General team info

[PANDFAN]

oh geez... I was really starting to think ND might make it to the opening kickoff without major drama for the first time seemingly in years... now there's MORE to come?? Or is Loy's comment not to be taken sarcastically...

he was saying GOOD NEWS

 

[ACamp1900]

he was saying GOOD NEWS

Okay, thanks, I guess in the context of this morning it seemed he was sarcastically eluding to more bad news...

 

[PANDFAN]

Okay, thanks, I guess in the context of this morning it seemed he was sarcastically eluding to more bad news...

it was in response to someone asking about good news and if the silent commit was going to announce..he just responded w/ what i posted above..so its all good

 

[BobbyMac]

Solid journalism... Not. Why are people such tools? Why would UHND waste bandwidth with this garbage? I should never have clicked on that link so early in the morning. This day's ruined unless the Irish get a DE commit.

Notre Dame's Academic 'Risks' are Self-Inflicted - Notre Dame Football | UHND.com

.

 

[arrowryan]

The game against Navy in 2016 will be played in Jacksonville. Good for recruiting

REPORT: Location Set For Notre Dame, Navy 2016 Game

 

[FLDomer]

The game against Navy in 2016 will be played in Jacksonville. Good for recruiting

REPORT: Location Set For Notre Dame, Navy 2016 Game

I will be there for sure!!!

 

[BobbyMac]

The game against Navy in 2016 will be played in Jacksonville. Good for recruiting

REPORT: Location Set For Notre Dame, Navy 2016 Game

This was supposed to happen in San Diego but I heard that the ongoing problems with the stadium and the Chargers caused Jacksonville to move ahead and eventually grab the game. As much as I would have liked an extra game I could drive to, it's better to have the game on the FLorida - Georgia line than in San Diego. Every game ND can play in it's recruits backyards is a victory.

Now they have to fill it.

Along the same lines, I think a Shamrock game in Anaheim against Cal would be a winner too.

.

 

[gmnysdad]

Another thing that I am sure impacted the decision is that there are three naval bases within 50 miles of the stadium. I am sure that the Naval Academy likes that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[texbender]

The game against Navy in 2016 will be played in Jacksonville. Good for recruiting

REPORT: Location Set For Notre Dame, Navy 2016 Game

Agree, good choice for the game to keep Irish in full view of recruits in fertile territory. Maybe future games with Navy in San Diego, Seattle, Cleveland?

 

[md_bennett]

Another thing that I am sure impacted the decision is that there are three naval bases within 50 miles of the stadium. I am sure that the Naval Academy likes that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Its already being talked about as a Navy home game down here. It's going to be a huge one for Jax with all of the other things being done around the stadium to improve the area. Shad Khan taking over the Jags has been great for seeing things like this at Everbank. Now - when can I buy my tickets?!

 

[BGIF]

Another thing that I am sure impacted the decision is that there are three naval bases within 50 miles of the stadium. I am sure that the Naval Academy likes that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It IS a Navy HOME game according to the schedule. Odd years ND; even years USNA.

 

[ResLife Hero]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Are We Better or Worse: The 2015 Notre Dame Secondary <a href="http://t.co/l3VPcWXwg2">http://t.co/l3VPcWXwg2</a> <a href="http://t.co/cgtbxFi6uu">pic.twitter.com/cgtbxFi6uu</a></p>— One Foot Down (@OneFootDown) <a href="https://twitter.com/OneFootDown/status/618389029332078592">July 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The shuffling of the depth at safety and nickel corner should be interesting with hopefully a surprise or two. The team desperately needs a third safety to prove they can be the starter in 2016 with a strong 2015 and the staff has to like what they saw out of Farley last year with the ability to use Watkins and/or the perfectly built top freshman Shaun Crawford at nickel, as well.

