The incredibly too early thoughts on next season thread!!!!!

[Brown]

Doesn’t even have to be a “stud” just someone who is decent at reading defenses, tall, and a big arm with some mobility.

Also, the defensive coordinator hire is going to be just as important as the QB search

Just?

I don't think people appreciate how hard it is to find competent QB play at the college level let alone find a guy at the position who has a complete game like the one you described.

 

[GATTACA!]

Most of our fine students don’t need football. Look at the players reaction after a loss. Lol.

I gave up denial and delusion in 2018. We overachieved this year and it was fantastic when Book played great for a month.

Alabama’s qb graduated in 2 and a half years and has a masters degree. We didn’t offer him lol.

Winning it all requires a complete overhaul! Admissions, coaching , recruiting , and player development.

Going to a Guns N’ Roses concert today and expecting the Axl Rose of 1988 will seem shitty. Fun to relive the past but it’s clearly not the same .

I hope someday we find the next young Dabo Swinney but until everything changes, this year was a huge success.

Jones was a 3 star diamond in the rough. People are acting like he was a no brainer.

Also does a masters in athletic relations really translate into ND academic success. I'm sure he's a smart guy, but he's not a savant.

 

[BabyIrish]

Simple. Get your athletes on the field to make plays. Get JJ, Watts, Austin’s Colzie and Austin on the field at offense.

Get Henderson, Reiley Walters and Gee on the field. No more building for the future mentality. Build for now. Get everyone up to snuff. Whatever it freakin takes.

 

[T-Boone]

Simple. Get your athletes on the field to make plays. Get JJ, Watts, Austin’s Colzie and Austin on the field at offense.

Get Henderson, Reiley Walters and Gee on the field. No more building for the future mentality. Build for now. Get everyone up to snuff. Whatever it freakin takes.

How many you had?

 

[NDRock]

I'd be OK with just finding the next Axl Rose.....
I'm with you. My expectations were sane to begin with.

Yep. It’s the only way to watch. I feel bad for the fans on here that actually think we have the talent to stack up with the elite teams. Fun year, all in all.

 

[ThePiombino]

Michael Young looked fantastic today . Hmmm

Was thinking during the Cinci/UGA game how nice it would have been to still have him.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[notredomer23]

Really missing the Mac Jones hype I’ve seen here. Did you see how wide open his receivers were today? He’s not completing passes into tight windows. If Book was on Alabama, he beats out Mac Jones every single time. Conversely, if Jones was on ND, we prob lose at least 2 more games than we did for his lack of running. His last two years he’s been throwing to 4 first round receivers. When has Book had a wide open receiver this year? I honestly don’t remember a case sans blown coverage. With Alabama it’s every play. Whoever was QB at Bama would have succeeded this year. I hope whoever ends up drafting Jones has expectations at the floor because he will never be an NFL QB.

 

[Old Man Mike]

If the Football gods give me:

1. a really good replacement for Coach Lea;
2. a returning Aaron Banks;
3. normal improvement from one year to another for defensive players;
4. generally good health for all we have;
5. an absence of COVID interference with our Spring camp;

THEN: it is my fallible romanticism that we will not just rebuild but reload.

With Banks and a good Spring, our OLine will be better than fine --- there will be two All-Americans on it;
Our TEs of course will be fine --- maybe the best in the nation as a group;
Our RBs will be better than fine; one of them will be first team all ACC;
Our DLine with big Kurt returning will be better than fine; Foskey might well arise as an AA, and the others become interchangeable maulers;
Our Linebackers (even without JOK) will be excellent; particularly guys like Liufau will shine; the middle thumpers will too;
Hamilton will be AA; the corners will take the "normal" step up;
That's a pretty strong foundation to start with.

So what's left --- Who's QB? Who's number two Safety? Do ANY WRs exist anywhere in the South Bend area who are more than really hard-working, methodical route-running, good-blocking honorable players? I'll bet Safety is for the most part solvable and the only real defense question is the coach. I really think that the corners will be OK. We asked a lot of them this season. I'm going to go All-the Way Fool and say that whoever our QB is (Pine, Buchner, or Clark, or Mr. Transfer) he will do a very good job --- but not Trevor Lawrence good. But pretty darn good.

So I'm back, sadly, to where I've been all season. Can any WR be found who gets "greenspace" between him and the DB? If we're stuck in treacle, then we're winning 8-9 games. If we find Hermes Quickfoot ( or even a rapid change-of-direction route-running DB buffooner ), then we'll win 10 or maybe more.

That assessment makes me happy, and I'm sticking with it until next September.

 

[BeatSC]

So we have a huge recruiting class coming in and anyone that wants an extra year with Kelly’s approval can get it. Do we still have to live with the 85 scholarship roster cap? Who might be granted an extra year and who will be 5th year players?

After the first 20 minutes we competed very evenly with Bama and it Book actually plays good not even great and Rees makes some good playcalls this game is actually close. Sadly we
Miss the long FG and have the TD called back. Bama lived off some big plays and of course they never have an off day against us. We are just missing a few pieces (OC and QB) but now we are losing some players. Many of them leaving won’t affect us (Daelin Hayes). 2021 is a year for new studs to finally emerge.

 

[stpeteirish]

What sort of season will 2021 bring? Let’s discuss it here! I brought up elsewhere that I fear we have a drop off next year. In 2006 and 2015 we had good season but ended both of them with two major loses. In 2007 and 2016 well we had awful years. I fear we are due for another one of those awful years especially with having a new QB coming. Hopefully not and hopefully we can get another 10 win season. I don’t think this team is capable of a National title next year but if superstition and our past don’t get in the way I hope we can keep the home undefeated streak going. What do y’all think?

I think you're a scaredy cat. We are way deeper, more talented and better coached than 2007 and 2016. I can't believe you're even thinking about 2007; it has nothing to do with the present. Charley Weis was our coach. C'mon.
2016 had some really bad coaches as well in BVG and Longo.

Some people always think the glass is half full. You must be one of them.

 

[stpeteirish]

An angle that isn't developed year is the one yet moratorium on the 85 limit. Kelly has finally learned his lesson on the fact that you cannot have too many players and I am expecting him to really go in heavy this offseason on bringing in 5th year guys who can help. We're already seeing this with Hinish and there should be many more, both inside and outside the program. IN addition we're pushing the envelope on the 2021 class with 26 already when it was supposed to be 20-21.