Returning starters in 2011?

[Riddickulous]

I've said it before: 2011 will be our first legitimate national championship contending team. Why? Here's why.

Assume this is the starting lineup this season:

QB: Crist
RB: Allen
WR: Floyd
WR: Riddick
WR: Jones
TE: Rudolph
LT: Martin
LG: Stewart
C: Cave
RG: Robinson
RT: Dever
DE: Johnson
DE: Lewis-Moore
NT: Williams
OLB: Fleming, Filer
ILB: Te'o, McDonald
CB: Gray, Walls
FS: Smith
SS: Slaughter

If that indeed is the starting lineup, we will have an incredible amount of returning, experienced talent in 2011. Think about it.

Assume Floyd and Rudolph return. Also assume that Dever, Gray and Hayseed are granted a fifth year of eligibility.

Look at what we have:

QB: Dayne Crist. One year of starting experience.
RB: Open. Lots of talent and the backups will see a lot of time this year.
WR: Floyd with three years of starting experience, Riddick with one, Jones with one.
TE: Rudolph with three years of starting experience.
LT: Martin with one year of starting experience.
LG: Replacement needed.
C: Cave with one year of starting experience.
RG: Robinson with two years of starting experience.
RT: Dever with one year of starting experience.

DE: Lewis-Moore and Johnson with two years of starting experience each.
NT: Deep at this position but lack of experience will cost us here.
OLB: Fleming with two years and Filer with one year of starting experience.
ILB: Te'o with about one and a half and McDonald with one year of starting experience.
CB: Gray with two years, Blanton with double digit starts and much experience.
FS: Harrison Smith with three years of starting experience.
SS: Slaughter with one year of starting experience.

In our best case scenario, we return 18 starters, and one guy with double digit starts on his resume (Blanton), so if you want to be optimist, we have TEN starters returning AGAIN on defense. TEN! Now, I'm a realist (10 wins is the absolute best this team will be able to pull off this season, and that's only if they're clicking on all cylinders), but this is just uplifting.

18 starters with a full year in Brian Kelly's system? Two offseasons in the Longo strength and conditioning program? The entire passing attack back with four offensive linemen? 10 starters on defense? Wow. Talk about exciting.

Switch Jones with Kamara and Wenger with Cave, then assume Rudolph and Floyd go pro...and you're still left with 14-15 returning starters, including 9 or 10 on defense. Still exciting.

 

[D-BOE34]

well played..

 

[faithfulfan]

2010 hasn't even started yet. But that is nice to know. I would be willing to bet that by the season's midway point that Dever has been replaced by Lombard or Nichols.

 

[bjohnmwc]

I was actually just thinking of Floyd when reading the posts on his "overrated"-ness.

It'd be great if Floyd, Rudolph, and T'eo all come back for their senior years...I had thought I heard T'eo say he intended to graduate, but I'm not sure as to what I'd do if I were Floyd and Rudolph. All things considered, Floyd could be the #1 WR to come out after this year -- would he jeopardize a potential Top 5 draft slot for another year at ND?

 

[AlbuquerqueIrishFan]

Teo is a true sophmore..he can't be graduating already can he? I just thought we'd have him for another year...not sure about future Morman misssion status though.

 

[Riddickulous]

I was actually just thinking of Floyd when reading the posts on his "overrated"-ness.

It'd be great if Floyd, Rudolph, and T'eo all come back for their senior years...I had thought I heard T'eo say he intended to graduate, but I'm not sure as to what I'd do if I were Floyd and Rudolph. All things considered, Floyd could be the #1 WR to come out after this year -- would he jeopardize a potential Top 5 draft slot for another year at ND?

Te'o is a sophomore.

I'm pretty sure Michael Floyd's mother wants him to get his degree. He can get it in three years, but it would interfere with the training required to perform well at the combine and in personal workouts with NFL teams. We'll see. Personally, I think he'll leave.

Rudolph? I don't know. He seems like an intelligent guy in his interviews. Unless he has a spectacular season (All-America honors, Mackey Award, huge stats, etc.), he'll be back.

 

[IrishMoore1]

I think there's a good chance Floyd will be gone after this season. Yeah his Mom wants him to finish school, but she also told him not to get a tattoo either. That didn't stop him. He's a grown man and leaving early for the NFL will ultimately be his decision.

Idk bout Rudolph. He seems like a sure 1st round pick in the next draft, whereas Floyd has injury issues he has to overcome with the scouts.

