Had the pleasure of going up to the coaches clinic and gathering some good stuff from practice and the team
1. I got to meet THE BEAUBENKEN so that was the headliner of my trip, so everything else was just icing on the cake.
2. Talked to some of the guys about the QB competition. The consensus was the Golson is the best qb in terms of talent and potential, and Rees is there mentally and scheme wise. Golson needs to do a few things to show the coaching staff he is ready to embrace the role of being the QB at Notre Dame. Off-season will be very important for Golson along with Hendrix.
A. From practice Rees did look good on Friday, can't even lie about that. Golson looked a decent, but he really showed his potential on Saturday. Hendrix had a good day on both days, nothing that will make you jump out of your seat but enough to give you comfort if he was the starter.
B. Kiel looks the part but is def a little lost out there. Kid throws a good ball and shows that "athletic" ability that Rees lacks, but not to the point of a Golson/Hendrix.
C. All 4 qbs can run this offense is the key. Last year it was more a prototypical spread. This year like it has been mentioned the depth at TE gives the offense a lot of flexibility as far as packages and formations.
3. The Oline looks 200% better. Talked a few Oline guys and they are saying the samething. The schemes fit their style of play and the concepts are easier. They are in great shape and were making very nice holes. Its not going to take much for Cwood, Theo, and GA3 to get loose and they are making the holes consistently. There is a sense of confidence around the Oline too. I think this will be the best Oline in a long long time.
4. RBs. I will be sitting very very relaxed come fall knowing that we have 2 capable RBs again this year, and if GA3 can get consistent we will have 3 guys that can make a play at any point. Cwood was getting the corner with easy on Friday, and you can def tell he has put in a lot of a time with his hands. Kid made a couple of excellent catches. Theo just looks comfortable and more importantly EXPLOSIVE in the formations and I feel he is going to finally have that year we all know he is capable of.
5. WR/TEs- Daniel Smith looked very good. Ran solid routes and made some fantastic catches over the two days of practice. Only knock on him is a few times he could have probably gotten to a ball but got lazy on the end of the route. Goody looked like a different player on Friday. Looked aggressive and def showed a leadership role. The most exciting thing for me personally was the staff finally realized what they have in Toma. I fully expect the packages and plays with him will be used for Davonte Neal and that will be very exciting, but Toma is more than holding his own and is def the most consistent WR out there other than Eifert. Toma finishes his routes and you could really see he knows how to use his size and speed to his advantage. Eifert was outstanding, and Koyack/Welch looked good the line. Koyack has a excellent set of hands.
6. Defense. Talked to a prominent starter for a very extended period of time, and he is very confident in the defense. The front 7 will be outstanding. Tuitt is just a specimen that is only going to get more unstoppable as he matures. Grace, Bennett, Ishaq were probably the 3 that stuck out the most in practice. Ishaq def looks comfortable and just is flowing a lot better. He is getting to the ball, and zones with ease. You can def tell he isn’t 100% comfortable, but he is at the point where he is doing more reacting than thinking, and when he does get lost he is just using his aggressiveness to get the ball. Grace looked like he is going to be more than capable of filling in for #5 when he leaves after this year. Bennett might be special in his last 2 years. Hips and vision are outstanding and he isn’t afraid to stick his head in there. Dline is just the Dline. Oline is improving by going against that Dline everyday and its showing. Farley looks the part of a safety, and did pretty well in what I saw. Eilar is getting his legs back and did some good things. Once he gets his legs and knowledge….skys the limit.
7. Cause for concern…Jalen Brown looks the part, but needs to hit the weight room seriously to get stronger and is quite a ways from being ready to play. Atkinson was probably the best cb out there other than Bennett in the 2 practices I saw. Lo did some good things as well, but just the shear being able to jump routes and be in position to make plays he wasn’t there but looked a lot better than expected.
8. Jarron Jones can easily pack on 30lbs and be an athlete. I don’t think he plays at all this year unless we have injuries. It was good to meet him and he is a great kid. Type of kid you want at ND. Def can tell he is hungry.
9. From those I spoke to…there is a confidence that this year will be good. They are def a team, and they care about each other. They are all in shape, and very motivated. I think that with a lot of the fanbase doubting them they will surprise some people this year.
Utopo absolutely destroyed that kid on the kickoff drill lol
