Official Notre Dame Football Thread

[FirstTimer]

Former Notre Dame safety David Bruton is substitute teaching during the lockout

Bruton applied for and received a one-year substitute teacher’s license from the Ohio Department of Education, clearing him to take short-term assignments in classrooms for students in kindergarten through high school.
“I’m just trying to keep busy,” Bruton said, “and it’s nice to be able to give back to my community.”
His first call came May 12 to split time between two second-grade classes in an elementary school in the Dayton suburb. He was called again Friday, this time to teach social studies and a credit-recovery class — for students who have fallen behind — at Miamisburg High School, where he graduated in 2005.
Bruton went to the gym to lift weights for an hour before showing up for duty, wearing a tie — even though it was casual Friday for school employees — and his eyeglasses.
“He was very professional,” said Tim Lewis, Bruton’s prep football coach and an administrator at the high school. “He looked like he was completely in control, like he’d done it before.”
Bruton received $90 for each day in the classroom, about $10 per hour. Not exactly NFL money.
Bruton, a fourth-round pick in the 2009 draft, didn’t decide to teach for the money. He was growing bored during the months off from football. He was spending more than an hour a day in the weight room, trying to bulk up, and spending time with his 5-year-old son, Jaden, but still found himself with plenty of free time.
Rather than return to Denver to train, Bruton decided to remain in Ohio during the NFL lockout in order to be with his son, who lives in Miamisburg year-round with Bruton’s former girlfriend.
“I got the playbook, I study. But I don’t get much time with Jaden during the season, so I want to spend as much time with him now as I can,” Bruton said.

[FirstTimer]

OL Mark Harrell committed.

6'5 270. Chose ND over:UNC, USoCarolina, Auburn, Michigan, and Stanford.

7th commit of the class

[spiker]

Ultimately, I think Floyd plays this season. It's really not hard to stay out of trouble. I never understood why these BMOC type of guys need to run around the party scene anyways. I would imagine being in the spotlight would drive them away from that type of action but what do I know?

Has Kelly announced how he's punishing the player who raped the girl who killed herself? Or is he waiting until he gets caught?

[FirstTimer]

Has Kelly announced how he's punishing the player who raped the girl who killed herself? Or is he waiting until he gets caught?

1. There was never any rape. That was never even the girls allegation.

2. It was a sexual assault case. The player allegedly felt the girl up in a room.

3. There are going to be no charges filed in that case as of now. The investigation showed some pretty big discrepencies between what the girl claimed happened and what her roommate said happened and what cell phone records showed. A lot of stuff wasn't adding up.

With there being no charges I highly doubt there willbe any sort of public suspension of any kind as legally the school can't release the name of the player without charges being filed anyways and announcing a suspension of any kind would be a pretty big tip off. If any punishment happened it was handled in house and behind closed doors

[padman59]

Two new commits in as many days:

DB CJ Prosise and WR Deontay Greenberry

[FirstTimer]

Really nice pickups for the Irish.

Love to see us still hammering away in the secondary.

[Irish]

Don't think this has been said in here but the Irish are looking at George Atkinson III to RB instead of WR.

Also Farley, who was thought to play either WR or CB, looks to be headed over to WR. He is listed at 6'0, probably 5'11, and runs a 4.5 forty. Said in an interview he has only been playing organized football for two years. I would assume he will swap out with TJ Jones once he gets up to speed at that position. Maybe a slot guy but Toma and Riddick are ahead of him at that position.

As for the GAIII move this is what I told FT in the chatbox days ago. In the short term it is probably a necessary move, Cierre gets those tweaking injuries where he sits for a couple of plays and Jonas really hasn't shown me anything yet. Besides that there is Cam McDaniel but obviously GAIII will be an upgrade athletically over him. GAIII played more of a RB in high school.