I read in an article awhile back in which Manti's father stated that Manti had promised his parents he would finish school before going to the NFL. Being the kinda guy we all know Manti is, I really doubt he would break such a promise.

Personally, I think Manti should take his mormon mission after his NFL career. That way his family is financially comfortable, and he'll be in a real position to really fulfill his mission with the resources he has developed from Notre Dame and his NFL experience.

 

[NDinL.A.]

Te'o is a sophomore.

I'm pretty sure Michael Floyd's mother wants him to get his degree. He can get it in three years, but it would interfere with the training required to perform well at the combine and in personal workouts with NFL teams. We'll see. Personally, I think he'll leave.

Rudolph? I don't know. He seems like an intelligent guy in his interviews. Unless he has a spectacular season (All-America honors, Mackey Award, huge stats, etc.), he'll be back.

Rudolph is intelligent, and if he even has just a pretty good season he'll most likely be the #1 TE taken in the draft. You just don't find guys his size with his skill set and his maturity. So, with the severity of the game and with the injury risk it presents, and with millions on the table that he'd be leaving behind, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he left, and we shouldn't take it as a diss if he does. Football is such a violent sport, I don't blame any athlete that leaves school early if the NFL tells him he'll be drafted in the top 2 rounds. With all the summer school classes these guys take, they'd probably be less than a year away from graduating anyways, which they can always come back to do.

Remember, we were having the same conversation last year at this time about Clausen and Tate, and many people were guaranteeing that they'd be back. I thought they'd be gone, and I think the same about Floyd and Rudolph (but I hope I'm wrong). 2 things we have in our favor are that they both value education and the very real threat of an NFL lock-out. Why go pro and risk sitting out a year when you can play and finish your education?

 

[jonesman]

Shaq,
Pretty good analysis. I only have to ask you and any other person in here believing that Floyd or Rudolph are going to return for their senior season, to stop drinking the spiked Kool-Aid. Barring an injury or totally unforeseen drop-off in performance, these two talents are GONE!!!!!! Again, they are GONE!!!!!!!!

Don't give me that degree crap or ND loyalty or promises to parents. Just look at the freakin' grade school math. One year tuition at ND approximately $50K. One bad injury senior season = $MILLIONS!!!! I am the biggest ND fan imaginable and would love to see those two wearing golden domes in 2011, but I would tell them go NFL if they asked.

As one reply said, there were some of you dillusional folks last year saying Jimmy would be back for another year, NOT!!!!!!!

As for the remaining part of our two deep, we are going to be really solid in 2011. We return a great core of athletes. We also have quality depth at most every position.
Go IRISH

 

[Riddickulous]

Shaq,
Pretty good analysis. I only have to ask you and any other person in here believing that Floyd or Rudolph are going to return for their senior season, to stop drinking the spiked Kool-Aid. Barring an injury or totally unforeseen drop-off in performance, these two talents are GONE!!!!!! Again, they are GONE!!!!!!!!

Don't give me that degree crap or ND loyalty or promises to parents. Just look at the freakin' grade school math. One year tuition at ND approximately $50K. One bad injury senior season = $MILLIONS!!!! I am the biggest ND fan imaginable and would love to see those two wearing golden domes in 2011, but I would tell them go NFL if they asked.

As one reply said, there were some of you dillusional folks last year saying Jimmy would be back for another year, NOT!!!!!!!

As for the remaining part of our two deep, we are going to be really solid in 2011. We return a great core of athletes. We also have quality depth at most every position.
Go IRISH

A 2011 lockout would certainly let them stay.

But I agree, we have great depth at tight end and wide receiver.

 

[rocket31]

. One year tuition at ND approximately $50K. One bad injury senior season = $MILLIONS!!!!

signed,

sam bradford

 

[bjohnmwc]

For some reason I think I was looking ahead with T'eo...you're right, he's a true soph this year; I had read in an interview (might be the same you guys mentioned) that he was considering part of his time at ND as a piece of his mission - that when his teammates ask why Mantei doesn't drink/smoke, he is expanding his and their horizons.

NFL lockout is an interesting angle. It'd probably depend on timing - before or after the draft. This is all premature, but I'd think that both Floyd and Rudolph are 1st round picks (maybe early 2nd for Rudolph?) and that kind of money could be hard to pass up.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

For some reason I think I was looking ahead with T'eo...you're right, he's a true soph this year; I had read in an interview (might be the same you guys mentioned) that he was considering part of his time at ND as a piece of his mission - that when his teammates ask why Mantei doesn't drink/smoke, he is expanding his and their horizons.

