2025 Spring Practice Thread

[IrishLion]

Hate to do this, but I thought Onyiuke (#45) is a very dirty player and is in my dog house... but I think he was kicked out of practice for this. Disgusting on both ends IMO from a dude that is a Sr. He can go if it were up to me.

No idea who this is, and don't see the # or the name on the roster online... maybe he got shown the door???

 

[NDLS_USMC]

No idea who this is, and don't see the # or the name on the roster online... maybe he got shown the door???

He shows here

 

[Dale]

Yeah he was a recruited PWO, might have been over Ivy League offers IIRC. Always notice him because doesn’t look like a normal walk on in spring game/ when 3s are in

 

[rtrn2glory]

Special Teams and Miscellaneous:

Nothing really super interesting here. New guy from North Carolina is obviously clearly the guy. Only thing of relevance here is that the dude has easy/smooth power. Missed a few inside 40 yards, but hopefully it was a fluke.

I'm not as into recruiting as I used to be I apologize. Only thing I did see was Ebenezer following DL around. A very busy recruiting week so I apologize I don't have a lot on this I was more engaged with the stuff going on with practice.

Hopefully this wasn't too boring. I enjoy reporting back I just don't like typing a bunch on my phone. Any questions feel free to ask and I'll gladly give my take and you're welcome to think they're useless or helpful.

Thanks guys.

 

[NDohio]

Defense Practice Report:

Before the position breakdown I will say what I like about the defense compared to offense is the straight business approach. Pre-practice and during practice they are constantly at work and no reps are wasted. Just very fun to watch a machine at work. During the team periods, one thing that looked evident is that Ash doesn't look like he's going to bring as much heat as Golden. Perhaps they were told not to with the OL being a bit vanilla, but I saw more DL stunting and movement compared to the blitzes that Golden would bring. Maybe just a one time thing, but just my initial thoughts. I didn't like big plays given up. KK cooked Gray very early in practice for a explosive TD and I mentioned during the offense breakdown that Rairidon took a middle screen for a huge play. I will be very hard on this if it extends into the season as we didn't give up explosives last year, which no good defense should ever!

DL - Interior is going to be just fine. Rubio and Hinish started, but I'll be honest, Onye and Dawson looked like the two best interior guys on Saturday imo. Onye absolutely obliterated Jagusah on a team rep and got screwed by a shitty hands to the face call. I'd even be comfortable going all the way down to our 3-Deep with Hughes, who had a great bull rush during 1 on 1's. After them there is a huge drop off. Sevillano and Mukam were not very good I didn't think and if I remember maybe one of the media thought Mukam looked good. I did not. I can definitely see why neither were asked to give minutes in the playoffs last year.
Edge was ok not great. Bryce had moments where he made the young OL look silly. Cole Mullins I thought had a good day. His body reminds me of a taller Howard Cross. Not much to report here with a lot of the guys were expecting to contribute not healthy enough to. Wild card is definitely Mullins from Saturday's observations. Hate to do this, but I thought Onyiuke (#45) is a very dirty player and is in my dog house. 2 separate times he was dumb and did something that could've been flagged if it were a real game and what is more dumb is it was on a teammate. During a kickoff return scout team rep he buried Leonard Moore unnecessarily and he landed awkwardly on his shoulder and he got up favoring it. Then worse, he drilled Angeli in a team rep (reminder QB's where red jerseys) which forced players to start to should and I may be wrong, but I think he was kicked out of practice for this. Disgusting on both ends IMO from a dude that is a Sr. He can go if it were up to me.

LB's - Drayk is awesome. Love the guy. Getting better reading and reacting and I don't see how he won't be a problem for opposing defenses. Same can be said for Sneed. WOW talk about heat seaking missile. The play that stands out is him trusting his speed and undercutting a crack block and getting a TFL during team on Price, I believe. What I liked the most about the play is that he wasn't blitzing, he read the play quickly and used his speed to track it down. Just outstanding overall. Eye ball test winner is Faraimo. You would have to know that he's a high school senior to believe it. Not sure what his wing span is, but it looked like he should be playing Vyper rather than inside. Huge recruiting win here.

DB's - A little disappointed in Cree based on the press he's been getting. Got chewed out good once or twice. Again just one day. Gray man I mean, for a guy with as much experience I didn't expect to see him get cooked by any of our receivers, but I did. Overall nothing crazy bad, but expected better. I'll give Mickens credit man he has his dudes coached up and ready to play. Was actually most impressed with a walk-on (#32) Dunn. He got quite a few reps and was the one to pick off Minchey on the RPO.

