"ISD Intel"

[Irishman77]

Kirk Merritt!!!

Last week when Alford said he was going to see the best rb in the country...was it Kirk?

 

[Luckylucci]

good lord. i was sitting here thinking no effing way.

Yea that would be quite the goal now wouldn't it. Reps for the good laugh.

 

[Cackalacky]

Does anyone really see us bringing in 100 guys from '15 class? seems like a lofty goal.

All the 100. Yup! 15 4-star walk-ons. #bama.

 

[Luckylucci]

Kirk Merritt!!!

Last week when Alford said he was going to see the best rb in the country...was it Kirk?

Its really hard to not get excited about that news. I'm going to hold back for now but I just watched some of his tape and he is sooooooooo good!

 

[woolybug25]

Its really hard to not get excited about that news. I'm going to hold back for now but I just watched some of his tape and he is sooooooooo good!

Yeah, i'm going to temper my excitement until we actually see him make the visit, then only if he leaves with positive things to say about it.

 

[WakeUpEchoes]

Also Porter Gustin has casts on both his hands in his film because he broke his thumb playing QB (a safety jammed it with helmet), then broke his other thumb tackling as a LB. Lied to his coach all year and played through it. Can we please offer this kid?

 

[dublinirish]

Also Porter Gustin has casts on both his hands in his film because he broke his thumb playing QB (a safety jammed it with helmet), then broke his other thumb tackling as a LB. Lied to his coach all year and played through it. Can we please offer this kid?

I thought they were oven gloves. I have already nicknamed "The Baker" because he is cookin' up vol-au-vents of pain and destruction.

 

[koonja]

Great intel today.

ND wants to see Eason throw before they offer. May come to a camp. More pro style than DT.

Expect ND to be in it with J Thompson.

Irish Invasion is focusing on ND top 100 targets for 2015 and top 50 for 2016.
Adonis Thomas and Josh Adams were confirmed as a visitors.

ND offer was huge for Robert Washington. May end up committing to a school sooner than he anticipated.

Bolu Olorunfunmi will take an OV this fall.

ISD expects decisions from Hilliard and E Taylor within the next month. Both in good shape, Hilliard probably a bit better shape to give his pledge to ND. Taylor is very quiet and it is tough to gauge his leaning.

Positive movement with Kendall Sheffield.

ND TAMU and LSU standing out to Kirk Merritt. ND loves him.

Desmond Fitzpatrick visiting soon with his mother.
2017 DE Corey Malone Hatcher visiting soon. Kid is 6 3 227 and a beast in the weight room already. Family puts high emphasis on academics.

247 must be behind on that, because they have 'ND as cool', and Alabama, TCU, Texas A/M, LSU, Ole Miss, Texas Tech, and ASU as 'warm'.

Not getting my hopes up with him. We don't recruit Louisianna well (maybe he knows Tillery?).

 

[woolybug25]

Also Porter Gustin has casts on both his hands in his film because he broke his thumb playing QB (a safety jammed it with helmet), then broke his other thumb tackling as a LB. Lied to his coach all year and played through it. Can we please offer this kid?

I want him to meet with our staff to answer some questions that need to be answered first. He seems like he could be a great player, but there has to be a fit there.

Why would lying to your coach about injuries be a good thing?

 

[Huntr]

Positive movement with Kendall Sheffield.

 

[NDdomer2]

I want him to meet with our staff to answer some questions that need to be answered first. He seems like he could be a great player, but there has to be a fit there.

Why would lying to your coach about injuries be a good thing?

just me, buy my take was him referencing how bad this kid wants to play. No we dont want a kid lying to the coach but I would love to play next to a guy that has that kind of determination.

 

[WakeUpEchoes]

I want him to meet with our staff to answer some questions that need to be answered first. He seems like he could be a great player, but there has to be a fit there.

Why would lying to your coach about injuries be a good thing?

Yeah, don't really have an answer for you there. Maybe he thought he just needed to try and say he could play, and assumed the coach wouldn't let him anyway. No idea. The info came from his coach and he didn't seem upset about it.

 

[woolybug25]

just me, buy my take was him referencing how bad this kid wants to play. No we dont want a kid lying to the coach but I would love to play next to a guy that has that kind of determination.

Yeah... but if you are BK, why would that be a positive? Sure, it's nice to see that a kid is willing to play hurt (ie hurt vs injured), but he still lied to his coach. What if it would have led to a more severe injury, one that could have cost him his season or career? How does that help the team?

I think it's common sense that BK would want to do his due diligence on this. He'll want to know if this is just a kid that loves to play the game or a kid that goes rogue depending on what he feels is best for him personally with disregard for coaches wishes or whats best for the team.

I'm by no means accusing of him being a bad kid, but due diligence here is needed. Especially paired with the fact that the staff will need to know what his plans are for his LDS misson. I wouldn't want us to blindly offer him without getting answers to these important questions.

 

[NDdomer2]

Yeah... but if you are BK, why would that be a positive? Sure, it's nice to see that a kid is willing to play hurt (ie hurt vs injured), but he still lied to his coach. What if it would have led to a more severe injury, one that could have cost him his season or career? How does that help the team?

