Category: Notre Dame Football

Notre Dame Football Suspends Spring Practice

Brian Kelly in a tweet announced the suspension of Notre Dame’s spring practices until further notice.

It seemed like a matter of time before the Notre Dame Football team took a leave of absence from its spring schedule. Head Coach Brian Kelly released a statement regarding his teams’ practices, as they will not return to campus for any activities after classes went remote yesterday.

This makes all the sense in the world, as the students and staff’s health at this current moment is their biggest concern. With the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC all canceling their basketball tournaments, the NCAA tournament in the air now, and schools across the country going to remote classes, Notre Dame is making the right decision. It is a tough one to make, but the correct one. People’s lives are at stake, not just inside the program but outside as well.

Notre Dame ’21 QB Commit Buchner to Transfer High Schools

California QB Tyler Buchner, a Notre Dame commit, will transfer to a new high school to finish career.

It was reported yesterday that Notre Dame commit Tyler Buchner, the top ranked recruit in the 2021 Irish class, will transfer from La Jolla High School to La Mesa Helix High School to finish out his career.

It was Tom Loy of Irish Illustrated who got a release about the transfer from the Buchner Family, as they explained why the move. It was due to Buchner’s “interest in enrolling early at Notre Dame” which makes plenty of sense, as Ian Book will graduate this after this year and the QB position will need a new starter for 2021.

Buchner has been a leader for his recruiting class, being active with other prospects around the nation in trying to lure them to South Bend to play with him. The changing of his high school will not effect this at all.

At the current moment it has been planned for the 2021 recruiting class to be making a visit to South Bend in a little under two weeks from now, but that remains to be seen how the Irish will handle visitors with the COVID-19 outbreak.

Notre Dame Cancels In-Person Classes

The University of Notre Dame announced Wednesday that in-person classes will be cancelled until at least April 13.

Notre Dame students are on spring break right now but won’t be returning to class next week and won’t be returning to class in a physical matter for at least a month.

The University of Notre Dame announced Wednesday that in-person classes will be canceled until at least April 13.  The university has also canceled classes for next week in order to prepare for all classes to move to the online format starting March 23.

Now to the question most Notre Dame fans have – what does it mean for the athletic teams?

The outstanding women’s lacrosse team played today, moving to 7-0 after defeating Vanderbilt 16-6.

The now-ranked baseball team is set to play this afternoon at Radford.

The basketball team begins play tonight in the 2020 ACC Tournament that is being held in Greensboro, North Carolina.

And according to Bryan Driskell of Irish Breakdown, the football team will continue with spring practice as scheduled.

Notre Dame’s Rees Transition to Offensive Coordinator Named Something to Watch by CBS

New Notre Dame Offensive Coordinator Tommy Rees named one to watch by CBS Sports Dennis Dodd.

With spring practice starting around the country, CBS Sports Dennis Dodd recently looked at 20 things you need to watch across the country. It comes as no surprise that Dodd checked in on Brian Kelly’s team, but what might is that they are supposedly being overlooked.

Dodd goes on to day that Notre Dame is under the radar, noting that the Irish have won 10 games a year for three years in a row, something that hasn’t happened since 1993. It is just the second time that has happened in Notre Dame’s storied history, which probably comes as a surprise to many.

The biggest question mark Dodd sees for the Irish this spring is “Tommy Rees settling in as offensive coordinator.” Rees took over the offense for Chip Long, who was released prior to the Camping World Bowl, and promptly led the Irish to score 33 points against an Iowa State team that allowed almost 26 points per game. Rees’ transition from just being in charge of the quarterbacks, to taking over the whole offense is definitely something to watch.

Notre Dame’s Rivalry with USC Ranked Among Best in all of NCAA Athletics

Notre Dame against USC make top 10 list of rivalries in all of college athletics.

When you have a rivalry as heated as the Irish and Trojans have, it comes as no surprise that it is among the intense rivalries in the NCAA, on the gridiron or hardwood. Brad Crawford of 247Sports ranked the fiercest rivalries  in all of collegiate athletics and Notre Dame’s annual contest against USC was among them.

Ranked as the 9th fiercest, Crawford noted that the rivalry between the two schools “is defined by it’s series of high stakes meetings as two of college football’s most stories programs.” Crawford is right by that as the game normally has national implications for the winner of the contest.

In recent memory It has been the Irish who have owned the rivalry, winners of seven of the last ten, including the last three years in a row. Prior to that ten-game stretch, it was USC who owned the rivalry, winning eight of the ten games in the 2000’s.

The hated between the two schools is strong, which is why I believe that Crawford ranked it a bit too low. At worst USC/Notre Dame is a top 5 rivalry in all of major collegiate athletics, and clearly it is up for debate. This year’s game will be played in LA Memorial Coliseum and is the final game on the schedule for both teams. Although the time is undecided right now, it should be a prime-time match-up as both teams should be highly ranked coming into the season.

Notre Dame ’21 QB Commit Buchner Earns Invite to Prestigious Elite 11 Finals

Notre Dame ’21 QB commit Buchner earns invite to Elite 11 Finals.

The early spring season for high school football players is made mostly up of camps, qualifying to make the next round, ultimately ending in the 7-on-7 The Opening Finals at Nike Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. This weekend Notre Dame QB commit Tyler Buchner competed and impressed enough to earn an invite to their final competition.

