Notre Dame Hires Mike Brown as WR Coach

[Rockin’Irish]

Let’s see how the current WR recruiting class ends up as well as how the WRs perform during the 2024 season. That will give us a full year to evaluate Brown’s success or lack thereof. I don’t think it‘s realistic to evaluate a coach after 6 months on the job and only including 1 game. In fact, it would probably be better to evaluate him after 2 years. The month of July has been a downer but there is still time to get things to a much better level.

 

[irishff1014]

I didn’t like the Brown hire from the start. The WR position needed someone with experience and a proven guy and we did not get that from the start.

 

[T-Boone]

I didn’t like the Brown hire from the start. The WR position needed someone with experience and a proven guy and we did not get that from the start.

He might turn Colzie into a 3rd rounder yet. And Collins into a 2nd rounder. Then we are on our way.

 

[PutuporShutup]

He might turn Colzie into a 3rd rounder yet. And Collins into a 2nd rounder. Then we are on our way.

That would mean Thomas isn’t playing.

 

[CanadalovesND]

That would mean Thomas isn’t playing.

And also means Colzie would have to catch more than 10 passes a season.

 

[T-Boone]

That would mean Thomas isn’t playing.

Thomas isn’t a guy that will get drafted regardless of what he does

 

[INLaw]

I didn’t like the Brown hire from the start. The WR position needed someone with experience and a proven guy and we did not get that from the start.

He had the appropriate resume and bona fides to be hired. My wake up oh shit is because 100% of the beat is raising the warning alarm about 2026 receiver recruits as in he has zero board, zero tractions, and near zero visits. He halved this years board for no good reason from better more interested prospects to a safety a track guy and this years Jordan Johnson then went 0 for 3. That shit is dereliction of duty. His coaching 100% be damned. WR and RB are 50 % wysiwyg skill/talent positions. The other 50% damn near grad assistants can handle well enough if you have the talent. Its double triple concerning that while we are getting Del Alexander redux there is no sign of MF doing anything to fix it. The reason the beat is unusually doom and gloom because they and I need to hear the Freeman’s got this he is personally scouting 4-6 receivers to fill last two spots etc… (also what the fuck of pass rushing defensive ends).

 

[T-Boone]

And also means Colzie would have to catch more than 10 passes a season.

All I am saying is colzie and Collins do seem to have NFL draft type qualities in size and speed. Who else does that could go pro the ends of this season?

 

[Crazy Balki]

These are good points… but a stud wr coach could lean on past examples… browns like .. “you know Alec pierce”… also freeman not using portal last 2 years hurt us too

I mean, Brown was coaching at Cincinnati and Wisconsin, not exactly hot beds of skill talent. Alec Pierce and Tyler Scott weren't even in the top 1000 of their respective classes and they turned into very good receivers for UC and were drafted in the league. Two guys who based on rankings had no business sniffing the league. And he was only at Wisconsin for 1 year, and let's be real, Wisconsin isn't exactly a WR factory, and going from Chryst's offense to Longo's is a drastic transition that is going to take multiple seasons to fully implement.

 

[irishff1014]

He might turn Colzie into a 3rd rounder yet. And Collins into a 2nd rounder. Then we are on our way.

Or he may make them worse.

 

[NDMatt91]

I said no way they'd go 0/3 so I'll eat some crow. This is definitely a really bad look for Brown and by extension, Freeman. ISD seems to think the scarier thing is that Brown hasn't been successful in getting blue-chip 2026 WR's on campus to visit. Apparently there's not a lot of buzz with recruits about Brown.

 

[PutuporShutup]

Thomas isn’t a guy that will get drafted regardless of what he does

He’s better than colzie though

 

[PutuporShutup]

I mean, Brown was coaching at Cincinnati and Wisconsin, not exactly hot beds of skill talent. Alec Pierce and Tyler Scott weren't even in the top 1000 of their respective classes and they turned into very good receivers for UC and were drafted in the league. Two guys who based on rankings had no business sniffing the league. And he was only at Wisconsin for 1 year, and let's be real, Wisconsin isn't exactly a WR factory, and going from Chryst's offense to Longo's is a drastic transition that is going to take multiple seasons to fully implement.

