Category: Notre Dame Football

Recruiting: Virtual Visit for One of Notre Dame’s Newest Offers

The Irish try to make an impression with a virtual visit to Notre Dame with one of their newest offered prospects.

With the NCAA extending the recruiting mandatory dead-period through the end of July, many teams continue to hold prospects to visit their campuses virtually. On Friday that happened with Iowa’s TJ Bollers, who was offered earlier this week.

Bollers interaction with the Irish staff has heated significantly this week and that bodes well for Brian Kelly and Mike Elston. Although late to the party with Bollers, getting him to visit virtually almost immediately after the offer confirms interest on both sides.

The one of the Irish’s biggest recruiters is commit Gabriel Rubio, who uses his social media account to try and entice Notre Dame prospects to join him in the 2021 class. Rubio seems pretty confident the Irish can get a commitment from the talented defensive end.

[protected-iframe id=”aba05c18221bac58fcd5dcb667c586fe-162776928-178902091″ info=”//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/6413122/5e0e0f56d21abf0b30f6312b” width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]

At the moment the 2021 Notre Dame class features three commits on the defensive line, Rubio, Texas’ David Abiara and Rhode Island’s Jason Onye. Rubio, from Missouri, is the tackle in the class, with Abiara and Onye playing on the edge. There have been rumors of Abiara flipping to Oklahoma, so going after Bollers makes plenty of sense. Bollers relationship with Notre Dame has evolved quickly and I feel like that’s a great sign for the Irish going forward.

Notre Dame’s Uneasy Running Back Situation Entering 2020

Who is going to be the load back for Notre Dame after Tony Jones, Jr. headed to the NFL? The candidates all leave something to be desired.

How much will Notre Dame miss Tony Jones, Jr. in 2020?

You may not have thought Jones was any great shakes at Notre Dame but his 857 rushing yards were the most on the team in 2019.  Who then shoulders the load that Jones and his 144 carries from a year ago leaves?

“Quarterbacks: if you have two then you don’t have one!”

If that’s true then is the equivalent when discussing running backs something like,  “Running backs: if you’ve got six then you’ve got nothing!”

That would somewhat describe the state of Notre Dame’s running back room after the addition of transfer Trevor Speights yesterday.

Right now the running back room has six bodies and seemingly none that appear to be threats to be a traditional every down back.

Jafar Armstrong has shown flashes but has been beat up, missing eight of Notre Dame’s 26 games the last two seasons.  He started with a bang, scoring a pair of touchdowns in the 2018 opener against Michigan and seven that year, but totaled just 219 yards from scrimmage and one score in eight games in 2019.

Jahmir Smith, the former top-20 running back in the 2018 recruiting class hasn’t exactly shined just yet, totaling 208 rushing yards on 48 attempts, 46 of which came in 2019.  It’s experience but nothing really stood out.

C’bo Flemister had a few flashes in 2019 but hardly a deep track record as he recorded just 53 touches in nine games.  With those he 175 yards of offense for just 3.6 yards per touch.

Kyren Williams dropped a pass in the Louisville game to start the season and was pulled from that contest.  He’d wind up playing in parts of the first four games, recording just five touches before getting a redshirt.  His moves excite many but he’s not exactly seen as a potential burner by any means.

Chris Tyree will arrive on campus as big of running back recruit that Notre Dame has had in quite some time but to expect him to walk in and be a load type back is likely unrealistic as he’ll take some time to thicken up a bit and have the body type necessary to play running back in major college football.

And finally, Trevor Speights arrives after a career at Stanford that saw him record 95 carries for 363 yards (3.8 ypc) and battle some injury problems.  Like I’ve said, he’s by no means a knockout signing of a transfer but is at least another body to compete for playing time behind what should be a solid offensive line.

It’s clear that the running back room is questionable at best for Notre Dame as we head to 2020.  If Brian Kelly, Tommy Rees or run game coordinator Lance Taylor felt better about it then they wouldn’t have pursued Speights services quite like they did.

