I don't know what is going on Tim. I think you've changed handles a couple of times haven't you? That might account for your post count. I'll have to look into what levels you have to have to move up in the ranks. OK so here's the deal. Jr. Member 1000 posts Sr. Member 2500 posts Masters Member 5000 posts PhD Member 7500 posts Distinguished Member 10,000 posts. Still not sure about your post count.
ND <r>Terry,<br/> <br/> Yeah, now that I think about it..it was ELPASOIRISH for a long time. Some people couldn't figure out the El Paso in there so just switched to my real name. It's not a biggie.<br/> <br/> It will take me a long time to get to the 2500 mark because as you know I usually only post on Notre Dame topics and even that is normally self confined to ND football topics.<E></E> again, It's not a biggie. Just curious.</r>
Article on Zach Auguste http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Irish-hoops-without-Auguste-for-tonights-game-status-unclear-moving-forward-288542401.html
Well props to the Mens Basketball team...they lose one of their top players and have to go on to the road to Ga.Tech a team that took them to 2OT's in South Bend and beat them 62-59. Still going to be very tough if Auguste is gone for the rest of the season.
OK this is just weird.....Nyles Morgan the kid who got tossed from the Louisville game and as a result only played the 2nd half of the USC game and for the most part in all the games he played was pretty overmatched..... Well he was named a FWAA Freshman All-American...no kidding. Morgan a Freshman AA
I guess I'm confused. Who said he was overmatched? His stats don't convey that, and two respected organizations don't think so.
ND <t>I saw the press on Morgan too. Can't quite figure that one.<br/> <br/> OT here but hearing some rumblings that Texas may have as many as six more transfers.</t>
I think he averaged double digit tackles in his short tenure and he had very little idea what he was doing. Pure instinct. This kid hits hard and often. They have got to find a wy to keep he and Schmidt on the field at the same time. As of now they are portraying this as an either / or situation.
Well everybody including me was very happy when he signed with us last year and many thought that he'd be the starter sometime during his freshman year, that walk-on Joe Schmidt was just a place holder. OK so when he finally does get to be the starter due to Schmidt's injury he is fooled by the offense time after time, sure his speed allowed him to make up some of those and make some tackles, but most of his tackles were because offenses were running right over him, they were not him stepping up and filling the hole and stopping the play. There is no denying though that he has a lot of physical tools and it was no doubt good for him to get all the playing time he did get even though teams took advantage of his inexperience. It's just that if you looked at how Jaylon Smith played last year that was a freshman AA, Nyles seemed more like the freshman that he was and I'm surprised that he was thought of as one of the best freshmen LB's in America. Now granted there aren't a lot of freshmen who are logging a lot of playing time at LB in college I guess so maybe that his part of it. Never the less I am hopeful that his experience this past season has prepared him to truly compete and contribute at a high level as a soph.
Morgan is a classic example of a stud young player being forced to play before he was ready. Like I mentioned in my bowl game recap, LSU picked on him. The mistakes that he made were mental mistakes in coverage or assignment. The beauty of what BVG was doing in that game was a juggling act of keeping the more experienced LBs in coverage (often switching assignments) to keep Morgan playing downhill, because in that respect, LSU didn't have any answers for him. I watched almost every game LSU played this year and they truly struggled containing, or dealing with, the physicality of 2 LBs this year, Alabama's Reggie Ragland and Notre Dame's Morgan.
That was pretty much Kelly's comment after every game where the opposing defenses took advantage of Morgan. That he had a bright future ahead but was hampered by his youth and experience. It just struck me that he was a Freshman AA, I expected freshmen AA LB to play like Jaylon Smith did last year. But as I said maybe there really weren't many freshmen playing LB last year. Hopefully another spring/summer/August will have him really show us some things next year. He clearly can physically do things that Joe can't do, but it was just too much for him to handle last year. It could be an interesting LB corp next year with Joe hopefully coming back 100%, Morgan having the experience behind him, Jaylon should have his best year and don't forget Jarrett Grace could get a 6th year and be 100% to add experience to the mix and Greer Martini showed me he can compete as well. 2nd year of Uncle Ricco's defense with a lot of guys being healthy that he didn't have last year, with Ishaq Williams, Kevarie Russell coming back. We'll see if that defense that we liked early in the Mich game will return and stay the whole year.
Terry, is it certain that Williams is returning? I see that Bleacher Report has ND 2015 pre-season ranked #5 on the strength of the number of starters returning from a young, injury-riddled 2014 team. I don't put much stock in January pre-season rankings, but it's nice to be given some respect.
Williams and Russell will both be returning. They have both publicly stated that they were. D'Varius Daniels is the one who is on the fence, from things I have read whether or not he is allowed to come back is up to Kelly. I think if he does want to comeback he has to convince Kelly he will be a different player, work hard in practice, go all out in games even when he's not the target of the play, etc. Daniels doesn't really have a lot of options. 1) Go to the NFL where unless he blows somebody away during a workout he's likely a late round at best and maybe a free agent 2) return to ND and have a great year 3) transfer down a division and play next year. He's not going to graduate so he can not transfer to another school in FBS.
ND <t>Very Big Recruiting news for the Irish!<br/> <br/> Notre Dame has landed a commitment from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman four-star tight end and U.S. Army All-American Aliz'e Jones. <br/> <br/> Flipped from UCLA<br/> <br/> Rivals has him as their #2 TE in the country. great get at a position of need.</t>
Finally...I kept reading that Jones was 100% Irish, was going to flip from UCLA, that he was talking to Kelly and Booker all the time....yet he was still a UCLA verbal. I kept thinking maybe the kid was stringing us along and would get up one day and have a press conf with USC, UCLA and ND hats on the table and pick the UCLA hat. Saying he thought long and hard about the other schools, they were great, yada yada but UCLA was where his heart was....Booya!
8) UCLA deserves this. That doggone Mora has stolen a couple from the Irish the last two years. A little payback feels like justice. BTW- Alize Jones team, Bishop Gorman HS of Las Vegas, Nevada is a national power that can play with anybody. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/L8egeChD1p0?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Zach Auguste will be back on the court today for the Irish vs Ralph's Miami Hurricaines. I wonder what he did to get back on the court after sitting out the Ga. Tech game. Do you guys think he must have made up some assignment or late paper? I mean it's really early in the semester to already be behind or late with anything.