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Irish,JayRock,FristTimer,padman59
Out of these 4. Who is biggest ND fan?
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Why is there a ND thread?
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Do not like.
I wake up every morning to the 1812 Overture or the Victory Cog.
I also walked into my wedding reception to the Victory March.
Two of the biggest fights I've had with my fiancee(at the time) were because I ditched her at weddings we attended to sneak away and watch Notre Dame games.
First off it's "an".
Second, why shouldn't there be? You can either let us have a thread or watch us spam the NCAA/NFL forum. It's one of, if not the, best team thread here.Comment
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I feel like Theo dances way too much to be a RB. Obviously he isnt a polished WR but he can get away with his jukes and hurdles more in the slot when he has open field.
A lot of the people on IE say its great to get your best players more touches, but I would rather Theo get more touches, just in the open field. Rather than running behind a line.
Plus I still would like to see Jonas and Roberson get some touches. I still have faith in Cierre and think he can be a home run guy. They just need a more powerful blocker and 3rd and 2 guy.
The only reason it kind of makes sense is to get some of the unproven WRs
more playing time. Goodman, Toma, Jackson, Smith, Collinsworth, and Walker. But most of those guys aren't slot guys anyway.Comment
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As Brian Kelly met with the media on Friday to wrap up the 2010 season and look a bit ahead, he had six scholarship quarterbacks on his Notre Dame roster. He won't for long.
"We can't work with six quarterbacks," Kelly said flatly. "There will be some paring down. There will be some guys that understand if they're not in that top four, they're not going to be able to get reps at the position."
Position switches are on the table for those who fall out of the derby, which begins with a battle for starting honors between Tommy Rees and Dayne Crist and goes from there in spring practice.
"I have formulated in my mind some real clear guidelines as to how we're going to move forward there," Kelly said. "Suffice to say, I'm pretty clear on the styles that we have and how to utilize those styles within our offense."
Here is much, much more from Kelly on a possible Theo Riddick position switch, David Ruffer's scholarship, what he learned from the BCS title game, Charlie Weis and more....
On potential position switches: "What our identity became, compared to what it was at the start of the season, you could make the case now that Theo Riddick should be a running back. Or an offensive lineman that played tackle should play guard. Or you've got three or four tight ends, how are you going to use them all? As I said, Year 2 for us is less about laying down a system of offense or defense or special teams and more about utilizing the players we have that can help us win football games."
On Rees: "I always had a feeling that he could do more than just be the warm-up band. I know Tommy feels that way. Here's what we learned about Tommy: He's accurate. And he's tough. Two qualities that if you gotta map them out and put them on the board, I'll take those two. I think Dayne has that. I think (Andrew) Hendrix has that. We're going to really have to pare it down and find out who the guys are that are going to compete for that."
On Crist's injury status: "Certainly we feel like based upon what he did last spring - he was virtually in every rep, played in the spring game, we did a very good job protecting him - we think we're going to be able to really do a lot more of those similar kinds of things and keep him involved and competing within our spring practice format."
On the early enrollees in the signing class: "I can confirm that they are early enrolled, they are here in classes and have begun workouts. I would like to talk in specifics about them on (Signing Day). Those guys are here on campus, taking classes, moved in and had their workouts today."
On the fifth-year seniors: "What I can report today is that we are going to award David Ruffer a scholarship for next year. I can make that announcement today. I will meet with our other fifth-year seniors on Monday and we'll have an announcement on Tuesday relative to the remaining players."
On Kona Schwenke and Justin Utupo considering Mormon missions: "They have discussed it with their parents and they believe that right now, as it stands, they will be back. But I think we all know that sometimes when it comes to your faith and your feelings about when you're called, that can change. I don't want to paint them in a corner. But the early conversations are that they are going to stay in school."
On the players' familiarity with the system: "As you know, it'll be a lot of fun this year, because we have players now that have our nomenclature down, they understand the offense, so now we're really going to fit what we do to our personnel. That, to me, in year 2, it becomes more about players than plays. After you've installed your offense and defense and special teams, which you did in Year 1, you'll see Year 2 be more about the players and really fitting what we do in all three phases to the players we have."
On the four-game win streak to end 2010 helping recruiting: "It's not the only thing, but it's like anything else, you want to go to where you see success and they don't have to just listen to where your plan is going, they can actually see it happening. When they can see it happening, obviously it's an easier connection in the recruiting process."
On Dan Wenger's sixth year petition: "It is in the hands of NCAA people. They are going through the process right now. All of it has been sent from Notre Dame out and now they're in the process of reviewing. Timeline, it's hard to say for us. We wouldn't expect it to be much later than February."
On keeping his entire staff together: "We had a couple coaches that had opportunities to look at head jobs. Anytime you have an opportunity to look at a leadership position, coaches are going to consider it. In both instances, the fit for them might not have been this year. I don't think you're going to see, with the staff I've put together, a group that's out looking for jobs. This is a group that came to Notre Dame for the same reason that I came here. And that is to win a national championship."
