ND's QB/WR/RB

[hrc08]

I posted this elsewhere( I hope this isn't an Irish Envy faux pas) in response to a rival poster who seemed to think that our QB "uncertaintly" would be a big issue. Just wondering what all of my fellos Domer's though. I hope this isn't an Irish Envy faux pas--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I dont think we have uncertaintly at the QB position at all.

IMO, Dayne Crist is going to be the starter. He was up and down last year but he was in his first year starting and had little time to prepare for Brian Kelly's offense.

The guys is very cerebral and has all of the tools. Infact, other than Andrew Luck, there isn't(atleast I cant name one) another QB in college football that combines arm strength and running ability like Crist does. He had 165 nonsack rushing yard last year and was told NOT TO leave the pocket all year long. Look at his runs against Michigan and Western Michigan. The guy can run.

Look at his game against MSU, where he thrown for 400yds, as a freshman in a night game in a wild atmosphere.

Infact, imo, Notre Dame's qb/rb/wr trio is vastly underrated nationally.

I was thinking about this lastnight....

Dayne Crist
Michael Floyd
Cierre Wood...

are about to unlesh on college football and college football has not idea that this is going to happen. The Media has not given this trio any pub. Throw in Theo Riddick, Tyler Eiffert and our oline(especailly our ultra athletic tackles, these two guys can move their feet) and our offense, imo, will shock college football this year.

Look at the other great teams. 'Bama doesnt have a trio like this. LSU has stud WR's a couple of great RB's but Jordan Jefferson is still playing QB. FSU, for all of their greatness, doesnt have a Cierre Wood type back and certaintly doesnt have a Michael Floyd. I cant even name Stanford's RB. Oregon has James and Thomas but lost their top two WR's.

Of course USC(e) and USC(w) have excellent trio's.

Im not saying that ND's trio is top 5 or even top 10(although they very well could be. Cierre is going to EXPLODE. avg'd 6.9ypc over the last 3 games) but couple their all most certain growth with that of the oline and the expected dominance of the defense, and I could very well see a top 10 Notre Dame team this year.

Im pumped, if you cant tell.

 

[GainesvilleIrish]

On potential alone, I agree with you.... however Crist & Wood are still unproven. Yes, both had moments of brilliance last year but they both were inconsistent and didn't have years to show me that they along with Floyd would be a top trio.

I sure hope everyone lives up to their 5 star rankings, but you never know. Also, I'm not so sure Dayne will be as mobile as he was last year. He's gone through two major knee injures.

 

[hrc08]

Right and obviously I am banking on Wood, Floyd and the oline picking up where they left off last season.

I also though about Dayne's knee's and sorta discounted that since he is a very young guy. Modern science and his and Kelly's seemingly lack of concern makes me more confident that he will make a full recovery.

 

[nvirish]

^^^ Great post I was actually thinking about this last night also. The Michigan State vs Notre Dame game was on the Big Ten network last night and I would have watched the whole game, but the thunderstorms came in and knocked out my satellite service. Cierre looked much better than Allen in that game. If we get Dayne to even play at 75% of the level he did that night in East Lansing we are going to suprise people. He had great poise in the game and read his progressions. The offensive line run blocking was decent against MSU, however in year 2, I expect better continuity among the front 5 making running holes and passing lanes wider for our playmakers.

 

[Riddickulous]

I posted this elsewhere( I hope this isn't an Irish Envy faux pas) in response to a rival poster who seemed to think that our QB "uncertaintly" would be a big issue. Just wondering what all of my fellos Domer's though. I hope this isn't an Irish Envy faux pas--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I dont think we have uncertaintly at the QB position at all.

IMO, Dayne Crist is going to be the starter. He was up and down last year but he was in his first year starting and had little time to prepare for Brian Kelly's offense.

The guys is very cerebral and has all of the tools. Infact, other than Andrew Luck, there isn't(atleast I cant name one) another QB in college football that combines arm strength and running ability like Crist does. He had 165 nonsack rushing yard last year and was told NOT TO leave the pocket all year long. Look at his runs against Michigan and Western Michigan. The guy can run.

Look at his game against MSU, where he thrown for 400yds, as a freshman in a night game in a wild atmosphere.

Infact, imo, Notre Dame's qb/rb/wr trio is vastly underrated nationally.

I was thinking about this lastnight....

Dayne Crist
Michael Floyd
Cierre Wood...

are about to unlesh on college football and college football has not idea that this is going to happen. The Media has not given this trio any pub. Throw in Theo Riddick, Tyler Eiffert and our oline(especailly our ultra athletic tackles, these two guys can move their feet) and our offense, imo, will shock college football this year.

