ND's Talking Heads ... The good, bad & ugly

IRISHDODGER

IRISHDODGER

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Free Manera said:
He also offers something unique. His reporting on personnel/staff decisions is awesome. He put out an article this week reviewing the cumulative offseason changes Freeman has implemented and how they led to this point.
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Plus he prevents himself from being in an echo chamber by doing a pod w/ the Football Scoop guys which gives more of a national perspective. Add that to his SEC experience & his addition makes II the best option for me.
 
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INLaw

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NDohio said:
The II podcast is still my number 1 go to for Irish podcasts, but I actually don't like the addition of JB. To me, it has messed up the chemistry. Four people is just too many.

I really enjoyed the two man pods JB and Tim O did over the summer. That was good stuff. I would love for them to find a way to do more of that in season and take the main pod back to just Tim x 2 and Pete.
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👆🏻 has it all correct
 
NDQuebec

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EvilleIrish said:
Irish Illustrated used to be the best but after Loy went national the recruiting Intel has taken a total nosedive. I still do like their podcasts for the most part. IB's podcasts are brutal and The Independent would be ok if Fortuna wasn't on there. Last week he couldn't pronounce Faison. However, to me the best podcast is Locked On. He puts out daily content and overall does a pretty good job.
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II and Locked on are my favorites, followed closely by ISD. On today's Locked on podcast, he had T O'Malley as a guest. It was great fun.
 
IRISHDODGER

IRISHDODGER

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Listened to a Tom Lemming interview today and learned that for the class that Holtz gained a commitment from Randy Moss, asst coach Dave Roberts gained a commitment from Jevon Kearse. Problem was they only had 2 scholarships left. One was reserved for Moss. Joe Moore (who hated recruiting) was high on some OL (Alex Mueller). Holtz sided w/ Moore.

Bob Whitfield was another “can’t miss” recruit that Holtz-era ND turned down. He & his HS Coach reached out to ND to say he wanted to attend & play for the Irish if offered a scholarship. It was his 1st choice. They were already full in that class, however; so they didn’t have a spot for them. Can’t remember which asst called Lemming to tell him, but Lemming immediately said “call him back and offer him…he’s the best player in America”. The coach did but it was too late. They had called Stanford where Denny Green glady accepted him in his recruiting class.

Lemming stressed that those were two very rare mistakes that Holt era Irish made in recruiting.
 
SeekNDestroy

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IRISHDODGER said:
Listened to a Tom Lemming interview today and learned that for the class that Holtz gained a commitment from Randy Moss, asst coach Dave Roberts gained a commitment from Jevon Kearse. Problem was they only had 2 scholarships left. One was reserved for Moss. Joe Moore (who hated recruiting) was high on some OL (Alex Mueller). Holtz sided w/ Moore.

Bob Whitfield was another “can’t miss” recruit that Holtz-era ND turned down. He & his HS Coach reached out to ND to say he wanted to attend & play for the Irish if offered a scholarship. It was his 1st choice. They were already full in that class, however; so they didn’t have a spot for them. Can’t remember which asst called Lemming to tell him, but Lemming immediately said “call him back and offer him…he’s the best player in America”. The coach did but it was too late. They had called Stanford where Denny Green glady accepted him in his recruiting class.

Lemming stressed that those were two very rare mistakes that Holt era Irish made in recruiting.
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Can you imagine having the 2 biggest freak athletes, not only in college but the NFL? And in the same class?

I remember, when Kearse was blowing up in college, finding out that he ran the 2nd fastest 40 on an elite Florida team!
 
IAIrish

IAIrish

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IRISHDODGER said:
Listened to a Tom Lemming interview today and learned that for the class that Holtz gained a commitment from Randy Moss, asst coach Dave Roberts gained a commitment from Jevon Kearse. Problem was they only had 2 scholarships left. One was reserved for Moss. Joe Moore (who hated recruiting) was high on some OL (Alex Mueller). Holtz sided w/ Moore.