Safeites - Our depth here is stupid good. A lot of long lean bodies outside of Shuler who is just thick and looks like he should be playing for the U in the 80's and early 90's. Sign me up for the offical Tae Johnson fan club. Without knowing much about Stroman, I'm convinced he better show up ready to work or Tae will be the starter. I was very impressed with seeing him fill in the run game, which I wasn't expecting to be a strength of his, but it was! All the safeties I feel like do well fitting. Jadon Blair wins the eyeball test for sure and honestly Ethan Long looks just as impressive physically. Hard to say for sure without a true passing game threat, but we looked great on the back end despite having little to no game experience. Talich and Shuler started, but Tae played a lot and Imo was the second best safety on the roster.

Again, any questions please feel free to throw them out.

Thanks for these breakdowns. Much appreciated.

With the safeties - I know they, like other positions, are on a pitch count but did Talich get much run?

 

[NDPhilly]

Damn didnt see Ethan Long is listed at 6'3" 198. In my head he was one of those guys who is listed as 6'2" on recruiting websites but is really like 6'1" max. Great size especially for a freshman.

Ethan Long

fightingirish.com

 

[Punky]

So is Mullins finally healthy? I remember he was hurt coming in but the staff were really high on him. Undersized but supposedly great motor and finds a way to make a play. He's a guy I want to keep an eye on going forward.

 

[Katzenboyer]

So is Mullins finally healthy? I remember he was hurt coming in but the staff were really high on him. Undersized but supposedly great motor and finds a way to make a play. He's a guy I want to keep an eye on going forward.

ISD said he played well in the scrimmage, has added good weight, and will definitely be used inside.

 

[stpeteirish]

ISD said he played well in the scrimmage, has added good weight, and will definitely be used inside.

"official" roster on UND.com has him at 262. That isn't big enough for DT.

 

[Dale]

Mullins definitely will get a bit bigger, but I feel like Washington likes the almost inefficiency he has found with Cross and Hinish of undersized DTs. Some of these ogre OL with no skill really struggle with their speed and hands. It is a decent recipe against the bottom of our schedule but need the big boys against the CFP teams.

 

[Fbolt]

A ton of extrapolation coming from this recent practice and the limited press viewings. So much us fans do not know, including the QB comp.

 

[Irish4life]

 

[rtrn2glory]

Thanks for these breakdowns. Much appreciated.

With the safeties - I know they, like other positions, are on a pitch count but did Talich get much run?

He was with shuler in the first group. He didn't seem to make as much happen as tae. Without seeing practice film I can't say but he wasn't around the ball as much as tae at least not what I noticed

 

[ThePiombino]

There was no reason to bring up Merck’s name to begin with other than to pump your chest. Everyone is posting their opinion and nobody is going to bat 1.000. Let’s leave it at that and move on.

Didn't he literally leave the site because people questioned him? I mean...

 

[Rockin’Irish]

Didn't he literally leave the site because people questioned him? I mean...

To be honest, I don’t blame him for walking away. He spent a lot of time answering questions and providing information as he knew it based on a LOT of questions that were directed towards him (I assume the Merckster is a him). I, for one, thought he provided good insight on a number of issues. I’d say he appeared to be more well connected to what is/was going on in the program than most anyone else on IE. Why would he want to spend his time providing information that he felt was accurate if people were questioning him especially when most of it was specifically being asked from him? It wouldn’t be worth the effort at that point.

 

[Irish#1]

Didn't he literally leave the site because people questioned him? I mean...

I mentioned that because Dale took a shot at him even though he hadn’t been on IE for several weeks.

 

[Dale]

I mentioned that because Dale took a shot at him even though he hadn’t been on IE for several weeks.

People take shots of significantly higher magnitudes at talking heads on the beat almost daily here, we have an entire thread dedicated to it. Really.

People need to lighten up a bit. Don’t need to rehash this again though. I treated Mercke as a talking head with info/an opinion on the QB battle. Substitute Prister for Mercke and no one would have batted an eye.

Let’s get back to ball. Minchey Heads, unite!

