ND's Talking Heads ... The good, bad & ugly

[INLaw]

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Mike Singer. (Covers butthole and runs)

 

[IrishSpartan]

I’m sorry but brown deserves some blame. He has had about half a year to make relationships and hit the trail. He better be a hell of a coach and developer.

 

[Crazy Balki]

I’m sorry but brown deserves some blame. He has had about half a year to make relationships and hit the trail. He better be a hell of a coach and developer.

6 months isn't a lot of time, especially when you consider all that goes into recruiting, and the fact that he'll be going up against staffs who've had longer to develop relationships.

But more importantly than that, Meadows simply wasn't coming to ND. He wants to play in the SEC. That was made painfully clear as ND was on him for over a year, and then the second LSU decided to jump in, they were immediately at the front of the pack. Alabama might have gotten him too had they pushed for him. There's no combating that. ND can't pick their campus up and move to Atlanta or Tampa.

I don't think we know enough about what happened with a lot of these recruitments, because it seems like ND certainly didn't lose these guys because they didn't push hard enough for them. They pursued them, built relationships and got them on campus repeatedly. Not much more you can do than that.

 

[DillonHall]

6 months isn't a lot of time, especially when you consider all that goes into recruiting, and the fact that he'll be going up against staffs who've had longer to develop relationships.

But more importantly than that, Meadows simply wasn't coming to ND. He wants to play in the SEC. That was made painfully clear as ND was on him for over a year, and then the second LSU decided to jump in, they were immediately at the front of the pack. Alabama might have gotten him too had they pushed for him. There's no combating that. ND can't pick their campus up and move to Atlanta or Tampa.

I don't think we know enough about what happened with a lot of these recruitments, because it seems like ND certainly didn't lose these guys because they didn't push hard enough for them. They pursued them, built relationships and got them on campus repeatedly. Not much more you can do than that.

I'll reserve judgment because I agree it's too early, but he needs to produce better results both on and off the field the next few months. There are no participation trophies at this level

 

[bige4irish]

I wonder if BK danced with Meadows & that is what sealed the deal.

 

[INLaw]

There was a grubl siting on twitter in the ryan roberts thread on the 0-3

 

[NDMatt91]

Listening to the ISD Power Hour and Mike and Jamie didn’t hold back

-The concerns about Mike Brown’s recruiting ability are real, pretty much no recruits talk about him
-The staff botched the WR board, especially with who they zeroed in on
Hall: Barely paid attention to him and then said at the last minute “oh by the way, we like you now”
Hines: Recruited him when you were not really sure that you liked (“and in the end, you don’t really like” -Mike)
Robinson: He told you he’s not sure he wants to be a WR
Meadows: Was close to committing several times but never pulled the trigger, which should’ve set off alarms
-Jamie says ND is essentially 1/23 (23 offers) at WR in the 2025 class, doesn’t really count Bettis Jr. which says a lot
-About 75% of the top 50 WR’s are committed, so ND will have to flip kids, which will be hard
-ND staff didn’t like Talyn Taylor as much as other WR’s
-Mike doesn’t think you can assume that ND will just bring in 3 portal WR’s next year. Talked about how ND badly needed WR’s in 2023 and they only brought in 1, and he quit. Explosive WR’s really aren’t in the portal, and if they are, ND can’t get them as they’re not grad (or near grad) transfers. He touched on the 3 they brought in this year, saying it’s not a slam-dunk that they flourish at ND.
Mitchell: Only reason he’s coming to ND is because he hasn’t proven he can put up numbers against elite competition or be a definite NFL WR. If he did, he’d be in the NFL. He could flourish because of his speed, but it’s not a guarantee.
Collins: Was one of the top WR recruits in the country, but hasn’t shown that. There’s been a lot of opportunities, and Clemson hasn’t had a world beater offense.
Harrison: Is pretty much just a return guy and gadget player
-Jamie said the headliner WR’s in the portal were all underclassmen, so ND needs to either develop their WR’s or letting in more undergrad transfers

 

[PutuporShutup]