What you root for first is health as that would give us the chance at the highest production from the position, likely coming from Armstrong or Speights.  It’s hard for me to imagine Flemister or Williams taking a massive leap but I won’t tell you not be hopeful for something there.  And as excited as I am to watch Tyree, his body screams to be one that will need to put on a few pounds before I can see him being a viable threat.

The best thing I can say about Notre Dame’s running game as we head into 2020?

Ian Book is back for a fifth year and as much flack as he gets, his 546 rush yards a season ago were the second most on the team and went a long way in carrying the Notre Dame running game.  With no backs currently in place that excite you very much it makes think we’re headed to another season of Ian Book needing to probably run for another 500 yards or so if the Irish are going to be threatening another 10 win season.

 

Happy Friday! College Football Morning Announcements for May 29

Jim Harbaugh says something dumb, 2003 Fiesta Bowl reaction and recruiting news for Notre Dame and Georgia gets discussed. Check it out!

Happy Friday!  Here’s to a great weekend of hopefully some sunshine and relaxation for you all over the next couple of days.

In the Friday edition of the College Football Morning Announcements you will hear about the inaccurate thing Jim Harbaugh said now, a look back at an all-time game with a great controversy that was replayed on ESPN last night and you’ll get transfer/recruiting news in regards to Georgia and Notre Dame.

[protected-iframe id=”651e8b4d7ee5fe004fb77f60b59d2ffd-162776928-7793168″ info=”https://anchor.fm/cfnpodcast/embed/episodes/Ep–11—5-29-20-Harbaugh-Speaks-Silliness-Again–MiamiOhio-St-TBT–Transfer-News-at-ND–UGA–USC-eeo423″ width=”400px” height=”102px” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

Subscribe to Nick Shepkowski’s CFB Morning Announcements on Apple Podcasts

In this episode:

Jim Harbaugh runs his mouth inaccurately again – FIW

ESPN replays a thriller with an all-time college football controversy – Buckeyes Wire

Former USC Five-Star finds new home – FIW 

Notre Dame lands another transfer – FIW

Rivals: Kelly Hire Great, Notre Dame to Join Super Conference?

The Irish hiring of Brian Kelly gets praise once again, and Rivals Mike Farrell dreaming about four superconferences.

First it was ESPN giving Notre Dame’s hire of Brian Kelly away from Cincinnati as one of the best and now it is Rivals Mike Farrell giving props to the Irish for hiring Kelly. Farrell ranked the top coaching hires since 2008, with Kelly being ranked 6th among his coaching peers.

Farrell ranked Kelly behind Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley and LSU’s Ed Orgeron and a few others who have made a lot of noise since their hires. Farrell said “Kelly is 92-37 at Notre Dame and has been to a national title game. Dealing with academic restrictions, he’s done a great job.” Don’t forget Kelly guided the Irish to a College Football Playoff spot as well.

The most interesting part of Farrell’s article was his proposition of forming a ‘Power Four’ conference alignment. Farrell eliminates the Big XII, giving each conference in his scenario 16 teams with the Irish’s addition to the ACC giving them 17 teams. He propositions that every game would be a conference game except one, saying “we still want to see Notre Dame-USC and others, right?”

Farrell has the ACC adding the Irish along with West Virginia and TCU. Notre Dame would be in a division with newcomer TCU, Clemson, Florida State, Syracuse, NC State, Boston College, Louisville, and Wake Forest. Farrell believes that “Notre Dame in the same division as Clemson would be awesome,” but would it really? Part of the Irish allure is having a national schedule, playing teams from all across the country. This would limit those games, as traditional games against opponents like Stanford would be off the table.

This is just an idea, as Farrell states at the end “I know it’s impossible and won’t happen, but it sure is fun to imagine it. The ACC and the Pac-16 would certainly be much more interesting than they are now.” Yes, more interesting but would it work? Would you like to see the Irish join the ACC and have just one out of conference foe each year? I like it the way it is.

