'20 MO WR Jordan Johnson (Notre Dame Signee)

[Dale]

This is normal with these type players. ND gave him a chance and he just couldn’t keep up apparently. This is normal for ND anymore.

Who are “these type players”?

 

[dublinirish]

Who are “these type players”?

borderline academic takes

 

[NDPhilly]

When he signed with ND I put a sub 50% chance he would graduate from the school. Players that don't seem to "fit" the ND mold rarely work out. Regardless, he hasn't flashed five star talent once since being at Notre Dame.

Good luck I guess

 

[NDIrish88]

I'm sad

 

[Henges24]

This is a strange one. How good was/is he really? I honestly do not remember analysts being giddy about him during his recruitment, which I always found odd.

 

[stpeteirish]

When he signed with ND I put a sub 50% chance he would graduate from the school. Players that don't seem to "fit" the ND mold rarely work out. Regardless, he hasn't flashed five star talent once since being at Notre Dame.

Good luck I guess

I never saw anything to that effect; was it "non -public" info.? Websites that cover the team never seems to go there.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

This news would've ruined my day three years ago.

Now it's just another highly-rated WR that couldn't firmly grasp the 'traits,' or didn't want to wait to do so.

Not sure if I'm in a healthier place as a fan, or if I'm numb to losing the highly rated guys at this point.

Good luck, JJ.

Thats always been the problem. How many 5* recruits have the acadmeic chops to make it at ND. We must sustain on high caliber 3 and 4* talent with th eoccansional diamonds in the rough.

 

[Dale]

Unless most were keeping it to themselves I don’t see much of those not a fit sentiment shared pre-him showing up to campus. He went to the type of catholic academic school ND covets. The academic stuff popped up pretty quickly in the fall but seems a bit revisionist to question the fit from the beginning

where does everyone’s optimism shift now? Colzie for me

 

[rtrn2glory]

SMDH

Why can't we have nice things?

Do we think this increases a take at WR in this recruiting cycle?

 

[irishandy]

I am not surprised at all by JJ announcing to transfer. Seems to me like he had trouble academically. I think if he would've figured that out, he would've found PT as a key backup WR this year.

Like Dale said, give me Colzie!

 

[Trait Expectations]

I wish Jordan luck. He wasn't competing for real minutes at this point and if he's not fully bought in, it's likely best for both parties. I'm sure he'll land on his feet at a program that works for him and our WR room just got a little bit smaller.

At least we don't have to keep wondering if JJ will emerge though fall camp and the season. Now I'll start focusing on Lo Styles and Colzie and wondering if they'll be able to make an impact soon.

 

[irishandy]

Will Watts stick around or he is another transfer?

 

[Luckylucci]

SMDH

Why can't we have nice things?

Do we think this increases a take at WR in this recruiting cycle?

I think they were planning on WR numbers being higher than we expected. I think they're going to go for 3 WR's they like and possibly add a 4th or 5th if it's a guy that can play DB. They've already talked to Taylor Groves about the Cam Hart role and he loves that idea. Walker is another guy where his trainer actually thinks he has more upside as a DB so maybe that's a possibility with him as well. If they were to get Bradshaw, Williams, and Merriweather while also taking Walker and/or Groves. I think that'd be a hell of a haul with the potential for 2 of those guys to be DB's.

 

[DONTH8]

When I heard the news obviously I was disappointed. I really don't like guys leaving the program, especially if the kid has potential to be great. I don't know why we are all banging the academics though.

I think we need to get A LOT better at developing WR's. Our best plays for receivers for 4 years now have been 1) go routes to taller guys (Claypool, Boykin, MvKinley), 2) Broken plays where we run around till coverage breaks down, 3) Curls, 4) The occasional post to split the safeties, 5) screen pass.

Our receiver development has been terribly mismanaged imo. They block well, which I love. But route running has been bad, and the route combos have been very unimaginative. Usually when we need yards we rely on TE drags. Del and Tommy haven't been impressive at getting that position firing on all cylinders, and I don't think it's the academics that is holding the position back. We need to work on our development and training of receivers desperately on offense, and then we need to diversify and become more clever with the play calling enough to give them a chance to succeed on the field.