Bottom line, the secondary has some nice pieces but not a whole lot of room for error. The recruiting has been okay and the productivity outside of the top two corners not great. If the team remains inside the Top 15 by the end of the season they'll have answered a lot of questions in a very positive manner.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I'm REALLY counting on Sebastian's veteran savvy to provide stability. If he does, then we are just an injury free season from being the best DBackfield in the country.

That's my Green Koolaid view, and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

It will be interesting to see how much the biggest change in the defensive backfield for this year impacts the unit's overall performance -- how will Todd Lyght affect the mix?

 

[ResLife Hero]

It will be interesting to see how much the biggest change in the defensive backfield for this year impacts the unit's overall performance -- how will Todd Lyght affect the mix?

Lyght, Denson and Gilmore all have me excited about seeing development in those position groups. Each seems much different than their predecessor.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Lyght, Denson and Gilmore all have me excited about seeing development in those position groups. Each seems much different than their predecessor.

What ways do you see?

Start of the list :

• Lyght and Denson seem to be selling ND in a better light than ever, maybe just by their presence in the program.
• All three seem to bring more knowledge and energy to their position group.
• All three seem to be building extremely high quality and effective relationships with their players.
• All three seem to be as technically knowledgeable and as good of instructors as I have seen. Particularly for being brand new to the staff.
• All three seem to work well in concert with the rest of the staff. Add in Mike Sanford, and this group seems to have made a buy-in that is turning this staff into the most tightly integrated group at ND under Kelly.
• I have not heard one negative from any of these guys, or about any of these guys.
• And, I think Elston is much better, more in his element with the linebackers!

Please continue, as I am sure there is more.

 

[ResLife Hero]

What ways do you see?

Start of the list :

• Lyght and Denson seem to be selling ND in a better light than ever, maybe just by their presence in the program.
• All three seem to bring more knowledge and energy to their position group.
• All three seem to be building extremely high quality and effective relationships with their players.
• All three seem to be as technically knowledgeable and as good of instructors as I have seen. Particularly for being brand new to the staff.
• All three seem to work well in concert with the rest of the staff. Add in Mike Sanford, and this group seems to have made a buy-in that is turning this staff into the most tightly integrated group at ND under Kelly.
• I have not heard one negative from any of these guys, or about any of these guys.
• And, I think Elston is much better, more in his element with the linebackers!

Please continue, as I am sure there is more.

This was the biggest factor for me. From some of their Spring Practice interviews, Gilmore made it sound like he was surprised how much raw talent we had and made a lot of references to needing to clean up technique. I expect to see guys developing secondary moves and being able to better leverage their athleticism and size which should also help with the tricky teams we play like Navy and GTech.

Lyght had similar comments about rawness in his group, and I like the fact that he was demoing the drills and speaking first-hand during the coaching snippets in the practice videos. His experience with pure-man coverage should also benefit our DBs.

Denson seems to be incredibly charismatic, and the players/recruits seem to be responding well to him. I think Alford was a solid coach so I don't mean to belittle that, but Denson is inheriting a nice stable of backs, and I think he'll have them locked in. Of the 3, he's the biggest wildcard to me, but I don't see the RB unit taking a step back this season.

Other reasons I expect improvement:
Fresh blood/perspective to bring new ideas to the players
More refined coaching responsibilities
Relating to players as guys who did it at the highest level before and getting buy in

 

[gkIrish]

Playing Navy at Everbank Field in Jacksonville in 2016.

Not playing Navy in the cold....

 

[irishfan]

Playing Navy at Everbank Field in Jacksonville in 2016.

Not playing Navy in the cold....

How is their stadium? Do we have any Jags fans here? I feel like we tend to play in NFL stadiums of more "classic" teams than the Jaguars...again, no offense to any Jags fans if you're out there....

 

[vinnymac2402]

How is their stadium? Do we have any Jags fans here? I feel like we tend to play in NFL stadiums of more "classic" teams than the Jaguars...again, no offense to any Jags fans if you're out there....

Anytime you can play a game on the Florida - Georgia line. With all that talent around to watch you just cant pass it up.

