I hope he can stay healthy, that has been his problem at CAL. But I think he's a good risk, a lot of upside and no real downside I guess. Also surprisingly I heard Mike Frank allude to Ishaq Williams maybe not coming back this fall, possibly academic problems. Which is surprising to me, if I remember correctly he was not an academic risk coming out of HS and his parents seemed very interested in the academics and him staying and getting his degree. But I guess if he got caught up in the cheating scandal then maybe academics weren't that important to him. I was hoping though that he would come back, he seemed like he was finally on the verge of living up to expectations we all had when he was recruited.
Sound like there is going to be a lot of shaking up of the staff. Talk of Elston moving from DL and talk of Mike Sanford from Boise State coming on to the staff...logically he'd be a QB coach/OCoord type. Welcome home Todd Lyght, I hope he's not only a great coach but a great recruiter.
Feldman reporting that Sanford will be the OCoord. I wonder what is going to happen with Denbrock? Also there is so much talk about bringing in Jeff Quinn his old Cincy OCoord, who was at Buffalo for the last 5 years as HC..what's he going to do.
Getting Sanford as OC would make Kelly a much better HC. I have always thought his weakness was getting so caught up in play calling that he lost track of the rest of the game. I also think he is too pass happy as well. If this is true this is a major plus for the Irish.
Both Irish Basketball teams have a nice break. Men don't play till the 17th and the women the 16th. Both teams are pretty well positioned, women certainly will be favored to win all their remaining games, and men will be favored in all of their remaining games except at Louisville. Women are a pretty young team compared to last 4 years, 7 sophs/Freshman and no Sr. starters. Compared to last year where there were 2 Sr. All-Americans in Natalie Anchowa and Kayla McBride who were also 1st round picks in the WNBA draft. So they should be better at the end than they were at the start. Jewell Lloyd is a 1st team AA, and has a decent shot at National Player of the year. Mens is as I have said a flawed team due to lack of big men to help with rebounding and stuff. But unlike the women they have two tremendous Sr's in Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton. That's the key for teams like ND who don't get the McDonalds AA's like the elite teams, but those teams frequently are short on Sr' leaders because they all go to the NBA after a year or 2.
My oldest grandson will attend Louisville next year on a partial academic scholarship to study engineering, so I'm now a Louisville fan except of course when they play ND. To celebrate his decision, I bought three tickets for him and his parents to attend the ND-Louisville game at the KFC Yum Center on March 4 (less than 2 hours from their home). There were not many left. The game likely will be sold out. I'm hopeful (but not optimistic) that I will be able to score tickets to next season's football game in Papa John's stadium. The capacity is "only" 55,000, which is fine for most games but not enough for a game with ND.
Muffet seems to have turned a corner and now gets more of the elite players than she used to get. She's had good teams for a long time now, and of course won a N'tl Champ back in 2000 or 2001, but she seemed sort of stuck being a top 10 program that routinely made it to the Sweet 16, but that was about it. Then she signed Skylar Diggins and everything changed. She's made 4 straight final 4's and recruiting has gone up a notch. Geno and UConn still rule the roost for sure, but she's now a consistent top 5 program and final 4's are the expectation.
this is probably old news to some of you guys, but have you seen the video on Tillery? Forget all the ******** you read from the 'experts' and the the blog guys. Have you actually seen his video? He sure as hell looks like a defensive lineman more than an offensive tackle. He uses his hands and feet fantastically, and he's a 'slim' 6'6" 310 lbs. He could actually bulk without it being unhealthy...
Well I hope you are right, it's just so strange that he'd want to make this move after making his bones as a OT and a highly rated OT. But if he's good on the DL he can make as much or more than a OT can in the NFL. Just ask JJ Watt.
ND <t>Avery Sebastian is officially enrolling with ND. Nice to get some help at the Safety position even if it is for only one year.</t>
Sorely needed pickup for the Irish. I wonder what Nicky Barratti's future holds, I don't think he'll be ready to go through Spring Drills, and given his injury history you wonder if he'll ever be healthy enough to play a full season.