General team info

[Cackalacky]

Yeah,I don't like this either. ND should have just joined the Big 10 years ago.
I'd much rather keep those familiar rivalries then play some more Pac 12 teams.

We are scheduling Georgia for a home and home in 2018-2019 IIRC. I expect us to play more southern teams in the years we are not playing MSU or Purdue.

 

[Irish#1]

I may have worded that incorrectly. I don't think they are either. When I said "the team" I meant how the roster will look in 2015 vs. 2014.

Well, we can agree to agree on that part.

 

[Irish#1]

When a ship is sinking, you don't get on it.

The B1G isn't a sinking ship. Athletic wise they do pretty well in all the sports they participate in. One could also say they are finally making some progress in getting more of their football programs back on a comparable level with most others.

 

[zelezo vlk]

The B1G isn't a sinking ship. Athletic wise they do pretty well in all the sports they participate in. One could also say they are finally making some progress in getting more of their football programs back on a comparable level with most others.

Agreed. They aren't as good as they once were but the state of that conference isn't as bad as it appeared a few years ago.

 

[ResLife Hero]

Could still play them, just wouldn't be a home-and-home:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Mark Hollis says MSU-Notre Dame have 2016-17 contracted, verbal for 2 games in 2020s, may look at a single neutral game, likely in Chicago.</p>— Joe Rexrode (@joerexrode) <a href="https://twitter.com/joerexrode/statuses/466615649696219136">May 14, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Reason MSU and Notre Dame might do a neutral game is because it is hard with ACC sked and 9 B1G games to find 2-year windows for home-homes.</p>— Joe Rexrode (@joerexrode) <a href="https://twitter.com/joerexrode/statuses/466616322759983104">May 14, 2014</a></blockquote>
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[ResLife Hero]

https://notredame.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1641771

By the end of next week, Brian Kelly should know where Jarrett Grace stands.

Notre Dame’s head coach will meet with head athletic trainer Rob Hunt on May 22 for an anticipated update on the injured linebacker, who suffered four fractures in his right leg last October against Arizona State. Grace underwent a second surgery during spring practice to insert a metal rod into the leg to aid stability.

The late May update roughly keeps with Kelly’s initial take at the time of that second surgery when he felt Grace needed another six weeks of healing before assessing the linebacker’s return date.

“We're very hopeful based upon last time we saw with him,” Kelly said. “He’s on that pace. So we'll just have to wait and see."
If Grace can’t go this fall, a possibility Kelly entertained at the time of the second surgery, the starting mike linebacker against Rice would likely be former walk-on Joe Schmidt, who impressed the coaching staff during spring ball with his football IQ.

Kelly may have another option for that position in Ben Councell, who tore his ACL on a kickoff coverage against Navy in November. Kelly highlighted Councell as ahead of schedule with his rehab during spring practice. The former dog linebacker behind Jaylon Smith has shown enough this off-season that defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder sees a player who could work across multiple linebacker positions.

On paper, Councell may be a physical misfit for VanGorder’s scheme that doesn’t emphasize height and length as much as Diaco did. But even at 6-foot-4 ½ and 254 pounds, Kelly sees a linebacker who could play in space a la John Turner or bump inside where Grace and Schmidt work.

The potential impact of Councell giving the Irish two-for-one options at linebacker could be significant with depth sparse. During spring practice walk-on Austin Larkin backed up the former walk-on Schmidt. Turner was backed up by receiver turned safety turned linebacker James Onwualu.

Even if he’s not starting, Councell could bolster both positions.

“He gives us that bigger linebacker that allows us flexibility based upon the people we're playing,” Kelly said. “He's a really good athlete that has some flexibility to move him inside-out. I think (VanGorder) is kind of excited to find out what he has, too. So I think really we don't really know where he fits right now.”

Councell worked at outside linebacker, middle linebacker and defensive end in high school before he signed with the Irish to play on the perimeter. After a red shirt season and little playing time as a sophomore, he moved into a complementary role with Smith last fall before going down against Navy.

“Plays with very strong hands, so he's really good at the point of attack if he has to control the tight end,” Kelly said. “And if they spread it we think he's athletic enough to move him inside."

I know there's been some skepticism around Conucell's ability to play LB in this scheme, but it sure sounds like he has some unique talents there. Hopefully we get good news on Grace soon.

 

[PANDFAN]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Nick Martin and Jaylon Smith of <a href="https://twitter.com/NDFootball">@NDFootball</a> named to the watch lists for the Remington and Lott IMPACT trophies, respectively</p>— Michael Bertsch (@NDsidBertschy) <a href="https://twitter.com/NDsidBertschy/statuses/467378194732314624">May 16, 2014</a></blockquote>
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[IrishLion]

Notre Dame ready to become perennial powerhouse once again | FOX Sports on MSN

 

[PANDFAN]

Podcast: Brian Kelly on Irish QB battle, ACC dilemma, more | FOX Sports on MSN

 

[PANDFAN]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Where kickoffs end up, and more by <a href="https://twitter.com/SBN_BillC">@sbn_billc</a>: <a href="http://t.co/067WuRePmX">http://t.co/067WuRePmX</a> 2013's 10 best kick return teams: <a href="http://t.co/2LREP29zPV">pic.twitter.com/2LREP29zPV</a></p>— SB Nation CFB (@SBNationCFB) <a href="https://twitter.com/SBNationCFB/statuses/468428236326969344">May 19, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Big23Head]

IrishEyes reports all players currently enrolled are good to go academically for the fall (including Riggs). Daniels will be known soon.