Listening to the ISD Power Hour and Mike and Jamie didn’t hold back

-The concerns about Mike Brown’s recruiting ability are real, pretty much no recruits talk about him
-The staff botched the WR board, especially with who they zeroed in on
Hall: Barely paid attention to him and then said at the last minute “oh by the way, we like you now”
Hines: Recruited him when you were not really sure that you liked (“and in the end, you don’t really like” -Mike)
Robinson: He told you he’s not sure he wants to be a WR
Meadows: Was close to committing several times but never pulled the trigger, which should’ve set off alarms
-Jamie says ND is essentially 1/23 (23 offers) at WR in the 2025 class, doesn’t really count Bettis Jr. which says a lot
-About 75% of the top 50 WR’s are committed, so ND will have to flip kids, which will be hard
-ND staff didn’t like Talyn Taylor as much as other WR’s
-Mike doesn’t think you can assume that ND will just bring in 3 portal WR’s next year. Talked about how ND badly needed WR’s in 2023 and they only brought in 1, and he quit. Explosive WR’s really aren’t in the portal, and if they are, ND can’t get them as they’re not grad (or near grad) transfers. He touched on the 3 they brought in this year, saying it’s not a slam-dunk that they flourish at ND.
Mitchell: Only reason he’s coming to ND is because he hasn’t proven he can put up numbers against elite competition or be a definite NFL WR. If he did, he’d be in the NFL. He could flourish because of his speed, but it’s not a guarantee.
Collins: Was one of the top WR recruits in the country, but hasn’t shown that. There’s been a lot of opportunities, and Clemson hasn’t had a world beater offense.
Harrison: Is pretty much just a return guy and gadget player
-Jamie said the headliner WR’s in the portal were all underclassmen, so ND needs to either develop their WR’s or letting in more undergrad transfers

the 24 class needs to be the class with 2 out of them 3 of them at minimum being very good wrs due to poor recruiting at the position

 

[a mike]

Listening to the ISD Power Hour and Mike and Jamie didn’t hold back

-The concerns about Mike Brown’s recruiting ability are real, pretty much no recruits talk about him
-The staff botched the WR board, especially with who they zeroed in on
Hall: Barely paid attention to him and then said at the last minute “oh by the way, we like you now”
Hines: Recruited him when you were not really sure that you liked (“and in the end, you don’t really like” -Mike)
Robinson: He told you he’s not sure he wants to be a WR
Meadows: Was close to committing several times but never pulled the trigger, which should’ve set off alarms
-Jamie says ND is essentially 1/23 (23 offers) at WR in the 2025 class, doesn’t really count Bettis Jr. which says a lot
-About 75% of the top 50 WR’s are committed, so ND will have to flip kids, which will be hard
-ND staff didn’t like Talyn Taylor as much as other WR’s
-Mike doesn’t think you can assume that ND will just bring in 3 portal WR’s next year. Talked about how ND badly needed WR’s in 2023 and they only brought in 1, and he quit. Explosive WR’s really aren’t in the portal, and if they are, ND can’t get them as they’re not grad (or near grad) transfers. He touched on the 3 they brought in this year, saying it’s not a slam-dunk that they flourish at ND.
Mitchell: Only reason he’s coming to ND is because he hasn’t proven he can put up numbers against elite competition or be a definite NFL WR. If he did, he’d be in the NFL. He could flourish because of his speed, but it’s not a guarantee.
Collins: Was one of the top WR recruits in the country, but hasn’t shown that. There’s been a lot of opportunities, and Clemson hasn’t had a world beater offense.
Harrison: Is pretty much just a return guy and gadget player
-Jamie said the headliner WR’s in the portal were all underclassmen, so ND needs to either develop their WR’s or letting in more undergrad transfers

First off--it sounds like those two need to get some perspective on life. At the end of the day it's just football!!

Why are they even talking about football on a football podcast? Don't they just enjoy going to the games with their dad and daughter? Why are they getting so upset about where some 17 year olds are going to school?

Plus, like how the heck is Brown supposed to recruit anything above a couple three stars when ND hasn't had four guys drafted in the 1st round the past two years? It's basically impossible.

Its not like the WR coach in front of Brown basically got all four stars including a couple top 100 guys operating under the same exact paradigm

They're just being unrealistic meanies. Give Brown some time!! Probably not fair to judge him for another threw years!

Did I mention this whole thing is all Kelly's fault!!

