2012 Fall Camp Thread

[NDdomer2]

aaaaannnnnddd the fact we SUCKED!! at it last year and he was probably thinking...****! i can do better than that

haha we did suck, and if Cierre is volunteering because he sees a chance to improve the team then I am glad he is stepping up and being a leader.

 

[Chamellion]

aaaaannnnnddd the fact we SUCKED!! at it last year and he was probably thinking...****! i can do better than that

Our punt return issues were a schematic disadvantage. Kelly admitted this and pledged to try something different this year.

 

[Emcee77]

Councell is pretty consistent, Romeo is blowing people up, and I believe Rabasa is fine. He had the other shoulder issue, I believe.

Glad you brought him up. I wonder if he starts to practice as Councell's backup.

I noticed that on the und.com roster Utupo is listed as DE now. I always wondered why he never got a look at OLB. We seem to like using high-school DE types as OLBs (if I'm not mistaken, all our current OLBs are former DEs, except Spond)

 

[PANDFAN]

haha we did suck, and if Cierre is volunteering because he sees a chance to improve the team then I am glad he is stepping up and being a leader.

the ONLY thing that scares me about that is IF he has a muffed return will it mentally effect him then at RB...but i agree w/ you kinda like MF did for the bowl game...tired of watching from the sidelines and shaking ur head in disgust--give me the damn ball and show you what i got

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

I feel like it has more to do with him wanting to maximize his touches. The writing is on the wall that his touches are going to be lower than previous years. That has nothing to do with his level of performance (which has been great), but more to do with the fact that we have a crap-ton of explosive guys that need touches too. We will find a way to get the ball into the hands of GAIII, Riddick and Neal. Which should unfortunately take away from some of Cierre's touches.

Just my $.02

This is the exact reason.

 

[NDdomer2]

the ONLY thing that scares me about that is IF he has a muffed return will it mentally effect him then at RB...but i agree w/ you kinda like MF did for the bowl game...tired of watching from the sidelines and shaking ur head in disgust--give me the damn ball and show you what i got

When Kelly said he should have put Floyd back there sooner, maybe he realized you can't always worry about your best players getting hurt. If Cierre asks to have the chance give it to him because if it's a success then you have an added dimension to this team. Hell I would be ok with avg. 5 yards a return compared to last year.

 

[PANDFAN]

When Kelly said he should have put Floyd back there sooner, maybe he realized you can't always worry about your best players getting hurt. If Cierre asks to have the chance give it to him because if it's a success then you have an added dimension to this team. Hell I would be ok with avg. 5 yards a return compared to last year.

i would be happy w/ NO fumbles and just a chance to return the ball, i really hope w/ booker working w/ special teams he can come up w/ something..cuz the blocking of the gunners was atrocious which resulted in us having the worst PR in the history of football(ok not sure of this stat, but if not it has to be damn close) averaged a nation-worst 0.3 yards per punt return

 

[woolybug25]

i would be happy w/ NO fumbles and just a chance to return the ball, i really hope w/ booker working w/ special teams he can come up w/ something..cuz the blocking of the gunners was atrocious which resulted in us having the worst PR in the history of football

Bad punt returning makes for a saaaad panda.....

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Did we suck because we didn't have someone who we could count on back there? Or did we suck because our schemes were awful and not ineffective in setting up our PR for a decent return? Serious question.

If it was the schemes, does anyone know what the coaches have been trying differently? Last year it just seemed like every week someone new was auditioning for PR, but every Saturday Goody was back there fair-catching with defenders in his face. Seems to me the ST coach needs to get something together or else it won't matter who's back there.

Edit: Was typing while PANDFAN posted...

 

[woolybug25]

Did we suck because we didn't have someone who we could count on back there? Or did we suck because our schemes were awful and not ineffective in setting up our PR for a decent return? Serious question.

If it was the schemes, does anyone know what the coaches have been trying differently? Last year it just seemed like every week someone new was auditioning for PR, but every Saturday Goody was back there fair-catching with defenders in his face. Seems to me the ST coach needs to get something together or else it won't matter who's back there.

Edit: Was typing while PANDFAN posted...

It was definitely a scheme issue. No matter who was back there (evidenced by even Floyd being ineffective) it wouldn't work. The gunners from the opposing team were always right on the returner before they even had a chance to make a return. It would be great to get an electric playmaker back there, but until our **** poor blocking execution is addressed, it wont matter who is (fair)catching the punts.

 

[NDdomer2]

Did we suck because we didn't have someone who we could count on back there? Or did we suck because our schemes were awful and not ineffective in setting up our PR for a decent return? Serious question.

If it was the schemes, does anyone know what the coaches have been trying differently? Last year it just seemed like every week someone new was auditioning for PR, but every Saturday Goody was back there fair-catching with defenders in his face. Seems to me the ST coach needs to get something together or else it won't matter who's back there.

Edit: Was typing while PANDFAN posted...