Bob Whitfield was another “can’t miss” recruit that Holtz-era ND turned down. He & his HS Coach reached out to ND to say he wanted to attend & play for the Irish if offered a scholarship. It was his 1st choice. They were already full in that class, however; so they didn’t have a spot for them. Can’t remember which asst called Lemming to tell him, but Lemming immediately said “call him back and offer him…he’s the best player in America”. The coach did but it was too late. They had called Stanford where Denny Green glady accepted him in his recruiting class.

Lemming stressed that those were two very rare mistakes that Holt era Irish made in recruiting.
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He been telling that tale for at least a decade now. Assuming it's true, just bananas... I still have dreams of Moss in a gold helmet..... Mossing people.. would've been special.
 
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Moss sent in a blank application thinking he wouldn't have to play school. Then Lou sent him to his buddy Bobby Bowden at FSU. He got in trouble and couldn't go there, either.

I saw an interview with Randy that said ND is still his team and he would've done anything to go back and play for the Irish.
 
NDMatt91

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IRISHDODGER said:
Listened to a Tom Lemming interview today and learned that for the class that Holtz gained a commitment from Randy Moss, asst coach Dave Roberts gained a commitment from Jevon Kearse. Problem was they only had 2 scholarships left. One was reserved for Moss. Joe Moore (who hated recruiting) was high on some OL (Alex Mueller). Holtz sided w/ Moore.

Bob Whitfield was another “can’t miss” recruit that Holtz-era ND turned down. He & his HS Coach reached out to ND to say he wanted to attend & play for the Irish if offered a scholarship. It was his 1st choice. They were already full in that class, however; so they didn’t have a spot for them. Can’t remember which asst called Lemming to tell him, but Lemming immediately said “call him back and offer him…he’s the best player in America”. The coach did but it was too late. They had called Stanford where Denny Green glady accepted him in his recruiting class.

Lemming stressed that those were two very rare mistakes that Holt era Irish made in recruiting.
Click to expand...
I've listened to two podcasts with Vinny Cerrato and he touched on Whitfield. He said that Darren Krein committed to the staff so they told Whitfield there wasn't enough room, but then Krein backed out at the last minute and went to Miami, and by then it was too late to win back Whitfield. Cerrato said they could've taken Whitfield, but unlike other schools, ND didn't like to go over the scholarship limit in case no one transferred. ND also turned down John Lynch in favor of Jake Kelchner. Kelchner was on campus with an ND Assistant Coach and John Lynch wanted to come to ND, but they wouldn't take him unless Kelchner said no. Cerrato kept calling the Assistant who was with Kelchner and told him that he had to get a commitment before midnight or they were taking Lynch. Kelchner committed that night and then Cerrato had to call Lynch, who was on the west coast, and tell him there wasn't room.

Cerrato provided a lot of great info:
-He was a full-time recruiter. Although he worked with Special Teams, he spent pretty much all of his time going coast-to-coast recruiting, even on game days.
-He was the only Assistant Coach in the country who did what he did.
-Paterno got mad that ND was pulling in consecutive #1 classes and beating out PSU for a lot of elite players, so he complained and the rules were changed, which eventually kept Cerrato off the road 24/7.
-He offered and was the lead recruiter for pretty much every player. He landed all of those studs because he had relationships with the player and their parents that other coaches didn't have. He would identify the decision makers in each recruitment and he made it difficult for the player and the decision makers to tell him no.
-He didn't have a lot of busts with his evaluations because he got to see prospects up close in person more than any other Assistant Coach in the country, whether it was a game, practice, or camp.
-Before each season, he would find out what hotels the team would be staying at for their road games that season and get a bunch of post cards from the front desk. He would write hand-written letters to each recruit they were targeting that year, mail them to a booster in that city the team was playing in, and that booster would mail the letters. The letters would arrive in the mailbox each Saturday they were on the road, and recruits thought it was the coolest thing to get a letter right before ND was set to play on TV.
-He would get lists of players from each area of the country from the other Coaches on the staff, and the first thing he'd do is go to the Admissions Office to determine what players had no shot at getting admitted. He'd immediately cross them off the list and then go out and see each kid in person. He said it was easy to tell which Assistants were good evaluators (from their lists) when he'd first see a kid in person. He'd also look at the All-State list from each state and if there was a Sophomore or a Junior on there he'd put them on a list.
-Derek Brown's recruitment came up. He chose ND over Miami because of his relationship with Cerrato. Brown's parents were divorced - his father lived in DC and Derek, his mother, and twin sisters lived in South Florida. Miami spent all their time trying to win over the Dad, but Cerrato knew that Derek's mom and twin sisters were who had to be won over.
-Other College coaches would tell Cerrato that they had no chance at signing kids if they ever saw him (Cerrato) walk into a house or High School.
-Les Miles, when he was at Michigan, was a pain in the ass and the most negative recruiter in the world. He handled Chicago and would walk into every house and spend pretty much the whole time killing Notre Dame.
 