On his assistants not leaving for anything but head jobs: "Yeah, because I'll tell them they better get the job if they interview. They know why they're here. If they want to get into a leadership position - that's certainly something I'll encourage them to look at. In both instances, I encouraged both our coaches in those instances. Those are head-coaching positions in Division I. For anything that's perceived as a lateral move, they better get the job."
On the recruiting battles he's waged: "When you're recruiting nationally, you're going into everybody's home base and you're taking their kids. That's difficult. Recruiting when you have to go into SEC country or Pac-10 or Big Ten - you're taking their kid. That's the way they look at it. It requires a tenacity, it requires attention to detail, and it requires a great deal of resources on Notre Dame's part to fight that fight."
On Michael Floyd's decision to return: "Clearly, there are key elements here. One, Mike wants to get his degree. That's not holding him back from the NFL, per se, but that played a part. Two, Mike wants to continue to develop as a football player. He knows he made progress but he knows there is much more out there for him. But when you really look at it, he believes that he's the best wide receiver in the country, and he wasn't perceived or evaluated as such. And I think he wants to prove to everybody that he is in fact the best receiver in the country."
On the third-round grade Floyd received: "One of the things we found out was, last year, there were 26 players that were graded the same way that way Michael was. Only nine of those entered the draft. When they got that grade, they decided to go back. And of the nine, eight of the nine went in that round or later. when we really crunched the numbers and looked at it - and his burning desire to want to be the best - it moved him in that direction. Now throw the academics and getting the degree on there, then throw in the fact that he can get better. That's kind of where Mike made his decision."
On Kyle Rudolph's decision to turn pro: "I met with Kyle and we did the same number-crunching. He was rated as the No. 1 tight end in the country. You can only be the No. 1 tight end in the country next year, or less. That was an easier decision - not easy from Kyle's standpoint, but an easier one for me to talk to him about that."
On his surprise with Floyd's third-round grade: "There are a lot of things that lead into that. there wasn't a lot of hard data on Michael relative to some intangibles that are important leading into that evaluation process. Maybe I just have a lot of really good friends that are scouts that gave him low grades to keep him here at Notre Dame. The data, the information, all those things are important. He's going to have a chance now to really train and throw some numbers on the board that are going to put him in a great position moving into his last year."
On Floyd as his top recruit this offseason: "He's the No. 1 signee, no question. If there's a sixth star, he gets a sixth star. And it's more than just what he does on the football field. He is a workhorse. He sets the bar for how our guys work in the offseason and those are obviously big pieces."
On how Floyd informed him of his choice: "One thing that I've learned about Mike, Mike makes his own decisions. He doesn't have an entourage. He doesn't have 10 people in his ear. Mike is an independent person. Now, he talked to his Mom and there were other people that were calling him. But really when it came down to it, this was about Michael Floyd and his decision.
"He informed me in the morning that he was coming back. Our conversation really from there was about how we wanted to release it. As you know, Mike is not a big press conference guy. Of course, we wanted to have a press conference, and we were even going to serve food. It was going to be a big event. He didn't want to do that. We met, he said let me think about it, I'm going to sleep on it. He came back the next morning and informed me that he was coming back."
On position groups that stood out to him in 2010: "The consistency of the offensive line. Miami led the country in plays-for-loss. We did not have a minus play (in the Sun Bowl). And the physical play of our defensive linemen down the stretch - those two things really stand out for me.
On the health of the team: "It's the first time I've seen (strength coach Paul Longo) smile in a year. We are just so far along relative to where we were at this time last year. We had 15 surgeries at this time last year. Now we have three. And ones that are not going to hold people out too long. The guys know what to do and how to do it. They're hitting the ground running. It's night and day."
On Sean Cwynar: "Sean Cwynar had foot surgery, had a stress fracture in his foot, as well as back surgery. Fought through it throughout most of the year. When his reps went up when Ian went down, he was putting a lot of load on that back. That had been problematic but manageable in the role that he had. Once he started to get past 30 reps, it really took a toll on him. The back, we're feeling really good about that. The foot, that's going to probably keep him out for another 6-to-8 weeks."
On Jamoris Slaughter: "We cleaned up a couple bone spurs. That ankle that just really couldn't come back, he had two bone spurs in there, which really limited his ability. We cleaned those up. Jamoris is in a boot right now, he'll be out two weeks."
On what he learned from the BCS title game: "I try to look at everything that's out there. You look at what Chip (Kelly) does and what I did and when we had three years into a program, we run similar offenses when they're clicking that way. What Auburn is doing is unique because they've got a unique player at that position. At the end of the day, who won that football game and why? It's pretty clear. You don't get to that game unless you play good defense. If you want to win a national championship, you can't do it like we did it at Cincinnati or Central Michigan. You can't just try to outscore people."
On whether he's seen Weis, the new Florida offensive coordinator, on the recruiting trail: "We have seemed to miss each other. I drive everywhere, we don't have the money that Florida does. Charlie flies first class. Of course, that's a lie. But that ought to be a good sound bite if anybody picks that up."