NFL lockout is an interesting angle. It'd probably depend on timing - before or after the draft. This is all premature, but I'd think that both Floyd and Rudolph are 1st round picks (maybe early 2nd for Rudolph?) and that kind of money could be hard to pass up.

$hit.... If WWTebowD is a #25 pick, Rudy is twice the player that he is. Timmy was a winner, but in the end, I believe Rudy's intangibles will make him an early mid to early-late first round pick.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I was doing some similar lining up of "future" ND talent just to try to understand why we were going after some positions rather than others, when the same thing that has struck Shaq jumped out at me. We are a relatively young team and loaded with top athletes "at the bottom" classes [including the one being recruited now]. I had the same thought about us being a Beast next year and had given up on Floyd and Rudolph being here even with that. At Rudolph's position could be Ragone, Eifert, Welch, and Koyack---still sounds like Tight-End-U to me. Although Floyd is irreplaceable so was Tate. We won't replace Floyd, we'll put in a seasoned Riddick, TJ, Bennett, Evans, and on and on with a QB completely set in the system [several actually] and the whole playbook open. It will be sad to say goodbye to Chris Stewart, but Hello to Lombard, Watt, Hegarty, Prestwood, Nichols, and Holy Moley that line [with the other vets] is going to be good. Cwynar and Nix for Williams; Filer taking over one OLB; a pile of new slick talent arriving all over the defense, and young Mr. Lynch saying "we gunna be Beast" and probably being right immediately [whether he gets a lot of Johnson and LKM's playing time or not.] The point is, we're loaded and getting more so. We actually COULD be Beast next year---and at least Part-Beast this one.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

I was doing some similar lining up of "future" ND talent just to try to understand why we were going after some positions rather than others, when the same thing that has struck Shaq jumped out at me. We are a relatively young team and loaded with top athletes "at the bottom" classes [including the one being recruited now]. I had the same thought about us being a Beast next year and had given up on Floyd and Rudolph being here even with that. At Rudolph's position could be Ragone, Eifert, Welch, and Koyack---still sounds like Tight-End-U to me. Although Floyd is irreplaceable so was Tate. We won't replace Floyd, we'll put in a seasoned Riddick, TJ, Bennett, Evans, and on and on with a QB completely set in the system [several actually] and the whole playbook open. It will be sad to say goodbye to Chris Stewart, but Hello to Lombard, Watt, Hegarty, Prestwood, Nichols, and Holy Moley that line [with the other vets] is going to be good. Cwynar and Nix for Williams; Filer taking over one OLB; a pile of new slick talent arriving all over the defense, and young Mr. Lynch saying "we gunna be Beast" and probably being right immediately [whether he gets a lot of Johnson and LKM's playing time or not.] The point is, we're loaded and getting more so. We actually COULD be Beast next year---and at least Part-Beast this one.

+1....Very well said.

 

[Riddickulous]

I was doing some similar lining up of "future" ND talent just to try to understand why we were going after some positions rather than others, when the same thing that has struck Shaq jumped out at me. We are a relatively young team and loaded with top athletes "at the bottom" classes [including the one being recruited now]. I had the same thought about us being a Beast next year and had given up on Floyd and Rudolph being here even with that. At Rudolph's position could be Ragone, Eifert, Welch, and Koyack---still sounds like Tight-End-U to me. Although Floyd is irreplaceable so was Tate. We won't replace Floyd, we'll put in a seasoned Riddick, TJ, Bennett, Evans, and on and on with a QB completely set in the system [several actually] and the whole playbook open. It will be sad to say goodbye to Chris Stewart, but Hello to Lombard, Watt, Hegarty, Prestwood, Nichols, and Holy Moley that line [with the other vets] is going to be good. Cwynar and Nix for Williams; Filer taking over one OLB; a pile of new slick talent arriving all over the defense, and young Mr. Lynch saying "we gunna be Beast" and probably being right immediately [whether he gets a lot of Johnson and LKM's playing time or not.] The point is, we're loaded and getting more so. We actually COULD be Beast next year---and at least Part-Beast this one.

Players that will need replacing:

Armando Allen - Loaded at the position. Gray, Wood, Roberson, Hayes and maybe another guy (Huggins, perhaps?).

Chris Stewart - Has not proven to be a truly great offensive lineman. We'll have to see if those weight-lifting and chin-up totals pay dividends. Watt will probably replace him there. Watt was probably the best offensive lineman in the Midwest in his recruiting class. The only concern is experience.

(Likely) Michael Floyd - We have a legion of capable wide receivers. Evans, Jones, Goodman, Jackson, Smith, Toma, Walker...Daniels?

