2024 Fall Camp Thread

[EvilleIrish]

Have they given us a reason to think they’re lying?

Not necessarily but I’m sure the beat at times has been told to downplay certain things. Maybe not this.

 

[ND7983]

Not necessarily but I’m sure the beat at times has been told to downplay certain things. Maybe not this.

Driskell got tired of people asking about it, so he contacted his sources at ND & they said Cross is healthy, and not sure where all these rumors are coming from?

 

[ND7983]

The tackle situation is terrifying.

Terrifying?
ND’s tackles are still top 20 in the nation.
Have you seen A&M’s Tackles?
They are in way worse shape than ND. Their OL was a dumpster fire last year & they have the same dudes back, minus one starter, who transferred out.
The ‘21 OL was in worst shape than this OL, and went 11-1.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I was at the Syracuse game. One of the worst days that became dark comedy. It was bitter cold that day, between a friend and myself, we probably consumed 10-12 of the hot chocolates they were passing out. Student section was throwing snow balls at the team, had to go into the restrooms just to try and warm-up your fingers. We did not dress for that weather. My face felt chapped from the bitter wind that cut through our clothes and shoes. By far the worst game day experience I've ever had.

People were joking about Syracuse until midway through the 4th quarter and then we all started to realize, "we're really going to lose this game too". It was like the bottom had fallen out of an already terrible season. If I'm not mistaken, Manti was there on a recruiting visit and still chose the Irish.

Until you all brought it up, I had completely forgotten about how many trash ND games I had to sit through during the Weis years. Navy, Syracuse, UConn, etc. I saw some good wins, but I mostly just remember the embarrassing losses. I, unfortunately, can say the same thing about BK's tenure. Tulsa, USF, etc.

I haven't been to a game since Freeman took over.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

When it comes to Leonard, my current thought process is this:

• Upgrade in running ability compared to Hartman
• Downgrade in accuracy and passing ability to Hartman
• Upgrade at WRs
• Upgrade OC*
• Downgrade at OL

This short list is essentially a wash to me *except* the upgrade at OC, which I think is massive. I fully trust Denbrock to scheme away from weaknesses and adapt to what is happening in the game. I think the offense may actually be better this year despite the question marks at OL and QB. The season will only be as good as those two positions, imo, in terms of National Championship contention.

I'm also not willing to use the A&M game as the barometer for the season as their DL is likely to wreak havoc on our OL in week 1. I truly hate when ND schedules these types of games week 1. They should always schedule a "warm up" game, imo.

 

[stlnd01]

Hartman v. Leonard is an interesting comp. Hartman was so experienced, didn't make a lot of mistakes. But Leonard has a much bigger arm. And of course his legs create another threat the D always has to account for. His upside is higher, he's just still raw. I wish he'd been healthy in the spring.

 

[NDty9]

When it comes to Leonard, my current thought process is this:

• Upgrade in running ability compared to Hartman
• Downgrade in accuracy and passing ability to Hartman
• Upgrade at WRs
• Upgrade OC*
• Downgrade at OL

This short list is essentially a wash to me *except* the upgrade at OC, which I think is massive. I fully trust Denbrock to scheme away from weaknesses and adapt to what is happening in the game. I think the offense may actually be better this year despite the question marks at OL and QB. The season will only be as good as those two positions, imo, in terms of National Championship contention.

I'm also not willing to use the A&M game as the barometer for the season as their DL is likely to wreak havoc on our OL in week 1. I truly hate when ND schedules these types of games week 1. They should always schedule a "warm up" game, imo.

Fair … however, scheduling a tough ranked away game in week 1 is not a kiss of death should we struggle. At least it wasn’t in the past. Not sure If the new playoff scenario helps or hurts that theory.

 

[stlnd01]

Fair … however, scheduling a tough ranked away game in week 1 is not a kiss of death should we struggle. At least it wasn’t in the past. Not sure If the new playoff scenario helps or hurts that theory.

The trouble is that we (likely) don't have a lot of other big games to boost our resume. Probably Florida State. Maybe USC. Of course A&M could easily go 8-4 like they always do and no one will care we beat them in Week 1 either.
We'll be fine making the playoffs at 11-1 but even 10-2 could be dicey, depending on things.