But overall I do not like this move at all. GAIII is one of the better athletic talents we got on the offensive side of the ball besides Davaris Daniels, probably a toss up right now really. And I expect a huge pull in recruiting this year at the RB position. Weak depth chart, ND making news, and the spread offense are huge reasons why I predict success at that position. My issue is once those new RBs come in, will they jump ahead of GAIII? Keep in mind Cierre still has 3 years eligibility. So either ND runs multiple RBs getting 7 carries a game, or some of these guys are gonna get lost in the shuffle and I would bet GAIII is one of them.

I also think we need some talent out wide because right now with Floyd not being able to contribute much, the wide receiver talent is very thin.

[FirstTimer]

They can always shift GAIII back and I'm not crazy about the Farley switch to WR. In the end though a lot depends what this class shapes up like and where the holes are. You do have to love Kelly bringing in versatile guys.

[Irish]

Kelly's class this year looks incredible so far, and probably will reach some levels that has not been seen in South Bend for a while. All of course depending on the success of this season.

And my issue with shifting GAIII is he did not really play WR in high school, and then he jumps into college, learns RB for a year, then has to try to adjust with some new guys coming in that have the same if not more experience at the position then him. The RB to WR switch worked for Riddick because he really had no competition. I mean was Toma ever a threat to win the slot position? I just believe this move will hurt GAIII at the end of the day and will need some breaks(injuries, transfers) to jump in the depth chart.

[FirstTimer]

And my issue with shifting GAIII is he did not really play WR in high school, and then he jumps into college, learns RB for a year, then has to try to adjust with some new guys coming in that have the same if not more experience at the position then him. The RB to WR switch worked for Riddick because he really had no competition. I mean was Toma ever a threat to win the slot position? I just believe this move will hurt GAIII at the end of the day and will need some breaks(injuries, transfers) to jump in the depth chart.

It could, or he might explode and turn into a tremendous runner and we'll look back in a few years and say "thank God" we made the move. On the flip side I don't see anyone right now that will run away with a WR position in 2012 so I'm sure GAIII will be fine.

[FirstTimer]

Jordan Prestwood is trasnferring to ND after one semester at F$U



Another OL.

[FirstTimer]

Notre Dame adds another

SOUTH BEND — South Bend Washington High School athlete David Perkins announced Tuesday morning that he will play football at Notre Dame.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior-to-be received a scholarship offer last week from Irish coach Brian Kelly, and had narrowed his list of finalists to ND, Syracuse, Mississippi State, Iowa and Tennessee. Perkins made his announcement during a press conference at the Washington library.

Perkins is the 10th player to verbally commit to Notre Dame’s recruiting class of 2012. He also is the second South Bend high school player in the last three years to pick Notre Dame.

Clay’s Daniel Smith signed with the Irish in 2010 and enters his sophomore season looking to make an impact at wide receiver after playing mainly on special teams as a freshman last fall.

"You can never, ever, if you’re Notre Dame, pass up a guy locally with that kind of ability," CBS College Sports recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said of Perkins.

Perkins could play a number of positions for the Irish. He was used as a running back and wide receiver last season at Washington. He ran for 765 yards on 82 carries, scoring three rushing touchdowns. He also caught 12 passes for 176 yards and four TDs.

Perkins also registered 13 sacks playing defensive end and outside linebacker for the Panthers. He played his first two seasons at Kalamazoo (Mich.) Central High before transferring to Washington prior to his junior season.

Lemming projects Perkins as an outside linebacker at ND, in large part because of 4.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash, and that he stands 6-2.

"He’s tall and he can run," Lemming said, "and that’s two qualities Notre Dame looks for.

"He’s not yet a super player, but he has the potential to be that."

[FirstTimer]

-Floyd has been cleared for summer drills.

In the doldrums of summer, any news on wide receiver Michael Floyd is big news, and yesterday Notre Dame football’s director of football media relations Brian Hardin supplied some headlines when he tweeted head coach Brian Kelly’s most recent comments on his suspended star receiver:

“Michael has made steady progress towards modifying his behavior and he may participate in the voluntary workouts being conducted by his teammates as well as the summer strength and conditioning program, if he so chooses,” Kelly said in a statement.