 

[BobbyMac]

How is their stadium? Do we have any Jags fans here? I feel like we tend to play in NFL stadiums of more "classic" teams than the Jaguars...again, no offense to any Jags fans if you're out there....

Jacksonville is a huge Navy town with both port and airbase facilities. That's why they were also talking about San Diego, it's the continental home of the Pacific Fleet. That game will happen in '18 or '20.

.

 

[bkess8]

Jacksonville is a huge Navy town with both port and airbase facilities. That's why they were also talking about San Diego, it's the continental home of the Pacific Fleet. That game will happen in '18 or '20.

.

I pray that I am still stationed in San Diego when they come to play here!

 

[Andy in Sactown]

Jacksonville is a huge Navy town with both port and airbase facilities. That's why they were also talking about San Diego, it's the continental home of the Pacific Fleet. That game will happen in '18 or '20.

.

Eh, I'll give you the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, but the majority stationed there are students that don't reside in the area after training (it's "air-dale" A-schools all over the place). The port is quite small also (relatively speaking) and is home port to the U.S. 4th fleet, which consists mostly of smaller ships involved in counter drug operations in the Caribbean (again, relative) with some South American humanitarian mission responsibilities as well.

Now if we're talking what I consider to be a real large Navy town, San Diego would have been a nice option (as mentioned) on the surface, but where are they going to play? Qualcomm's (formerly Jack Murphy) incredibly outdated and Petco Park only seats 41,164 (but is absolutely pristine). Chargers aren't building a new one; if they can they're off to LA. San Diego State? It could barely contain Hoke's fat ass.

Norfolk? Not an expert here, but if there's a venue appropriate and close enough, I'd love to play in the Virginia's. Maybe an east coast sailor has some input here.

Newport? Bremington? Don't think so. Honolulu (actual home of Pacific Fleet)? Don't think the Navy wants to foot that travel bill unless they're on a cruise one way to a season opener; again probably not ever going to happen.

But the number one reason the phrase "Navy town" doesn't intimidate me is the Naval Academy represents the officers that have or had appointments there. Us enlisted folk out number our Naval Academy graduates by an order of magnitude and in most instances there is no love lost between us. Something about being systematically taught to have a mental dissidence to allow them to order us to our deaths without hesitation and a culture of treating your people like shit for their own advancement (mostly command officers). NOTHING like my mustang officers. Fucking love those guys.

I root against those assholes every game on their schedule. Twice as hard against Army or Air Force.

Not worried about playing them anywhere, Navy town or not. Not this year, not for the foreseeable future.

 

[zelezo vlk]

I think playing in Jax is alright. It should help recruiting the Southeast and any help there is great. BUT...

I am way more excited about the rumors of playing in Rome in 2019 or so.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[BGIF]

Anytime you can play a game on the Florida - Georgia line. With all that talent around to watch you just cant pass it up.

ND and Navy have played 87 years, every one since 1927 BUT ND has never played in Navy Marine Memorial Stadium in Annapolis which only seats 34,000 NOR in Thompson Stadium which seated 12,000 and Navy used from 1913 to 1958.

Navy and ND were both national powers and recruited nationally when the series started. So they both were amenable to playing in big stadiums in front of more fans with more visibility. The locales were attractive to ND and Navy. Most have a large population of ND fans and are sited near a Naval Base, current or former, with a large contingent of active duty sailors and marines, as well as reserves and retirees.

ND and Navy have played in 7 states,
IN (South Bend)
IL (Chicago Soldier Field)
OH (Cleveland)
MD (Baltimore Memorial, Babe Ruth Stadium, Memorial Stadium, Raljon Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, Landover FedEx Field)
FL (Orlando Citrus Bowl and Miami Orange Bowl)
NJ (East Rutherford Giants Stadium/The Meadowlands), PA (Philadelphia Municipal Staidum/JFK, Veterans Stadium)

and Ireland (Emerald Isle Classic Croke Park and Aviva Stadium)

Jacksonville is now on the list. San Diego has been discussed for years and will happen. Seattle is possible.

