Defensive Line!

[jonesman]

Guys,
I hear everyone calling for CW's head and saying we should have done this, that or the othe. Reality, we have a very young and inexperienced DL which really cost us. Think back to week one. The D pitched a shutout, but what did you see that concerned you? Big runs up the middle! Out lack of upper class experience on the DL is going to affect us all year. It is especially the case against a team which runs spread offenses. You need experienced players and depth. We do not have a single senior DL other than Ryan who is woefully average. In fact, we only have two Juniors on the whole two deep Ian and Kerry Neal.

I said all week to fellow ND followers that this game scared me because of our DL. When your DL struggles, it affects your LB's big time. At the college level, OL and DL require time to mature physically and mentally. Skill positions can use speed or athletic ability to survive, DL needs older bigger dudes. Imagine how much a guy like Kuntz could have helped today, but we had to use him as a freshman so he could not saved for a 5th year. That is how bad recruiting still affected us today. CW is fixing all that.

Hey DL, keep fighting you will get better and the O will still score tons for you. Go IRISH!!

 

[ant80]

Imagine how much a guy like Kuntz could have helped today, but we had to use him as a freshman so he could not saved for a 5th year. That is how bad recruiting still affected us today.

Do NOT blame this on recruiting. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with recruiting.

 

[Junkhead]

We need Trevor Laws back.

 

[JeremyND07]

Chris Martin is coming!

 

[Echo Insanity]

those that followed recruiting in '06 and '07 knew this was coming. bottom line is that if you dont fill your needs at a position, especially in back to back classes, you will pay for it in future seasons.

 

[NDinL.A.]

Chris Martin is coming!

Go read what he said to the Denver newspapers last night. He ain't coming if we keep losing...

 

[ND_HAS_RISEN]

Quoted from the Denver Post........


"His plan is to go to South Bend, Ind. He's committed to coach Charlie Weis. But if Weis is fired, or if the Irish stumble, "That's when I'd probably start taking visits to other schools."

Martin's short list if that happens features USC, Cal, Tennessee and CU. Teams won't give up on this five-star future star; during one interview, he missed NCAA-sanctioned "call-back messages" from USC, Cal, Tennessee and LSU."

 

[phork]

Are you kidding me? Especially from a player that could make a difference on this team? Going to reserve my comments for fear of getting shit from people on this board, but I think you all know what I am feeling about this. I will say this Chris, MAN UP.

 

[NDOM]

You know whats fucked up about all this shit? Were always going to have a weakness somewhere. This year its the non existant defensive line. Then when the dline gets good or great (in 5 years) the offensive line will suck again. ALWAYS something with this team. I believe this Notre Dame team hasnt been relevant since Lou left. And I also believe this team will never amount to any more than an average 8-9 win team year in and year out. Regardless though, I'm still going to watch my team dissapoint.

 

[jonesman]

Guys,
I am not blaming recruiting on the loss, but I am telling you that the lack of upper class DL players is taking its toll. DL and OL require kids who are physically mature. We are starting a red shirt freshman, sophmore and two juniors. We have sophmores or freshman backing up every position. This creates tough times for the DLine.

Reality on why we lost are a few things. One penalties that killed huge plays. Excessive celebration by AA which gave them great field position. Unfortunate injury to Floyd puts Shaq in for 3 & 10 pass that he was not ready for. Walls tripping on the WR during long pass that he would have intercepted. Questionable ruling on AA screen TD. This was a game where I was not dissapointed in team effort or CW. We played well and came up short. UM caught every break imaginable.

Finally, Chris Martin should be looking at this season as a whole. We are going to win a ton of games and play in a major bowl. If that last pass is not completed, we are all talking how ND finally can close out the big ones. Grow up guys.

 

[phork]

Frankly I think he is looking for an excuse to jump ship.

 

[OCIrish]

Do NOT blame this on recruiting. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with recruiting.

It does when there is lack of upperclass leadership. We have one Jr. on the field, and for all intent and purposes, 3 Soph. We have talented kids, they just don't have much experiance to speak of, it will come with time, and by the end the season, they'll be much better off because of a game like this.

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

I say we bring in a couple 340 pounders at D tackle. I don't care if they can't read or write in cursive.

I am sick and tired of mediocre teams running the ball down our throats.

 

[Axl Rose]

Ian Williams and Kerry Neal need to sit. Put in Hafis and Steven Filer please.

 

[pwk1868]

I don't know if Neal and Willams should sit. They just need to figure out a good rotation of the the tackles and ends to keep them fresh so they can play with a high motor every play instead of getting warn down as the drive or game drags on. Its not like they don't have bodies they could rotate in a Hafis Williams, Brandon Newman, Cwynar, heck if it comes to it give Stockton a shot. D-Lines seem to wear down a lot faster than other positions, throwing in some fresh bodies from time to time certainly couldn't hurt. Same thing goes with the ends.

 

[BeatSC]

Sensible comments

Sensible comments

Guys,
I am not blaming recruiting on the loss, but I am telling you that the lack of upper class DL players is taking its toll. DL and OL require kids who are physically mature. We are starting a red shirt freshman, sophmore and two juniors. We have sophmores or freshman backing up every position. This creates tough times for the DLine.

Reality on why we lost are a few things. One penalties that killed huge plays. Excessive celebration by AA which gave them great field position. Unfortunate injury to Floyd puts Shaq in for 3 & 10 pass that he was not ready for. Walls tripping on the WR during long pass that he would have intercepted. Questionable ruling on AA screen TD. This was a game where I was not dissapointed in team effort or CW. We played well and came up short. UM caught every break imaginable.

Finally, Chris Martin should be looking at this season as a whole. We are going to win a ton of games and play in a major bowl. If that last pass is not completed, we are all talking how ND finally can close out the big ones. Grow up guys.

Good post as usual Jonesman. I would think Martin would see a great oppotunity to come right in and make a difference not to mention the exposure one can receive with all the hype that comes with attending ND. If we had a few pieces missing from our puzzle it is obviously the D-line and a kicker who can kick it deep. The kickoffs look worse than last year. At least the KO's last year had some hang time. Nice to see Gallup make a couple of nice runs.