Category: Notre Dame Football

Notre Dame a finalist as nation’s top safety set to announce college decision

Do the Irish still have some sort of hope here?

One of the best safeties in the entire 2022 recruiting cycle nationally will be announcing his college commitment on Wednesday night and the good news for Notre Dame is that they’re one of three finalists.  There may be some bad news as well but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Xavier Nwankpa has a five-star rating at 247Sports as they list him as nation’s top safety in the 2022 class and 11th best player overall.  Nwankpa checks in at 6-2, 190-pounds and starred at Southeast Polk High School in Pleasant Hill, Iowa and will announce his college decision at 5 p.m. ET in his school’s auditorium.

Notre Dame is a finalist for Nwankpa along with Iowa and Ohio State.  Based on Marcus Freeman spending his time on the west coast while Nwankpa has tweeted photos from visits with both Ryan Day and Kirk Ferentz this week, it’d seem that the Irish are an underdog compared to the Buckeyes and Hawkeyes here.

That said, I’d be thrilled to be wrong about this later today.

Related: Notre Dame’s 2022 recruiting class commitments

Polian bids farewell to Notre Dame community

So long as he’s off to the Bayou

News broke late Tuesday morning that Notre Dame special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Brian Polian was leaving to join Brian Kelly’s staff at LSU.  If any further confirmation was needed on top of the Bruce Feldman report, Polian provided that late Tuesday night as he bid farewell to the Notre Dame community on Twitter.

Polian is off to be reunited with Kelly at LSU, the coach that hired him back to Notre Dame in 2017 after he was let as Nevada’s head football coach.  Polian also spent from 2005-2009 as a member of Charlie Weis’s staff at Notre Dame is best remembered during that time for his efforts in successfully recruiting Manti Te’o to South Bend.

Polian was one of just two members of the current remaining Notre Dame staff with head coaching experience so it’ll be worth keeping an eye on to see if Freeman and company hire another assistant with such experience to aid the first-time head coach.

Related:

Notre Dame coaching staff tracker

Notre Dame finalizes 2022 football schedule

Manti Te’o through the years

Everything Marcus Freeman said at introductory press conference

Kyren Williams still yet to decide on returning for 2022

Does he stay or does he go?

Even though he was somehow left off the list of finalists for the Doak Walker Award that goes annually to the nation’s top collegiate running back, Notre Dame’s Kyren Williams was about as good as it got at the position in all of college football in 2021.  Despite playing behind a makeshift offense line that had no cohesion for nearly an entire half of the season, Williams still rushed for over 1,000 yards and was Notre Dame’s best offensive player on seemingly a weekly basis.

From afar it would seem like Williams will be suiting up for Notre Dame for the final time in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State on New Year’s Day but the star running back isn’t so sure that’s the case just yet.

“It’s something that obviously I’m thinking about and obviously I’ve got to make something happen,” said Williams following head coach Marcus Freeman’s introductory press conference on Monday, ““Coach Freeman has always been a coach I’ve wanted to play for and I felt like our connection this season has grown a lot stronger. But (stay at Notre Dame vs. declare for the NFL draft) is something I still have to think about and put into action later on.”

Williams was later asked if he was certain to play in the Fiesta Bowl to which he answered, “As of right now, yeah.”

I don’t want to speculate but I have trouble thinking that was still at all up in the air if there was much of a likelihood that he was returning to Notre Dame.

My guess is that with the short window most running backs have to be at their peak that Williams would go make an NFL salary starting next year but I never would have guessed Travis Etienne of Clemson would have stayed for his senior year back in 2020, either.

Related:

Marcus Freeman discusses crazy week and new role with Dan Patrick

Kyren Williams joins rare list of Notre Dame running backs to accomplish this

Longtime Notre Dame assistant coach headed to LSU to join Brian Kelly

Opinion: Herbstreit misses mark in defending CFP committee

Had Oklahoma State won versus Baylor would Cincinnati have still gotten in?