On the 2010 season in general: "It's not where you start but how you finish is probably the best way to look at our football season. Certainly did not start in the manner that we wanted to, but we clearly finished. Underneath that headline, the story would be, for me, more than anything else, we put the fight back in the Fighting Irish and got our players to play their very best football later in the season and develop our defense. Those would probably be the bullet points underneath that heading of, it's not how you start, it's how you finish.
"Weight training, conditioning, nutrition, the way we practice, all of those things coming together to get our football team playing their best in November and at the same time I think we all know that the first thing I was charged with in the hiring process, and our athletic director made it pretty clear, was that we had to begin to play great defense. It was probably as clear for everybody in this room when you saw how we played later in the season defensively, and the national championship game. When you have time to prepare for it doesn't matter what kind of offense, whether it's the best player in the country or the fastest offense, if defenses have an opportunity to prepare, you better be able to play championship defense.
"The program, the first year, the first coat of paint is a phrase I use a lot - and what is that? That's the relationship that we build with our players in Year 1. It's my philosophy coming about through the year, the message and how we expect our players to represent Notre Dame - all of those things took place in year 1. Other than winning only eight football games, which is not enough to win in the first year, we accomplished a lot of the real foundation principles of a championship program. Our football team was better at the end of the year and will continue to progress as we move into Year 2."
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Some things that stand out from this article:
Do not like. Keep Theo in the open field at WR. Not really sure how to take his comments but maybe he was just making an overall point of how ND turned into more a run prone team down the stretch?On potential position switches: "What our identity became, compared to what it was at the start of the season, you could make the case now that Theo Riddick should be a running back. Or an offensive lineman that played tackle should play guard. Or you've got three or four tight ends, how are you going to use them all? As I said, Year 2 for us is less about laying down a system of offense or defense or special teams and more about utilizing the players we have that can help us win football games."
Translation: Montana and Massa are out. Crist, Rees, Hendrix, and Golson are the four guys."We can't work with six quarterbacks," Kelly said flatly. "There will be some paring down. There will be some guys that understand if they're not in that top four, they're not going to be able to get reps at the position."
If Kelly switched Golson's position I willbe uber pissed.
Awesome stat there about no minus plays in the Sun Bowl. Didn't know it until now.On position groups that stood out to him in 2010: "The consistency of the offensive line. Miami led the country in plays-for-loss. We did not have a minus play (in the Sun Bowl). And the physical play of our defensive linemen down the stretch - those two things really stand out for me.
Great sign for the upcoming season. Love to see that. Training tables FTMFW"It's the first time I've seen (strength coach Paul Longo) smile in a year. We are just so far along relative to where we were at this time last year. We had 15 surgeries at this time last year. Now we have three. And ones that are not going to hold people out too long. The guys know what to do and how to do it. They're hitting the ground running. It's night and day."Comment
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Interesting about the QBs. Obviously Nate Montana probably doesnt make that list of the top 4. I would assume it is down to Massa and Hendrix.
Hendrix probably still can play good football in the future. If he wants to at ND he will have to work hard. Jumping Crist and Rees might be too much to do. I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves even if he wins the 3rd QB spot.
To me it is gonna be a battle for 1st, Crist or Rees. Then Hendrix, Golson, Massa battle for the 3rd spot. Golson will probably land at least the 4th spot just because he is a whole different skill set than all the QBs and is a freshman.Comment
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I would doubt Massa stands much of a chance really. Kelly is really high on Hendrix and he's more than likely the best combo of natural tools/measurables for Kelly's offense.
Massa is a guy I see as being an odd man out and then transferring. As bad as it is Matt James passing makes that easier too and he could transfer back to a place in Ohio near his home.
My real concern is that Kelly gets all happy with his new toy and sees Golsons athletic ability and moves him to WR. I think that would be a terrible waste and an imprudent move given Golsons ability to throw the football. He was a throw first guy in HS and IMO could be a real weapon down the line.
My gut tells me Kelly will move him as I think he is looking forward to next season's recruiting already and getting Maty Mauk who is a guy he's been after for two years now(Kelly offered him at Cinci as a Soph). I hope my gut is wrong but we will see.Comment
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Unbelievable video.
The season changed when Blanton blocked the punt.Comment
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This is the football thread damn it!Comment
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Who died and made me king of the ND thread?!?!?
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Huggins has basically eliminated us from contention and is down to Rutgers and UNC. For the last couple months I was wondering why he was still considering us since he wanted a pro style offense.
With him out I don't know who else we are trying to grab before NSD. I know Niklas is probably the most likely but that still seems up in the air at this point. Ragone, Nuss, Gray, Ruffer, H. Smith, and Dever got 5th years. A lot of calculation at IE about how many scholarships we have right now. Some say we have 85, others are saying 83.
Emeka Nwankwo, Steve Paskorz, Matt Romine and Brandon Walker didnt make it back on the team.Comment
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Can't say I'm surprised about the guys not coming back for their 5th year. Romine and B. Walker have been injury prone during their careers, and I don't recall seeing Paskorz hit the field at all during his time on the team either.Comment
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Don't think Dan Wenger will be back. Kelly will tell him its for his own good.
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