2025 Fall Practice Thread

Crazy Balki

Crazy Balki

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Irish du Nord said:
I expect to take a step back one way or another on defense. Freeman had a rocky start as DC, as did Golden. Even if Ash is a great DC it wouldn’t be unprecedented for the defense to adjust shakily, which concerns me given our first two opponents
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I don't see it. Golden and Freeman's rocky starts as DCs were less to do with scheme integration, and more to do with talent.

Isn't to say that ND had no talent in '21 or '22, but the level of talent going into '25 is much greater, and there's far fewer, if any, holes on the depth chart. Going from starting Houston Griffith, DJ Brown and Clarence Lewis at defensive back to starting Leonard Moore, Adon Shuler and Jalen Stroman is a major difference.

You're also not in a position where you have to move guys like MTA or Rylie Mills to DE because you don't have bodies there. Now you just have dudes like Bryce Young and Josh Burnham. You're also not stuck consistently playing 2 guys who are sub 285 together like you did in 2022 with Cross and Ademilola.

Not to mention, from an integration perspective, Freeman was starting from scratch. Golden had Freeman to work with, but Freeman was still having to learn how to be a head coach, and had all of 1 year of defensive coaching at ND to spoonfeed him. Freeman's in year 4 now. He has far more knowledge of what he wants and what is expected for his defense and how Ash is expected to get them there.
 
calvegas04

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sfk324 said:
Which changes what I pointed out 0%. Nobody outside of the team needs to know that information at this point, regardless of how much you or anyone else including the beat want to know it.
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Helps me place my bets
 
Crazy Balki

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Arrow and Lion have conspired against us brothers.

its-treason-then-palpatine.gif
 
IrishLax

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IrishLax said:
No idea what Driskell is saying, but there is some smoke that Freeman announced it at practice yesterday to everyone's surprise and it was supposed to be discussed more then announced next week. Wild if true.
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So update on this, independently confirmed with a media person about this all being nonsense is that because it's a real competition there were discussions being had on "if" Kenny was the starter. And then a person ran with that saying to multiple sites that Kenny "is" the starter, and then II specifically went and legitimized the rumor mainly because of who the person was sharing the info.

Freeman/ND got pissed which is why II issued that "tail between the legs" statement (which ND is also not happy with how that was phrased). Basically they are sticking to the plan which is meeting as a group and making a decision, and this was a totally needless distraction.
 
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Crazy Balki

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IrishLax said:
So update on this, independently confirmed with a media person about this all being nonsense is that because it's a real competition there were discussions being had on "if" Kenny was the starter. And then a person ran with that saying to multiple sites that Kenny "is" the starter, and then II specifically went and legitimized the rumor mainly because of who the person was sharing the info.

Freeman/ND got pissed which is why II had to issue that "tail between the legs" statement. Basically they are sticking to the plan which is meeting as a group and making a decision, and this was a totally needless distraction.
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No wonder MF sounded a bit pissed during the PC. I'd probably be miffed too if somebody on the beat was putting out bullshit rumors about him making a preemptive call on the starter.

It doesn't even make sense. We know there's the last scrimmage before Miami prep that happened today. Why would anybody think that MF would make the call BEFORE that scrimmage? Beyond stupid.
 
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NotKoon

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The whole thing kinda made no sense that they'd announce it two days before the jersey scrimmage. I think the real questions from the whole debacle are 1. Was Minchey starting to look like he was distancing itself or was this completely out of left field? 2. Are we really dealing with a situation where both QBs look good enough to lead the team (albeit with very different skillsets) or is a situation where neither guy looks ready to take the reigns?
 
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IrishLax said:
So update on this, independently confirmed with a media person about this all being nonsense is that because it's a real competition there were discussions being had on "if" Kenny was the starter. And then a person ran with that saying to multiple sites that Kenny "is" the starter, and then II specifically went and legitimized the rumor mainly because of who the person was sharing the info.

Freeman/ND got pissed which is why II had to issue that "tail between the legs" statement. Basically they are sticking to the plan which is meeting as a group and making a decision, and this was a totally needless distraction.
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LAX based on your source do you have a gut feeling one way or the other?
 
irishandy

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If these tweet updates has some ND fans flustered or scratching their heads I hope it is doing the same to Miami fans.

Freeman doesn't owe the media a damn thing about who the starting QB is, leave it a mystery. I still think the team knows.

On Burress- I think that Denbrock is encouraging him.

On Ash- he is going into a great situation, he is surrounded with great players & coaches.
 
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IA4irish said:
If that’s the case, it’s a done deal for Minchey. Freeman openly talked about “the right decision” which I took to be the conservative play. He is a tressel ball disciple
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Freeman is not a Tressel ball coach, dude is a serious risk taker in all 3 phases. I don't care what the arm talent is for CJ, if he is consistently turning the ball over in practice and Minchey isn't, you have no choice but to go with Kenny. With the amount of talent this team has and their first two games being what they are, it would be a massive disservice to hand the keys to a guy who can't stop throwing picks
 
Jimmy3Putt

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NotKoon said:
Freeman is not a Tressel ball coach, dude is a serious risk taker in all 3 phases. I don't care what the arm talent is for CJ, if he is consistently turning the ball over in practice and Minchey isn't, you have no choice but to go with Kenny. With the amount of talent this team has and their first two games being what they are, it would be a massive disservice to hand the keys to a guy who can't stop throwing picks
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Agreed. Turnovers will be everything the first two games. They need to rely on defense and the running game to survive and let the offense evolve over the next few months.
 
IA4irish

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NotKoon said:
Freeman is not a Tressel ball coach, dude is a serious risk taker in all 3 phases. I don't care what the arm talent is for CJ, if he is consistently turning the ball over in practice and Minchey isn't, you have no choice but to go with Kenny. With the amount of talent this team has and their first two games being what they are, it would be a massive disservice to hand the keys to a guy who can't stop throwing picks
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I should’ve been more specific. He’s definitely a risk taker in some aspects. I think he absolutely hates careless turnovers on offense. Obviously most coaches don’t like that. I just think he’s always going to have a hard time with a young qb and the learning curve/turnovers that are going to come with that.
 
NDdomer2

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NotKoon said:
Freeman is not a Tressel ball coach, dude is a serious risk taker in all 3 phases. I don't care what the arm talent is for CJ, if he is consistently turning the ball over in practice and Minchey isn't, you have no choice but to go with Kenny. With the amount of talent this team has and their first two games being what they are, it would be a massive disservice to hand the keys to a guy who can't stop throwing picks
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He is a calculated risk taker which is not the same.

He does not have much tolerance for turning the ball over.

He's too well aware at the overall talent and depth levels of this team to be taking a risk at what sounds to be marginal increases in ceiling talent for significant decrease in ball security.
 
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