92 Days Until Notre Dame Football (We Hope)

We’re hopefully 92 days until Notre Dame football returns to action. We count that down with Brian Kelly on today’s check-in.

In just over 13 weeks we will have the single greatest game on the planet back, college football.

Notre Dame is set to take on Navy on August 29th which is now just 92 days away. We continue our countdown to Notre Dame football returning today with a tip of the cap to Notre Dame’s current head coach, Brian Kelly.

92: The amount of games Brian Kelly has won at Notre Dame (even if he only gets credit for 72 of those due to NCAA sanctions that were handed down.

Those 92 wins are the fourth most in Notre Dame history with only some real legends in front of him in Knute Rockne (105), Lou Holtz (100) and Ara Parseghian (95).  A season anywhere near what the last two have brought would put Kelly in second all-time by December.

It hasn’t always been pretty and at times it’s been frustrating on various different levels but there is no arguing against where Brian Kelly has led this Notre Dame football program compared to where it was a decade ago.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikv3cQHLKGw&w=560&h=315]

 

What is Jim Harbaugh Talking About Now?

Jim Harbaugh must live in an alternate universe if he actually believes what he recently said about Michigan football.

I have to give Jim Harbaugh some credit.  Even if something couldn’t be further from the truth, he’s willing to try to speak it into existence like perhaps no other coach in college athletics.

Harbaugh spoke with 247Sports earlier this week and discussed how Michigan has performed since he took over as head coach in 2015.  When asked how close Michigan is to a national championship, Harbaugh claims they’ve already been as close to winning one as you can be without actually doing so.

I mean, just look back over the last the last years that we’ve been here last five years. About as close as you can possibly be. But you got to put it over the top. That’s what drives us.  -Jim Harbaugh

Uhh, what?

Harbaugh has to be talking about 2016, the year that his Wolverines went to Ohio State in a meeting of the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the country.  An unfortunate spot kept an Ohio State overtime drive alive in a game the Buckeyes would eventually win a couple plays later.

Had Michigan won they’d have gone to the Big Ten Championship but instead the Big Ten East went to Penn State and the Nittany Lions wound up winning that over Wisconsin.

Ohio State was still gifted a College Football Playoff appearance that year despite not winning the conference and were embarrassed by Clemson, 31-0 in the Fiesta Bowl.

So is that what Harbaugh is trying to sell as being “about as close as you can possibly be” to a national title?

Forget the Ohio State game, the Wolverines also lost to an un-ranked Iowa team earlier that fall.

Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan team was close to making a Big Ten Championship game where a win would have gotten them into the CFP.  But close to a national championship?

Harbaugh is yet to beat Ohio State in his five years in Ann Arbor, hasn’t yet won his own division of the conference, let alone the Big Ten and has never finished a year with fewer than three losses with the Wolverines.

But sure, ” About as close as you can possibly be”

Keep trying to speak that into existence, Jim.  Somewhere, somebody might actually believe you.

Early season college football TV times announcements to be delayed

Usually we start finding out early season kickoff times about now. That isn’t the case as this week. Read the latest right here.

We’re 100 days until Week One of the college football season getting going and 93 days until a handful of games kick things off in Week Zero.  Usually it’s right about now we get our first reports of kickoff times for early season games but those remain to be determined because of COVID-19.

Earlier this week it was announced in a joint statement by all FBS conferences, CBS Sports, ESPN, Fox Sports and their affiliated partners that these announcements will be coming at a later date than we’re used to.

“Collectively, the conferences and television networks have agreed to an extension for determining college football’s early-season game times beyond the standard June 1 deadline. These kickoff times and network designations will be announced at a later date as we all continue to prepare for the college football season.”

No word was given on when we may find out more and there is clearly no guarantee that the 2020 season will actually be played, although I get the feeling from recent actions that it’s seeming more likely by the day.

