Category: Notre Dame Football

Notre Dame to test players weekly during season for COVID-19

Brian Kelly shared the news that Notre Dame will test all football players for COVID-19 weekly this fall.

Brian Kelly joined Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter on Monday night and spoke about the upcoming football season.  There were several topics covered in a very short amount of time but Kelly broke some news in terms of Notre Dame’s plans to test their student-athletes for COVID-19.

“There’s going to be testing weekly throughout the season,” Kelly said, “cleared and tested prior to competition and part of the challenge will be the players making good decisions during the week because the last thing we want is to get on the bus to go play Clemson and to find out the starting quarterback is out because he tested positive”

Some reports have teams relying more on simply taking players temperatures more often instead of testing their athletes each week, but Notre Dame appears to have a plan in place to make sure nobody taking the field on Saturday’s will be playing with COVID-19.

There’s a long way to go before any guarantees for games to be played but it’s tough to have a better or more definitive plan than Notre Dame will have testing all players each week.

Brian Kelly to join Scott Van Pelt tonight on SportsCenter

A heads up for everyone looking to hear from Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly – he will be on SportsCenter this evening with Scott Van Pelt. What will be discussed I’m sure will be Notre Dame’s plan to bring student athletes back to the …

A heads up for everyone looking to hear from Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly – he will be on SportsCenter this evening with Scott Van Pelt.

What will be discussed I’m sure will be Notre Dame’s plan to bring student athletes back to the University as well as the safety measures that will be put in place.

Last time Kelly was on with Van Pelt it was a discussion largely built on timeframe of when workouts would have to get started by in order to have the season begin when scheduled.

You can watch Brian Kelly on SportsCenter tonight with Scott Van Pelt. The episode airs at 11:00 p.m. ET.

Watch: Ten Most Clutch Touchdown Runs in Notre Dame History

Some great memories in here as Notre Dame has released their ten most clutch runs of all time in program history. Football factory fun!

Notre Dame has been playing football for a very long time and have won a lot of games in that time.  Several have come down to the wire and ultimately been decided by a late touchdown run that put the Irish over the top.

Recently, Notre Dame’s advanced media put together their ten best clutch touchdown runs in the history of the program.  Before we discuss the list let’s watch it together during a trip down memory lane, first.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv14MnddCSg&w=560&h=315]

Take aways from the list…

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Notre Dame Makes Cut for Former Star Commitment

Deion Colzie is one of the top wide receivers in the 2021 recruiting class. The one-time Notre Dame commitment hasn’t eliminated the Irish.

Notre Dame once had a commitment from wide receiver Deion Colzie of Athens, Georgia before the star high school senior-to-be stepped away from that and reopened his recruitment.

Colzie still hasn’t announced the school of his choice but did make a cut down to ten teams over the weekend and Notre Dame is still in the discussion.

Notre Dame joins Georgia, Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, Penn State, Oregon, Virginia and Florida for the talented receiver.

247Sports ranks Colzie as the third best receiver in the 2021 recruiting class while the 247Sports composite rankings find him to be the 45th best prospect in the entire class and fifth best receiver.

Tom Loy of 247Sports reported the following of Colzie:

“In talking to a source on this front, some on the staff believe that if Colzie agrees to get back on campus at some point before making a decision, the staff feels strongly that they can get him back on board. However, again, nobody feels great about a return trip taking place. They are just hopeful at this point.” – Tom Loy of 247Sports

That’s not the most-optimistic of looks for the Fighting Irish who currently have just one wide receiver in their 2021 recruiting class, Lorenzo Styles, Jr.

Former Notre Dame Star Poised for NFL Breakout?

Drue Tranquill was a star at Notre Dame despite dealing with multiple injuries. Now he’s on the rise for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.

Drue Tranquill was a star at Notre Dame.  After entering school as a safety he transitioned to linebacker where he thrived, starring on the College Football Playoff participant in 2018.

Tranquill was drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2019 and began the year starring on special teams before getting more playing time on defense as the year continued and him ultimately finishing with the second most tackles on the team.

Tranquill caught the attention of Josh Edwards at CBS Sports, as Edwards calls for a breakout 2020.

Tranquill is a more mobile linebacker used primarily in sub packages. Our breakout defensive team is going to be smaller, but no less impactful in our approach to combat more spread style offenses. Tranquill was all over the field last season. He should have more opportunities to make an impact with an improved defensive unit around him this season. – Josh Edwards of CBS Sports

Tranquill will have competition for playing time with what should be a healthier Chargers defense but certainly looks like he’s a solid NFL player in the making.

Notre Dame makes top six for prized tight end

Notre Dame knows a thing or two about tight ends. Monday saw them make the cut for another much desired tight end prospect.

Tight End U doesn’t really ever rebuild at the position, they just sort of reload.  The talent at the position speaks for itself at Notre Dame and the Irish may be closer to landing their next at the position.

Erik Olsen of Heritage (Littleton, ColoradO) released his top six schools on Monday and included was Notre Dame.

Olsen is listed as a three-star recruit on 247Sports and a top 20 tight end nationwide per their composite rankings.

Olsen also listed Colorado, Nebraska, Stanford, UCLA and Washington in his top six.