Current Irish QB Brendon Clark made the finals in ’18 and potential number one pick and 2020 Notre Dame opponent Trevor Lawrence of Clemson are some former participants at the prestigious event.

Buchner was more than impressive throwing as he was the winner of the Golden Gun Accuracy Challenge, putting up the best score at the camp along with two other competitors.

At the current moment, Buchner, the 6’2” and 200-pound signal caller, is the highest rated commit in the 2021 Irish class. 247Sports composite rankings have him as the 33rd best overall player in the country while being the 3rd best dual-threat QB in the nation. The California star will most likely arrive in South Bend with an opportunity to compete to start as a true freshman as senior Ian Book graduates after this year.

NFL Combine Show’s Why Notre Dame Strength Coach Matt Balis is One of the Best in the Country

Notre Dame Director of Football Performance Matt Balis is one of the best in the country.

The NFL combine finished last weekend and what the eight former Notre Dame stars did was impressive as a whole. A lot of that credit has to go to Matt Balis, the Director of Football Performance AKA strength coach for the Blue and Gold. Balis is responsible for getting the players in optimal playing shape, and those skills translated to many performing extremely well for NFL personnel.

Charles Power, of 247Sports looked over some of the data after the combine and some strength coaches stood out to him. Balis was one of them, as he has made many players improve their athletic traits. Power had a very interesting stat to go along with the success Balis has had “noting the Fighting Irish are 33-6 since Balis arrived in South Bend.”

In Olympic style scoring, the Irish would have taken the crown as they finished inside the top three in 7 different events. Individually it was TE Cole Kmet that stood out as he was named to NFL.com’s All-Combine Offensive Team.

Kmet and WR Chase Claypool were two of the former Irish star’s that made noise during the workouts and that is a direct reflection of the work that Balis has put in with those players. It’s safe to say his methods are among the best in the country, giving Brian Kelly’s team a leg up against many opponents.

Notre Dame Suffers Rare Recruiting Loss to West Virginia

That streak ended Friday evening as West Virginia got a big win over Notre Dame. At least in terms of recruiting.

Perhaps the West Virginia Mountaineers football program was just due to get a victory over Notre Dame. Since the teams first met in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl, the Fighting Irish have won all four contests the teams have played on the field.

That streak ended Friday evening as West Virginia got a big win over Notre Dame. At least in terms of recruiting.

Wyatt Milum, an offensive tackle rated as a top 25 player in the entire 2021 recruiting class by 247Sports announced Friday that’d he be taking his talents to West Virginia next year.

Notre Dame has a strong start in recruiting for 2021 but this one no-doubt stings. It’s one thing to lose out on prospects to Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson or LSU. It’s another when West Virginia wins the services of players you so badly want.

It may seem odd but it’s hard to knock a young man for staying home. I can relate as I always thought I wanted to go a huge school far from home…and then I wound up at a tiny one an hour away.

Either way the push for a second offensive tackle in this class now becomes a bigger concern. Landon Tengwell of Maryland and Nolan Rucci of Pennsylvania are just two of several possibilities there.

If there is a silver lining in this it’s that at least it happened now and not down the road when Notre Dame’s staff was thinking a commitment was certainly coming and time was instead wasted.

Either way, Jeff Quinn (OL Coach) will need to do his best Mariano Rivera impression soon and close another one of these tackles commitments out to join Avon, Indiana’s four star Blake Fisher.

The Athletic’s Top 25 CFB Coaches Throws Love to Brian Kelly

Win a huge game or heck, just go a year without getting blown out against a marquee opponent.

I’ve been more of a supporter of Brian Kelly than many on the internet. I know, shocking that that Twitter or any other social media outlet goes negative.

But when you compare Kelly’s run to where things were just a decade ago it’s worthy of praise while also being aware there is still room for improvement.

Win a huge game or heck, just go a year without getting blown out against a marquee opponent.

Bruce Feldman of The Athletic released his 25 best coaches in college football Thursday morning and Brian Kelly checked in at number eight. Here’s what Feldman said about Kelly:

The 58-year-old has had a good long run at a place that often burns guys out after a few years. The Irish are 33-6 in his last three seasons. His teams have gotten blown out a bunch of times on big stages — Michigan beat Notre Dame by 31 last season, Clemson hammered them by 27 the year before and Miami crushed them by 33 the year before that — but overall he’s proven to be one of the best coaches in college football.

What does it mean?

Nothing but it is noteworthy when you see the likes of Jim Harbaugh and Paul Chryst 10 spots behind him.

What’s more important or meaningful to me is closing the gap to the truly elite. An uptick in recruiting would help that as would winning one of these marquee matchups instead of just playing a team like Georgia close.

Watch: Brian Kelly Meets with Media Following First Spring Practice

Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly meets with the media following the Irish’s first spring practice of 2020.

It’s official, the 2020 season has kicked off with the first spring practice, and Brian Kelly met with the media following the workout.

Kelly addressed many topics including the newest additions to his coaching staff in CB coach Mike Mickens and TE coach John McNulty, players who will be limited in spring as they nurse injuries, Kevin Austin’s potential, Ian Book’s leadership qualities and much more.

There is now a 12-day break between the next practice, which is scheduled on March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day, a fitting time for the Fighting Irish to get back on the field.