The heat is hiding. At least, I'm convinced of that right now. Here in South Bend, where Notre Dame is in its second day of fall camp, it has been pretty cool all day and as the Irish started practice outside on the new LaBar practice fields, it began to drizzle. Don't forget to send us e-mails to
mrothstein@jg.net as I'll likely start up the Mailbag this week at some point. Any and all questions are welcomed. Or, comment below the post. We receive those, too.
Last note about Jimmy and The Cup: Maybe the kid has a sense of humor about this after all. As Clausen ran toward the stretching line during practice, he held his arms up and appeared to have his pinky extended -- familiar because it's similar to one of the poses Clausen had in the picture.
Ron Powlus' son, Ronnie, was at practice along with an older member of the Powlus family. A cute moment, as Ron came over to Ronnie and Ronnie gave him what we think was a candy. A small moment, but still, don't see that all the time at football practice. Meanwhile, at basketball practice Friday, Anthony Solomon's son -- who has a heck of a handle for a small kid -- shot around and played with former Irish standouts Chris Quinn and Colin Falls. Ronnie was the star of the day as Rob Ianello also came over to chat with the kid.
Kyle McCarthy's arms are noticeably bigger than last year. It's probably necessary as he's listed as the starter to replace Tom Zbikowski at safety.
Ethan Johnson doesn't look like a freshman. Dude has big arms and, much like our observation with Michael Floyd yesterday, looks like he could be a junior.
The comedy of Pat Kuntz. After he watched walk-ons do a pursuit drill, Kuntz told walk-on linebacker Joe Vittoria "that's not a pursuit angle." Judging from his voice, though, it sounded like he was just giving Vittoria a hard time for fun.
First team defense: CB: Terrail Lambert, Raeshon McNeil; S: David Bruton, Kyle McCarthy; LB: Harrison Smith, Brian Smith, Maurice Crum, Kerry Neal. DL: Pat Kuntz, Ian Williams, Morrice Richardson.
When the third team defense took its time getting on the field, defensive line coach Jappy Oliver barked: "Take the damn field. Come on."
Assistant coach Brian Polian also went to the third team after the pursuit drill and explained to them to follow the way the coach moves with the ball.
Sam Young looks bigger than the spring as well and Mike Turkovich had good movement with the blocking sled.
Offensive line coach spent a few moments explaining near side blocking to offensive lineman Taylor Dever during a three-on-three drill.
Of all the interior linemen, Eric Olsen seems the most talkative in the group. Could be the sign of a leader forming.
During the media portion of practice, Weis watched the offensive line and spent time talking to the tight ends, we think about balance but Weis wasn't exactly speaking loudly.