Notre Dame already has a commitment from tight end Cane Berrong in their 2021 class.

Notre Dame’s current list of commitments has their class ranked 11th nationally by 247Sports.

89 Days Until Notre Dame Football

In 89 days we get Notre Dame football back. How are we counting down today? Check it out now!

In 89 days we’ll gladly all welcome Notre Dame football back when they take on the Navy Midshipmen in Annapolis.  In the meantime, we have rosters to break down, opponents to preview and position battles to discuss.

All of that will come in short order.  In the meantime, let’s spend today’s part of the countdown remembering a key play that kept BCS game dreams alive in 1998.

89:  Yards on Bobbie Howard’s interception return for a touchdown that helped Notre Dame past LSU in 1998.

Watch it below…

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhuaa3ZyN1M&w=560&h=315]

89 days.

Let’s go!

Related: Way Too Early Game-By-Game Predictions for 2020 Notre Dame Football

Rivals: Michigan trying to flip Irish 2021 commit

The Wolverine’s are hard at work trying to flip one of Notre Dame’s top 2021 commits.

This is not the first time that Rivals has put Notre Dame commit Lorenzo Styles Jr. on flip watch. Back in April, the Rivals recruiting experts thought the Ohio wide receiver was seriously listening to Jim Harbaugh selling his Michigan Wolverines. Just two month’s later, the feeling that Styles Jr. might flip is still lingering.

Josh Helmholdt, a Rivals recruiting analyst, looked at the Midwest prospects who could potentially flip and once again, Styles Jr.’s name appeared on the list. Helmholdt said “Michigan that is talked about as the Fighting Irish’s biggest threat. This will continue to be a recruitment to watch, and I expect to see additional visit form Styles when the dead period ends.” Just like in April, this news turns our collective stomachs.

Styles Jr. is seen as one of the top commits in the 2021 class, the only wide receiver currently committed. Georgia’s Deion Colzie was once in the class as well and if the Irish see Styles Jr. flip, Brian Kelly and his staff will have to scramble to get a quality receiver to join star quarterback Tyler Buchner.

The Irish will have to fight off the Wolverines until Styles Jr. signs his letter of intent, the first signing period starts on December 16th. With Michigan charging hard for the talented wide receiver, Kelly should continue to recruit Styles Jr. as if he were an uncommitted prospect.

Former Notre Dame Star Recounts Racist Encounters at School

Ian Williams played at Notre Dame from ’07-’10. He is making his voice heard now about his encounters and what he hopes protests accomplish.

Ian Williams played defensive tackle at Notre Dame from 2007-2010, recording 13 tackles for loss for the Fighting Irish before being signed by the San Francisco 49ers in 2011.

Williams signed as an undrafted free agent, yet worked his way up to a defensive captain on the squad in 2015.  An ankle injury led to his release by the 49ers in 2016 that resulted in an injury settlement.

Williams bad ankle might not have let him continue playing professional football, but it didn’t stop him from marching and making his voice heard over the weekend.

From Eric Hansen’s piece in the South Bend Tribune:

“I saw an interesting meme on Instagram the other day,” Williams said. “So we all studied the Civil Rights movement. We all studied slavery. We’ve all sat there and thought about what we would do if we lived in that time. 

“Well, we’re doing that right now. Whatever you’d be doing then, we’re doing now. So I want to be able to tell my kids, ‘I wasn’t sitting at home watching TV, scared to go out, scared for my life. Didn’t want to risk anything for other people.” – Ian Williams

On his racist encounters while attending Notre Dame:

“Certain instances happened on campus when you were called the N-word,” he said. “‘What is this N-word doing at my party? Get this N-word out of here. No drinks for the N-words.’ It’s been multiple instances, and you just let stuff slide.

“I can’t fight you and get thrown out. I can’t mess you up, because your parent probably donates and probably paid for one of these buildings over here. So I can’t split your lip and I’m just going to let you be.” – Ian Williams

Williams went on to applaud the current Notre Dame students and players for speaking up on the issues in our society today.  If you’ve got the time it’s worth your time to see what Williams went through at a place we probably like to think such things don’t happen at.

Veteran Notre Dame Offensive Tackle Show High Praise

Liam Eichenberg will be entering his third season as a starter for Notre Dame in 2020 and PFF sees big things for his future.

Liam Eichenberg took a leap last year at Notre Dame, turning into one of the better offensive tackles in the country.  He didn’t allow a sack all season long and although still not spectacular, his ability in the run game undoubtedly improved a significant margain.

Pro Football Focus has taken notice of Eichenberg who this weekend they called the fifth best offensive tackle prospect for the 2021 NFL Draft.

PFF Says of Eichenberg:

Eichenberg is an extremely solid, if unspectacular, tackle prospect. He saw his performance take a massive leap from his first to his second season as a starter. His pass-blocking grade went from 63.5 in 2018 to 85.6 last year and his run blocking grade from 60.8 to 78.8.

Eichenberg didn’t allow a sack last season but did account for 11 penalties, the most of any Notre Dame player.

Eliminate a few of those mental errors and continue to improve in the run game and you may be looking at one of the very best left tackles in all of college football when you watch Liam Eichenberg on Saturday’s in 2020.