a split-second faster without a sacrifice in accuracy. “You’re a 6-foot dude. We want to work on making you stronger so there’s no difference between you and a 6-5 guy,” Thomas Morris said. “Same arm strength, same velocity, same power. I think he’s really done that. I think he’s the best deep ball guy that Notre Dame has right now.
One tidbit that came out of Mike Elston's interview....last year they sent Jordan Bothelo home last year. He showed a lot of fire last year, but a little bit like Bauer who on special teams as a freshman and soph was a house on fire going down the field but he was always close to a personal foul as well. "Jordan had a long way to go in maturity and accountability. He was sent home. He realized that we're here about a holistic development and this isn’t just about him getting sacks on Saturday, which he’s going to be able to do because he's a very talented player, but not to compromise the rest of our group and coach Kelly's culture inside the program. We sent him home and it was a reality check. He came back and had a few bumps in the road. He and I had a really good heart to heart. I shared a story with him, a personal story, and honestly from that moment forward, Jordan has just turned the corner. He's not on any lists of bad decisions and he's taking care of his business off the field in schoolwork. He's not a finished product yet, but the maturity is showing through and I'm super proud of him and I love him for it. The connection we have because we've gone through the trials and tribulations together, and more to come, but he's a very special young man. He's made a lot of growth and I'm excited for him."
Irish baseball wins another weekend of series, 2 out of 3 from NCSTATE. Softball swept UVA, 4-0. They are undefeated at home.