NDinL.A.
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Flying back from South Bend today – my connector to L.A. was through Detroit. While in the airport, I happened to sit next to someone with an ND bag and some ND gear who was away from his bag. Then I looked at another bag and it said “Neuheisal” on it. Looked up and there he was, about 10 feet away buying some popcorn.
What I'm writing is absolutely true and most of you know I wouldn't b.s. you guys just to be popular for a minute.
I did strike up a conversation with him. Now, I know many of you can’t stand the guy and for probably good reasons in your minds. And many of you will say he knows jack crap about football b/c he was fired a couple of times, which is fine. But here is some of the things we discussed. I won’t write it all b/c some of the stuff was more confidential, and I don’t want to be ‘that guy’.
On ND related topics:
* Said he LOVED ND. It was his first visit there, and he said you could just feel the history and the tradition and the magic. Said he was extremely disappointed that he never got to play or coach there. LOL – said he was about to coach there but then UW fired his butt and there went his chance.
* You’re going to love this: He said the problem with ND is that it only has one QB ready to play now – and that was Tommy Rees (ouch). At least, in his opinion, Golson isn’t ready (not mature enough for one thing), but that he can really play. Said Hendrix has a great arm but didn’t think he had the head for the game, at last not yet (Rick - “He says ‘my fault’ way too easily, and gets far too down on himself after after bad throw”). He said that Tommy was the best he saw by far, that he shook off the bad throws more easily than Andrew. Said he made some really nice throws today.
* On Golson, he said that ND better put him in the slot or put him in on Wildcat formations just to get him on the field and keep him engaged so they don’t lose him. Said that he’s too good to lose.
* Couldn’t believe Lynch left for a girl (his words – I didn’t tell him it was over a girl, so he knew from people there it was over a girl).
* Said he really likes Kelly and thinks he’s a great coach.
* Said Anthony Barr’s gf went to Fresno St, and didn’t transfer to UCLA as many here thought. He agreed that it helped UCLA win his services. Also said that Anthony’s best position is RB, but that he didn’t play him there b/c he had a lot of other RBs, and those guys couldn’t do the things that Barr could do as far as catching the ball. And he said it was a mistake for Barr to be playing LB now (“fish out of water”) – I asked him if it was because he didn’t like contact, and he said absolutely not, that Anthony could hit. But he said that his skill set didn’t translate well to that spot. We’ll see.
* Like everyone, he was REALLY high on Tyler Eifert. Said we have a ‘great one with him’.
* Seemed high on former ND TE Joseph Fauria.
* When he talked about Hendrix getting down on himself, I brought up Dayne Crist and his issues mentally. Rick: “And that’s why he’s no longer at ND and is at Kansas. He had an absolute cannon but didn’t have it between the ears.”
On UCLA and other things (stop reading now if you don’t care about UCLA):
* I told him that my friend saw his speech today and he laughed and said that makes one person listening (that’s how I broke the ice). We talked about injuries and he said he just couldn’t get enough key guys healthy no matter what they tried. On the Pistol, he said he didn’t want to use it, that he wanted to throw the ball a lot and have fun and go deep, but he never had the QB to do it.
* Basically called QB Prince soft, saying he would start off great, but once he got hit he became gunshy and wouldn’t be the same. Definitely said he’s brittle. As a UCLA fan, I can attest that it is absolutely true.
* Said he was going to stick around and talk to Kelly that night and watch tomorrow’s practice, but found out that Kelly was going to Chicago tonight for a speaking engagement, so he went home instead because his son (young Jerry) got first-team reps in practice today and so he wanted to watch him practice tomorrow morning. (side note – isn’t that going to be awkward – going to practice to watch the team that you just got fired from? But he seemed genuinely excited and proud of his son, so I didn’t have the balls to ask him, “Awkward much?” haha)
* I asked him if he thought UCLA would do under Mora, and he was pretty non-commital. The only thing he really said that he thought they would definitely play better defense than they did under him.
That's all I can remember for now. He was really cool, low-key, self-effacing, and just plain nice. I was talking on the phone when it was his time to board and he even took the time to say "Nice talking to you." Like I said, cool guy.