Look at the other great teams. 'Bama doesnt have a trio like this. LSU has stud WR's a couple of great RB's but Jordan Jefferson is still playing QB. FSU, for all of their greatness, doesnt have a Cierre Wood type back and certaintly doesnt have a Michael Floyd. I cant even name Stanford's RB. Oregon has James and Thomas but lost their top two WR's.

Of course USC(e) and USC(w) have excellent trio's.

Im not saying that ND's trio is top 5 or even top 10(although they very well could be. Cierre is going to EXPLODE. avg'd 6.9ypc over the last 3 games) but couple their all most certain growth with that of the oline and the expected dominance of the defense, and I could very well see a top 10 Notre Dame team this year.

Im pumped, if you cant tell.

Bolded sections:

- Dayne Crist's "mobility" is extremely overrated. He's simply not a running threat. His knee injuries now make him a liability in the open field.
- Crist was a junior last year. While he threw for 369 yards, it was his inconsistent play that stalled the Notre Dame offense that night, when it was at it's most effective.
- Cierre Wood averaged 6.3 ypc over the last three games. But otherwise I agree, he will explode this year.

 

[hrc08]

Yes, obviously Dayne wasnt a true freshman, my mistake. But with the exception of San Antonio and the Purdue game(when he relieved Clausen) he was basically a first year QB.

And he was playing in his 1st road game, at night in what could be considered a hostile environment.

And, esy, you're also correct that he failed to "finish" the Spartans when he had atleast 3 drives that HE failed to make plays on. Two runs(that were just give up, imo) and the pass where he threw to Rudy when Floyd was wideopen for the first down.

 

[NDinL.A.]

hrc8, I love the enthusiasm, but bro, you have a ton of inaccuracies and/or opinions that are just plain misinformed. Riddiculous already mentioned some, but let me expand:

1. You prop up Cierre Wood, but then say "I cant even name Stanford's RB". Well, Stanford's top RB, Stepfan Taylor, ran for over 1100 yds last year. If you don't know his name, then you weren't paying attention. He deserves more props than Wood at this point.

2. You said, "other than Andrew Luck, there isn't(at least I cant name one) another QB in college football that combines arm strength and running ability like Crist does."

OK, that's just wrong on so many levels. It's like you don't watch much college football. First of all, and I'm a HUGE Crist fan, Crist hasn't proved much on the field yet. And as was said, he's not a running QB. He can run, but not even close to many other college QBs. And besides Luck, there are more guys that can run it and gun it: Ryan Tennehill of TX A&M came on strong and is very athletic. Robert Griffin can wing it and can fly. Hell Denard Robinson has a very strong arm, just not very accurate, and he absolutely fly. FSU's new QB is a duel threat. Etc etc etc.

3. Crist - not a freshman.

4. Jordan Jefferson at LSU has proven about as much as Crist, maybe more.

5. You complain about these guys not getting pub, but why should the media give this trio any pub??? Floyd deserves pub and he gets pub (for on-the-field stuff and off-the-field stuff). Crist doesn't deserve any pub, and Cierre Wood has done very little to receive national pub. Yes, Wood looks ready to be a stud, but he rushed for 6oo yds last year - the national media has many more guys to cover who have done much more. Like, say, Stanford's RB, among many others.

Sorry man, but your post reeks of homerism (which is absolutely fine here), and if you post that elsewhere you will get lambasted, and deservedly so because of the many inaccuracies.

But believe me, I hope you are right!

 

[D-BOE34]

hrc8, I love the enthusiasm, but bro, you have a ton of inaccuracies and/or opinions that are just plain misinformed. Riddiculous already mentioned some, but let me expand:

1. You prop up Cierre Wood, but then say "I cant even name Stanford's RB". Well, Stanford's top RB, Stepfan Taylor, ran for over 1100 yds last year. If you don't know his name, then you weren't paying attention. He deserves more props than Wood at this point.

2. You said, "other than Andrew Luck, there isn't(at least I cant name one) another QB in college football that combines arm strength and running ability like Crist does."

OK, that's just wrong on so many levels. It's like you don't watch much college football. First of all, and I'm a HUGE Crist fan, Crist hasn't proved much on the field yet. And as was said, he's not a running QB. He can run, but not even close to many other college QBs. And besides Luck, there are more guys that can run it and gun it: Ryan Tennehill of TX A&M came on strong and is very athletic. Robert Griffin can wing it and can fly. Hell Denard Robinson has a very strong arm, just not very accurate, and he absolutely fly. FSU's new QB is a duel threat. Etc etc etc.

