Category: Notre Dame

Former Notre Dame star Kmet getting rave reviews early with Chicago Bears

It looks like Cole Kmet will continue the Irish’s tradition of producing elite tight ends into the league.

I think we all knew this was coming when Cole Kmet decided to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL Draft, that he was a star in the making. Well, in just a few short practices with his hometown Chicago Bears, Kmet is already turning heads.

While Kmet really only stood out in his final year, the talent was never questioned. With his focus solely on football, Kmet should continue to improve and show why he was so highly regarded during his tenure at South Bend. The Bears won’t have to lean much on Kmet this year, as they also signed veteran tight end Jimmy Graham. Kmet will learn a lot from the former two-sport athlete and 5-time Pro Bowler.

Look for Kmet’s NFL career to be very similar to his time at Notre Dame, not much production early on, but then an explosion that has a great upward trajectory. It should be a lot of fun watching Kmet continue to improve with the Bears and make Notre Dame proud, continuing the tradition at Tight-End U.

Irish Impact: Wake Forest’s star WR Surratt opt out of season

Notre Dame will not face one of the best receivers in the country this year.

It has become quite common for stars to opt out of the 2020 college football season. This morning yet another player opted out, Wake Forest’s wide receiver Sage Surratt.

The Irish are set to face the Deamon Decons on September 26th, the second scheduled game of the year for Notre Dame. The Irish now get to avoid facing a 1,000-yard receiver from last year who added 11 touchdowns out of his 66 catches. He won’t be missed by any Irish defensive back, as Surratt is viewed as an early NFL Draft pick. ESPN’s Todd McShay mocked Surratt to the New York Jets as the 24th overall pick just last week.

This is great news for Notre Dame, as the secondary can continue to work itself out after losing key members like Alohi Gilman, Jalen Elliott and Troy Pride Jr. Star sophomore Kyle Hamilton returns and transfer Isaiah Pryor and Nick McCloud get acclimated to Clark Lea’s defensive scheme. By avoiding one of the best receivers in the ACC early in the season gives the Irish more time to mesh together in the secondary. It would have been a nice measuring stick in game two to see how the reworked secondary looks, but well gladly wait a few more games to find out just how good the defensive backfield really is.

Irish out to the east coast for newest ’22 offer

The Notre Dame coaching staff is hard at work with the 2022 recruiting class, offering jumbo athlete Ty Chan this morning.

It seems as if the Notre Dame coaching staff has turned their attention to the 2022 recruiting class, as they have been very busy with prospects on that side of the ball. On Monday, Brian Kelly and his staff offered two quarterbacks in this class and this morning after a talk with offensive line coach Jeff Quinn, an offer went out to Massachusetts’s jumbo athlete Ty Chan.

Chan has a fantastic frame, standing 6-foot-5-inches and weighing 265-pounds, with his versatility being a huge plus. What’s impressive is that Chan looks small and will be able to add more weight while keeping his athleticism. When you recruit a player like Chan, you get him on campus and figure out what position he plays later . With coach Quinn leading the charge on his recruitment, look for Chan to start on the offensive side of the line if he become’s part of the Notre Dame family.

Chan had offers from Nebraska and Penn State prior to getting the Irish offer this morning. Although the state of Massachusetts isn’t a football hotbed, they still produce a decent amount of talent, freshman wide receiver Jay Brunelle hails from the state. Look for Chan’s recruitment to heat up in the coming months.

Right now, Notre Dame has two commits in the ’22 class, instate offensive tackle Joey Tanona and Georgia tight end Jack Nickel. The two of them give the Irish at top 10 class, 8th overall by the 247Sports composite, at this early juncture in the 2022 recruiting cycle.

No Big Ten or Pac-12, Irish should move up in Top 25 rankings

With two power-conferences opting out of the 2020 fall football season, Notre Dame should see their pre-season ranking improve.

With the announcement that the Big Ten and Pac-12 will not play fall football, there will be changes to many preseason rankings. When the Amway Coaches poll powered by USA Today Sports dropped eleven days ago the Irish were ranked 10th but was prior to two conferences bowing out.

Now there are just three major conferences playing football in the fall, the SEC, Big XII and ACC, there will be movement within the rankings. 247Sports repolled their experts and came up with new rankings and the Irish are just outside the top 5, ranked 6th overall.

Chris Hummer, who put together the piece, sees one huge hurdle for Notre Dame this season, their potential two games against the Clemson Tigers. He said “you could strongly argue the schedule got easier for the Irish. But … they’ll have to play Clemson twice in order to reach the CFB Playoff.” The Tigers are a huge challenge for any team and having to match-up against them twice in one season is a daunting task. They are ranked as 247Sports top team in their updated preseason rankings.