He's only been gone three years--thanks a lot Brian! I feel sorry for MFMF, what can he even do??!!

 

[SDIrishFan]

Listening to the ISD Power Hour and Mike and Jamie didn’t hold back

-The concerns about Mike Brown’s recruiting ability are real, pretty much no recruits talk about him

why is this? A young black coach that came highly recommended. Did he hit on recruits moms or what?!

 

[ColinKSU]

Listening to the ISD Power Hour and Mike and Jamie didn’t hold back

-The concerns about Mike Brown’s recruiting ability are real, pretty much no recruits talk about him
-The staff botched the WR board, especially with who they zeroed in on
Hall: Barely paid attention to him and then said at the last minute “oh by the way, we like you now”
Hines: Recruited him when you were not really sure that you liked (“and in the end, you don’t really like” -Mike)
Robinson: He told you he’s not sure he wants to be a WR
Meadows: Was close to committing several times but never pulled the trigger, which should’ve set off alarms
-Jamie says ND is essentially 1/23 (23 offers) at WR in the 2025 class, doesn’t really count Bettis Jr. which says a lot
-About 75% of the top 50 WR’s are committed, so ND will have to flip kids, which will be hard
-ND staff didn’t like Talyn Taylor as much as other WR’s
-Mike doesn’t think you can assume that ND will just bring in 3 portal WR’s next year. Talked about how ND badly needed WR’s in 2023 and they only brought in 1, and he quit. Explosive WR’s really aren’t in the portal, and if they are, ND can’t get them as they’re not grad (or near grad) transfers. He touched on the 3 they brought in this year, saying it’s not a slam-dunk that they flourish at ND.
Mitchell: Only reason he’s coming to ND is because he hasn’t proven he can put up numbers against elite competition or be a definite NFL WR. If he did, he’d be in the NFL. He could flourish because of his speed, but it’s not a guarantee.
Collins: Was one of the top WR recruits in the country, but hasn’t shown that. There’s been a lot of opportunities, and Clemson hasn’t had a world beater offense.
Harrison: Is pretty much just a return guy and gadget player
-Jamie said the headliner WR’s in the portal were all underclassmen, so ND needs to either develop their WR’s or letting in more undergrad transfers

Get you someone who loves you as much as Notre Dame loves hiring lousy WR coaches.

 

[dublinirish]

tbf to Stuckey he already had relationships with James and Greathouse while he was at Baylor, so they were easy pick ups for him when he came to ND. Brown has no such ability because of his stint at Wisconsin

 

[NDFAN2008]

Brown didn’t exactly have record setters as a WR coach exactly why we should have brought in a guranteed guy who has tons of NFL prospects

 

[PutuporShutup]

Brown didn’t exactly have record setters as a WR coach exactly why we should have brought in a guranteed guy who has tons of NFL prospects

Between freeman denbrock and deuce, 25 wr recruiting shouldn’t be a problem as long as brown doesn’t crap himself and make wrs NOT want to play for him.

With that said, they handled 2023 terribly so it’s easy to negatively recruit the wr position. Although I’m good with who transferred out, our top 2 wrs from last year left. That’s not common at a top school.

Freeman and Denbrock are clearly struggling to sell what the offensive plan is going forward to wrs and rbs

 

[a mike]

tbf to Stuckey he already had relationships with James and Greathouse while he was at Baylor, so they were easy pick ups for him when he came to ND. Brown has no such ability because of his stint at Wisconsin

Maybe don't hire a WR coach from a school that has a traditionally ass WR program and/or a WR coach that has no quality preexisting relationships?

Freeman never would have hired Brown if he didn't coach with him at Cincy

I've never seen a guy get so much leeway/benefit of the doubt

Because he "developed" Alec Pierce? A player who btw he didn't even identify, evaluate, nor recruit as a high school prospect, nor Tre Tucker

Rudolph must feel really left out when the entire rest of our offensive staff reminisces about the good ole days at Cincinnati

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

Maybe don't hire a WR coach from a school that has a traditionally ass WR program and/or a WR coach that has no quality preexisting relationships?

