Munir Prince moves to defense!

[Vince Young]

I can't see the full article because I don't subscribe to Rivals. (And I never will, those .) But Notre Dame's free front page at Rivals is reporting that Munir Prince has moved over from running back to cornerback.

Interesting switch, and of course it immediately brings to mind Travis Thomas's move to linebacker last year. Charlie made that move because Thomas was behind Darius Walker on the RB depth chart, but Charlie felt he was too talented to let him languish on the bench and wanted him to start SOMEWHERE, even if it was on the "wrong" side of the ball.

That may be the case here again. Travis Thomas and James Aldridge look to be at 1 and 2 on the running back depth chart, so Prince is effectively buried there. And our defense could always use some help and more speed, and Prince has speed in spades. Of course, that's assuming that Prince will be starting at CB, and that's no guarantee. He could be #2 on that depth chart as well.

But... there could be something else at play here as well. Most of Prince's scant carries last year came in garbage time behind our much weaker 2nd-string offensive line, so it's hard to get a solid read on him. But his garbage-time carries never looked particularly impressive. And he DID have a few meaningful plays early in a couple of games that also didn't exactly shine. I recall 2 different plays in particular where they tried to feed him a soft-touch swing pass with nice blocking ready and waiting... and he dropped both passes in the wide-open backfield. When your playing time is already rare, you'd better be ready to take advantage of the opportunities that do come your way. Munir wasn't.

So, does this mean that Corwin Brown just wants some more speed at cornerback and asked, "Hey Charlie, if you're not using Munir, can I borrow him for a while?" Or is this a sign that Charlie hasn't been impressed with his performance at running back but still doesn't want to waste his speed? I have a feeling it may be the second scenario.

Discuss!

 

[ACamp1900]

all that aside... reps for the avatar...

 

[Junkhead]

Interesting. We'll see how that goes. That sucks about Gray's injury though.

 

[Vince Young]

all that aside... reps for the avatar...

You like? Thanks!

 

[ACamp1900]

You like? Thanks!

yeah the emmu thing seemed like an inside joke I wasn't a part of...

 

[goldenlid]

CW said Prince asked to get a chance at cornerback, and Gray getting hurt made it easy to say yes.

 

[ACamp1900]

Prince one on one in a deep route with a 6'1" plus WR makes me quite fearful... too small to break up the pass, too little to tackle anyone... but you never know...

 

[tgolden]

Prince played corner in high school, and I know there was some talk that he might even play it in college. He's not really any shorter than a lot of corners, and we know he has speed. and this change isn't necessarily permanent either. I think it could be a good move.

 

[tommy]

Prince played corner in high school, and I know there was some talk that he might even play it in college. He's not really any shorter than a lot of corners, and we know he has speed. and this change isn't necessarily permanent either. I think it could be a good move.

I dont know if he cant break the dept chart now I dont see how he ever could at RB that is Im sure we will be getting more stud RBs in the future . But moving around and learning new things could never hurt

 

[notredomer23]

like the move because either aldridge thomas at rb or thomas aldridge at rb. whos the full back going to be?

 

[Irishknight1023]

Schwapp

 

[rontdtarchala]

CW has a lot of options doesn't he...schwapp and TT/aldridge or a mixture of them plus aa and our other big young backs...I like all the options...

 

[tommy]

CW has a lot of options doesn't he...schwapp and TT/aldridge or a mixture of them plus aa and our other big young backs...I like all the options...

kinda like the lou holtz teams of ole talk about excited

 

[leprechaun4life]

What's this about Gray being injured? Is it very serious? Please, feed my excessive curiousity...never mind broke his arm

 

[leprechaun4life]

Prince one on one in a deep route with a 6'1" plus WR makes me quite fearful... too small to break up the pass, too little to tackle anyone... but you never know...

Those are some good points, but I like to think, that if he can take hits at RB, then he can give 'em at CB. However, I don't know how well he can cover. But, this was a position change that I was somewhat expecting.

 

[tgolden]

Those are some good points, but I like to think, that if he can take hits at RB, then he can give 'em at CB. However, I don't know how well he can cover. But, this was a position change that I was somewhat expecting.