I think it's common sense that BK would want to do his due diligence on this. He'll want to know if this is just a kid that loves to play the game or a kid that goes rogue depending on what he feels is best for him personally with disregard for coaches wishes or whats best for the team.

I'm by no means accusing of him being a bad kid, but due diligence here is needed. Especially paired with the fact that the staff will need to know what his plans are for his LDS misson. I wouldn't want us to blindly offer him without getting answers to these important questions.

yeah im not questioning the evaluation before offering. And like I said, I don't want a kid who lies to his coach.

However, I don't want a kid who doesn't know the difference between injured and hurt.

You play hurt, you don't play injured. I think majority of LB's in the country are going to be back on that field with a bum thumb.

This can all be taken any way, but a kid that seemed to be putting the team before himself, isn't a bad thing IMO.

All that said. I have a good feeling that he would be getting better care at ND than he is now currently. Going to be hard for him to hide some injury.

 

[irishfan]

I want him to meet with our staff to answer some questions that need to be answered first. He seems like he could be a great player, but there has to be a fit there.

Why would lying to your coach about injuries be a good thing?

Because he wants to get recruited, and I'm assuming he is by far their team's best player. I would expect 99% of kids to do the same thing.

 

[woolybug25]

Because he wants to get recruited, and I'm assuming he is by far their team's best player. I would expect 99% of kids to do the same thing.

Translate that to BK:

"Because he wants to get drafted".

If your coaches cant trust your judgement, then that will eventually be a problem.

 

[irishfan]

Translate that to BK:

"Because he wants to get drafted".

If your coaches cant trust your judgement, then that will eventually be a problem.

I agree if your performance is really costing the team, but we've had so many guys play through injuries just in the past couple years (Rees this past year was banged up, Daniels was seriously injured, was it Lombard or Watt with the PCL?, Nix was hurt most of the year, Tuitt had the ankle injury, Day's had more injuries than I can count and seems to always reinjure himself coming back too soon, Jackson's shoulder in 2012). BK seems perfectly fine with letting kids play through injuries if they think they can perform.

This kid is by far his team's best player. If Te'o had two broken thumbs in 2012, it would shock me if he missed any time.

 

[GoIrish41]

Maybe he didn't lie to his coach at all ... maybe the coach asked him how he was feeling and when he held his hands up to show him his broken thumbs, the coach thought he was signaling two-thumbs up.

I'm one of those who thinks him wanting to do whatever it took to get on the field to help the team win is a good thing. I can understand the lying to the coach thing, but it isn't like he was skipping classes and lying about that. What kid in his position wouldn't twist the truth a little to get on the field?

 

[Me2SouthBend]

I agree if your performance is really costing the team, but we've had so many guys play through injuries just in the past couple years (Rees this past year was banged up, Daniels was seriously injured, was it Lombard or Watt with the PCL?, Nix was hurt most of the year, Tuitt had the ankle injury, Day's had more injuries than I can count and seems to always reinjure himself coming back too soon, Jackson's shoulder in 2012). BK seems perfectly fine with letting kids play through injuries if they think they can perform.

This kid is by far his team's best player. If Te'o had two broken thumbs in 2012, it would shock me if he missed any time.

Yeah, Tommys escapability was hampered due to an injury and the shoulder thing caused him to lose some zip on some of his passes. It was clear he was dealing w injuries.

 

[woolybug25]

I agree if your performance is really costing the team, but we've had so many guys play through injuries just in the past couple years (Rees this past year was banged up, Daniels was seriously injured, was it Lombard or Watt with the PCL?, Nix was hurt most of the year, Tuitt had the ankle injury, Day's had more injuries than I can count and seems to always reinjure himself coming back too soon, Jackson's shoulder in 2012). BK seems perfectly fine with letting kids play through injuries if they think they can perform.

This kid is by far his team's best player. If Te'o had two broken thumbs in 2012, it would shock me if he missed any time.

This isnt about whether it was right to play injured, it's about him lying to his coach about it. When you are on a team with other people depending on you, it' not your decision to decide whether or an injury is significant or not.

It's his right to not play if he feels an injury he has is significant, regardless of what the coach says, but it's not okay for him to lie to his coach in order to play.

We all agree there is a difference from "playing hurt or playing injured", but that isn't my point. If he lied to his coach about his injury, then BK should hear why. Because that will be unacceptable behavior at Notre Dame.

 

[NDdomer2]

 

[koonja]

I have no problem with it.

In HS, a 4-star athlete can still dominate if he can handle the pain, which he obviously could.

In college, there's too much parity and if it was truly bothering him, it would show on the field and the coach would hold him out if it's preventing him from playing effectively.

The kid wanted to play along side his best friends and he could handle the pain and him playing made his team better for it (not to mention, it sounds like the coach understands).

I don't think it's indicative of a character flaw that is going to cause problems at Notre Dame.

 

[woolybug25]

I have no problem with it.