 

[irishandy]

Hartman v. Leonard is an interesting comp. Hartman was so experienced, didn't make a lot of mistakes. But Leonard has a much bigger arm. And of course his legs create another threat the D always has to account for. His upside is higher, he's just still raw. I wish he'd been healthy in the spring.

And ND was lucky to land both QB's. I'll forever be a Hartman fan and as we are seeing/reading more about Leonard I am buying in.

 

[WildMan1]

Let's not ignore the fact that we don't exactly have a juggernaut of a schedule. We get out of Kyle Field with a win & conditions are very favorable for coordinators to dole out reps, accelerate development & build confidence.

Louisville @ home comes after NIU, Purdue and Miami OH.. then a bye into Stanford, Ga Tech, Navy.. I think we can all safely say at this point these games should be in hand early..

Yes we have a history of missing lay ups but I think we have all the pieces in place this year even with LT being shaky, Our QB room is the healthiest, dare I say, it's ever been. I have full confidence in Angeli if Riley goes down & when have we had depth like Carr/Minchey behind a solid #2? We had Buchner & Pyne in the Marshall loss.. enough said.

Love is elite.. Price is a stud.. plenty of talent backing them up as well. Evans, Flanigan, Raridon at TE & like mentioned, 5 reliable WRs.. and you know one or two will exceed expectations.. I bet Fasion breaks out big. Leonard opens the RPO game as well which is something I think we see a lot of.

Our D is arguably top 3 in the country & we bring two of the best coordinators in the game.

Tech offense will pose a threat but into our strength & their D is horrendous. I'll call this one the potential trap game bc I do think they're offense will be very good this year.

But all in all I think we steamroll this year

 

[OKCDomer23]

Hartman v. Leonard is an interesting comp. Hartman was so experienced, didn't make a lot of mistakes. But Leonard has a much bigger arm. And of course his legs create another threat the D always has to account for. His upside is higher, he's just still raw. I wish he'd been healthy in the spring.

Leonard's arm, size, legs > Hartman any day of the week. Leonard is a 6'4" freak qb with a great arm and legs. What's not like from a physical perspective? Just needs to stay healthy but sky is the limit. There's a reason Leonard has been mentioned in his career before as a potential 1st rounder. Kid has all the tools.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

When it comes to Leonard, my current thought process is this:

• Upgrade in running ability compared to Hartman
• Downgrade in accuracy and passing ability to Hartman
• Upgrade at WRs
• Upgrade OC*
• Downgrade at OL

This short list is essentially a wash to me *except* the upgrade at OC, which I think is massive. I fully trust Denbrock to scheme away from weaknesses and adapt to what is happening in the game. I think the offense may actually be better this year despite the question marks at OL and QB. The season will only be as good as those two positions, imo, in terms of National Championship contention.

I'm also not willing to use the A&M game as the barometer for the season as their DL is likely to wreak havoc on our OL in week 1. I truly hate when ND schedules these types of games week 1. They should always schedule a "warm up" game, imo.

Sam had remarkable downfield accuracy. Besides that, Riley is physically better at everything.

Sam probably has the cerebral edge, but that’s TBD.

 

[Irish5Saint]

Driskell got tired of people asking about it, so he contacted his sources at ND & they said Cross is healthy, and not sure where all these rumors are coming from?

Some guy on 247 started a fake rumor Cross got hurt yesterday “per his sources”.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Sam had remarkable downfield accuracy. Besides that, Riley is physically better at everything.

Sam probably has the cerebral edge, but that’s TBD.

Essentially what my comment was suggesting.

 

[IrishLax]

When it comes to Leonard, my current thought process is this:

• Upgrade in running ability compared to Hartman
• Downgrade in accuracy and passing ability to Hartman
• Upgrade at WRs
• Upgrade OC*
• Downgrade at OL

This short list is essentially a wash to me *except* the upgrade at OC, which I think is massive. I fully trust Denbrock to scheme away from weaknesses and adapt to what is happening in the game. I think the offense may actually be better this year despite the question marks at OL and QB. The season will only be as good as those two positions, imo, in terms of National Championship contention.