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NDMatt91 said:
I've listened to two podcasts with Vinny Cerrato and he touched on Whitfield. He said that Darren Krein committed to the staff so they told Whitfield there wasn't enough room, but then Krein backed out at the last minute and went to Miami, and by then it was too late to win back Whitfield. Cerrato said they could've taken Whitfield, but unlike other schools, ND didn't like to go over the scholarship limit in case no one transferred. ND also turned down John Lynch in favor of Jake Kelchner. Kelchner was on campus with an ND Assistant Coach and John Lynch wanted to come to ND, but they wouldn't take him unless Kelchner said no. Cerrato kept calling the Assistant who was with Kelchner and told him that he had to get a commitment before midnight or they were taking Lynch. Kelchner committed that night and then Cerrato had to call Lynch, who was on the west coast, and tell him there wasn't room.

Cerrato provided a lot of great info:
-He was a full-time recruiter. Although he worked with Special Teams, he spent pretty much all of his time going coast-to-coast recruiting, even on game days.
-He was the only Assistant Coach in the country who did what he did.
-Paterno got mad that ND was pulling in consecutive #1 classes and beating out PSU for a lot of elite players, so he complained and the rules were changed, which eventually kept Cerrato off the road 24/7.
-He offered and was the lead recruiter for pretty much every player. He landed all of those studs because he had relationships with the player and their parents that other coaches didn't have. He would identify the decision makers in each recruitment and he made it difficult for the player and the decision makers to tell him no.
-He didn't have a lot of busts with his evaluations because he got to see prospects up close in person more than any other Assistant Coach in the country, whether it was a game, practice, or camp.
-Before each season, he would find out what hotels the team would be staying at for their road games that season and get a bunch of post cards from the front desk. He would write hand-written letters to each recruit they were targeting that year, mail them to a booster in that city the team was playing in, and that booster would mail the letters. The letters would arrive in the mailbox each Saturday they were on the road, and recruits thought it was the coolest thing to get a letter right before ND was set to play on TV.
-He would get lists of players from each area of the country from the other Coaches on the staff, and the first thing he'd do is go to the Admissions Office to determine what players had no shot at getting admitted. He'd immediately cross them off the list and then go out and see each kid in person. He said it was easy to tell which Assistants were good evaluators (from their lists) when he'd first see a kid in person. He'd also look at the All-State list from each state and if there was a Sophomore or a Junior on there he'd put them on a list.
-Derek Brown's recruitment came up. He chose ND over Miami because of his relationship with Cerrato. Brown's parents were divorced - his father lived in DC and Derek, his mother, and twin sisters lived in South Florida. Miami spent all their time trying to win over the Dad, but Cerrato knew that Derek's mom and twin sisters were who had to be won over.
-Other College coaches would tell Cerrato that they had no chance at signing kids if they ever saw him (Cerrato) walk into a house or High School.
-Les Miles, when he was at Michigan, was a pain in the ass and the most negative recruiter in the world. He handled Chicago and would walk into every house and spend pretty much the whole time killing Notre Dame.
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He also supposedly called recruits from the sidelines of the orange bowl and told them the play call before it happened.
 
dublinirish

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ND7983 said:
It’s not just an intern.
Multiple sites are done with that Fravel kid.
That situation is being discussed by the heads of the ND sites.
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there isnt anything they can do, i doubt Elon Musk cares rando aggregators are stealing their intel and posting it as their own
 
Veritate Duce Progredi

Veritate Duce Progredi

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dublinirish said:
there isnt anything they can do, i doubt Elon Musk cares rando aggregators are stealing their intel and posting it as their own
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You obviously don't know much about the high stakes environment of the Notre Dame beat...