Freeman never would have hired Brown if he didn't coach with him at Cincy

I've never seen a guy get so much leeway/benefit of the doubt

Because he "developed" Alec Pierce? A player who btw he didn't even identify, evaluate, nor recruit as a high school prospect, nor Tre Tucker

Rudolph must feel really left out when the entire rest of our offensive staff reminisces about the good ole days at Cincinnati

We gave you a fair amount of leeway when you first started posting.

You've proven to be a cantankerous human being who isn't content without making his displeasure known multiple times/day across multiple threads and yet, we still tolerate your cancerous spirit.

You've metastasized to other threads and, seemingly, other posters.



I hope there is a cure in the form of an excellent season with a potent offense that forces recruits to reconsider. And then hopefully, we can all celebrate an excellent class and a fun season. Fall camp can't start soon enough.

 

[GrangerIrish24]

We gave you a fair amount of leeway when you first started posting.

You've proven to be a cantankerous human being who isn't content without making his displeasure known multiple times/day across multiple threads and yet, we still tolerate your cancerous spirit.

You've metastasized to other threads and, seemingly, other posters.



I hope there is a cure in the form of an excellent season with a potent offense that forces recruits to reconsider. And then hopefully, we can all celebrate an excellent class and a fun season. Fall camp can't start soon enough.

I was just going to say fuck em, but this sounds better

 

[GoldenTate(r)Tots]

We gave you a fair amount of leeway when you first started posting.

You've proven to be a cantankerous human being who isn't content without making his displeasure known multiple times/day across multiple threads and yet, we still tolerate your cancerous spirit.

You've metastasized to other threads and, seemingly, other posters.



I hope there is a cure in the form of an excellent season with a potent offense that forces recruits to reconsider. And then hopefully, we can all celebrate an excellent class and a fun season. Fall camp can't start soon enough.

I like this take 100% (on the excellent season being the "cure" here). I get a lot of ND fans are going chicken little over the state of the 25' WR class but sometimes we, as fans, need to be a little more introspective of our team. Lots of folks have rightly pointed out ND has not had the best WR offense in recent years. These big time HS players have dreams: NIL and NFL. Can we compete with NIL? It seems like we're doing pretty good all things considered. So the NFL prong is what's missing. So, like any problem in life, instead of crying over it, making overgeneralized and superlative statements as "facts" when they're mostly off-point, why don't we look to the solution? Perhaps the biggest indicators to HS recruits (and potentially those coveted portal players) that we can get them to the NFL will be 1. Game-day production and 2. Getting guys drafted (in both volume and higher draft slots). I'm sure there's more that is needed, but there's also enough common-sense here.

Ok now everyone go back to bitching and I'll get off my soapbox.

 

[CanadalovesND]

No matter where everyone is on this issue, one thing is true, is that WR recruiting needs to be better. If Brown is as good of a coach as his brief resume has shown, particularly in his development abilities, I will take that all day long.

WR recruiting isnt just hindered on the WR coach, it’s a collaboration of some of the offensive coaches. Denbrock plays a role in it too. And Freeman since he runs the show.

Other schools are negatively recruiting against ND. And it’s an easy and obvious tactic. Again, a great season offensively can swing some momentum in NDs favour, and may be able to make some noise at the tail end of the ‘25 class. But, it’s likely more beneficial for the ‘26 & ‘27 recruits.

Patience.

 

[PutuporShutup]

No matter where everyone is on this issue, one thing is true, is that WR recruiting needs to be better. If Brown is as good of a coach as his brief resume has shown, particularly in his development abilities, I will take that all day long.

WR recruiting isnt just hindered on the WR coach, it’s a collaboration of some of the offensive coaches. Denbrock plays a role in it too. And Freeman since he runs the show.

Other schools are negatively recruiting against ND. And it’s an easy and obvious tactic. Again, a great season offensively can swing some momentum in NDs favour, and may be able to make some noise at the tail end of the ‘25 class. But, it’s likely more beneficial for the ‘26 & ‘27 recruits.

Patience.

And how well we are recruiting the qb position, the most important position for a wr.

I’m shocked at how bad the 25 wr class sits now, but I agree with others, the cure is a high powered dynamic offense that utilizes our many weapons at wr.

