Official Notre Dame Football Thread

[FirstTimer]

Fresh new server and site.

Might as well fire up this thread fresh.

Our commits for this year so far:

Nicky Baratti ATH 6-2/215

Scott Daly OL 6-4/230

Ronald Darby DB/RB 5-11/172

Taylor Decker OL 6-8/270

Justin Ferguson WR 6-2/205

Tee Shepard DB 6-1/175



Welcome to a new year!

[Irish]

Ronald Darby and Tee Shepard give me the recruiting boner.

[FirstTimer]

Ronald Darby and Tee Shepard give me the recruiting boner.

I'd be really shocked if Darby stayed at DB when he got on campus.

[Irish]

Who are the three loses Jayrock?

[Irish]

Date Opponent Result
Sep. 3 South Florida 3:30pm
Sep. 10 at Michigan 8:00pm
Sep. 17 Michigan State 3:30pm
Sep. 24 at Pittsburgh TBA
Oct. 1 at Purdue TBA
Oct. 8 Air Force 3:30pm
Oct. 22 USC 7:30pm
Oct. 29 Navy 3:30pm
Nov. 5 at Wake Forest TBA
Nov. 12 at Maryland TBA
Nov. 12 Maryland 7:30pm
Nov. 19 Boston College 4:00pm
Nov. 26 at Stanford TBA

[FirstTimer]

South Florida worries me.

Going to Michigan will be a pain in the ass and those games seem to always be toss ups.

MSU always gives us problems...don't ask me why.

Pitt still has talent and it's on the road.

USC is still a top flight team talent wise IMO.

Can we stop Navy's option?

Playing Maryland back to back weeks could be tough...

I'm as optimistic about next year as the next guy but the schedule isn't the toughest in the world but for the most part week in and week out they are difficult and solid matchups.

The team is moving in the right direction but we aren't good enough to assume anything at this point.

[Irish]

Season comes down to the defense imo. If it is November 2010 Notre Dame defense then we are gonna be unreal.

But I don't know if ND has what it takes to keep that defense playing as elite as they were.

[FirstTimer]

Crist's health is a big thing too.

I keep saying it but Rees has this Matt Lovechio thing about him that worries me if Crist goes down again. Not sure he will be able to recapture the magic.

We are really thin at RB too.

[Irish]

QB- I am the biggest Crist supporter because I think he has a good chance to be something big. But I feel more worried with him at QB than Rees. I want Dayne to win the job and be the 5 star QB I know he can be, but I feel more confident with Rees running the show.

RB- I have faith in Cierre and think he will be a great runner for ND of the future. Jonas sucks. Cierre gets those minor injuries a ton in a game and I hope Jonas isn't needed during a crucial situation.

WR- Very thin. Floyd and Riddick both have some injury concerns. Backing them up is a lot of unexperienced and unproven guys. Some of these guys will make ok plays here and there then other times I start to think these guys can't out work a high school DB.

Goodman. Iffy.
Walker. Outmatched.
Jones. Serviceable.
Smith. No experience.
Massa. Can't be serious.
Toma. Short. Slow. Bad haircut.
Then Daniels and Atkinson.

[FirstTimer]

I know one thing for sure we need something out of the kick return game this year.

[Irish]

Too scared to put Riddick on punt returns.

I wouldn't be surprised if Atkinson ran kickoffs back

Maybe Cam McDaniel?

[FirstTimer]

As far as I know Mayock is still doing ND games.

Anyone here gonna try and make it to the USC game?

My wife's friend is getting married that night..but I'm skipping the wedding for the game.

[FirstTimer]

Too scared to put Riddick on punt returns.

I wouldn't be surprised if Atkinson ran kickoffs back.

I'd like to see Toma on punt returns. Maybe Tailer Jones too.

[Irish]

I was always too busy punching my ears from hearing Tom Hammond speak to notice anything Mayock said.