“However, Michael still has steps to take before he can be considered for reinstatement to our football team. If he meets the conditions I have outlined to him and he demonstrates improved decision-making skills, Michael will have the opportunity to rejoin the team for practices and games this fall. If he doesn’t meet every criteria given to him, Michael will not play for Notre Dame in 2011.”

And with that, a brouhaha begins.

For those looking to claim Notre Dame and Brian Kelly are short-shrifting the Golden Dome by adding some context to Notre Dame’s previously draconian disciplinary system, they’re given another clip of ammo. But for those that are looking for some common sense logic behind the announcement, here goes:

The idea of voluntary, players-only workouts is something that’s very hard for Notre Dame and the coaching staff to police by NCAA law. (Just ask Michigan.) Even if he wanted to, Kelly or the Irish athletic department couldn’t really keep someone out of those workouts, so the fact that they’ve said it’s okay, “if he so chooses” to participate, should tell you enough. Floyd working out with the team isn’t anybody’s call but Floyd, Harrison Smith, Dayne Crist and the rest of the leadership unit on the football team.

That said, if there’s one place where Kelly is making a statement, it’s that he’s allowed Floyd to join the team in the summer strength and conditioning program. Again, Floyd is still a scholarship athlete, and every scholarship athlete that’s on campus in the summer is expected to workout with the strength and conditioning team. But not every scholarship athlete is Notre Dame’s career leader in receiving touchdowns, so this is a another step toward reinstatement for Floyd.

But the bigger step is the legal hurdle that’s still in front of Floyd. According to the South Bend Tribune, Floyd’s attorney was in court today, requesting the case to be continued until June 29th, giving him time to work out a plea agreement on behalf of his client.

Kelly’s “all in or all out” edict for Floyd seems to have raised a few eyebrows and even given some people reason to believe Floyd’s return is all but a foregone conclusion. That assumption holds little water, especially when you do even the slightest bit of digging into the work Michael’s done since March.

If No. 3 is in uniform and on the field against South Florida on September 3rd, it’s because he’s done everything that’s been asked of him by his head coach, one of the only opinions that matter on the subject. Whether fans or writers feel that five months in purgatory is enough — that’s hardly the point. For Notre Dame, maintaining integrity will never come down to fan surveys or public opinion, and in taking the wait-and-see approach with one of the university’s most high-profile student-athletes, they’re making a decision on their own terms.

As the Irish football team begins to put in the offseason work that makes championship teams possible, they’ll have one of their leaders back in the fold. While it sounds like a broken record, whether Floyd stays with the team isn’t up to Brian Kelly, it’s up to No. 3 himself.

[Irish]

My thoughts...

...On Prestwood, for those that didn't realize Prestwood was a former commit to ND. Then he decommitted around the same time Lynch first decommitted. Then went to FSU, probably realized FSU signed about 10 linemen ahead of him, and was ready to leave. Having to sit out this year is probably for the best. Will start his eligibility with Decker and Harrell at competition as true freshman. Real good get, really improves depth.

...On Perkins, kid looks like a stud but hasn't really dominated the high school level. If he dominates this year, he could be a 4 star, but more than likely this guy will 3 star for most websites. I haven't watched any of his videos to see how his ball skills are, but if they want him on defense, he looks to be an ok fit on size alone. Probably be a nice fit into the linebacker cycle with Rabasa, Shembo, Ishaq, and the others.

...On Floyd, it is good for him to start getting back into the swing of things. Even better for the team as a whole to have the best player on the team out on the field. They can start to move past his situation and start getting hyped for this year.

Anyone know when the new recruits join in the summer? I thought it was mid June.

[padman59]

Andre Jones has passed away from a brain aneurysm today. RIP.

http://www.wndu.com/sports/headlines/Former_ND_football_player_Andre_Jones_dies_124362304.html