ESPN's Spring Roundout

[Ironman8]

Final Spring Top 25 lists ND at #16:

16. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Previous ranking: 14)The Fighting Irish left spring practice without a starting quarterback. Coach Brian Kelly probably won't name a starting quarterback until shortly before the Sept. 3 opener against USF, as senior Dayne Crist, sophomores Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix and freshman Everett Golson will continue battling for the starting job during preseason camp. Kelly said he'll probably use more than one quarterback this season. Star receiver Michael Floyd's status will the team also remains uncertain after he was arrested on DUI charges this spring. Kelly believes his second Notre Dame team will be better than his first because the Irish will be better on defense. The Irish will play nine games against teams that played in bowl games in 2010 (plus USC), so there won't be much margin for error.

Bruce Feldman has a list of 10 spring breakout players nationally, and our own Aaron Lynch is #2:

2. Aaron Lynch, DE, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
The biggest knock on the Irish as their program has slid backward over the past two decades has been their inability to produce big-time defensive linemen. There have been a few (Justin Tuck comes first to mind), but they just haven't had those regular difference-makers along the D-line that many top-10 teams do.

Enter Lynch, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound early enrollee who looked ready to immediately improve a Notre Dame defense that was only 77th in the nation in tackles for loss. The nation's No. 15 overall recruit was unblockable in the spring game, and he played that way against the Irish's starting offensive linemen.

From the Chat with Mark Schlabach:

How good will Notre dame be this year? How many games will they win? Will they make a BCS game in Brain Kelly second year?

Mark Schlabach (2:09 PM)

I was in South Bend a few weeks ago and Kelly really likes this team. If Floyd comes back, they're going to be pretty good on offense. Probably going to play two quarterbacks. Defense will be the difference, though. Should be much better on that side of the ball.

 

[Ironman8]

BTW, unrelated but I know people were wondering. Rivals comes out with their 100 and 250 on Monday and Tuesday of next week. They have 17 5* at this time.

 

[hrc08]

Final Spring Top 25 lists ND at #16:



Bruce Feldman has a list of 10 spring breakout players nationally, and our own Aaron Lynch is #2:



From the Chat with Mark Schlabach:

What a freaking difference a year makes? To be clear: Our defense is far from "looks like a HS defense"

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

Not worthy of a new thread so I just stuck it here.

One of the most prominent storylines from National Signing Day was Brian Kelly's coup in landing three five-star defensive linemen, an area where Notre Dame has been sorely lacking for years. Two of them, Aaron Lynch and Ishaq Williams, enrolled early, and Lynch immediately asserted himself as a potential difference-maker, notching seven tackles and getting to the quarterback several times during Notre Dame's spring game. Fans will see him on the field in September. They'll also likely see freshman quarterback Everett Golson, at least in doses. The athletic dual-threat QB won't challenge for the starting job, but expect Kelly to install some packages to make use of his most spread-suited quarterback.

The biggest question surrounding the Irish in 2011 involves senior Michael Floyd. The school's residential life office decided against suspending the star receiver for his drunken driving arrest, but Kelly could still suspended him for games.

Read more: Oklahoma loaded on defense, more spring football lessons - Stewart Mandel - SI.com

 

[ACamp1900]

I'm still expecting 8 wins... lol

 

[rtrn2glory]

BTW, unrelated but I know people were wondering. Rivals comes out with their 100 and 250 on Monday and Tuesday of next week. They have 17 5* at this time.

thanks for the info, i was one those wondering.

btw who was the number 1 breatkout player for the spring??

 

[Ironman8]

thanks for the info, i was one those wondering.

btw who was the number 1 breatkout player for the spring??

Oklahoma LB Corey Nelson. He was the 3rd rated linebacker prospect in the '10 class, and Bob Stoops has gone so far as to call him the best player on their D this spring.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Oklahoma LB Corey Nelson. He was the 3rd rated linebacker prospect in the '10 class, and Bob Stoops has gone so far as to call him the best player on their D this spring.

That's saying a lot since they have Travis Lewis.

 

[irish1958]

The big 12, er 10, has never been noted for defense.

 

[rtrn2glory]

The big 12, er 10, has never been noted for defense.

+1 fo sho

although Oklahoma in years past has

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Oklahoma LB Corey Nelson. He was the 3rd rated linebacker prospect in the '10 class, and Bob Stoops has gone so far as to call him the best player on their D this spring.

Scout has Darby as a 5 star, and Shepard a 4 star. I could see the two flip-flopping ratings on Rivals.

 

[Ironman8]

Scout has Darby as a 5 star, and Shepard a 4 star. I could see the two flip-flopping ratings on Rivals.

Don't know what this is in reference too lol, but I think they are both 5 star caliber prospects, for different reasons.

 

[Ironman8]

Reminder that ESPN's College Football Live is focusing on ND at 3:30 today on ESPN.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Don't know what this is in reference too lol, but I think they are both 5 star caliber prospects, for different reasons.

I just noticed that the user rating for Shepard is a 4.67, and Darby a 4.43. I know that doesn't mean squat in the grand scheme of things, but can be a good barometer of what their rating is.

 

[ndcoltsfan2010]

Reminder that ESPN's College Football Live is focusing on ND at 3:30 today on ESPN.

Thanks for the heads up. I just turned it on.

