Lets Break it all down....

[mrmiller8]

Everyone wants instant gratification, we live in America I understand that. Unfortunately a .500 team over the past four years rarely turns into a National Championship team. Just for ****s and giggles lets break down our significant players who are actually getting PT. These numbers are straight off ND's website. I will position by position and break down all the numbers, stats, and experience of each player.

As a side note for the veteran guys stats I used their career numbers and for the guys with little or no stats I used this years, I didn't have the time to combine all the stats but all the amount of starts should be right on.
QB
Dayne Crist JR - Starts- 3 Effeciency- 145.8 TD-INT 7-2 Yards - 851 For three starts I would say we got a keeper here, everyone knows the story.

Nate Montana JR - Starts - 0 Efficiency - 86.7 TD-INT 0-1 Yards - 104 Obviously not a deep position, but Montana could prove to be a capable backup if called upon. He is getting more reps in practice and now that Kelly knows Crist could have some injury issues he is preparing a backup and looks like Montana will be his #2

RB
Armando Allen SR - Starts - 19 YPC- 4.5 Yards - 1630 TD's - 7 Clearly one of the most experienced players on the roster but playing under Weis' Pass Happy offense, never really got a chance to shine

Robert Hughes SR - 13 TD's......Starts....who cares he hasn't hardly seen the field in the spread and probably won't.

Cierre Wood SO - Starts - 0 YPC - 4.4 Yards 85 TD's - 0 Loads of potential here and personally needs to see the field a little more often but will do a nice job as a return man as well. Should be Kelly's go to guy in the future with his skills

Jonas Gray JR Starts - 1 YPC - 3.8 Yards - 209 Haven't seen much of Gray this year but may get more carries down the stretch assuming we aren't down in a lot of games.

WR/TE
Kyle Rudolph JR - Starts 22 YPC - 11.4 Yards - 991 TD's - 7 Superstar talent and superhuman size, has great ball skills and will be a high draft pick. We can only hope he stays next year for a good run

Michael Floyd JR - Starts 17 YPC 16.5 Yards - 1743 TD's - 18 Another star who will be a high draft pick. Has some fumbling issues of late which has made us all a little angry. I think Floyd is very raw still when it comes to be a top level NFL receiver, he relies very much on his physical tools which will go a long way but I believe he will stay for that reason and a commitment to his education.

Theo Riddick SO - Starts - 2 YPC - 12.9 Yards - 180 TD's 1 A converted running back who has the potential to become a star receive with the right progression, but still very young and very raw when it comes to route running and being a true wide receiver

TJ Jones FR - Starts - 0 YPC - 15.5 Yards - 124 TD's - 2 Another young player with great talent and good ball skills. Have been very happy to see a true freshman step in and have some big plays. Lacks some size but makes up for it with speed and should be a key player in the future

Tyler Eifert SO - Starts - 0 Eifert will be the next receiver on the field after the previous four. Great talent and great size, a lot of similarities to Rudolph being 6-6 242. Should be a great target in the next couple of years

OL
Zack Martin SO - Starts - 3 Has looked pretty good the last three weeks. Shows a toughness about him has pretty good feet...so far

Chris Stewart SR - Starts - 25 6-5 351, a monster to try and get past should be a high second rounder or third round guy his only concern is his quickness and height (too tall for a guard) for being a guard.

Braxton Cave JR - Starts - 3 good size at 6-3 301 and should start to develop as a leader in the this offensive line soon. Kelly has mentioned he has been disappointed in Cave's play a little thus far so look for Cave to have some good games from here foward

Trevor Robinson JR - Starts 22 Solid player with good feet and a smart player

Taylor Dever SR - Starts 3 First year starter and has filled in nicely so far



So on the offensive side of the ball there are TWO players that we are certainly going to lose next year that had significant amount of starts, those being Stewart and Allen. Assuming that Rudolph and Floyd don't leave, I like next year already and am excited to see TEN guys that I listed with less than 3 starts or less progress. The correlation that I am trying to make is the experience of all these players that are currently playing and if you can show me another team in the nation that is dealing less experience I wouldn't be shocked but again they are not a veteran group of guys by any stretch of the imagination and have a lot of work and growing to do.

As my work day is almost over I will be post the defensive side of the ball tomorrow. Lets just say I have some spare time a couple of days a week at work.....

 

[GO IRISH!!!]

Did you mean Stewart and Allen?

 

[mrmiller8]

Did you mean Stewart and Allen?

already edited that...

 

[lookingdeadred]

Why assume Floyd and Rudolph will stay?

 

[IrishMoore1]

Defense is what we need to break down. Offense will take care of itself as the year goes on. We have serious problems on the defensive side of the ball, and could be the reason again we go .500

 

[Riddickulous]

Michael Floyd's lack of route running, as criticized by Kelly in the offseason, seems to be a recurring theme with Weis receivers.

Golden Tate was deactivated before Seattle's week one game against the San Francisco 49ers. Why? He wasn't running precision routes, something Kelly called Floyd out on in the spring.