I'm also not willing to use the A&M game as the barometer for the season as their DL is likely to wreak havoc on our OL in week 1. I truly hate when ND schedules these types of games week 1. They should always schedule a "warm up" game, imo.

Yeah I don't think it can be emphasized enough how much having a "professional" coordinator has changed vibes. Everything I have heard on Parker is some version of this:
-Guys liked him
-One difference between him and Rees was that players didn't feel like they were "smarter" than Rees but with Parker there were two issues:
---First, he didn't do a lot to be deceptive, and guys (right or wrong) sometimes felt like they weren't put in position to succeed
---Second, he didn't make big in game adjustments or have a lot of "if they do this, then we do" which led sometimes to frustration/lack of confidence
-When stuff went wrong under Rees, players generally internalized that it was their fault for not executing. When stuff went wrong under Parker, a lot of time there was more finger pointing.
-A lot of the "vanilla" was top down from Freeman because he didn't trust the WRs/passing game... but also he didn't trust Parker to scheme people open.

By contrast, Freeman is giving Denbrock the latitude he's given Al Golden. And by showing trust, I think it makes the players trust too. I don't know how much "better" the offense will be, but there is a lot of buy in from guys that if they do what they're coached to do then they're going to have success. It also has guys really battling at every position whereas last year there was unbelievable levels of entitlement from some players.

 

[NDdomer2]

Have they given us a reason to think they’re lying?

Not that I think there's anyone with cross but I do feel like there have been some instances of lack of information with injuries under Freeman.

 

[laughingirish90]

Terrifying?
ND’s tackles are still top 20 in the nation.
Have you seen A&M’s Tackles?
They are in way worse shape than ND. Their OL was a dumpster fire last year & they have the same dudes back, minus one starter, who transferred out.
The ‘21 OL was in worst shape than this OL, and went 11-1.

yeah i was watching a podcast toward the end of this past week on youtube and it seems that our front 7 should feast all night on the A&M OL with the way they were talking about it

 

[NumbersGuy0520]

Have they given us a reason to think they’re lying?

None, aside from the fact there is almost no competitive advantage to disclosing injuries, and several to keeping them hush. I think it’s fair to take any program’s reporting on injuries with a grain of salt.

My level of concern is at an 4-5 out of 10, mainly because he’s so huge to our team. He probably got dinged a bit and they’re now labeling it at “load management”.

 

[ND7983]

None, aside from the fact there is almost no competitive advantage to disclosing injuries, and several to keeping them hush. I think it’s fair to take any program’s reporting on injuries with a grain of salt.

My level of concern is at an 4-5 out of 10, mainly because he’s so huge to our team. He probably got dinged a bit and they’re now labeling it at “load management”.

They have been load managing since spring with a lot of the older players.
Did you hear anything about Mills in the spring? How he was never at practice when the media was there & they said he had class conflicts.
That’s how you get 5th & 6th year guys to come back. You pay them reasonably & you let them rest during spring & parts of fall. Put less wear & tear on their bodies. Not just ND does this.
No one is hiding that Cross has a sore hamstring or other older players have preplanned rest days.

 

[T Town Tommy]

When it comes to Leonard, my current thought process is this:

• Upgrade in running ability compared to Hartman
• Downgrade in accuracy and passing ability to Hartman
• Upgrade at WRs
• Upgrade OC*
• Downgrade at OL

This short list is essentially a wash to me *except* the upgrade at OC, which I think is massive. I fully trust Denbrock to scheme away from weaknesses and adapt to what is happening in the game. I think the offense may actually be better this year despite the question marks at OL and QB. The season will only be as good as those two positions, imo, in terms of National Championship contention.

I'm also not willing to use the A&M game as the barometer for the season as their DL is likely to wreak havoc on our OL in week 1. I truly hate when ND schedules these types of games week 1. They should always schedule a "warm up" game, imo.

Playing at A&M is typically tough but I don’t believe this Aggie team has the talent to go against the Irish. The Irish are better on both sides of the ball overall. The Aggies won’t lay down but I think the outcome is in the 6-9 point range for the Irish. Furthermore, a win by any margin is a good win at Kyle Field. Get it and get out… the rest of the schedule is certainly very manageable.