 

[CanadalovesND]

IrishEyes reports all players currently enrolled are good to go academically for the fall (including Riggs). Daniels will be known soon.

Excellent news.

 

[#1rish]

Notre Dame Football: 5 Former Blue-Chippers Who Will Shine in 2014 | Bleacher Report

 

[Luckylucci]

IrishEyes reports all players currently enrolled are good to go academically for the fall (including Riggs). Daniels will be known soon.

I think Daniels situation is a lot like Golson's but Sampson said this morning that he's 99.9% that Daniels is back. He spoke with Kelly and his charity gold event and Usually Kelly is pretty closed on those topics (kids not currently with the team). However, he told Pete "let's assume he's back."

 

[PANDFAN]

LaFleur has already drawn rave reviews from the pair of quarterbacks as well as from Kelly, who values his six years of experience in the National Football League.

“It’s kind of different doing a lot of film study because of the coaching differences,” Zaire said. “We have Coach LaFleur looking at different stuff and has a different way of attacking it. Everybody has a different style of attacking it.”
Some coaches — like Auburn’s Gus Malzahn — refuse to let their players work with Whitfield during college football’s offseason, but Kelly seems to embrace the summer tutoring. Golson has hinted that he will travel west to reunite with Whitfield before reporting back to Notre Dame for summer workouts.
lthough Zaire admits his work with Whitfield was at a rather rudimentary level considering none of the quarterbacks at the camp had even played their senior seasons of high school yet, he said it didn’t take long to realize Whitfield’s potential impact.

“When we were there, he gave a general basis of what a coverage looks like, the simple stuff: what the coverage looks like, what’s a man, what’s a zone, how to play it,” Zaire said. “Being with Coach LaFleur, we understand the techniques of the D-line and how they align and what that means when they’re coming and how we protect it. The film study is definitely more advanced because this is the offense we’re running. You could run a million different things just to understand what a defense is.”
Malik Zaire Can Also Boast Experience With George Whitfield

 

[zelezo vlk]

Why would some refuse to let their quarterbacks develop?

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[PANDFAN]

Why would some refuse to let their quarterbacks develop?

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could just be a control type thing, differences in philosophy etc

 

[Luckylucci]

LaFleur has already drawn rave reviews from the pair of quarterbacks as well as from Kelly, who values his six years of experience in the National Football League.

“It’s kind of different doing a lot of film study because of the coaching differences,” Zaire said. “We have Coach LaFleur looking at different stuff and has a different way of attacking it. Everybody has a different style of attacking it.”
Some coaches — like Auburn’s Gus Malzahn — refuse to let their players work with Whitfield during college football’s offseason, but Kelly seems to embrace the summer tutoring. Golson has hinted that he will travel west to reunite with Whitfield before reporting back to Notre Dame for summer workouts.
lthough Zaire admits his work with Whitfield was at a rather rudimentary level considering none of the quarterbacks at the camp had even played their senior seasons of high school yet, he said it didn’t take long to realize Whitfield’s potential impact.

“When we were there, he gave a general basis of what a coverage looks like, the simple stuff: what the coverage looks like, what’s a man, what’s a zone, how to play it,” Zaire said. “Being with Coach LaFleur, we understand the techniques of the D-line and how they align and what that means when they’re coming and how we protect it. The film study is definitely more advanced because this is the offense we’re running. You could run a million different things just to understand what a defense is.”
Malik Zaire Can Also Boast Experience With George Whitfield

I have read so many positive recruit interactions with LaFleur that I'm starting to think this was another one of those great Kelly hires. I think in a year or two we'll look back on this decision and applaud it the same way we do with Heistand.

 

[koonja]

I have read so many positive recruit interactions with LaFleur that I'm starting to think this was another one of those great Kelly hires. I think in a year or two we'll look back on this decision and applaud it the same way we do with Heistand.

You mean Longo.

But seriously, agree, we need to keep him now.

 

[blueNDgold44]

When do Freshmen report?

 

[CanadalovesND]

When do Freshmen report?

Monday June 16 is the first day of classes. Usually, the incoming freshman are on campus a week before classes in a way of getting acclimated to their new surroundings. Obviously, however, the exact date of their arrivals will vary from student-athlete to student-athlete.

 

[PANDFAN]

Brian Kelly was pleased with Notre Dame's draft showing two weeks ago. His comments before the draft had suggested that he was less-than-pleased with every former Irish player in the draft.