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IRISHDODGER

IRISHDODGER

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NDMatt91 said:
I've listened to two podcasts with Vinny Cerrato and he touched on Whitfield. He said that Darren Krein committed to the staff so they told Whitfield there wasn't enough room, but then Krein backed out at the last minute and went to Miami, and by then it was too late to win back Whitfield. Cerrato said they could've taken Whitfield, but unlike other schools, ND didn't like to go over the scholarship limit in case no one transferred. ND also turned down John Lynch in favor of Jake Kelchner. Kelchner was on campus with an ND Assistant Coach and John Lynch wanted to come to ND, but they wouldn't take him unless Kelchner said no. Cerrato kept calling the Assistant who was with Kelchner and told him that he had to get a commitment before midnight or they were taking Lynch. Kelchner committed that night and then Cerrato had to call Lynch, who was on the west coast, and tell him there wasn't room.

Cerrato provided a lot of great info:
-He was a full-time recruiter. Although he worked with Special Teams, he spent pretty much all of his time going coast-to-coast recruiting, even on game days.
-He was the only Assistant Coach in the country who did what he did.
-Paterno got mad that ND was pulling in consecutive #1 classes and beating out PSU for a lot of elite players, so he complained and the rules were changed, which eventually kept Cerrato off the road 24/7.
-He offered and was the lead recruiter for pretty much every player. He landed all of those studs because he had relationships with the player and their parents that other coaches didn't have. He would identify the decision makers in each recruitment and he made it difficult for the player and the decision makers to tell him no.
-He didn't have a lot of busts with his evaluations because he got to see prospects up close in person more than any other Assistant Coach in the country, whether it was a game, practice, or camp.
-Before each season, he would find out what hotels the team would be staying at for their road games that season and get a bunch of post cards from the front desk. He would write hand-written letters to each recruit they were targeting that year, mail them to a booster in that city the team was playing in, and that booster would mail the letters. The letters would arrive in the mailbox each Saturday they were on the road, and recruits thought it was the coolest thing to get a letter right before ND was set to play on TV.
-He would get lists of players from each area of the country from the other Coaches on the staff, and the first thing he'd do is go to the Admissions Office to determine what players had no shot at getting admitted. He'd immediately cross them off the list and then go out and see each kid in person. He said it was easy to tell which Assistants were good evaluators (from their lists) when he'd first see a kid in person. He'd also look at the All-State list from each state and if there was a Sophomore or a Junior on there he'd put them on a list.
-Derek Brown's recruitment came up. He chose ND over Miami because of his relationship with Cerrato. Brown's parents were divorced - his father lived in DC and Derek, his mother, and twin sisters lived in South Florida. Miami spent all their time trying to win over the Dad, but Cerrato knew that Derek's mom and twin sisters were who had to be won over.
-Other College coaches would tell Cerrato that they had no chance at signing kids if they ever saw him (Cerrato) walk into a house or High School.
-Les Miles, when he was at Michigan, was a pain in the ass and the most negative recruiter in the world. He handled Chicago and would walk into every house and spend pretty much the whole time killing Notre Dame.
Click to expand...
Crazy they had Kelchner & Mirer on the same team. Kelchner allegedly had alcohol issues & transferred to WVU (not saying he transferred b/c of that…could’ve been b/c he was behind Mirer) and led them to an undefeated season before losing the bowl game.

I had always heard Vinny drove a gold Corvette as well. He was definitely 100% recruiter & his success led to eliminating those positions. Once he left for the NFL, ND’s phenomenal recruiting classes dried up. 1991 was his last class which led to the 1993 season. 1994 was a disaster w/ 1995 being a nice bounce back until Powlus got hurt so Thomas Krug (Dick Vitale’s son-in-law) had to start the bowl game vs FSU. ND looked like they were gonna win but lost to Danny Kanell.

ND soon went into their dark period that corresponded w/ P5 conferences expanding & getting their own network tv deals. ND could no longer dominate recruiting w/ average coaches & .500 teams.
 
dublinirish

dublinirish

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Colt McCoy bombíng on NBC they really are on a bad run


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