 

[Trait Expectations]

When I heard the news obviously I was disappointed. I really don't like guys leaving the program, especially if the kid has potential to be great. I don't know why we are all banging the academics though.

I think we need to get A LOT better at developing WR's. Our best plays for receivers for 4 years now have been 1) go routes to taller guys (Claypool, Boykin, MvKinley), 2) Broken plays where we run around till coverage breaks down, 3) Curls, 4) The occasional post to split the safeties, 5) screen pass.

Our receiver development has been terribly mismanaged imo. They block well, which I love. But route running has been bad, and the route combos have been very unimaginative. Usually when we need yards we rely on TE drags. Del and Tommy haven't been impressive at getting that position firing on all cylinders, and I don't think it's the academics that is holding the position back. We need to work on our development and training of receivers desperately on offense, and then we need to diversify and become more clever with the play calling enough to give them a chance to succeed on the field.

Last year, our best receivers available were McKinley and Skowronek with Davis sprinkled in. That's because our expected top-level receivers were hurt. Austin's foot and Lenzy's hamstring kept us from being able to add some more wrinkles to the playbook. I don't think Rees lacked the ability to add more "clever" elements last year, he did what he needed to do to maximize the teams potential.

I understands it's common for fanbases to look for the achilles heal of their program. I think one could argue we're not signing enough top-end talent but I believe the staff have developed/maximized the players they have.

 

[NDPhilly]

Coach D on twitter throwing the staff under the bus for not playing him. What exactly did Johnson do in camp to warrant playing over McKinley, Skrowneck, Davis, Wilkins, and Lenzy? Are we supposed to play all 5 stars as freshman so they don't get mad and transfer?

 

[Irishnuke]

Oh well. Next...

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Coach D on twitter throwing the staff under the bus for not playing him. What exactly did Johnson do in camp to warrant playing over McKinley, Skrowneck, Davis, Wilkins, and Lenzy? Are we supposed to play all 5 stars as freshman so they don't get mad and transfer?

Strong endorsement of the staff's personnel decisions right there.

 

[Luckylucci]

On JJ, I pretty torn on this one. I do believe that a majority of this was due to fit. I've said for awhile, for a lot of prospects, ND is better in theory than it is practice. Meaning the idea of getting an ND degree and playing high level football seems too good to pass up, but you still have to do the work in the classroom. And, it seems like he struggled with that from the start. But, the same thing happened with Botelho and Elston got him to come back. How and why would be the questions I'd ask. I'd bet it has something to do with his buy-in for the role they had planned for him. Which leads to my next point.

We simply have to play more WR's. Because while it may not have mattered here with JJ, it most certainly could or will with others. And it's the guys that are supposed to be at ND that we can't afford to lose because we couldn't get guys on the field for another 50-100 snaps over a 13 game season. Would it matter JJ played another 50-100 snaps last year? Probably not. But, we cannot have that be a part of these decisions. We have 2 WR's from the '19 and '20 classes. You lose Watts and it's just 1.

The reason I said I was torn is because while it sucks to lose JJ and I think this is a problem with the program (WR snaps), I'm not sure this has a meaningful impact to our roster. Short term this is Austin's team he just needs to get healthy. Keys might be the most arrow up guy on the team right now. And then we fill in the space with Lenzy, Davis, Wilkins, etc. And, I'm not sure it really hurts the future. Like I've been posting his thread. I think we all didn't give Colzie the credit he deserved. The combo of him and Styles in the same class is the best duo Kelly has recruited at WR during his entire tenure at ND. Following Styles and Colzie's progress will be interesting as that could answer the question of, will they be ready to take over as Sophomores? I seem to think they will.

 

[PANDFAN]

I saw something from sampson where I guess jj was supposed to get a screen pass in blue) good game but instead blocked.... Not only are you not passing, your struggling to make your mark and then miss the assignment...

 

[irishff1014]

Who are “these type players”?