 

[a mike]

known multiple times/day

Hey hey hey

I feel like that's a little unfair

In my defense--I generally only shit post while at work

Agree it's best to move on from the Brown/WR recruiting subject

We can reconvene on it in December and compare notes. I'm probably just over reacting.

 

[NDFAN2008]

Whose everyones top choice to replace Brown if he doesn't cut it.

 

[GrangerIrish24]

Whose everyones top choice to replace Brown if he doesn't cut it.

Whoever has strong ties to Texas, the south or the west coast.

 

[IHateMarkMay]

Whose everyones top choice to replace Brown if he doesn't cut it.

You know a ton of people will say Hartline, even though it's a pipe dream that won't happen lol

 

[Irishdwarte]

Whose everyone’s top choice to replace Brown if he doesn't cut it.

Del Alexander of Stuckey. If they can’t cut it, I’d bring back Brown….

 

[ColinKSU]

Whose everyones top choice to replace Brown if he doesn't cut it.

I don’t really have a top choice at WR coach, but it honestly shouldn’t be *this* difficult for Notre Dame to hire one that can both recruit and coach the position. The last time they had a coach who could recruit *and* coach was, ironically, Mike Denbrock.

Mostly, though, it’s a talent acquisition gig. ‘25 has two kids at the bottom of the class, one decommit and like 26 misses. Early returns on ‘26 don’t seem much better.

He might be a great WR coach, but Autry Denson was a pretty good RB coach who couldn’t recruit and he was shown the door. They won’t fire him, but other coaches have earned their keep a lot quicker.

 

[NDQuebec]

I don’t really have a top choice at WR coach, but it honestly shouldn’t be *this* difficult for Notre Dame to hire one that can both recruit and coach the position. The last time they had a coach who could recruit *and* coach was, ironically, Mike Denbrock.

Mostly, though, it’s a talent acquisition gig. ‘25 has two kids at the bottom of the class, one decommit and like 26 misses. Early returns on ‘26 don’t seem much better.

He might be a great WR coach, but Autry Denson was a pretty good RB coach who couldn’t recruit and he was shown the door. They won’t fire him, but other coaches have earned their keep a lot quicker.

Well said. My thoughts exactly.

 

[NDpendent]

I don’t really have a top choice at WR coach, but it honestly shouldn’t be *this* difficult for Notre Dame to hire one that can both recruit and coach the position. The last time they had a coach who could recruit *and* coach was, ironically, Mike Denbrock.

Mostly, though, it’s a talent acquisition gig. ‘25 has two kids at the bottom of the class, one decommit and like 26 misses. Early returns on ‘26 don’t seem much better.

He might be a great WR coach, but Autry Denson was a pretty good RB coach who couldn’t recruit and he was shown the door. They won’t fire him, but other coaches have earned their keep a lot quicker.

Completely agree. The amazing part is you saw the offense Dembrock ran at LSU and you would think you could find WRs that would want to be apart of that. If I was Freeman I would give Dembrock complete control in the hiring process if Brown doesn't work out this season. Hopefully we don't need to worry about that though and Brown proves everyone wrong.

 

[ColinKSU]

Completely agree. The amazing part is you saw the offense Dembrock ran at LSU and you would think you could find WRs that would want to be apart of that. If I was Freeman I would give Dembrock complete control in the hiring process if Brown doesn't work out this season. Hopefully we don't need to worry about that though and Brown proves everyone wrong.

I think that’s what sort of confuses me? I know Denbrock was a very good recruiter at Notre Dame. And now he can sell *two* Top-10 NFL Draft picks, a Heisman winner and another WR at #23 in *this last Draft*.

No WRs that are good enough to ever see the field are interested in playing in that offense? Where’s the disconnect? I wonder who Denbrock would have hired if he had a say in the process.

I mean, I hope Brown proves me wrong! They absolutely shouldn’t fire him, but he needs to pull a Mike Mickens and not an Autry Denson because Freeman’s rule that his assistants need to be good recruiters is on thin ice.

 

[NDMatt91]

Just listened to the latest II podcast. An SEC GM told O'Malley that NIL isn't a problem for ND with HS recruits. O'Malley also had an interesting quote: "Here's how it (essentially whiffing w/ '25 WR's) hurts for next year, the 3 WR's you brought in last year, all of them have to hit. All of them."