I’ve long been a fan of Kirk Herbstreit’s work at ESPN. He’s among the most respected analysts in all of college football and burns the wick at both ends as he’ll be in Las Vegas on Friday night, Atlanta on Saturday morning, and at the ESPN studios in Connecticut on a Sunday all in the name of college football coverage.

Despite some fan bases giving him what I like to call the “Joe Buck Treatment” in playing off any of his opinions because “he hates our team”, I find his work to be usually very well based upon facts and objective.  There is a lot to be said for that in this world of talking, er, screaming heads.

With that said, Herbstreit shared a thought Tuesday evening that couldn’t have possibly missed the mark by more.  See it below:

Next: What’s wrong with Herbstreit’s thought?

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Marcus Freeman already out visiting five-star recruits

Marcus Freeman is wasting no time trying to land a huge fish…

Marcus Freeman made it a point to say during his introductory press conference Monday that he needed to be the lead recruiter for Notre Dame if the Irish are to reach levels fans and Freeman so clearly desire.  He wasted no time whatsoever doing that as he was on a plane just a couple of hours later hitting the recruiting road.

We may not know everywhere he’s gone since that press conference ended but we do know one place.  Thanks to the investigative work of Nathan Erbach (any Notre Dame fan on Twitter should be following him), who follows Notre Dame recruiting as closely as anyone, Freeman was visiting a five-star defensive lineman.

Now who is Anthony Lucas, you ask?

The 6-4 1/2″, 275-pound defensive lineman is among the top recruits in the 2022 cycle.  The Chaparral High School (Scottsdale, AZ) product is yet to give a commitment and 25 programs have officially offered him including the likes of Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Texas A&M, and USC.

Can Freeman pull it off with just a week remaining before the early signing period?

Time will tell but he certainly wouldn’t have much of a chance if he wasn’t out on the trail himself.

Stay tuned for more on Lucas’s recruitment and where Freeman and company end up visiting next here at Fighting Irish Wire.

Related:

Notre Dame’s 2022 recruiting class commitments

Best images from Marcus Freeman’s introductory press conference at Notre Dame

Tommy Rees talks all things Notre Dame football and Fiesta Bowl

Marcus Freeman pens letter to Notre Dame community

Are you all-in on the Freeman train?

Marcus Freeman has only been Notre Dame’s head coach officially for a handful of days but I feel safe in declaring something about him.

He gets it.

Lou Holtz once said about Notre Dame that those who don’t understand what makes it special, no explanation to them will suffice and that nobody who understands requires any explanation whatsoever.

I think it’s crystal clear at this point that Freeman is in the later.

Freeman penned a letter to the Notre Dame community through The Players Athletic that was released on Tuesday morning.  Check out the full letter here as some highlights include:

  • Stressing the importance of being himself as a head coach
  • Coaching not being now and never being in the future, about himself
  • A huge reason he sees as to why the 2021 Notre Dame team has gotten so much better as the year has gone on
  • Who he names as the best leaders he’s ever talked to – perhaps more noteworthy is who he doesn’t mention
  • The two main ideas of his leadership style

I’m not going to simply steal their letter and post it as my own like some places may do, but I’ll use certain things that are said in it and react to them in a matter of days after their link has made its rounds.

Related: The best images from Marcus Freeman’s introductory press conference

Just know that my main takeaway not from just the letter but from seeing how Freeman has handled this entire situation is that Notre Dame got the right guy.

Plenty more on that thought to come in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

Related:

Marcus Freeman discusses wild week that was with Dan Patrick

Notre Dame OC Tommy Rees talks all things Fiesta Bowl

Watch Marcus Freeman’s entire introductory press conference 

Longtime Notre Dame assistant is joining Brian Kelly at LSU

[vertical-gallery id=39978]

 

Longtime Notre Dame assistant to join Brian Kelly at LSU

How much will be missed: A ton? Some? Not at all?