(I'm writing this from the airplane so i apologize for the many typos I'm sure that are there!)
What I'm writing is absolutely true and most of you know I wouldn't b.s. you guys just to be popular for a minute.
I did strike up a conversation with him. Now, I know many of you can’t stand the guy and for probably good reasons in your minds. And many of you will say he knows jack crap about football b/c he was fired a couple of times, which is fine. But here is some of the things we discussed. I won’t write it all b/c some of the stuff was more confidential, and I don’t want to be ‘that guy’.
On ND related topics:
* Said he LOVED ND. It was his first visit there, and he said you could just feel the history and the tradition and the magic. Said he was extremely disappointed that he never got to play or coach there. LOL – said he was about to coach there but then UW fired his butt and there went his chance.
* You’re going to love this: He said the problem with ND is that it only has one QB ready to play now – and that was Tommy Rees (ouch). At least, in his opinion, Golson isn’t ready (not mature enough for one thing), but that he can really play. Said Hendrix has a great arm but didn’t think he had the head for the game, at last not yet (Rick - “He says ‘my fault’ way too easily, and gets far too down on himself after after bad throw”). He said that Tommy was the best he saw by far, that he shook off the bad throws more easily than Andrew. Said he made some really nice throws today.
* On Golson, he said that ND better put him in the slot or put him in on Wildcat formations just to get him on the field and keep him engaged so they don’t lose him. Said that he’s too good to lose.
* Couldn’t believe Lynch left for a girl (his words – I didn’t tell him it was over a girl, so he knew from people there it was over a girl).
* Said he really likes Kelly and thinks he’s a great coach.
* Said Anthony Barr’s gf went to Fresno St, and didn’t transfer to UCLA as many here thought. He agreed that it helped UCLA win his services. Also said that Anthony’s best position is RB, but that he didn’t play him there b/c he had a lot of other RBs, and those guys couldn’t do the things that Barr could do as far as catching the ball. And he said it was a mistake for Barr to be playing LB now (“fish out of water”) – I asked him if it was because he didn’t like contact, and he said absolutely not, that Anthony could hit. But he said that his skill set didn’t translate well to that spot. We’ll see.
* Like everyone, he was REALLY high on Tyler Eifert. Said we have a ‘great one with him’.
* Seemed high on former ND TE Joseph Fauria.
* When he talked about Hendrix getting down on himself, I brought up Dayne Crist and his issues mentally. Rick: “And that’s why he’s no longer at ND and is at Kansas. He had an absolute cannon but didn’t have it between the ears.”
On UCLA and other things (stop reading now if you don’t care about UCLA):
* I told him that my friend saw his speech today and he laughed and said that makes one person listening (that’s how I broke the ice). We talked about injuries and he said he just couldn’t get enough key guys healthy no matter what they tried. On the Pistol, he said he didn’t want to use it, that he wanted to throw the ball a lot and have fun and go deep, but he never had the QB to do it.
* Basically called QB Prince soft, saying he would start off great, but once he got hit he became gunshy and wouldn’t be the same. Definitely said he’s brittle. As a UCLA fan, I can attest that it is absolutely true.
* Said he was going to stick around and talk to Kelly that night and watch tomorrow’s practice, but found out that Kelly was going to Chicago tonight for a speaking engagement, so he went home instead because his son (young Jerry) got first-team reps in practice today and so he wanted to watch him practice tomorrow morning. (side note – isn’t that going to be awkward – going to practice to watch the team that you just got fired from? But he seemed genuinely excited and proud of his son, so I didn’t have the balls to ask him, “Awkward much?” haha)
* I asked him if he thought UCLA would do under Mora, and he was pretty non-commital. The only thing he really said that he thought they would definitely play better defense than they did under him.
That's all I can remember for now. He was really cool, low-key, self-effacing, and just plain nice. I was talking on the phone when it was his time to board and he even took the time to say "Nice talking to you." Like I said, cool guy.
(I'm writing this from the airplane so i apologize for the many typos I'm sure that are there!)