(Likely) Kyle Rudolph - Tyler Eifert, baby. If he is solid enough, we may not grant Ragone a fifth year (even though it would help our depth and Mike if we did) and get ourselves an open spot for another top recruit.

Darrin Walls - Robert Blanton's still here. Lo Wood is coming on. Matthias Farley can play corner. With Hardy and Jalen Brown, we begin to build ourselves some depth.

Ian Williams - Cwynar, Louis Nix...but don't forget Brandon Newman. Lots of depth. Again, the only concern is experience.

(Possibly) Brian Smith - Filer is better and will be better for us in the long run. I think Filer holds his job.


The most encouraging aspect of Kelly's recruiting is that we are loading up where we are lacking depth and where the most important play will need to come from in future seasons. The offensive line, defensive end (We have somewhere around SIX recruits that can play this position!) and defensive backfield (three so far, expect a couple more). Man, this man gets me excited. We certainly have a coach who knows his game.

 

[Junkhead]

I see Rudolph jetting for the NFL, and Floyd staying for the ND 2011 National Championship run. I hope I am wrong and we get them both for 2 more seasons.

 

[IrishInColumbus]

I pray to God there is an NFL lockout and Floyd and Rudolph stay. And even more so, I pray there isn't a lockout and they stay anyway, thus draining other teams of their talented juniors.

Assuming Floyd and Rudolph go pro, the biggest loss in my opinion would be Louis Nix EDIT: IAN WILLIAMS. A capable DT is so rare, and given out strength at WR (Evans, Riddick, Jones, etc.) and TE (Eifert, Welch, Ragone) we should valuable a capable DT more.

I was in math class the other day doodling a 2011 national championship caliber lineup:

QB - Crist, SR^
RB - Wood, JR^
WR - Floyd, SR
WR - Evans, JR
WR - Riddick, JR
WR - Jones, SO
TE - Rudolph, SR

Eifert and Welch will be able to replace Rudolph just fine. Charlie Weis had the best TE hauls in the country. Floyd is amazing, but Evans was recruited as his replacement and with this whole "player development" thing Kelly does (as opposed to Weis) he will be fine.

Dare I say, "screw 2011, look at 2012!" Everyone could come back except Floyd and Rudolph, who we can except to lose for 2011 anyway.

Excuse me while I change my pants..

 

[Riddickulous]

I pray to God there is an NFL lockout and Floyd and Rudolph stay. And even more so, I pray there isn't a lockout and they stay anyway, thus draining other teams of their talented juniors.

Assuming Floyd and Rudolph go pro, the biggest loss in my opinion would be Louis Nix. A capable DT is so rare, and given out strength at WR (Evans, Riddick, Jones, etc.) and TE (Eifert, Welch, Ragone) we should valuable a capable DT more.

I was in math class the other day doodling a 2011 national championship caliber lineup:

QB - Crist, SR^
RB - Wood, JR^
WR - Floyd, SR
WR - Evans, JR
WR - Riddick, JR
WR - Jones, SO
TE - Rudolph, SR

Eifert and Welch will be able to replace Rudolph just fine. Charlie Weis had the best TE hauls in the country. Floyd is amazing, but Evans was recruited as his replacement and with this whole "player development" thing Kelly does (as opposed to Weis) he will be fine.

Dare I say, "screw 2011, look at 2012!" Everyone could come back except Floyd and Rudolph, who we can except to lose for 2011 anyway.

Excuse me while I change my pants..

Martin, Watt (Stewart's likely replacement), Cave (he only played 2 minutes of his freshman year, so you can bet he'll get a fifth year), and the right tackle (Big Tate, Lombard?) will be back. The offense will be fine.

However, you lose Johnson, Fleming, Filer (he won't get a fifth year, too much time on special teams), Hayseed, Gray and Blanton on defense. That's six starters.

The only returning starters on defense will be Cwynar (assuming he is granted a fifth year), Lewis-Moore, Te'o, McDonald (or is it MacDonald, assuming he gets a fifth year which he most certainly will) and Slaughter (assuming a fifth year).

Three new starters in the secondary (assuming Blanton beats out Lo Wood for Darrin's open CB spot in 2011). Too much inexperience to be a national championship team. What we'll probably see then in terms of starters.

QB: Crist
RB: Wood
WR: Riddick
WR: Evans
WR: Jones

Although realistically, we'll probably need some size in the receiving corps (tallest in that unit is Evans at 6'1").

