It is hard to believe we have made it half way thru the season already, but it has been fast, fun and heart wrenching at times. I said as far back as last December that the bar this season was 8 wins with a swing to 7 or 9 depending on breaks, injuries and the unpredictable. We have reached the mid-season break with a 4-2 record which is directionally right on target. We lost one game to MSU which I suspected would happen and lost one to UNC which I thought we would win, but turnovers are deadly on the road. So here goes my thoughts.
OFFENSE:
QB: Jimmy sure has grown over the last year. I have seen major improvement in his game both physically and mentally. Physically, the added muscle has definitely helped him on those sneaks and with ball velocity. Mentally, he improves each week. At the beginning of this year, he was staring down his target whereas the last couple weeks he is looking off the D and making faster decisions. He is doing better at checking off on plays. We must all remember he is a Sophmore and will make youthful mistakes. UNC was a game he surely learned alot from. He cost us that game, but has won and will win many more for ND in coming weeks. Grade B+
RB: Armando is becoming the guy I watched on YouTube. He is both fast and physical. Robert and James have complemented him well, although Robert seems to be a little less agressive in his running this season. James is running the best of his career right now. I think he is finally healthy from the knee issues. The diversity of talent is doing us well, but we could use some more consistent productivity. I expect to see more success in the second half of the season. Grade B-
FB: This position has been quiet all season. The blocking from Asaph has been better than expected. I am dissapointed that Luke has been hurt all season as I think his pass catching could have been a weapon. Grade C
TE: If I would have known we were going to play without Yeatman and Ragone and start a true freshman all season, I would have said OH NO. Well, it has been an OH YES instead. This kid has caught on incredibly fast. He can catch, run and most important block decent. He does not look like a freshman. Makes me smile when thinking of 2009 with Ragone and Rudolph tandem, scary good. Grade B+
WR: In one year ND has gone from a mediocre group to possibly elite. This group has all the tools, size, speed, hands and confidence. I expected Floyd to be good, but he is way about my expectations. Golden is way ahead of schedule. His instincts and hands are exceptional. Kamara is solid with major upward potential. He needed the competition to force his game. Grimes is steady with great hands. Leave anyone uncovered and you will pay as a D. Grade A-
OL: If you were told that we would be throwing for 300+ and giving up less than 1 sack a game, you would have said NO WAY after watching our line last season. It is happening. Further, you can see this line communicating. I watch how they are blocking on pass blitz and the reaction to each other is so much faster. The run blocking is still in need of some work, but is improving. Remember that linemen are big creatures of habit. They struggle sometimes with week to week changing schemes. We have gone from trying all run to all pass to no huddle. This can be a struggle. Grade B-
Haywood: Our playcalling has gone from vanilla and predictable to diversified and dynamic. We are using all the weapons and changing how they are used. A few games were frustrating, but Haywood is getting a rythm. For several games we thought they could only make sideline passes, then at Stanford middle of the field all day. Then we were using Armando on the edge instead of power running. I am growing confident in the O. Grade C+
DEFENSE:
DL: These guys are the least effective group on the team at mid point of the season. It is not due to lack of effort, but because they are undersized, youthful or just not that talented. Kuntz is giving all day effort, but at about 275 he gets dog tired. Ian Williams is young, most DL blossom as Juniors. Ethan Johnson will be a beast, but is gonna struggle as a freshman. Further, remember he did not play his senior season of high school. J. Brown is playing out of necessity. Reality is we do not have a Junior, Senior or 5th year player on DL that is over 280# or will even put one toe on an NFL field. This groups inability to put a rush on the passer or stop the run puts added pressure on the rest of the D. I still like the effort, but they are just not superstars. Grade D+
DE: This group along with DL has struggled this season. Again they are small, young and just not emmensely talented. Only Fleming would see the field in a league like the SEC. I have repeatedly watched Ryan get manhandled all season. Fleming seems to be a stud who just needs a year or two of growth and strength. Neal has not made the splash this season I expected. When you look at the DL and DE groups you are putting a youthful and small group on the field which makes blitzing suffer and pass coverage strained. Grade D+
LB: How many days a week do you thank God that Brian Smith accepted our late offer. Me, 8 days and twice on Sunday. He is going to lead us next season along with a younger and bigger support group. Thank Mo Crum for teaching Brian great work ethic and leadership. These two have played excellent all season. Mo Crum will never be All American, but he is such a great leader who plays to the max of his ability. I have also been really happy with Hayseed and his progression. He looked somewhat lost in the first couple games, but you can see him reading the play much faster at mid-season. Not sure whether to have him move to Safety next season or stay where he is. Next season with Filer, Smith, McDonald, Calabrese and more could be fun. Grade B
Safety: What can be said of Bruton and McCarthy. They have been all day tough. McCarthy has been a big suprise. He is my over performer of the season to date on D. Sergio Brown has also been a pleasant suprise at his hybrid, safety/CB. Their run support has been top notch. Grade A-
CB: When we found out that Walls was out for the season, I am sure our expectations dropped at this position. I would say the performance has been solid despite his loss. McNeil has performed like a veteran and Lambert has been good even though I still struggle with his cushion at times. Blanton will be a very good and Gray has contributed, so depth is evident. All things point to Walls returning next season so prospects are for a great future. This group has been put on an island often by our need to blitz to get pressure. Has anyone noticed that we have not had one time when you see the big play with a ND player trailing by 10 yards on the pass? Grade B
Brown/Tenuta: They have created an aggressive attacking D. They will be even better next season with some added size. The lack of sacks are offset by QB hurries. I would like to see more stunts which help an undersized D by using their speed. Reality is we have a very average front 4-5 which affects performance on the entire D. I expected more before the season with Tenuta bringing the heat, but they are going to get better. Grade C+
Above Expectations:
OL. Did we expect this few sacks. Turk is solid at LT. Young is finally comfortable. Big Trev will be an AA before he leaves.