The fact that Michael Floyd can dominate when relying solely on his physical and athletic ability is incredible. Just wait until he learns how to run smooth, precise routes correctly. He'll be unstoppable.

I think we're going to have an absolutely ridiculous offense in 2011. Dayne Crist has a year under his belt and an entire offseason to work on timing, accuracy, decision-making and all of his other issues which may even be fleshed out by the end of the season. Cierre Wood has that explosiveness, coupled with an offseason to work on vision and breaking tackles. Four offensive linemen return if Taylor Dever is granted a fifth year of eligibility (likely, IMO). The lone player lost on the line, Chris Stewart, has a player behind him in Chris Watt that almost beat him out in fall practice for the job. If Michael Floyd returns, we have a solid three-year starter with incredible physical skills. Theo Riddick will have a year of receiver experience and an offseason to improve on his game (his performance Saturday is encouraging, to say the least), and could be an explosive threat. TJ Jones will have another year to improve on typical freshman mistakes and will be even better. And if Kyle Rudolph returns...oh boy. He is dominating. Crist's favorite target. If not, we have Tyler "He's as good as I've ever coached" Eifert.

 

[lookingdeadred]

2011

2011

It seems very unlikely Rudolph returns (why would he really?), same for Floyd, but I agree, the offense next year should be a lot of fun to watch anyway. If the defense can be pretty good, 2011 shapes up to be a memorable year.

I think we're going to have an absolutely ridiculous offense in 2011. Dayne Crist has a year under his belt and an entire offseason to work on timing, accuracy, decision-making and all of his other issues which may even be fleshed out by the end of the season. Cierre Wood has that explosiveness, coupled with an offseason to work on vision and breaking tackles. Four offensive linemen return if Taylor Dever is granted a fifth year of eligibility (likely, IMO). The lone player lost on the line, Chris Stewart, has a player behind him in Chris Watt that almost beat him out in fall practice for the job. If Michael Floyd returns, we have a solid three-year starter with incredible physical skills. Theo Riddick will have a year of receiver experience and an offseason to improve on his game (his performance Saturday is encouraging, to say the least), and could be an explosive threat. TJ Jones will have another year to improve on typical freshman mistakes and will be even better. And if Kyle Rudolph returns...oh boy. He is dominating. Crist's favorite target. If not, we have Tyler "He's as good as I've ever coached" Eifert.

 

[zemaniak]

..to answer that: the lure of a possible NC

if we keep improving, and really, we MUST, then these juniors like Rudolph will let go of the Weis "I'll get you ready for the NFL" mentality and will/should embrace the collective spirit and ONCE IN A LIFETIME opportunity (heck, it must be sweeter than the Superbowl for a player I think) to win a National Championship.

Realistic/Optimistic scenario:
Close win Stanford
Big win BC
Close loss Pitt
Big win Western
Close win Navy
Big win Tulsa
Close loss utah
Big win Army
BIG win USC

end result 8-4 ending on a BIG high: we keep Rudy and floyd

 

[mrmiller8]

Im not really Assuming Rudolph and Floyd will stay. Im going off past history becuase I can't remember that many Notre Dame players that opted to leave early. Clausen and Tate, yeah they both made the right decision. Those guys, who I both thought ****y arrogant *******s, were in a different situation. Their coach, a was also the aformentioned type of person, was leaving and they weren't anywhere close to the personalities that anyone would call "team" guys. Everyone that ever met Clausen said he was an arrogant (not like we didn't when he showed at the football hall of fame with rings in a stretch hummer limo) not a notre dame guy, I think most ND fans would agree with me that he was great player for us but most of us didn't really like him. Tate for the most part should have stayed anyway, he will be out of the NFL in 2 years. Floyd especially seems to me like the type of guy that is committed to getting his education and truly cares about the program and I think same for rudolph. Their circumstances are a little different considering you will have a coach in their second year preparing to really breakout back on the national scene. Im just hoping but I don't the circumstances are anywhere close to the same.

 

[lookingdeadred]

NC or NFL millions?

NC or NFL millions?

While I would love to see both Floyd & Rudolph return, I think that the allure of NFL millions will be a stronger pull than a possible NC in college. Also, there is a better chance their draft status could be damaged by staying another year (injury, poor play) than it will be improved. Both are likely 1st round picks after this season, so there is little room for either to improve in that regard.

Why would you think a NC would be "sweeter" than a Super Bowl ring?

Finally, your predictions for the rest of the schedule are quite optimistic. I see at least 5 losses, with six as a distinct possibility, but I do hope you end up closer to mark.

..to answer that: the lure of a possible NC

if we keep improving, and really, we MUST, then these juniors like Rudolph will let go of the Weis "I'll get you ready for the NFL" mentality and will/should embrace the collective spirit and ONCE IN A LIFETIME opportunity (heck, it must be sweeter than the Superbowl for a player I think) to win a National Championship.

Realistic/Optimistic scenario:
Close win Stanford
Big win BC
Close loss Pitt
Big win Western
Close win Navy
Big win Tulsa
Close loss utah
Big win Army
BIG win USC

end result 8-4 ending on a BIG high: we keep Rudy and floyd