TE: Eifert (He will be an absolute monster by this time)
LT: Martin (THIRD YEAR!)
LG: Watt
C: Cave (THIRD YEAR!)
RG: Lombard?
RT: Nichols?

DE: Lewis-Moore
NT: Cwynar
DE: Lynch?
OLB: ??? (Shembo, McDonald with a switch?)
OLB: ???
ILB: Te'o
ILB: McDonald or Shembo
CB: Lo Wood
CB: Jalen Brown, Matthias Farley or Eilar Hardy
FS: ???
SS: Slaughter

K: Tausch (Solid senior kicker)
P: Turk (Solid senior punter)
Kickoffs: Brindza

 

[Old Man Mike]

Going two years out is fun but it's stretching it a bit for my crystal ball. Those superkids we're recruiting now would be sophomores. Amongst that talent load are surely going to be many terrific defensive players even as sophomores. The comment about "losing Louis Nix" boggled me. Nix would be a junior in eligibility [depending on whether he even plays this year]. Why would we be losing him? It's more likely that he would be coming into his own as a brickwall in the middle. Kelly doesn't leave anything to sloppy chance as far as I can see. That's everything from technique details to how to rev up the Alumni. He seems to have the future pipeline of talent firmly in mind and in hand. This year is the only one that we'll see him running hard to get the program in Kelly-shape. He'll continue to work his butt off but the system will be on cruise control after that. P.S. I understand that our 2012 schedule is considered much harder [on current paper] than our 2011. I'm a bit lazy on not looking that back up, so if I'm wrong about that, I apologize.

 

[JDAtlanta]

Going two years out is fun but it's stretching it a bit for my crystal ball. Those superkids we're recruiting now would be sophomores. Amongst that talent load are surely going to be many terrific defensive players even as sophomores. The comment about "losing Louis Nix" boggled me. Nix would be a junior in eligibility [depending on whether he even plays this year]. Why would we be losing him? It's more likely that he would be coming into his own as a brickwall in the middle. Kelly doesn't leave anything to sloppy chance as far as I can see. That's everything from technique details to how to rev up the Alumni. He seems to have the future pipeline of talent firmly in mind and in hand. This year is the only one that we'll see him running hard to get the program in Kelly-shape. He'll continue to work his butt off but the system will be on cruise control after that. P.S. I understand that our 2012 schedule is considered much harder [on current paper] than our 2011. I'm a bit lazy on not looking that back up, so if I'm wrong about that, I apologize.

The 2012 Schedule is a bear:


2012 Football Schedule
tentative
S01 vs. Navy (Ire)
S08 PURDUE
S15 @ Michigan State
S22 Michigan
O06 vs. Miami (Chi)
O27 @ Oklahoma
N03 PITTSBURGH
N17 WAKE FOREST
N24 @ Southern Cal
3 games TBA

I hope the 3 TBA are not all top 10 teams. BYU could could be one of these.

 

[IrishInColumbus]

Going two years out is fun but it's stretching it a bit for my crystal ball. Those superkids we're recruiting now would be sophomores. Amongst that talent load are surely going to be many terrific defensive players even as sophomores. The comment about "losing Louis Nix" boggled me. Nix would be a junior in eligibility [depending on whether he even plays this year]. Why would we be losing him? It's more likely that he would be coming into his own as a brickwall in the middle. Kelly doesn't leave anything to sloppy chance as far as I can see. That's everything from technique details to how to rev up the Alumni. He seems to have the future pipeline of talent firmly in mind and in hand. This year is the only one that we'll see him running hard to get the program in Kelly-shape. He'll continue to work his butt off but the system will be on cruise control after that. P.S. I understand that our 2012 schedule is considered much harder [on current paper] than our 2011. I'm a bit lazy on not looking that back up, so if I'm wrong about that, I apologize.

I was writing about Louis Nix on another site, my bad; I meant to say Ian Williams. But the point still stands. Losing Ian Williams are arguably bigger (no pun intended) than losing Floyd or Rudolph.

 

[ACamp1900]

We'll compete for a National Title when we compete for a National Title... we've done these "in X years this is why we'll be legit" threads before... that fact that we are still doing them show you how well it's worked out...

as far as Kyle and MF... I don't see either sitting a whole year out if there is no NFL to jump for... if thereis a lcokout they'll most likely be beack... if MF doesn't stay healthy again, he'll be back... If the NFL gets things figured out and both have good healthy years... well a lots got to happen until then... I'll take a 10 win season with a BCS bowl win if it means Rudy and MF jump at years end.