Exactly… he wasn’t landing stud recruits and didn’t get the opportunity to coach any either. We don’t want a coach that can turn a no name into a good wr, we need a coach that can land the best talent, get them to buy in, and dominate

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

I said no way they'd go 0/3 so I'll eat some crow. This is definitely a really bad look for Brown and by extension, Freeman. ISD seems to think the scarier thing is that Brown hasn't been successful in getting blue-chip 2026 WR's on campus to visit. Apparently there's not a lot of buzz with recruits about Brown.

Again, I'm not defending Brown entirely. But playing devil's advocate, if you were a WR and you watched what NDS talent has produced the last several seasons,you too would be skeptical.

Build it, and they will come. If Brown (Denbrock too) hit the field hard this year, things could turn pretty quickly.

Not to mention that in terms of 2026, HS wrs have some of the highest flip rates and have more "late bloomers" vs say Oline where you can tell by sophomore year if they're going to have the frame for college.

 

[OhioIrish]

Again, I'm not defending Brown entirely. But playing devil's advocate, if you were a WR and you watched what NDS talent has produced the last several seasons,you too would be skeptical.

Build it, and they will come. If Brown (Denbrock too) hit the field hard this year, things could turn pretty quickly.

Not to mention that in terms of 2026, HS wrs have some of the highest flip rates and have more "late bloomers" vs say Oline where you can tell by sophomore year if they're going to have the frame for college.

I think this is the most reasonable perspective, at least for one season. Brown’s biggest problem is that he joined a staff with a ton of recruiting momentum, so falling short just makes him look like he’s doesn’t fit.

 

[irishandy]

Even though we went 0-3 for now, I think its fair that we give him a shot to show what he can do with the players we currently have.

If LSU, USC, and Washington all have bad seasons this gives ND an opportunity to poach. Out of the 3 I think Hines will stick with USC, I don't think it is fully over with Meadows, and if they still keep in contact with Robinson I'd leave the door open with all 3 including Hall.

 

[JamIrish]

The thing I don't get is they are apparently not giving up on Meadows when it seems he obviously wants the SEC. If they are going to keep trying that's fine, but go kick the tires on Jonanthony Hall and Dalen Penson. Penson has shown he's great with the ball in his hands and he committed to an academic GA Tech. Hall is committed to Stanford but he also valued proximity to home with Purdue and Indiana as finalist.

 

[INLaw]

The thing I don't get is they are apparently not giving up on Meadows when it seems he obviously wants the SEC. If they are going to keep trying that's fine, but go kick the tires on Jonanthony Hall and Dalen Penson. Penson has shown he's great with the ball in his hands and he committed to an academic GA Tech. Hall is committed to Stanford but he also valued proximity to home with Purdue and Indiana as finalist.

💯

 

[NDFAN2008]

Meadows Hines and Robinson were all coming here at one point I’d like to know what happened

 

[MacIrish75]

Meadows Hines and Robinson were all coming here at one point I’d like to know what happened

Hines we know. 💰

Meadows and Robinson there’s more behind the scenes. To me it seems like Robinson could be the one we dropped the ball on the most. Sheer optics and context show us that Meadows was SEC bound and we were a nice hat to go up there whichever SEC suitor he preferred.

 

[ndfanatic78]

Hines we know. 💰

Meadows and Robinson there’s more behind the scenes. To me it seems like Robinson could be the one we dropped the ball on the most. Sheer optics and context show us that Meadows was SEC bound and we were a nice hat to go up there whichever SEC suitor he preferred.

Robinson wants to play defense. Washington is recruiting him as a DB. ND was recruiting him as a WR.

 

[IrishLax]

A lot of people didn’t like this hire for exactly this reason.

With that being said, ND needs production this year and he was brought in because MF believes he’s the guy to get that. And I trust they can figure stuff out in the portal or with flips in the long run as long as we have something to sell on offense.

 

[fightingirish26]

Greathouse-Faison-Gilbert
Williams-Saldate-Smith

is a very good year 1-2 two deep at WR. Loy says we're targeting two more WRs this class. For the first time in a while (knock on wood) it doesn't seem like we're desperate for an immediate impact freshman WR, as we have both young depth and the portal to work with. I'm interested to see if we're gonna be patient and watch senior film or circle back on other guys right away.