Let’s look at the positives Hummer takes note of, the arrival of “some exciting impact freshman (Chris Tyree, Jordan Johnson) who can help right away. The offensive line will be strength as always, especially with Tommy Kraemer and Robert Hainsey returning from injury.” Hummer did forget about 5-Star Michael Mayer, who along with Tyree and Johnson should make a formidable trio of true-freshman stars.

On defense there is hope as Hummer says “you have to trust defensive coordinator Clark Lea, though. He’s put together back-to-back top 15 defenses. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Kyle Hamilton give Lea two start (I think he meant star) defenders to shape the unit around.”

Looking at the rest of the opponents on the slate, the Irish will face the 12th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels, the 17th ranked Louisville Cardinals, and the 24th ranked Pittsburgh Panthers. The expectations for Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish are high in this very odd season. Expect a very fun one-off year of ACC action.

Scout’s view: Newest Notre Dame commit LB Will Schweitzer

Take a look at what can be expected in the future out of the Irish’s newest commit, linebacker Will Schweitzer.

The Notre Dame Football coaching staff realized there was a need at linebacker and have quickly made up for lost time. First it was Prince Kollie from Tennessee and today they got the spatula out and flipped former Nebraska commit Will Schweitzer.

Let’s take a look at what to expect out of the newest Irish commit Schweitzer.

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The first thing that jumps out is Schweitzer’s size, at 6-foot-4-inches and 220-pounds, he looks skinny with room to add good weight on. What I love is his versatility, being able to line up with one hand in the ground or roaming the middle of the field and just reacting to the play. Schweitzer shows a variety of moves from defensive end, often going to his favorite spin move to elude offensive linemen. He plays sideline to sideline and when he matures and just focuses on defense (he plays tight end on offense), Schweitzer has a huge ceiling. He reads plays well and has an endless motor, Schweitzer looks like a perfect hybrid outside linebacker, playing off the line when needed and rushing the passer on obvious situations.

Brian Kelly and defensive line coach Clark Lea got a good one Sunday night, filling a need at linebacker and adding to an impressive 2021 class. Schweitzer is the 18th total commit, putting the Irish class at 12th nationally according to the 247Sports composite.

Spike in COVID-19 Cases Happening at Notre Dame

As the ACC pushes forward with its fall football plans, COVID-19 continues to run rampant everywhere.

As the ACC pushes forward with its fall football plans, COVID-19 continues to run rampant everywhere. One question on Notre Dame fans’ minds has to be what happens to the season if the South Bend campus sees an outbreak of the virus. If present trends continue, we might get an answer soon.

The South Bend Tribune has reported a COVID-19 spike at Notre Dame. Before descending on campus, the nearly 12,000 returning students had to get tested for the virus. Only 33, or less than a half percent, tested positive. Now that students are back, things have taken a dramatic turn.

From Aug. 6 to Friday, Notre Dame has reported 29 positive tests, including 10 on the final day of that span. Since Aug. 3, there has been an 8 percent positivity rate. One university spokesman attributed many of the positive tests to an off-campus party, which was covered by WSBT-TV.

While Notre Dame is not at critical mass yet, it continues to be worth questioning what happens if students are sent home this fall and football continues to be played. What will it say if the players have to remain while their fellow students are elsewhere? At that point, the university would have some serious explaining to do for what would seem like reckless behavior. A lot of soul searching might be on the horizon.

Why haven’t the Irish offered two high level ‘22 in-state prospects?

The Notre Dame staff has yet to offer two national prospects that reside in their own backyard.

It is still very early for many in the class of 2022 recruiting cycle, Notre Dame currently has just two commits in the class. Yes, one of them is from in-state offensive tackle Joey Tanona, the second ranked player in the state, but they have yet to offer the best player in the state, defensive tackle Caden Curry.

Curry resides in Greenwood, a suburb of Indianapolis, has been offered by Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan, Purdue and others. What’s missing is an offer from the Irish and Brian Kelly seems to be falling behind the ball on Curry’s recruitment. His current perceived leaders are Ohio State and Alabama, but the Irish haven’t even joined the party. You might wonder what the holdup is to offering Curry and that’s a great question. The 10th ranked defensive tackle according to the 247Sports composite rankings should hold an Irish offer at this moment, but alas, he does not.

Another question is why hasn’t Kelly offered rising offensive tackle Kiyaunta Goodwin? The massive tackle has seen his recruitment explode over the last few days, adding a big offer from Ohio State yesterday while he already had offers from USC, Alabama and LSU. Goodwin is further down the state in Charleston, a suburb of Louisville, but on the Indiana side. The Irish have yet to offer him as well. Goodwin is unranked in the 247Sports composite, but his offer list tells me that is going to change soon.