Port closures have knocked out most of the Gulf Coast, there are retirees but not many active service personnel. New Orleans has the Dome and recruiting base but limited active duty personnel. Honolulu has swabs and jarheads but lacks a large stadium, many recruits and is a long way for both teams to travel.

 

[BobbyMac]

I'm no expert but a 10 second search produced the following: The city of Jacksonville reports 50,000+ military and civilian jobs at the 6 local Naval facilities and 108,900 total jobs that support the Naval presence. Besides Norfolk, San Diego and Honolulu I'd guess it's the largest Navy town in the country.

Jacksonville makes sense because of the Naval presence, an NFL stadium and it's location in a recruiting hotbed. San Diego would be ok too. Qualcomm is fine to play a game in plus its right off the 15 so recruits from Inland Empire can easily get there.

Eh, I'll give you the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, but the majority stationed there are students that don't reside in the area after training (it's "air-dale" A-schools all over the place). The port is quite small also (relatively speaking) and is home port to the U.S. 4th fleet, which consists mostly of smaller ships involved in counter drug operations in the Caribbean (again, relative) with some South American humanitarian mission responsibilities as well.

Now if we're talking what I consider to be a real large Navy town, San Diego would have been a nice option (as mentioned) on the surface, but where are they going to play? Qualcomm's (formerly Jack Murphy) incredibly outdated and Petco Park only seats 41,164 (but is absolutely pristine). Chargers aren't building a new one; if they can they're off to LA. San Diego State? It could barely contain Hoke's fat ass.

Norfolk? Not an expert here, but if there's a venue appropriate and close enough, I'd love to play in the Virginia's. Maybe an east coast sailor has some input here.

Newport? Bremington? Don't think so. Honolulu (actual home of Pacific Fleet)? Don't think the Navy wants to foot that travel bill unless they're on a cruise one way to a season opener; again probably not ever going to happen.

But the number one reason the phrase "Navy town" doesn't intimidate me is the Naval Academy represents the officers that have or had appointments there. Us enlisted folk out number our Naval Academy graduates by an order of magnitude and in most instances there is no love lost between us. Something about being systematically taught to have a mental dissidence to allow them to order us to out deaths without hesitation and a culture of treating your people like shit for their own advancement (mostly command officers). NOTHING like my mustang officers. Fucking love those guys.

I root against those assholes every game on their schedule. Twice as hard against Army or Air Force.

Not worried about playing them anywhere, Navy town or not. Not this year, not for the foreseeable future.

 

[BGIF]

I'm no expert but a 10 second search produced the following: The city of Jacksonville reports 50,000+ military and civilian jobs at the 6 local Naval facilities and 108,900 total jobs that support the Naval presence. Besides Norfolk, San Diego and Honolulu I'd guess it's the largest Navy town in the country.

Jacksonville makes sense because of the Naval presence, an NFL stadium and it's location in a recruiting hotbed. San Diego would be ok too. Qualcomm is fine to play a game in plus its right off the 15 so recruits from Inland Empire can easily get there.

Kings Bay GA is less than 40 miles from Jacksonville. Naval Bases like Army Posts tend to have clusters of retirees around for medical career and BX/PX services.


Andy, The Hampton Roads area does have a large naval population. I have retired Navy relatives in the area. They're all Redskins fans. So when the Skins move down to VA they'll be a game in VA but as long as there in the DC/MD area that will be the venue.

I hear your caste system comments and your distance comments but I've seen rates at games as well as officers and chiefs. The officers obviously have more disposable $$$ for tickets, lodging and transportation then EMs but sorry, I'm an ND subway and I drive 13 hours to see home games. My retired Navy nephew makes NYC/East Rutherford from VA BCH in half that time. He makes Philly in 4. Baltimore and any MD location are like going to Skins games for them. In almost 4 decades of going to parties at my Virginia Beach sisters I've meet a ton of Captains, Commanders, and a few Admirals and also a bunch of CPOs and rates. I understand fraternization problems at a neighborhood party but in a 70,000 seat stadium that shouldn't be a problem. Obviously games closer to Annapolis/DC are going to have a larger officer pool and probably fewer seats available for the EMs.