In HS, a 4-star athlete can still dominate if he can handle the pain, which he obviously could.

In college, there's too much parity and if it was truly bothering him, it would show on the field and the coach would hold him out if it's preventing him from playing effectively.

The kid wanted to play along side his best friends and he could handle the pain and him playing made his team better for it (not to mention, it sounds like the coach understands).

I don't think it's indicative of a character flaw that is going to cause problems at Notre Dame.

So if he came to Notre Dame and played with immense migraines without telling BK about it, then assuming it would have been treateable, ends up having a Spond type end to his career... you would be ok with that?

All of the time and energy the staff put into recruiting him, developing him, developing strategy with him playing in mind. What a waste of time and effort. Not to mention the possible liability to the school. He would be letting the coaches down and his teammates down simply for his own selfish pride (again... hypothetically, that's why BK needs to talk to him to find out what kind of kid he is).

You don't lie to your coaches... it's a golden rule in sports.

 

[irishfan]

Daniels in theory "lied" to the coaches then by trying to play through his injury this past year. I have no problem with that. Better to play hurt than get labeled as injury prone IMO

 

[koonja]

So if he came to Notre Dame and played with immense migraines without telling BK about it, then assuming it would have been treateable, ends up having a Spond type end to his career... you would be ok with that?

All of the time and energy the staff put into recruiting him, developing him, developing strategy with him playing in mind. What a waste of time and effort. Not to mention the possible liability to the school. He would be letting the coaches down and his teammates down simply for his own selfish pride (again... hypothetically, that's why BK needs to talk to him to find out what kind of kid he is).

You don't lie to your coaches... it's a golden rule in sports.

That's a heck of an extreme to go through, IMO. Playing with a broken thumb (which is about as useless of a body part as there is to a DL/LB) is much different than playing through migranes. But to go along with your example, with the amount of information and awareness players have about concussions, I think he'd get checked out.

Even so, that hurts the player and his chances at the NFL, not Notre Dame. If they knew about it, they'd not play him at all (essentially ending his value to the team). If he played through, he'd play until he couldn't anymore. My point is, it doesn't really hurt the team, but could definately hurt the individual. It WOULD look bad for ND if he continued to play through migranes and they were unaware, but I don't think that's a fair assumption to make (that a smart kid wouldn't get checked out with the info we have about head injuries).

I agree with that. But I think 'lie' sounds much worse than when used in this particular context. This 'lie' is understandable IMO, considering he's far and away better than his competition and it's only thumbs.

I feel like I sounded like a moron in this reply. I'm on a conference call with two vendors yelling at each other, so I'm only half here, lol.

I'll take my lap after the call.

 

[NDdomer2]

stanford doesnt seem too worried

 

[Irish#1]

So if he came to Notre Dame and played with immense migraines without telling BK about it, then assuming it would have been treateable, ends up having a Spond type end to his career... you would be ok with that?

All of the time and energy the staff put into recruiting him, developing him, developing strategy with him playing in mind. What a waste of time and effort. Not to mention the possible liability to the school. He would be letting the coaches down and his teammates down simply for his own selfish pride (again... hypothetically, that's why BK needs to talk to him to find out what kind of kid he is).

You don't lie to your coaches... it's a golden rule in sports.

Obviously I don't know for sure, but I would bet the coach knew he had some type of problem with his hand. Even if his coach didn't know, I'm okay with him playing with a broken digit or two if he can tolerate the pain, which it appears he could.

 

[woolybug25]

That's a heck of an extreme to go through, IMO. Playing with a broken thumb (which is about as useless of a body part as there is to a DL/LB) is much different than playing through migranes. But to go along with your example, with the amount of information and awareness players have about concussions, I think he'd get checked out.

Even so, that hurts the player and his chances at the NFL, not Notre Dame. If they knew about it, they'd not play him at all (essentially ending his value to the team). If he played through, he'd play until he couldn't anymore. My point is, it doesn't really hurt the team, but could definately hurt the individual. It WOULD look bad for ND if he continued to play through migranes and they were unaware, but I don't think that's a fair assumption to make (that a smart kid wouldn't get checked out with the info we have about head injuries).

I agree with that. But I think 'lie' sounds much worse than when used in this particular context. This 'lie' is understandable IMO, considering he's far and away better than his competition and it's only thumbs.

I feel like I sounded like a moron in this reply. I'm on a conference call with two vendors yelling at each other, so I'm only half here, lol.

I'll take my lap after the call.

Ultimately, I'm not saying he did anything real bad here, but if i'm BK i'm finding out what the situation was. Especially since there are a couple other questions they need to talk about with him as well.

 

[woolybug25]

stanford doesnt seem too worried

He's also been to their campus for an unofficial. It took them 21 days after that visit to offer him.

I don't think BK has ever even spoke to this kid.

 

[NDdomer2]

He's also been to their campus for an unofficial. It took them 21 days after that visit to offer him.

I don't think BK has ever even spoke to this kid.

well we need to get that set up then! but regardless, they didn't find any issues with it. my guess is once coach does their due diligence this kid gets an offer.