 

[PutuporShutup]

Greathouse-Faison-Gilbert
Williams-Saldate-Smith

is a very good year 1-2 two deep at WR. Loy says we're targeting two more WRs this class. For the first time in a while (knock on wood) it doesn't seem like we're desperate for an immediate impact freshman WR, as we have both young depth and the portal to work with. I'm interested to see if we're gonna be patient and watch senior film or circle back on other guys right away.

One of colzie or Thomas should return next year too… they need 2 more in the 25 class and 1 or 2 good transfers for the 25 season…. Unless the 4 without a catch you mentioned above are all for real

 

[irishandy]

Hines we know. 💰

Meadows and Robinson there’s more behind the scenes. To me it seems like Robinson could be the one we dropped the ball on the most. Sheer optics and context show us that Meadows was SEC bound and we were a nice hat to go up there whichever SEC suitor he preferred.

What about the 3 weeks off that Freeman/staff took that's been floating around here??

Your reason makes more sense, Freeman emphasized recruiting when he was hired.

 

[MacIrish75]

What about the 3 weeks off that Freeman/staff took that's been floating around here??

Your reason makes more sense, Freeman emphasized recruiting when he was hired.

I think a lot of guys have verified that he took time off, as well as the entire staff. The optics are that since they were vacationing that they dropped the ball closing on these three guys. But, what we also know is that is was at the tail end of a contact period leading into a dead period. The kids couldn’t be on campus and coaches couldn’t visit, but they could make calls/texts…which you can obviously do from anywhere. There’s a lot of assumption and innuendo, but you can’t argue the optics are bad for Mike Brown and ostensibly Freeman, also.

If we close on two of these guys, nobody makes a sound. Close on one, there’s some frustration. But, we ended up with none, so we go defcon-1.

We’ll see how it plays out. I personally think 1/3 of those guys ends up signing with ND, Robinson being most likely and Hines being second most likely. I think Hall eventually flips. And, I think some rising senior with a good senior campaign comes on board. I think those three plus Burress complete the WR room and that Bettis ends up a S.

 

[SeekNDestroy]

I think a lot of guys have verified that he took time off, as well as the entire staff. The optics are that since they were vacationing that they dropped the ball closing on these three guys. But, what we also know is that is was at the tail end of a contact period leading into a dead period. The kids couldn’t be on campus and coaches couldn’t visit, but they could make calls/texts…which you can obviously do from anywhere. There’s a lot of assumption and innuendo, but you can’t argue the optics are bad for Mike Brown and ostensibly Freeman, also.

If we close on two of these guys, nobody makes a sound. Close on one, there’s some frustration. But, we ended up with none, so we go defcon-1.

We’ll see how it plays out. I personally think 1/3 of those guys ends up signing with ND, Robinson being most likely and Hines being second most likely. I think Hall eventually flips. And, I think some rising senior with a good senior campaign comes on board. I think those three plus Burress complete the WR room and that Bettis ends up a S.

What make you think Hall flips?

 

[MacIrish75]

What make you think Hall flips?

A lot of it is speculative, but I do have a couple sources in Hamilton County that said he badly wanted ND. I think if MF and Denbrock work on him AND (and this is what I don’t know) if they were honest with him up front about their pursuit of him, that he’s a likely candidate to flip.

 

[INLaw]

A lot of it is speculative, but I do have a couple sources in Hamilton County that said he badly wanted ND. I think if MF and Denbrock work on him AND (and this is what I don’t know) if they were honest with him up front about their pursuit of him, that he’s a likely candidate to flip.

That would be one of the two you need. Being down to just needing to flip one more between now and february looks much better

 

[SeekNDestroy]

A lot of it is speculative, but I do have a couple sources in Hamilton County that said he badly wanted ND. I think if MF and Denbrock work on him AND (and this is what I don’t know) if they were honest with him up front about their pursuit of him, that he’s a likely candidate to flip.

I hope you’re right, but how is ND going to overcome the, apparently, crazy amount of money USC is giving him. Isn’t that why he committed to them anyway? Because it’s the kind of money you just can’t turn down?

P.S. Drayer doesn’t know shit.