Category: Notre Dame

Scouts view: Notre Dame’s newest commit, QB Steve Angeli

New Jersey’s Steve Angeli makes his pledge to Notre Dame, a scouts view on what to except from the 8th commitment of the 2022 class.

It’s a bit ironic that there was a focus on the quarterback position early today and what was brewing with Penn State and target Drew Allar.

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Well, the Irish found their answer on how they think it’s going as they accepted a commitment this evening from New Jersey quarterback Steve Angeli.

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The six-foot-four-inch and 215-pound junior who preps at Bergen Catholic, led his team to a 5-1 record while throwing for 919-yards and 9 touchdowns. He becomes the 8th commit in the 2022 Notre Dame recruiting class, the first quarterback. Here is a scouts view of what to expect out of the newest Irish quarterback.

First off, Angeli is a winner, a quality that you love to see from a position of leadership. A big frame that could still add on a few pounds without having to lose the impressive athleticism. Angeli is a quarterback who likes to get on the move, typically throwing on the run. It seem more by choice than due to a poor offensive line, he’s just more comfortable doing so. It seemed like during his junior year, Angeli felt a little gun-shy to push the ball down the field.

I needed more, the six games from this past season just wasn’t enough for me. So, off to his sophomore tape and there was a huge difference in Angeli’s game. He was using his solid arm strength and touch to stretch the field. The short passes and athletic scrambles were there too, showing more of a complete game, the high-level ability that Brian Kelly and Tommy Rees are looking for.

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On first watch, his game reminds me a whole lot of Ian Book, but much bigger. Their running ability, similar abilities to escape from pass-rushers, Steve Angeli is Book hulked up. If the Garden State quarterback has a career similar to Book’s, I think we all would be pretty happy with that outcome.

Is Notre Dame getting left behind in the 2022 race for quarterback recruits?

With multiple quarterbacks making commitments in the 2022 class, should Notre Dame fans fear the Irish will be left behind?

Another quarterback domino fell yesterday as Clemson received a commitment from Texas quarterback Cade Klubnik. Alabama recently receiver a commitment from Tennessee’s Ty Simpson, who considered the Irish but ultimately choose between the Tiger and Crimson Tide. The other 2020 College Football Playoff participant Ohio State, they have a commit from Texas’ Quinn Ewers, the top rated player in the nation. All three of them are considered top-100 prospects.

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Notre Dame, well, they’ve yet to grab a quarterback in their 2022 class and their options are dwindling down. According to the 247Sports composite rankings, the top 8 quarterback have now committed, but this doesn’t mean doom and gloom for the Irish.

Kentucky’s Gavin Wimsatt, who holds an Irish offer, is very high on Notre Dame and are viewed as one of the favorites to land his commitment. He’s considered to be a top-100 prospect.

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Ohio’s Drew Allar, was offered by Brian Kelly and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees last week. Allar likes the Irish along with Penn State, who recently saw 247Sports director of recruiting, Steve Wiltfong, place a prediction for Allar to end up committing to the Nittany Lions. It looks like Notre Dame has some catching up to do with Allar.

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The third option at the moment is New Jersey’s Steve Angeli, who is also extremely high on the Irish. Angeli’s courtship with Notre Dame has been going on for a while, as the offer to him went out in August of last year, the same day as Wimsatt received his. All 6 of the crystal ball predictions logged for Angeli have him ending up in South Bend.

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I really like Angeli, I believe he has a bright future, but he isn’t my first choice, Wimsatt is. I would love to see Kelly and Rees put the full-court recruiting press on the Kentuckian and see where that takes them. If it doesn’t work out, Angeli would be a great consolation prize.

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With the cycle being still in it’s early stages, there is some worry that the Irish will get left behind and not have one of their top choices end up in South Bend. Don’t get caught up in that, the Irish are fine and will get a very good quarterback prospect in this class.

According to Bleacher Report, Notre Dame has a top big-play threat

As Bleacher Report looked around the nation for big-play threats, they couldn’t leave this rising Notre Dame star off their list.

If your team wants to be a high-powered, dynamic offense, having players who can take it the distance are extremely important. According to Bleacher Reports Brad Shepard, the Irish are one of the few teams in the nation that possess that kind of player calling these 15 players “a threat to make a house call every time they touch the ball.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Shepard chose a player from Notre Dame’s team as one of his top big-play threats, rising-sophomore Chris Tyree gave us all glimpses of his special ability during the 2020 season.

Checking in at seventh on Shepard’s list, “Tyree showed the world what kind talent he has when he took a handoff against Syracuse and raced 94 yards for a touchdown. It’s that sort of ability that makes him a guy who has to get more looks.”