Base Closures, as I noted in a previous post, have reduced naval population in WA state but there is still a presence ( I looked at the Home Fleet Ports when making the prior post). There are enough Navy "family" plus a NFL stadium in the Seattle area.

I think we agree that travel to Hawaii is possible but not probable. It's more than twice the flight time than Ireland and ND is not keen on travel there due to jet lag and increased lost classtime. Both ND games at UHI were supposed to be laughers yet both Holtz and Davie were lucky to salvage wins there and the players are messed up the for the next week's game. Plenty of USN fans and Aloha Stadium can acommodate 50K small but only 7K less than the ND's PU game in Lucas Stadium.

ND v USNA games since 2002 haven't been last than 70 until last year when Navy drew only 37K to 79K seat FedEx Stadium last year. The game was a night game, 8 pm and there was cold rain. Navy claimed there were 50K advanced sale but almost 15,000 no shows and the weather probably put a hit on the closer in game time USN and ND ticket buying crowd.

According to an article on the game there was sticker shock for the game. Lower sidelines tickets were $125 at FedEx where they were only $75 at M&T Bank Stadium. Apparently parking, food and drink were also significantly higher adding to the sticker. I had intended to go the the ND Army game when they played in the New Yankee Stadium until I learned the ticket pricing, food, and accomodations. With airfare the trip was just too expensive so I can relate to that issue

Here's an article on the FedEx experience.

Navy-Notre Dame game drew only 36,807 to FedEx Field - Capital Gazette

 

[ACamp1900]

ND has NEVER played in Annapolis?? Wow, I'd have lost that trivia question...

 

[Buster Bluth]

I would love to see Notre Dame play in Cleveland or Seattle.

 

[Cackalacky]

Eh, I'll give you the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, but the majority stationed there are students that don't reside in the area after training (it's "air-dale" A-schools all over the place). The port is quite small also (relatively speaking) and is home port to the U.S. 4th fleet, which consists mostly of smaller ships involved in counter drug operations in the Caribbean (again, relative) with some South American humanitarian mission responsibilities as well.

Now if we're talking what I consider to be a real large Navy town, San Diego would have been a nice option (as mentioned) on the surface, but where are they going to play? Qualcomm's (formerly Jack Murphy) incredibly outdated and Petco Park only seats 41,164 (but is absolutely pristine). Chargers aren't building a new one; if they can they're off to LA. San Diego State? It could barely contain Hoke's fat ass.

Norfolk? Not an expert here, but if there's a venue appropriate and close enough, I'd love to play in the Virginia's. Maybe an east coast sailor has some input here.

Newport? Bremington? Don't think so. Honolulu (actual home of Pacific Fleet)? Don't think the Navy wants to foot that travel bill unless they're on a cruise one way to a season opener; again probably not ever going to happen.

But the number one reason the phrase "Navy town" doesn't intimidate me is the Naval Academy represents the officers that have or had appointments there. Us enlisted folk out number our Naval Academy graduates by an order of magnitude and in most instances there is no love lost between us. Something about being systematically taught to have a mental dissidence to allow them to order us to our deaths without hesitation and a culture of treating your people like shit for their own advancement (mostly command officers). NOTHING like my mustang officers. Fucking love those guys.

I root against those assholes every game on their schedule. Twice as hard against Army or Air Force.

Not worried about playing them anywhere, Navy town or not. Not this year, not for the foreseeable future.

Doesnt Jacksonville have a submarine fleet stationed there? I am pretty sure the subs that were stationed in Charleston Navy Base and Naval Weapons Station/SPAWAR were sent to Jacksonville.