Brian Polian, Notre Dame’s assistant head coach and special teams coordinator appears to be headed to join Brian Kelly at LSU.  Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and The Athletic presented the news on Twitter on Tuesday morning.

As Feldman points out, Polian has experience from the time he spent at Texas A&M, albeit for just one season in 2012.  There a few other things about losing Polian that interest me the most from Notre Dame’s perspective.

As has been well-discussed by many, Marcus Freeman brings no head coaching experience to his new role.  That’s not to say it’ll be the Achilles heal to his ultimate success at Notre Dame, but one would think an assistant with head coaching experience would be important for his first staff.

Losing Polian, who was Nevada’s head coach from 2013-2016, certainly doesn’t answer that question.  Offensive line coach Jeff Quinn, who we’re still unsure the future of, is the only other current assistant with such experience as he was Buffalo’s head coach from 2010-2014.

Next:  Polian’s Rainbow (Hawaii) Connection

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

One Notre Dame player makes 247Sports true freshman All-American team

Nobody expected this

If you asked many of us who would make the biggest impact from the incoming freshman class the likely answers would have been wide receiver Lorenzo Styles Jr., offensive tackle Blake Fisher or linebacker Prince Kollie.

That was not the case at the end of the year, as Styles Jr. got plenty of time flashing his potential, Fisher’s season was cut short by an injury and Kollie never really was able to crack the lineup. It was Minnesota freshman offensive tackle Joe Alt that ultimately stepped up into Fisher’s spot and once the converted tight end got rolling, it was hard for him to be stopped.

Alt was named today as a true-freshman All-American by 247Sports, an honor that we all did not expect to see this year. It’s a fantastic story, Alt’s transition from tight end to offensive tackle went as smooth as one could have expected. It’s safe to say that the Irish are in good hands at offensive tackle when Fisher returns from his injury and with Alt having extremely valuable experience during his freshman season.

[lawrence-related id=40931]

[listicle id=40941]

[listicle id=40917]

What Marcus Freeman said at introductory press conference

Will Notre Dame win a national championship under the direction of Marcus Freeman?

Marcus Freeman was introduced as Notre Dame’s 30th head football coach on Monday in an event that felt more like a celebration than an announcement.  The marching band play, cheerleaders danced, an impressive stage was set out and legendary Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn played the role of master of ceremonies as Marcus Freeman was introduced.

The head coach offered an opening statement after being introduced and shared the following during his Q-and-A with the media in attendance.  Here is everything new Notre Dame head football coach had to say:

Editor’s Note: a huge thank you goes out to the Notre Dame football public relations team for transcribing the entire press conference and quickly getting it turned around for our use!

No decision made yet on Kyle Hamilton for Fiesta Bowl

Will he or won’t he play?

It’s essentially a forgone conclusion that Notre Dame star safety Kyle Hamilton won’t be a part of the 2022 Fighting Irish football team as most assume he’ll be among the first 10 players taken in the 2022 NFL draft.  Has Hamilton played his final game at Notre Dame or will he play in the Fiesta Bowl to close the 2021 season on New Year’s Day?

New Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was asked exactly that by Eric Hansen of the South Bend Tribune during Monday’s introductory press conference and said that decision hasn’t yet been made.

“I’ve communicated clearly with Kyle that his health is the number-one importance for any decision we make,” Freeman said, “Whatever is best for him and best for his health I’m going to support.” – Marcus Freeman

I’ve thought all along that Hamilton played his last down in blue and gold when he had the scary knee injury against USC and I support and understand why he’d make that decision.

In nothing else besides selfish reasons however, I’d be lying if I said I really didn’t want to see him play one more game for Notre Dame.

Stay tuned as we’ll certainly find out more about Hamilton’s availability as the Fiesta Bowl date on New Year’s Day with Oklahoma State draws nearer.

Related:

Marcus Freeman discusses wild week that was with Dan Patrick

Notre Dame OC Tommy Rees talks all things Fiesta Bowl

[vertical-gallery id=39978]