It is a bit confusing that the Notre Dame coaching staff has yet to offer either of these big-time prospects, but it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. In 2015, the Irish signed 3 of the top 5 in-state players, but since then until this year’s recruiting cycle, Kelly hasn’t signed one top 5 in-state player. Offensive tackle Blake Fisher will break that streak when he signs later this year, but this is still very concerning.

There are high level players in Notre Dame’s back yard that they are allowing to leave. Clearly there are some hurdles with academics, but this is definitely something to monitor. Seeing Indiana’s finest players on other teams rosters just doesn’t sit well with me.

Why haven’t the Irish offered two high level ‘22 in-state prospects?

The Notre Dame staff has yet to offer two national prospects that reside in their own backyard.

It is still very early for many in the class of 2022 recruiting cycle, Notre Dame currently has just two commits in the class. Yes, one of them is from in-state offensive tackle Joey Tanona, the second ranked player in the state, but they have yet to offer the best player in the state, defensive tackle Caden Curry.

Curry resides in Greenwood, a suburb of Indianapolis, has been offered by Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan, Purdue and others. What’s missing is an offer from the Irish and Brian Kelly seems to be falling behind the ball on Curry’s recruitment. His current perceived leaders are Ohio State and Alabama, but the Irish haven’t even joined the party. You might wonder what the holdup is to offering Curry and that’s a great question. The 10th ranked defensive tackle according to the 247Sports composite rankings should hold an Irish offer at this moment, but alas, he does not.

Another question is why hasn’t Kelly offered rising offensive tackle Kiyaunta Goodwin? The massive tackle has seen his recruitment explode over the last few days, adding a big offer from Ohio State yesterday while he already had offers from USC, Alabama and LSU. Goodwin is further down the state in Charleston, a suburb of Louisville, but on the Indiana side. The Irish have yet to offer him as well. Goodwin is unranked in the 247Sports composite, but his offer list tells me that is going to change soon.

It is a bit confusing that the Notre Dame coaching staff has yet to offer either of these big-time prospects, but it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. In 2015, the Irish signed 3 of the top 5 in-state players, but since then until this year’s recruiting cycle, Kelly hasn’t signed one top 5 in-state player. Offensive tackle Blake Fisher will break that streak when he signs later this year, but this is still very concerning.

There are high level players in Notre Dame’s back yard that they are allowing to leave. Clearly there are some hurdles with academics, but this is definitely something to monitor. Seeing Indiana’s finest players on other teams rosters just doesn’t sit well with me.

ACC Football to continue as scheduled

The ACC Presidents met this afternoon and it was very quiet after their meeting.

As the old adage goes, no news is good news.

That was exactly the case this afternoon as the ACC Presidents met once again to discuss the health ramifications of playing a football season in the fall with their team of expert doctors.

The key to this meeting was that the Presidents will continue use their doctors as resources in determining if a season is viable. That is the main difference between the Big Ten and Pac-12’s decision and the ACC, SEC and Big XII’s move towards playing college football this fall. The conferences that are allowing football currently have their medical advisors believing that it is safe to go ahead and play football, while the two that have shut things down don’t agree.

It is a very touchy subject, as many players inside the Big Ten and Pac-12 would have liked to go forward with the season. Larry Scott, the Pac-12 commissioner, didn’t seem to have much push back on their decision as much as Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren did. A lot of it has to do with the state of California, where 4 Pac-12 schools reside, and the fact that they have had issues controlling the outbreak of COVID-19 cases.

The ACC will continue to move towards a season and hopefully, with no more hiccups along the way.

ACC to make Final, Final decision on Fall Football Today

The ACC has a meeting set up for this afternoon to discuss fall football once again.

The ripple effects of the Big Ten and Pac-12 cancelling their fall football seasons continue as the ACC presidents will have yet another meeting to decide if going forward with the season is the correct thing to do.

This tweet is a bit deceiving however, as this meeting was already set up to get an update from their medical advisors. There seems like no need to worry about the ACC joining the Big Ten and Pac-12 in their cancellation of fall athletics.

There will be news coming out of this meeting however, but it will most like just involve a conversation on how each program is doing with their testing and tracing. As we know, the Irish Football team had 9 players miss the first scheduled practice for precautionary reasons after two players tested positive. The Notre Dame student body should be given some kudos as well, as they have been tested prior to their return to campus earlier this week with some very encouraging results.

With the student body having exceptional rates on their return to campus, it gives the football team plenty of hope that the community is doing their part to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to monitor this situation at Fighting Irish Wire and bring you any breaking news that comes from this meeting.