 

[Hautian Domer]

Defense Practice Report:

Before the position breakdown I will say what I like about the defense compared to offense is the straight business approach. Pre-practice and during practice they are constantly at work and no reps are wasted. Just very fun to watch a machine at work. During the team periods, one thing that looked evident is that Ash doesn't look like he's going to bring as much heat as Golden. Perhaps they were told not to with the OL being a bit vanilla, but I saw more DL stunting and movement compared to the blitzes that Golden would bring. Maybe just a one time thing, but just my initial thoughts. I didn't like big plays given up. KK cooked Gray very early in practice for a explosive TD and I mentioned during the offense breakdown that Rairidon took a middle screen for a huge play. I will be very hard on this if it extends into the season as we didn't give up explosives last year, which no good defense should ever!

DL - Interior is going to be just fine. Rubio and Hinish started, but I'll be honest, Onye and Dawson looked like the two best interior guys on Saturday imo. Onye absolutely obliterated Jagusah on a team rep and got screwed by a shitty hands to the face call. I'd even be comfortable going all the way down to our 3-Deep with Hughes, who had a great bull rush during 1 on 1's. After them there is a huge drop off. Sevillano and Mukam were not very good I didn't think and if I remember maybe one of the media thought Mukam looked good. I did not. I can definitely see why neither were asked to give minutes in the playoffs last year.
Edge was ok not great. Bryce had moments where he made the young OL look silly. Cole Mullins I thought had a good day. His body reminds me of a taller Howard Cross. Not much to report here with a lot of the guys were expecting to contribute not healthy enough to. Wild card is definitely Mullins from Saturday's observations. Hate to do this, but I thought Onyiuke (#45) is a very dirty player and is in my dog house. 2 separate times he was dumb and did something that could've been flagged if it were a real game and what is more dumb is it was on a teammate. During a kickoff return scout team rep he buried Leonard Moore unnecessarily and he landed awkwardly on his shoulder and he got up favoring it. Then worse, he drilled Angeli in a team rep (reminder QB's where red jerseys) which forced players to start to should and I may be wrong, but I think he was kicked out of practice for this. Disgusting on both ends IMO from a dude that is a Sr. He can go if it were up to me.

LB's - Drayk is awesome. Love the guy. Getting better reading and reacting and I don't see how he won't be a problem for opposing defenses. Same can be said for Sneed. WOW talk about heat seaking missile. The play that stands out is him trusting his speed and undercutting a crack block and getting a TFL during team on Price, I believe. What I liked the most about the play is that he wasn't blitzing, he read the play quickly and used his speed to track it down. Just outstanding overall. Eye ball test winner is Faraimo. You would have to know that he's a high school senior to believe it. Not sure what his wing span is, but it looked like he should be playing Vyper rather than inside. Huge recruiting win here.

DB's - A little disappointed in Cree based on the press he's been getting. Got chewed out good once or twice. Again just one day. Gray man I mean, for a guy with as much experience I didn't expect to see him get cooked by any of our receivers, but I did. Overall nothing crazy bad, but expected better. I'll give Mickens credit man he has his dudes coached up and ready to play. Was actually most impressed with a walk-on (#32) Dunn. He got quite a few reps and was the one to pick off Minchey on the RPO.

Safeites - Our depth here is stupid good. A lot of long lean bodies outside of Shuler who is just thick and looks like he should be playing for the U in the 80's and early 90's. Sign me up for the offical Tae Johnson fan club. Without knowing much about Stroman, I'm convinced he better show up ready to work or Tae will be the starter. I was very impressed with seeing him fill in the run game, which I wasn't expecting to be a strength of his, but it was! All the safeties I feel like do well fitting. Jadon Blair wins the eyeball test for sure and honestly Ethan Long looks just as impressive physically. Hard to say for sure without a true passing game threat, but we looked great on the back end despite having little to no game experience. Talich and Shuler started, but Tae played a lot and Imo was the second best safety on the roster.

Again, any questions please feel free to throw them out.

That’s wonderful.

 

[DillonHall]

I'd bet that not even Marcus Freeman or Mike Denbrock are sure who's gonna win the QB job at this point. I don't see how anyone else, including Mercke, could know

 

[SDIrishFan]

I'd bet that not even Marcus Freeman or Mike Denbrock are sure who's gonna win the QB job at this point. I don't see how anyone else, including Mercke, could know

Exactly. My guess is they are all struggling with certain areas of the game. The question becomes, which ones can greatly improve between now and next season with a ton of reps and which ones just are what they are?

 

[INLaw]

People take shots of significantly higher magnitudes at talking heads on the beat almost daily here, we have an entire thread dedicated to it. Really.