WR. Floyd is a phenom. Golden has hands of gold.
TE. With all the losses and yet strong production. Rudolph has big upside.
McCarthy. I never saw this kind of solid production coming.
McNeil. Rarely do you see him get burnt and most times they avoid his side. Where do they throw next season with Walls on the other side.
Allen. Many were starting to think he did not have vision or power. Guess what he has both.
Final Thought: When I was a kid there was a really popular song and it went like this, "the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades". This team will continue to ascend the rankings and I believe we see the 8-9 wins I predicted. Further, we have most starters returning in 2009. For those of you who believe C. Weis is not the coach, you better look around and ask yourself who you want. There are many worse we could have and only a few better. Look at some of the losses other teams have taken. The teams we envy and their coaches are better mostly due to elite, elite talent. Does anyone think that Petey is such a great coach. Not me, he has obsene talent at USC. Urbie is an ass, but he has assembled talent with speed at an incredible level. OU with Stoops is the king of JC recruits. Most of their players are only a couple years from Social Security. OSU with the vest has tons of talent and yet they still look average.
Let us all thank CW for working hard and being willing to change. He will take us back to the top. He is again assmbling a great recruiting class full of great kids. Expect more to want in with what they are seeing on the field.
GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OFFENSE:
QB: Jimmy sure has grown over the last year. I have seen major improvement in his game both physically and mentally. Physically, the added muscle has definitely helped him on those sneaks and with ball velocity. Mentally, he improves each week. At the beginning of this year, he was staring down his target whereas the last couple weeks he is looking off the D and making faster decisions. He is doing better at checking off on plays. We must all remember he is a Sophmore and will make youthful mistakes. UNC was a game he surely learned alot from. He cost us that game, but has won and will win many more for ND in coming weeks. Grade B+
RB: Armando is becoming the guy I watched on YouTube. He is both fast and physical. Robert and James have complemented him well, although Robert seems to be a little less agressive in his running this season. James is running the best of his career right now. I think he is finally healthy from the knee issues. The diversity of talent is doing us well, but we could use some more consistent productivity. I expect to see more success in the second half of the season. Grade B-
FB: This position has been quiet all season. The blocking from Asaph has been better than expected. I am dissapointed that Luke has been hurt all season as I think his pass catching could have been a weapon. Grade C
TE: If I would have known we were going to play without Yeatman and Ragone and start a true freshman all season, I would have said OH NO. Well, it has been an OH YES instead. This kid has caught on incredibly fast. He can catch, run and most important block decent. He does not look like a freshman. Makes me smile when thinking of 2009 with Ragone and Rudolph tandem, scary good. Grade B+
WR: In one year ND has gone from a mediocre group to possibly elite. This group has all the tools, size, speed, hands and confidence. I expected Floyd to be good, but he is way about my expectations. Golden is way ahead of schedule. His instincts and hands are exceptional. Kamara is solid with major upward potential. He needed the competition to force his game. Grimes is steady with great hands. Leave anyone uncovered and you will pay as a D. Grade A-
OL: If you were told that we would be throwing for 300+ and giving up less than 1 sack a game, you would have said NO WAY after watching our line last season. It is happening. Further, you can see this line communicating. I watch how they are blocking on pass blitz and the reaction to each other is so much faster. The run blocking is still in need of some work, but is improving. Remember that linemen are big creatures of habit. They struggle sometimes with week to week changing schemes. We have gone from trying all run to all pass to no huddle. This can be a struggle. Grade B-
Haywood: Our playcalling has gone from vanilla and predictable to diversified and dynamic. We are using all the weapons and changing how they are used. A few games were frustrating, but Haywood is getting a rythm. For several games we thought they could only make sideline passes, then at Stanford middle of the field all day. Then we were using Armando on the edge instead of power running. I am growing confident in the O. Grade C+
DEFENSE:
DL: These guys are the least effective group on the team at mid point of the season. It is not due to lack of effort, but because they are undersized, youthful or just not that talented. Kuntz is giving all day effort, but at about 275 he gets dog tired. Ian Williams is young, most DL blossom as Juniors. Ethan Johnson will be a beast, but is gonna struggle as a freshman. Further, remember he did not play his senior season of high school. J. Brown is playing out of necessity. Reality is we do not have a Junior, Senior or 5th year player on DL that is over 280# or will even put one toe on an NFL field. This groups inability to put a rush on the passer or stop the run puts added pressure on the rest of the D. I still like the effort, but they are just not superstars. Grade D+
DE: This group along with DL has struggled this season. Again they are small, young and just not emmensely talented. Only Fleming would see the field in a league like the SEC. I have repeatedly watched Ryan get manhandled all season. Fleming seems to be a stud who just needs a year or two of growth and strength. Neal has not made the splash this season I expected. When you look at the DL and DE groups you are putting a youthful and small group on the field which makes blitzing suffer and pass coverage strained. Grade D+
LB: How many days a week do you thank God that Brian Smith accepted our late offer. Me, 8 days and twice on Sunday. He is going to lead us next season along with a younger and bigger support group. Thank Mo Crum for teaching Brian great work ethic and leadership. These two have played excellent all season. Mo Crum will never be All American, but he is such a great leader who plays to the max of his ability. I have also been really happy with Hayseed and his progression. He looked somewhat lost in the first couple games, but you can see him reading the play much faster at mid-season. Not sure whether to have him move to Safety next season or stay where he is. Next season with Filer, Smith, McDonald, Calabrese and more could be fun. Grade B
Safety: What can be said of Bruton and McCarthy. They have been all day tough. McCarthy has been a big suprise. He is my over performer of the season to date on D. Sergio Brown has also been a pleasant suprise at his hybrid, safety/CB. Their run support has been top notch. Grade A-
CB: When we found out that Walls was out for the season, I am sure our expectations dropped at this position. I would say the performance has been solid despite his loss. McNeil has performed like a veteran and Lambert has been good even though I still struggle with his cushion at times. Blanton will be a very good and Gray has contributed, so depth is evident. All things point to Walls returning next season so prospects are for a great future. This group has been put on an island often by our need to blitz to get pressure. Has anyone noticed that we have not had one time when you see the big play with a ND player trailing by 10 yards on the pass? Grade B
Brown/Tenuta: They have created an aggressive attacking D. They will be even better next season with some added size. The lack of sacks are offset by QB hurries. I would like to see more stunts which help an undersized D by using their speed. Reality is we have a very average front 4-5 which affects performance on the entire D. I expected more before the season with Tenuta bringing the heat, but they are going to get better. Grade C+
Above Expectations:
OL. Did we expect this few sacks. Turk is solid at LT. Young is finally comfortable. Big Trev will be an AA before he leaves.
WR. Floyd is a phenom. Golden has hands of gold.
TE. With all the losses and yet strong production. Rudolph has big upside.
McCarthy. I never saw this kind of solid production coming.
McNeil. Rarely do you see him get burnt and most times they avoid his side. Where do they throw next season with Walls on the other side.
Allen. Many were starting to think he did not have vision or power. Guess what he has both.
Final Thought: When I was a kid there was a really popular song and it went like this, "the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades". This team will continue to ascend the rankings and I believe we see the 8-9 wins I predicted. Further, we have most starters returning in 2009. For those of you who believe C. Weis is not the coach, you better look around and ask yourself who you want. There are many worse we could have and only a few better. Look at some of the losses other teams have taken. The teams we envy and their coaches are better mostly due to elite, elite talent. Does anyone think that Petey is such a great coach. Not me, he has obsene talent at USC. Urbie is an ass, but he has assembled talent with speed at an incredible level. OU with Stoops is the king of JC recruits. Most of their players are only a couple years from Social Security. OSU with the vest has tons of talent and yet they still look average.
Let us all thank CW for working hard and being willing to change. He will take us back to the top. He is again assmbling a great recruiting class full of great kids. Expect more to want in with what they are seeing on the field.
GO IRISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But that statement regarding Paul Maquire is hilarious...