It’s worth noting that all of Notre Dame’s home games on NBC have already been announced, as has the Navy game in Dublin. The first Notre Dame game-time we’re waiting to find out is the September 26 contest against Wake Forest in Charlotte.

Notre Dame Offers Yet Another ’21 Running Back

Notre Dame is yet to land any running back commitments in their 2021 recruiting class and made another offer on Thursday.

Since Will Shipley made a commitment to Clemson a couple weeks back, Notre Dame has been desperately trying to find a running back to add to their 2021 recruiting class.

Their latest offer was made on Thursday as they offered three-star running back Tavierre Dunlap of Del Valle, Texas.

Dunlap is listed at 6-0, 196 pounds and ran for 1341 yards as a high school junior, finding the end zone 23 times total.

Dunlap now has 35 offers from most of the very good, but not great programs.  The likes of Arizona State, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, TCU and USC have offered along with plenty of others.

Notre Dame currently sits with ten commitments for the 2021 class.  One of those however is very much up in the air it appears and zero of the ten are at the running back position.

2021 Notre Dame Recruiting – Commitment Tracker

2020 Bowl Projections – Who cares if it’s too early?

Bill Bender released his bowl projections ahead of the 2020 CFB season today and has Notre Dame meeting a familiar bowl game foe.

Is it too early to start projecting bowl games for the 2020 college football season?  Considering we don’t even know if games will be played by some teams or conferences I’d say yes but why not go about business as usual right now and do what we normally do?

Has it ever hurt anyone to try and speak some positives into existence?

With that in mind Bill Bender of The Sporting News released his initial bowl projections for the 2020 college football season on Thursday and he has Notre Dame in the New Year’s Six.

The Projection:

January 1:  Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Atlanta vs. LSU

It would fall short of Notre Dame’s ultimate goal of a College Football Playoff appearance and potential national championship but it’d also likely mean for a 10-2 mark at very worst which doesn’t look bad with Wisconsin, Clemson and an always difficult trip to USC all scheduled.

It would also be the fifth time Notre Dame and LSU met in a bowl game, doing so four times since 1997 with both teams winning twice.

An Upset of Michigan this week on Notre Dame’s Watch Party

Saturday night Notre Dame will feature Darius Walker’s coming out party that left a top ten Michigan team shocked after a stunning upset

This Saturday night will offer a chance to relive an unlikely incredible moment during an otherwise frustrating season.  This week’s edition of the “Notre Dame Watch Party” features the 2004 home opener, a win over top-ten Michigan.

After a season opening loss at BYU a week earlier, Notre Dame welcomed Michigan to Notre Dame Stadium to kickoff their home season.  Michigan was ranked eighth in the nation, the Big Ten favorite that fall and had national championship dreams.

Led by Justin Tuck and Cory Mays on defense, Notre Dame kept Michigan out of the end zone and to just nine first half points.  The Irish offense was non-existent though, putting up a goose egg themselves.

Brady Quinn found Matt Shelton for a 46 yard touchdown in the early moments of the third quarter and an interception and then blocked punt helped set up a couple more Notre Dame scores.

Freshman running back Darius Walker, who didn’t get on the field the week previous, ran for a game-high 115 yards and two touchdowns en-route to a 28-20 win for the Irish.

In what wound up being an incredibly frustrating season that saw Notre Dame again upset a top-ten team in November when they knocked off No. 9 Tennessee, the Irish went just 6-5 in the regular season and saw head coach Tyrone Willingham fired before their bowl game.

2004 was tough as a fan, I don’t think any single game left me more upset than the blowing of a 20-7 halftime lead against Boston College right after Notre Dame had worked their way back into the top 25.  Instead of being 6-2, the Irish fell to 5-3 and the wheels seemingly came off besides for that win to come over Tennessee.

If you’re looking for something to do Saturday night the replay of the 2004 win over Michigan will bring back a memories of a thrilling afternoon in an otherwise incredibly maddening year.