 

[irish4ever]

The Aggies will rely on their D. Soooo, very important is ball control .... no short fields!!!

 

[ND7983]

According to the A&M sites, they are in more trouble on their OL than we could ever imagine at ND.
They have two positions set, LT & LG. And are still trying to figure out the other 3 OL positions half way through fall camp.

Could you imagine ND going through all spring, summer & half of fall camp, & only have 2 OL starters set?

 

[Blazers46]

According to the A&M sites, they are in more trouble on their OL than we could ever imagine at ND.
They have two positions set, LT & LG. And are still trying to figure out the other 3 OL positions half way through fall camp.

Could you imagine ND going through all spring, summer & half of fall camp, & only have 2 OL starters set?

Depends on context. Not set because nobody is winning the job or not set because nobody is losing the job? I ask because I don’t know.

 

[ND7983]

Depends on context. Not set because nobody is winning the job or not set because nobody is losing the job? I ask because I don’t know.

The mods are saying that the A&M staff know who they want to win the spots but those players haven’t stepped up & done it.
And they won’t go in to specifics, because they aren’t allowed to, but it sounds like their scrimmage yesterday was a trainwreck.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Playing at A&M is typically tough but I don’t believe this Aggie team has the talent to go against the Irish. The Irish are better on both sides of the ball overall. The Aggies won’t lay down but I think the outcome is in the 6-9 point range for the Irish. Furthermore, a win by any margin is a good win at Kyle Field. Get it and get out… the rest of the schedule is certainly very manageable.

Not suggesting they aren't beatable. I just wish ND scheduled a "warm up" game to iron out OL, etc, and ease into game speed against top tier opponents. 8 out of the last 10 years, I think, have been tough games (and I count Navy in Ireland as "tough" just because of the set of issues that international travel + Navy hangover + short week turn around presents....not necessarily the team itself). That's all I'm saying.

 

[CanadalovesND]

ND IDL > A&M IOL

 

[stpeteirish]

There seems to be a "chicken little" attitude here regarding Tx A&M. They went 7-6 last year, fired their coach, lost their bowl game, and endured major roster turnover. Why is everyone freaking out about how tough a game this is going to be? And the board consensus is we are a playoff team. If we are why are you so worried about the aggies?

 

[ndfanatic78]

There seems to be a "chicken little" attitude here regarding Tx A&M. They went 7-6 last year, fired their coach, lost their bowl game, and endured major roster turnover. Why is everyone freaking out about how tough a game this is going to be? And the board consensus is we are a playoff team. If we are why are you so worried about the aggies?

If I had to render a guess it’s purely the Elko hire and the talent on the DL. That seams to be the only proven commodities they have.

 

[stlnd01]

If I had to render a guess it’s purely the Elko hire and the talent on the DL. That seams to be the only proven commodities they have.

Yeah. Elko. Their DL is a strength and our OL is unproven. Their QB is well-regarded but was hurt most of last year right? PTSD from Ohio State games.
All that said, we are the better team and should win by roughly a touchdown.

 

[IrishLion]

There seems to be a "chicken little" attitude here regarding Tx A&M. They went 7-6 last year, fired their coach, lost their bowl game, and endured major roster turnover. Why is everyone freaking out about how tough a game this is going to be? And the board consensus is we are a playoff team. If we are why are you so worried about the aggies?

For me personally, because it’s a road game with a new cast of characters at important positions on offense, where it is going to be loud, hostile, and difficult to communicate.

Combine potential behind-the-sticks situations from an operational standpoint with the fact that we’ve seen how quickly Elko gets his defense ready to play, it’s going to be tough for ND to pull away in the game.

They are better than A&M, but several factors are prime for this to be a dogfight down to the wire. And when you have a bunch of new guys on offense that are gonna need time to click, facing a coach that knows how to create chaos in a difficult environment, a dogfight can tilt the wrong way in just one or two plays.

I think ND wins, but there are legit reasons to stress, whether ND is better or not.