But Kelly says that there is a middle ground, as he is happy to help his players pursue the NFL, so long as the allure of the pro dream doesn't cloud their judgments while in school.

[+] EnlargeNotre Dame
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Stephon Tuitt drew some ire from Brian Kelly for his NFL draft decision.
"It was a matter of priorities for me. It was just a matter of making sure that the priorities were placed in the right perspective," Kelly said. "I have no problem talking about the NFL and making sure that it's the dream, if that's your dream, that we keep that dream alive for you, and that we provide you every opportunity to get there. I just felt that maybe that the priority maybe got pushed out of what I believe to be the pecking order."

That pecking order, he said, is a degree, a playing career with the Irish and then, if everything breaks right, the NFL.

The Irish's eight draftees this season featured three underclassmen, with Kelly clearly irked by the decisions of juniors Stephon Tuitt, Troy Niklas and George Atkinson III to turn pro. He mentioned as much on national signing day, saying that he needed to do a better job of educating his players on the NFL, and that he would have a serious problem recruiting someone whose intentions were to spend just three years in school.

Kelly's intent, he explained recently, is the same as others in his position. Notre Dame, after all, made waves this past season by sending top recruiting targets "Pots of Gold" -- 477 pieces of mail to represent what had been the school's number of NFL draft picks.

More on Notre Dame
Notre Dame For full coverage of the Irish, check out the Notre Dame blog, part of ESPN's College Football Nation. Blog
More:
• Notre Dame's clubhouse page
• ESPN Chicago's college blog

"If I feel like you're not playing for Notre Dame, and you're playing for your NFL career before you're playing for Notre Dame, that's where the rub is for me," Kelly said. "So if I get a little bit off on comments about a guy, it could be because that NFL is starting to overtake playing for Notre Dame. It's not just me, though. Every college football coach in the BCS has got to deal with the same thing, just have to be very careful with it, you have to be very good with your players about it.

"But it's a fine line, it's a balancing act. You want what's best for your player, right? Because you want his career to continue and have a chance to play in the NFL, but you want what's best for Notre Dame, too. So you have to be very careful with the two. I just don't want that to be NFL, then Notre Dame."

Coming off the Irish's best draft turnout since they had 10 players picked in the 1994 draft, Kelly -- who has now had four first-rounders picked at Notre Dame -- sees the pro results as validation of what he's been building during his five-year run in South Bend, Ind. Only LSU (nine) had more players drafted this year than Notre Dame, which was tied with Alabama for the second-best showing two weeks ago.

"I think more than anything else is that we're developing our players. That the players are developing, and I think the NFL really likes the program and what we're doing within the program," Kelly said. "They like the way that they're being developed from a mental and physical standpoint. They believe that they can take the rigors of being in the NFL, from the year-round conditioning, from the way we practice, from the way they prepare. I think they look at it in totality, they see everything.

"And look, that doesn't mean you're going to have eight guys every year, but when they see a guy that they think can play, they're going to take a shot at a kid from Notre Dame.
espn

 

[Kaneyoufeelit]

5Dimes posted win totals. Puts ND at 9.5 http://kegsneggsblog.com/2014/05/22/new-college-football-win-totals-posted-at-5dimes/


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[irishfan]

5Dimes posted win totals. Puts ND at 9.5 New college football win totals posted at 5Dimes | Kegs 'n Eggs Blog


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Awesome! Love when they post these.

My initial reactions:

Auburn 9.5 seems a bit low. I'd take the over.
Baylor 9.5 def seems low. I'd be very confident taking the over.
Indiana 5.5. I think they finally get to 6 wins.
UNC 7.5. Def like the over.
Penn State 8.5. Def under.

 

[Damion704]

The big 2014 Notre Dame football preview: Act II for Kelly (and Golson) - SBNation.com

 

[Huntr]

2 things. 1st, I don't think laying the O/U on Irish '14 wins at 9.5 is all that mysterious/insightful/surprising. Wouldn't pretty much everyone who knows anything about this team and the teams they're up against next yr have it pegged there?


2nd. BC fans are almost as pathetic as Michigan fans. If there were EVER a FB program that rode on another's popularity, it's the F'ing eagles on ND's jock. stfu and gtfo

 

[NDdomer2]

College football live discussing if ND were in sec. One guys says we go 6-6 in sec.

Also mention Golson, Daniels, and Smith (and potential sec dpoy) as starters on any team in Sec.

 

[ThePiombino]

I know this is a repeat, but anyone else catch CFL today on ESPN - they did a segment on where ND would rank in the SEC and the common consensus on the panel was they would be an afterthought. The most glowing review was 4th,5th,6th best. Joe Schad had them at #8. Dafuq? Jessie Palmer did acknowledge ND has a lot of talent with players who would not just start in the SEC, but excel. However, they don't have the depth to seriously compete and would likely be a .500 team. Dafuq?!

 

[Buster Bluth]

Stop watching ESPN.

 

[Damion704]

FAK ESPN. Its like all the "experts" Know less than us. That is how I feel when I hear ESPN talk about ND. I wanted to punch that jack ass host.