[FirstTimer]

SOUTH BEND — While suspended Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd continues to try to take steps out of limbo, Irish head football coach Brian Kelly spelled out Tuesday just what that journey needs to look like.
“We’re looking at Mike as an ‘all in or not’ situation,” Kelly told the South Bend Tribune. “ In other words, he’s changing his life or he’s not. If he changes the way he’s lived his life, he’ll play every game for us. If he doesn’t, he won’t play one down here at Notre Dame.
“He is at that level. This is not, ‘I’m going to slap you on the hand and sit you for two games’ — because I don’t want to read about him in a year, where it says, ‘Ex-Notre Dame player arrested for X-Y-Z.’ That will be a failing on my part if that happens.”
Floyd, a 21-year-old senior-to-be from St. Paul, Minn., was arrested on the Notre Dame campus on March 20 for drunk driving. Police say he registered a blood-alcohol content of 0.19. Indiana’s legal driving limit is 0.08.

It was the third alcohol-related run-in with the law for ND’s leading receiver in 2010 and team MVP since he arrived on campus in the summer of 2008.
Kelly, shortly after Floyd’s arrest, suspended Floyd indefinitely from all team-related activities. That meant no spring practice with the team, no lifting with the team, no conditioning with the team. All those conditions are still in play.
He is allowed to have contact with coaches and teammates and can attend training table.
On April 9, Notre Dame’s disciplinary arm — the Office of Residence Life — broke precedent and elected not to suspend Floyd for the 2011 season. Similar cases under old Res Life leadership had resulted in a season-long suspension.
In this case, the new regime of Res Life elected to let Kelly largely design the blueprint for Floyd’s possible redemption.
“He had a number of things he had to take care of, and he’s checking off the boxes,” Kelly said. “But he’s got a number that are still out there.
“One that he did get past this spring was his academics. He had to have a specific GPA, and he did. He’s got some community service stuff he’s still got to do for Res Life. He’s got court coming up on June 7, and he’s got to pass that.”
Floyd’s attorney, William Stanley, said Floyd is expected to plead guilty at his next court date. He is facing an A-level misdemeanor charge for the alleged offense, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in the St. Joseph County Jail and a $5,000 fine.
“There’s no gray area anymore,” Kelly said. “There just can’t be. Too many times it’s been, ‘I’ll change.’ Look, you’re parenting a young man whose close to being a teenager. As much as it hurts to say, ‘He’s done at Notre Dame,’ if he doesn’t change his life, he’s done at Notre Dame. he’s not going to play here.
“Having said this, I’m very optimistic. I’m not going to paint a bleak picture. He’s done some things, that I can’t get into relative to changing his life, in which reports back from professionals are really optimistic. But he’s got to handle all these things before we start thinking about playing in the fall.”
If Floyd does return and stays healthy, he’s expected to put up bigger numbers than he did in 2010 (79 receptions, 1,025 yards and 12 TDs) and affix his name to virtually every Irish career receiving record. If Floyd doesn’t meet Kelly’s criteria, ND’s offense will be more tight end-oriented in 2011 with more multiple-tight end sets.
Floyd had been strongly considering jumping into the NFL Draft Pool a year early, after the 2010 season, but he had an 11th-hour change of heart in January and decided to return for his senior season.
Kelly originally named Floyd and safety Harrison Smith captains for 2011, but Floyd was stripped of his title following the arrest.
The coach has emphasized from the start of the suspension that Floyd’s path out of exile had everything to do with making good decisions. That doesn’t mean, for instance, he can’t go to a bar with his friends and order a Pepsi.
“It’s like anything else,” Kelly said. “If you pull yourself out of your social environment and it isolates you, you have a better chance of not being able to stick to that change. He’ll be living on campus, though, in the fall, in a dorm
“I’m not trying to be an AA counselor here, but he has got to be around the right people too if he’s going to change his life for good.”

Really interesting news on Floyd here. If Kelly really isn;t going to suspend him for any time he knows the backlash will be severe, however if Kelly is really more worried about Michael Floyd as a person and him getting his life back in order and letting the criminal part of this run it's course and that is Floyd's punishment then so be it.

Floyd has already cost himself millions of dollars as a draft pick with this and deep down it sounds like the kid may have some issues with not surrounding himself with the right kind of people....which is all too familiar a problem with athlete's these days. Hopefully what Kelly is doing and the hardline he is taking is a wake up call. I'm really hoping that if FLoyd does have a drinking problem that it's getting corrected and he's getting help. Floyd always kind of lived along the edges during his time at Notre Dame and he's gotten himself in some trouble