3. Crist - not a freshman.

4. Jordan Jefferson at LSU has proven about as much as Crist, maybe more.

5. You complain about these guys not getting pub, but why should the media give this trio any pub??? Floyd deserves pub and he gets pub (for on-the-field stuff and off-the-field stuff). Crist doesn't deserve any pub, and Cierre Wood has done very little to receive national pub. Yes, Wood looks ready to be a stud, but he rushed for 6oo yds last year - the national media has many more guys to cover who have done much more. Like, say, Stanford's RB, among many others.

Sorry man, but your post reeks of homerism (which is absolutely fine here), and if you post that elsewhere you will get lambasted, and deservedly so because of the many inaccuracies.

But believe me, I hope you are right!

Whoop there it is! ^^^

 

[jmurphy75]

I hope that you are right, and I feel that as long as Crist stays healthy he will be a much improved QB this year. He'll be a more comfortable and confident player in his 2nd year under Kelly. As for Wood and the rest of the team for that matter all we can do is hope that they continue the game to game improvement that the did in the home stretch of last year. I am pretty sure that their success late in the year was in part due to the learning and being comfortable in the new system, and also due to the team unity aspect, people needed to step up and they did.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I agree that there really is no "QB controversy". Anyone who was paying attention during spring practice knows it's Crist's job to lose at this point, and barring a quantum leap forward by Rees, Hendrix, or Golson in fall practice, I don't see it happening.

Kelly won't name Crist the starter because PT is the great motivator in college football. Giving all four guys the impression that the job could be theirs if they work hard enough is totally Kelly's style.

I'll be interested to see how many called runs Crist gets in 2011. The Option Read is an integral part of Kelly's offense, and his scheme suffers when his QB can't run it frequently. Kelly could disregard Crist's injury history and run him anyway since he has quality depth at QB now, but I think we're more likely to see the vertical passing spread Kelly utilized at Cincy with the immobile Tony Pike.

 

[Rhode Irish]

I'll be interested to see how many called runs Crist gets in 2011. The Option Read is an integral part of Kelly's offense, and his scheme suffers when his QB can't run it frequently. Kelly could disregard Crist's injury history and run him anyway since he has quality depth at QB now, but I think we're more likely to see the vertical passing spread Kelly utilized at Cincy with the immobile Tony Pike.

I agree. I think Crist is the clear #1, but I do think we will see a Hendrix/Golson package that will utilize the Option Read along with the rest of the more traditional Kelly spread for a couple of series each game. My hope is that Hendrix is far enough along that Kelly can afford to let Golson marinate another year and save his eligibility.

Paradoxically, I think Golson will have the best ND career of any QB on the current ND roster, and for that reason I hope he doesn't see the field this year.

 

[hrc08]

NDinLA:

No worries. I did correct the freshman mistake, obviously I know that Dayne wasnt a freshman(I certaintly remember him getting hurt in San Antonio and I can still recall his first play at Purdue. Nobody can say he couldn't run back then)

Cierre averaged 5.1ypc carry behind a line made up of 3 brand new starters(Cave, Martin and Dever) and while having alot of carries that resulted in 1 yard gaines or 1 yard losees. Yet, he still have a very respectable ypc average. Case in point: at USC. Remember how bad he looked early? Getting stuffed on numerous early game carries. He finished the game with a 5.9ypc average and ran for 89yds. Before you say it, I know that he had the long run before halftime.

Like Crist, Wood was also in his first year as a starter.


TAMU's qb is still a tad unproven, imo. We'll see how he does this year. You'll remember that he wasn't even a starter coming into the season because people thought Jerrod Johnson was poised to be THE man in 2010 coming off of his explosive performence against Texas and Colt McCoy in 2009. Besides, Dayne and Tannehill had virtually identical seasons stats wise. Dayne threw for more TDs and Yards, had 1 more INT and a slightly lower QB rating. Tannehill has one more year experience, had Cyrus Gray(1000yd rusher) and another back rush for 600yrds and had 2-70 receptions wr's.

Dayne, well, his rb, te and slot receiver were all hurt very early and was throwing behind a very young oline.

My money is on Dayne to get alot better this year.

I guess my main point was, as a whole, these three should surprise college football fans.

All three(Dayne and Cierre) are going to have better years.

Am I a Homer? Most certaintly am but I honestly think that this trio will end the year being looked at as one of the best in college football. Wood and Floyd are near certain locks, imo. Crist is a winner and I say that having gone into the Spring as a (slight) Rees guy. I just think the world of somebody who has delt with what Crist has and still comes back for more.

Thanks for reading and offering your critique. I appreciate it.