5 stars and top 50 players.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

On JJ, I pretty torn on this one. I do believe that a majority of this was due to fit. I've said for awhile, for a lot of prospects, ND is better in theory than it is practice. Meaning the idea of getting an ND degree and playing high level football seems too good to pass up, but you still have to do the work in the classroom. And, it seems like he struggled with that from the start. But, the same thing happened with Botelho and Elston got him to come back. How and why would be the questions I'd ask. I'd bet it has something to do with his buy-in for the role they had planned for him. Which leads to my next point.

We simply have to play more WR's. Because while it may not have mattered here with JJ, it most certainly could or will with others. And it's the guys that are supposed to be at ND that we can't afford to lose because we couldn't get guys on the field for another 50-100 snaps over a 13 game season. Would it matter JJ played another 50-100 snaps last year? Probably not. But, we cannot have that be a part of these decisions. We have 2 WR's from the '19 and '20 classes. You lose Watts and it's just 1.

The reason I said I was torn is because while it sucks to lose JJ and I think this is a problem with the program (WR snaps), I'm not sure this has a meaningful impact to our roster. Short term this is Austin's team he just needs to get healthy. Keys might be the most arrow up guy on the team right now. And then we fill in the space with Lenzy, Davis, Wilkins, etc. And, I'm not sure it really hurts the future. Like I've been posting his thread. I think we all didn't give Colzie the credit he deserved. The combo of him and Styles in the same class is the best duo Kelly has recruited at WR during his entire tenure at ND. Following Styles and Colzie's progress will be interesting as that could answer the question of, will they be ready to take over as Sophomores? I seem to think they will.

It's especially acute at WR but it's something that needs to be addressed for the offense as a whole.

 

[Irish#1]

You have to be holding your own in the classroom before you see playing time. Hard to develop a player when they struggle in the classroom or are injured like Austin or Lenzy. Wish JJ the best. He gave it a try.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Irish Illustrated Podcast (Prister, O'Malley, and Sampson) said it straight out.

Off the field issues were not the biggest factor here. Sources confirmed that JJ was just, not good. Going back to his HS film, really not sure about that 5 star ranking.

 

[Luckylucci]

Irish Illustrated Podcast (Prister, O'Malley, and Sampson) said it straight out.

Off the field issues were not the biggest factor here. Sources confirmed that JJ was just, not good. Going back to his HS film, really not sure about that 5 star ranking.

Here is Prister's Film Review of him before he committed. And, their board insider over their, TJ34 called him a must get and said Chip Long agreed.

In The Film Room . . . Jordan Johnson (247sports.com)

I think we got a little bit of revisionist history here.

 

[NDIrish88]

Tommy Bush from Georgia is in the portal. They should kick the tires on him. Colzie and Thomas gotta play right away too.

 

[NDPhilly]

Here is Prister's Film Review of him before he committed. And, their board insider over their, TJ34 called him a must get and said Chip Long agreed.

In The Film Room . . . Jordan Johnson (247sports.com)

I think we got a little bit of revisionist history here.

I think he is a solid 4 star, ~ borderline top 150 talent, which in ND's world (especially in 2019) was a must get skill player. Don't think he has any 5 star "traits". Tyree on the other hand, had game breaking speed which separated him from other top RBs.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Mike Frank Power Hour: "Never heard anyone inside say that JJ looks good, like we did when Kevin Austin was young, for example."

Sounds like "traits" may have been code for, actual on the field traits too...

 

[Luckylucci]

Tommy Bush from Georgia is in the portal. They should kick the tires on him. Colzie and Thomas gotta play right away too.

Thomas and Colzie gotta play right away as in to keep them happy or the team needs them too?

 

[tussin]

We are in an era of college sports (not just football) where top skill talent expects to play and contribute early or transfer. To the extent that ND does not accommodate these types of recruits (which we can debate ad nauseum), then they will need to remain active on the backend grabbing high-floor contributors off the transfer portal. The death nail for ND is a world in which they don't play the young-ins and they also aren't a presence in the grad transfer game. Recent years suggest that this won't be the case but just throwing it out there.