After rushing for nearly 500 yards with four scores, the bar has been raised this coming season. Expectations should be high, but remember, Kyren Williams is still on campus and will surely get his share of carries as well.

With a full off-season on campus for Tyree, he should be able to take his game to the next level. It is out of the question to see two 1,000-yard backs for Notre Dame this coming season? Not at all. With many questions surrounding the quarterbacks, Brian Kelly and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees will most likely rely on what should be another strong offensive line and two stars in the backfield. Expect Tyree to make more highlight plays like the ones above.

Major recruiting services impressed with Notre Dame’s ‘22 class so far

Early on in the 2022 recruiting cycle, the Notre Dame class has impressed some of the national services.

It is just technically a month into the 2022 recruiting cycle but many schools have already been hard at work trying to secure a top class. Notre Dame is one of those, as the Irish have gotten off to a very fast start with seven commits so far.

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Since the page has turned to the 2022’s, some of the major outlets have been looking at who has gotten out of the gates quickly and secured high-level commits.

Over at ESPN, Craig Haubert looked at a group of 10 schools who have had the most success in the class, with the Irish checking in at number 8 (insider). Of the seven committed player, five of them rank inside ESPN’s top 300.

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Haubert is impressed with the early offensive line commits in Joey Tanona and Ty Chan and who they’ll eventually be blocking for in running back Jadarian Price. He also highlighted defensive end Tyson Ford, who Haubert said has a “nice initial burts as well as good agility.”

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They weren’t the only ones giving Brian Kelly and his staff praise for their early recruiting success, 247Sports did as well. Interestingly, they also have the Irish’s class ranked as the 8th best early on. Also, Brian Dohn pretty much singled out the same players, with the exception of Price.

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They like the balance of the commits early on, as the Irish have checked off some early boxes along the offense and defensive lines, running back, defensive back and receiver.

Right now, Notre Dame is in great position to continue to add onto what is a very solid start. The next few months will be very important for the Irish on the recruiting trail, as they look to keep the early momentum going.

Shutout completes Notre Dame baseball’s upset of Wake Forest

The season opening series was a prosperous one for the Notre Dame baseball team, as they upset took the series 2-1 over No. 16 Wake Forest.

Coming into the first series of the year, there was a good amount of unknown surrounding the Irish baseball team.

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After this weekend, the ACC should be put on notice, as a 10-0 shutout of Wake Forest completed a series win for the Irish.

There was plenty to be happy about this weekend for second-year manager Link Jarrett, especially after the effort this afternoon. After dropping game 1 of the series, the Irish stormed back with with 15 runs in the final two games, while allowing just 4 for the Demon Deacons.

There were multiple stars in todays contest, but the biggest two where pitchers Christian Scafidi and Alex Rao. Obviously the shut out Wake Forest, but they combined to allow just 4 hits and 4 walks while striking out 7 batters.

Offensively, it was a two-headed monster of right fielder Brooks Coetzee and catcher David LaManna, as they drive in 8 total runs. LaManna and second baseman Jared Miller each had 3 hits to lead the team, while Coetzee and DH Carter Putz had 2 hits a piece.

The Irish don’t have a midweek game and will be back on the field on Friday as they visit Clemson for a three-game conference matchup.

Notre Dame in top 5 for Ohio 2022 running back

The next cut has been made for Gi’Bran Payne and Notre Dame has been included in this top 5.

The Irish are already off to a fast start in their 2022 recruiting class efforts, with 7 commits already in the fold and an early top 10 national ranking for the group. Brian Kelly and his staff aren’t being complacent and heard some good news from one of the best running back in the nation, Ohio’s Gi’Bran Payne.

Only two schools were dropped off in Payne’s recent update, Michigan and Purdue on the Cincinnati’s natives list. Although defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman won’t be coaching him, you have to expect that he is helping in the efforts to land Payne.

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Payne has a very well-rounded game, he’s as much of a threat in the passing game as he is running the ball.

The Irish just got a commitment from Jadarian Price a week ago, but that hasn’t stopped them from continuing to recruit Payne. It does seem like the staff will take 2 backs this cycle and Payne certainly fits what Notre Dame is looking for.

Notre Dame will not travel to ACC Championships

Notre Dame’s fencing team is operating under an abundance of caution in not traveling to the ACC Championships in North Carolina.

The following statement is courtesy of the Notre Dame athletic department in regards to the 2021 ACC Fencing Championships:

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame fencing team will not travel to Chapel Hill this weekend to defend its titles at the 2021 ACC Championships.