People need to lighten up a bit. Don’t need to rehash this again though. I treated Mercke as a talking head with info/an opinion on the QB battle. Substitute Prister for Mercke and no one would have batted an eye.

Let’s get back to ball. Minchey Heads, unite!

You behaved like a brat who was jealous of the attention someone else was getting. Then you devised this straw man argument to excuse your sophomoric behavior. All of which is relatively par for the course for you. The appalling behavior was when you got a moderator and site owner to join you in drumming out a member we actually cared to hear from. I never had respect for you. When you were here before and unfortunately again you never had anything more than generic opinion and pay site headlines. But I am disappointed not only in what debatable value Mercke but that your behavior removed the respect I previously had for Irishlion. At this point you won so please just shut the fuck up and stop rubbing peoples noses in it.

 

[Dale]

You behaved like a brat who was jealous of the attention someone else was getting. Then you devised this straw man argument to excuse your sophomoric behavior. All of which is relatively par for the course for you. The appalling behavior was when you got a moderator and site owner to join you in drumming out a member we actually cared to hear from. I never had respect for you. When you were here before and unfortunately again you never had anything more than generic opinion and pay site headlines. But I am disappointed not only in what debatable value Mercke but that your behavior removed the respect I previously had for Irishlion. At this point you won so please just shut the fuck up and stop rubbing peoples noses in it.

Well,,,,


anyways I hope Tae Johnson wins the safety job.

 

[Rizzophil]

I'd bet that not even Marcus Freeman or Mike Denbrock are sure who's gonna win the QB job at this point. I don't see how anyone else, including Mercke, could know

All true

No one truly knows

They evaluate every practice and let the players know

The point is Carr is held in HIGH regard. And if he doesn’t perform, then he doesn’t start. Simple

 

[IrishLion]

You behaved like a brat who was jealous of the attention someone else was getting. Then you devised this straw man argument to excuse your sophomoric behavior. All of which is relatively par for the course for you. The appalling behavior was when you got a moderator and site owner to join you in drumming out a member we actually cared to hear from. I never had respect for you. When you were here before and unfortunately again you never had anything more than generic opinion and pay site headlines. But I am disappointed not only in what debatable value Mercke but that your behavior removed the respect I previously had for Irishlion. At this point you won so please just shut the fuck up and stop rubbing peoples noses in it.

 

[BuaConstrictor]

People take shots of significantly higher magnitudes at talking heads on the beat almost daily here, we have an entire thread dedicated to it. Really.

People need to lighten up a bit. Don’t need to rehash this again though. I treated Mercke as a talking head with info/an opinion on the QB battle. Substitute Prister for Mercke and no one would have batted an eye.

Mercke came here of his own free will and isn't paid to do this. Prister is. Prister is also a public figure. I'd imagine people have a different standard for paid beat writers than they do for a guy on a message board who is answering questions for free.

 

[Dale]

If I could control the actions Lion makes, I probably would make him not wax poetic about Skyline chili weekly, yet here are

 

[IrishLion]

If I could control the actions Lion makes, I probably would make him not wax poetic about Skyline chili weekly, yet here are

Listen, I am NEVER* the first person to mention Skyline Chili.

Y’all just keep bringing it up, and I’m not not gonna keep delivering the good word.

(Seriously though, I have no idea what I supposedly did to drive Merck away, aside from pointing out that dude was being treated with kid gloves compared to every other user on this website because he was providing inside info. I get it. I loved the flood of inside info, his willingness to wade through the shit from this multitude of lovable idiots that had zero decorum or social awareness about how to interact with such a gift, and truly appreciated the contribution. I think it’s equally ridiculous that he got mad and left because one (1) guy “questioned” him. This is fucking internet message board. It’s not that serious, in any regard.)




*sometimese

 

[CanadalovesND]

Dale only pushed back a tad. I appreciate Mercke’s contributions, but he didn’t like his info being questioned whatsoever. And when it happened, he seemed to take it as a personal shot. It was over a month ago now. Who really cares.

We were given a gift, and as Lion put it so elegantly: “…we had zero decorum or social awareness about how to interact with such a gift.”

 

[Ndaccountant]

Dale only pushed back a tad. I appreciate Mercke’s contributions, but he didn’t like his info being questioned whatsoever. And when it happened, he seemed to take it as a personal shot. It was over a month ago now. Who really cares.

We were given a gift, and as Lion put it so elegantly: “…we had zero decorum or social awareness about how to interact with such a gift.”

 

[pumpdog20]

Screw you guys who don't like Prister.