 

[Ironman8]

Very interesting roundtable discussion on ND. Kirk was really grilling ND, both on offense and defense, for not having the elite, first round draft pick type guys that are needed to truly go after a NC. He did give BK props though, and said if there is one guy to bring ND back, it would be him. Gets a little tougher to hate Urban every time he talks about ND - really had some good things to day about the program and seems to truly love ND and would like to see us return to prominence. Craig had some good discussion, and sorry, but I am just not a fan of the Bachelor.

 

[Ironman8]

BraxstonCave52 Braxston Cave

watching the guys talk about us on @ESPNCFBLive gets me soo hype for the fall!! 121 days till its show time! #ND

KLM_89 kapron lewis-moore

This notre dame thing on espn....

And for good measure...

lnix67 lOUIS NIX III

Me Playing FB On Goal-line situations would be so tight...#dreaming

 

[clashmore_mike]

Very interesting roundtable discussion on ND. Kirk was really grilling ND, both on offense and defense, for not having the elite, first round draft pick type guys that are needed to truly go after a NC. He did give BK props though, and said if there is one guy to bring ND back, it would be him. Gets a little tougher to hate Urban every time he talks about ND - really had some good things to day about the program and seems to truly love ND and would like to see us return to prominence. Craig had some good discussion, and sorry, but I am just not a fan of the Bachelor.

Kinda seemed like Herbie has been a little preoccupied with his move to Nashville and didn't actually do any research. The other 3 at least had some idea of what was going on.

 

[clashmore_mike]

haha Ironman I was just going to post those tweets, I especially enjoyed Big Lou's.

 

[ACamp1900]

It is sad when they (the experts) say things like "Last year ND won their first bowl game in a VERY long time." and none of the others correct the statement, even all nod and say yes...

whatever

 

[IrishLax]

Very interesting roundtable discussion on ND. Kirk was really grilling ND, both on offense and defense, for not having the elite, first round draft pick type guys that are needed to truly go after a NC. He did give BK props though, and said if there is one guy to bring ND back, it would be him. Gets a little tougher to hate Urban every time he talks about ND - really had some good things to day about the program and seems to truly love ND and would like to see us return to prominence. Craig had some good discussion, and sorry, but I am just not a fan of the Bachelor.

Pffft.......

Auburn had one 1st round caliber guy on defense last year, and one (maybe two in the future counting Dyer?) on offense. It was good enough to go undefeated in the most competitive league out there and beat a team in Alabama that had a RIDICULOUS amount of NFL talent.

Also, explain to me what 1st round talent Oregon had besides maybe LaMichael James?

Even if Herb's premise was true, his conclusion that ND doesn't have first round talent is just wrong. If Baldwin is a #19 overall pick... Michael Floyd is definitely a first round talent at WR. Manti Te'o is also certainly a first round talent on defense.

 

[ACamp1900]

It was interesting that they mentioned tOSU, Penn St. and Michigan with ND finally... in all honesty the last 15 was as much of a falling apart of NORTHERN football as it was Notre Dame football...

you have one tOSU team playing the underdog against The U and winning on a now infamous pentalty call, then you have one Michigan team winning a split title... then you have to go back to ND for a northern team dominating... the fact that we get targeted so much instead of the region in general shows the impact ND has for better or worse

 

[ndcoltsfan2010]

I watched this on tv too and noted that Urban had some really good positive things to say about where we are at right now. I think they all agree that BK is the right man for the job, but I disagreed with the notion that Notre Dame doesn't have 1st round talent. I call BS and I think we will see come season's end how many incredibly good guys we have on the roster. I think the past several years have been about a lack of team and player development and not so much a lack of talent. I think this is the year that BK takes another step in the right direction.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Originally Posted by irish1958
The big 12, er 10, has never been noted for defense.

Isn't that just a technicality, with Nebraska leaving. The black shirts have had some good d's. Actually, Nebraska is the case in point that just "d" wins you nothing.

 

[Irish2015]

YouTube - Notre Dame Roundtable

There's the link for anyone that missed it.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

It is sad when they (the experts) say things like "Last year ND won their first bowl game in a VERY long time." and none of the others correct the statement, even all nod and say yes...

whatever

I have a really hard time being upset that UM wasn't aware of our historic Hawaii Bowl win in 2008.

Herby was the only member of that panel that was negative in any way, and it's perfectly fair for him to be skeptical until the Irish perform with some consistency on the field next season.

 

[aubeirish]

I love that Urban is being very positive about us. This is going to go a long way towards recruiting. Of course we have to produce on the field. Like him or not, kids know who he is and what he has done.

 

[Old Man Mike]

One might remember that these are entertainment shows and the producers don't like perfect agreement from everybody. I'd be VERY surprised if they were not told that someone better be the Devil's advocate on this, and Herbstreit has done similar roles in the past. Kirk will be fine towards ND. He's a straight-up guy who loves midwestern football, and a fair man --- just look how he came around to criticizing OSU and the type of players they'd been recruiting.

 

[GreatGolson]

very honest and blunt, i agreed with most of what they said, Kelly is a proven coach, ND just hasnt had the perfect blend of top talent, top coaching and luck needed to win at the BCS level lately

 

[jason_h537]

Thought all the criticism given was deserved. ND has been an average team since the Davie erea. Now we are in a position to change things, but we have to prove it on the field not in pre-season mags.