The decision was made out of an abundance of caution following positive tests, subsequent quarantining and contact tracing within the team. The program is adhering to the outlined protocols within the ACC Medical Advisory Group report, which is available on theACC.com (full report).

 

ESPN projects who will be Notre Dame’s starting QB in 2021

The battle to replace Ian Book will be one many eyes will be watching and ESPN has predicted which QB emerge as Notre Dame’s starter.

One of the biggest questions going into spring football for Notre Dame is who will replace the all-time winningest quarterback in Irish history, Ian Book. ESPN’s Tom Luginbill took a look around the nation (insider) at programs who will have new signal callers in the 2021 season and obviously the Irish were included.

Of the four quarterbacks on campus fighting for the job (Jack Coan, Brendon Clark, Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner), Luginbill feels like Coan is the leader in the clubhouse.

There are four legitimate options, but while Buchner is an exciting incoming freshman and can be a difference-maker, he is not the leader to be under center come the fall. That has to be the Wisconsin grad transfer Coan…

This makes plenty of sense, as Coan was brought in to bridge the gap. We predicted that Brian Kelly would dip in to the transfer market to replace Book and the former Badger was the answer even though he wasn’t on our watchlist.

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Luginbill does assess each of the contenders as “Clark is probably the best passer with the most arm strength,” but knee injuries have stunted his growth.

As for the other returning quarterback “Pyne most resembles Book’s skill set, having served as the Irish’s No. 2 quarterback down the stretch last year. He’s undersized but has some skill as a passer with good feet, a solid feel for the game and a high ceiling.”

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How about the incoming freshman Buchner? “He is likely the future. He’s physically capable of playing right away, but as with all freshman, the learning curve can be steep.” The Californian is already on campus going through spring drills, so Buchner is already getting his feet wet in South Bend.

The spring will be very telling as to who will ultimately replace Book, if Kelly will go with experience in Coan or a higher ceiling in Buchner.

Notre Dame baseball shows off their ‘21 uniforms as they prepare for the opener

The Notre Dame baseball team had their season start pushed back a week, but after unveiling their uni’s it looks like first pitch will happen soon.

We have already seen the head gear the Irish baseball will wear this season and now we have a look at what the rest of the uniform will look like.

The road grays are my favorite, it’s just a good, clean look before they ultimately get grass stains and dirt all over them. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like these are available to purchase, unlike this years hats.

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Something else we are waiting for is the baseball teams first series, after last weeks road trip to Baton Rouge was canceled due to an outbreak of COVID-19 within the program. It seems like the series against Wake Forest is a go, according to the teams twitter page.

Hopefully the Irish can get off to a fast start like last season as Link Jarrett looks to coach a full season instead of a partial one.

Notre Dame drops in ESPN’s future quarterback rankings

With the graduation of Ian Book, Notre Dame must find their signal caller of the future or they could continue to drop in the rankings.

Going into last year the Irish were in very good hands at the most important position in sports, with Ian Book quarterbacking the team for this 3rd-year as a starter. The results were great, a regular season ACC title, a berth in the College Football Playoffs for the second time in three years.

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Although the 2020 season didn’t end the way any of us wanted to, Book brought stability to the position which resulted in 10 wins. The immediate future most likely sees transfer Jack Coan as Books replacement, although the need for Brian Kelly to develop depth at the position is much needed for the future of the program.

The upcoming season’s past 2021 will hold a much different future for the position and after ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg looked at his future quarterback rankings (insider), the Irish will need to catch up a bit. Falling from 7th last year to 16th after this update, the position will once again be in the spotlight in South Bend.

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Rittenberg sees the situation like I do, “Notre Dame needs to upgrade at quarterback to truly challenge for a national title despite two CFP appearances in the past three years.” The need for a difference maker at the position is glaring, Coan isn’t the long-term answer but maybe that player is already on campus.

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The 2021 class included top-100 recruit Tyler Buchner from California, who is the future at quarterback. That’s not a knock on Brendon Clark or Drew Pyne, it’s more of a testament to Buchner’s abilities. Rittenberg mentions Buchner as being “long been pegged as Notre Dame’s quarterback of the future.”

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The future is now and the need to develop the depth at the position is a glaring issue. Clark and Pyne had virtually no experience heading into this season, which is why Coan was brought in.

Kelly and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees can’t have another situation like this years emerge next year. The younger quarterbacks need to play, so going into 2022, there should be some semblance of urgency to get the younger QB’s that much needed experience.

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With Coan’s injury history, relying on him to complete a whole season shouldn’t be taken for granted. Again, getting the younger players experience will be paramount. When Rittenberg revisits his future QB rankings next year, this group should be ranked higher as long as development happens.