Scheme has a ton to do with it I am sure but is it any coincidence that the first time we put Floyd back there he has a 20+ return? The answer lies in the middle. You have to have a stud to be elite punt return team, but you also have to have the right guys on the return team and a good scheme.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

It was definitely a scheme issue. No matter who was back there (evidenced by even Floyd being ineffective) it wouldn't work. The gunners from the opposing team were always right on the returner before they even had a chance to make a return. It would be great to get an electric playmaker back there, but until our **** poor blocking execution is addressed, it wont matter who is (fair)catching the punts.

I believe the scheme changes for the bowl game, evidence by Mike Floyd's long punt return.

Or maybe that was just Mike's skills.

 

[woolybug25]

Scheme has a ton to do with it I am sure but is it any coincidence that the first time we put Floyd back there he has a 20+ return? The answer lies in the middle. You have to have a stud to be elite punt return team, but you also have to have the right guys on the return team and a good scheme.

I remembered him not being effective, but when you brought up this point it made me look it up. I guess he returned two punts last year for a total of 44 yards (22yd avg). Which is pretty dang good. I feel like he had a lot of fair catches though. So I would be interested in how many times he was actually back there, because if he was only able to return 2 of say 10 punts, then that is more evidence of bad scheme.

either way... both who and how we return punts needs to be addressed.

 

[PANDFAN]

unfortunately due to the camera angles during the game you don't ever trully get a good feel of wtf happened because as soon as the punt is kicked, then the focus goes right to the returner...i did however in disgust examine when possible wtf was happening and the times when the angle was decent enough, it appeared to my untrained eye that we never trully blocked the gunners...we never engaged them at the line and just ran stride for stride w/ them until we had to fair catch it or fumble...was this what was being coached?? idk but hope to hell we engage at the line, trip them idc what we do...just give the returner a sec or two...although Goody had several punts that he signaled for a fair catch when he had lots of room to run...so that is on him too! if you watch the return by floyd in the bowl game, he actually had a couple of secs to look down field and made 1 move to get 40+ yards

 

[NDdomer2]

I don't think we can do anything about the fact that the majority of punts are fair caught, or at least I would think. It is the 2 or 3 times out of ten as Wooly mentioned, that when you get the chance you have to make something out of it.

Our goal was always get the offense 1 free first down, or ten yards. It seems like such a small thing but it really makes a big difference, if only in switching the field position.

 

[GEORGIA DOMER]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7dI0DqRS630" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Looks like all mike on that return and at least 35+yrds.

 

[Riddickulous]

The only reason Floyd went for 40+ yards on his first return was that the punter outkicked his coverage.

The problem with the punt return unit last year was the blocking, no question. As stated above, until the blocking schemes change, it won't matter who is back there.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Damn Mike should have caught that deep ball. He catches that ND wins the game.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Cierre's block at 2:15

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

Do you mean John Goodman might not be our punt returner? FIRE KELLY!

 

[IrishLion]

Do you mean John Goodman might not be our punt returner? FIRE KELLY!

NDNation thinks Goodman should return punts again BECAUSE TRADITION

 

[Who'saWildManNow]

Keith Arnold ‏@KeithArnoldNBC
Overheard at practice: "You don't have Tommy to bail you guys out. One of you need to step up! We are going over there to win!" -Brian Kelly

Kelly's at a hot pink right now.. Let's not get to purple EG.. take it

 

[ndfi78]

NDNation thinks Goodman should return punts again BECAUSE TRADITION

Excellent!

 

[arrowryan]

 

[NDBoiler]

Kelly's at a hot pink right now.. Let's not get to purple EG.. take it

Is it a little disparaging to anyone else to simply think about the fact that the team would ever need to "rely on Tommy to bail them out"?? I know I'm probably taking Kelly's comment a little out of context, but if he would ever need to be counted on as a barer of great burden for the team, yikes. Just sayin...

EDIT: I also realize this is only one point in practice early in the preseason too.

 

[irishfanjho15]

Is it a little disparaging to anyone else to simply think about the fact that the team would ever need to "rely on Tommy to bail them out"?? I know I'm probably taking Kelly's comment a little out of context, but if he would ever need to be counted on as a barer of great burden for the team, yikes. Just sayin...

Yeah, I think he means Tommy telling them the read or what check to make. I.E. Tommy is not going to be there to bail you out. Tommy knows the offense, probably better than any other quarterback. Physically he just doesn't have the tools.

 

[CarrollVermin]

That is encouraging...said it before and will continue to say it, Tommy may be the only guy that can help us win games.

 

[PANDFAN]

That is encouraging...said it before and will continue to say it, Tommy may be the only guy that can help us win games.

yep cuz we tore it up last year w/ him running the offense

 

[Me2SouthBend]

That is encouraging...said it before and will continue to say it, Tommy may be the only guy that can help us win games.

That is a laughable statement.

 

[CarrollVermin]

yep cuz we tore it up last year w/ him running the offense

Yeah, I see what you mean...252 passing yards/game, 29.23 pts/game, isn't very good. Not being sarcastic either, 252 passing yards/game was in the top 35, but points per game was only top 50.