I think he was all-state at corner in high school, so he probably can cover.

and about gray, he's out 4-6 weeks. he has a broken right forearm.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

like the move because either aldridge thomas at rb or thomas aldridge at rb. whos the full back going to be?

Ace or Schmidt

 

[johnnd05]

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the news and insight, VY. Reps.

 

[portlaNDgal]

yeah the emmu thing seemed like an inside joke I wasn't a part of...

Emu thread:
http://www.irishenvy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20050
An old inside joke as you say but I stlil chuckle.

 

[notdam4]

Another reason he's buried is because of Allen. I've heard for a while now that Allen is "the most athletic" of the running backs, and my buddy went to the practice today and said Allen looked "unreal" in terms of speed. He and Armando have the same skill sets but I believe Allen brings a bit more to the table.

 

[Vince Young]

CW said Prince asked to get a chance at cornerback, and Gray getting hurt made it easy to say yes.

Now THAT is interesting. PRINCE is the one who asked to move to cornerback? If that's true, that puts things in a whole 'nother light.

If he played some CB in high school, that's a huge plus. Makes me feel a LOT better about the position-switch.

 

[johnnd05]

It's a move I remember talking about as a possibility back in '06, so it's not entirely unexpected given our depth at RB. It definitely is better if it was Prince who initiated it ...

 

[goirish#1]

Prince played corner in high school, and I know there was some talk that he might even play it in college. He's not really any shorter than a lot of corners, and we know he has speed. and this change isn't necessarily permanent either. I think it could be a good move.

I agree he is obviously a good athlete and should be able to make the adjustment, he just wants to get on the feild he may do better than people think.

 

[TexasNDFan]

This can turn out to be a great move, unlike Thomas who never really played linebacker, Prince has experience at CB and excelled at it. I know people are grumbling about losing his speed on offense, but speed kills just as much on defense, if not more. You can live with a ton of speed on offense if you can mix up your play calling, but on defense no speed with leave you susceptible to the big plays.

 

[celtic745]

I think this is a great move too, since he seems to have prior expierience at CB. People can complain all they want about loosing his speed on offense, but honestly, it would have been hard to find him carries. I think someone else brought up that Armando Allen and Munir kind of have the same skill set thing going on, but that maybe AA just has more goin for him. I'm excited to see how Munir ends up doing.

 

[FleaFlicker]

It's possible here that Munir has a bigger upside on defense than he did on offense. I know we didn't see a lot of him last year, but it looked like his hands were shaky at best. Corners don't have to have perfect hands.

As said before too, he was all-state at corner his junior year, so he knows the position. Also, he realized that his quickest path to playing time was through the defense. The kid just wants to play, so he will be out to prove himself on defense. I have to believe he possesses some pretty good skills at the position, you don't just label a guy all-state at a position as a junior, if he doesn't know what he is doing... even in Missouri.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

This can turn out to be a great move, unlike Thomas who never really played linebacker, Prince has experience at CB and excelled at it. I know people are grumbling about losing his speed on offense, but speed kills just as much on defense, if not more. You can live with a ton of speed on offense if you can mix up your play calling, but on defense no speed with leave you susceptible to the big plays.

You are dead on.

To be honest, I am so NOT concerned about the team's depth at RB. We have some great kids who will do wonderfully there. Moving Prince over to CB makes some sense. It gives us some more depth on D...and that is always welcome these days.

 

[tgolden]

This can turn out to be a great move, unlike Thomas who never really played linebacker, Prince has experience at CB and excelled at it. I know people are grumbling about losing his speed on offense, but speed kills just as much on defense, if not more. You can live with a ton of speed on offense if you can mix up your play calling, but on defense no speed with leave you susceptible to the big plays.

actually thomas played a lot of LB in high school, and there was some talk of him playing LB at ND after he committed. but with Prince, it's moving much earlier in his college career, so he'll have more time to get adjusted to everything. also, I think Allen has about the same speed as him, so it's not much of a loss on that side. I like the move. and since Prince asked for it, I like it even more.

 

[stonebreakerwasgod]

If it gives us more speed on defense, all the better. He would not have been involved at all on offense (at least RB), and he knew it.

 

[Irishknight1023]

Armando is bigger, stronger and even faster so he knew the scatback was brought in and he saw his opportunity to help the team on defense i think he has a good attitude, at least he's not like Talley.