Category: Notre Dame

Notre Dame offers ’22 New Jersey Defensive Back

The Irish head out to the east coast for their most recent offer, New Jersey cornerback Avery Powell.

August has been a nice month for New Jersey defensive back Avery Powell. Yesterday the Irish joined Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Florida as the schools to offer the 5-foot-11-inch defensive star so far this month.

A big wow from Powell as he announced that the Irish had offered, a reaction that none of the other offered schools received. That makes 10 total offers out to current class of 2022 cornerback prospects, with the majority if them being bigger prospects. Powell is on the smaller side at 5-foot-11-inches and 170-pounds, but that did not scare the Irish staff.

[protected-iframe id=”6c4aa77241028b78b752ab902eaf003a-162776928-178902091″ info=”//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/11606469/5de91c5496760713808b314b” width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]

Powell’s numbers his sophomore year aren’t eye popping, but playing significantly at that level is impressive. He recorded one interception while having 9 pass break-ups and 52 tackles. The Irish look to add to their 2022 recruiting class that currently has 2 current commits, OL Joey Tanona and TE Jack Nickel, which has them ranked 7th nationally by the 247Sports composite at this early juncture.

Watch: Brian Kelly and Daelin Hayes discuss Big Ten on the Today Show

Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly and lineman Daelin Hayes joined the Today Show to discuss the future of the 2020 fall football season.

Notre Dame’s Head Coach Brian Kelly and defensive linemen Daelin Hayes joined the Today Show this morning and touched upon many topics including the Big Ten’s decision, the enhanced testing the Irish have done, long-term health risks and more.

 

Former Notre Dame Head Coach Lou Holtz blasts Big Ten

The National Championship winning head coach Lou Holtz had some very strong words for the Big Ten after their cancellation of the season.

Lou Holtz, former Irish Head Coach and ESPN analyst, was a guest on Fox News this afternoon and guessed correctly that the Pac-12 would follow the Big Ten’s lead of cancelling fall football. He was also pretty adamant that football should continue towards getting ready to play this fall.

Holtz wants to go on with life, using statistics like 2% of people who are currently hospitalized are for COVID-19. “If you have a legitimate reason you don’t want to play, absolutely, don’t play. But the rest of you that want to play, let’s go play,” said the National Title winning coach.

He has a point, there are clear risks associated with playing football during this global pandemic, as the Big Ten most likely cited the potential for myocarditis, the inflammation of the heart muscle. Holtz is right however, if a player has issues with playing, then they should be able to opt out without any ramifications. It’s yet another sad day in the college football world, but the beat goes on in the ACC, SEC, and Big XII. At least for now it does.

Irish offer class of 2022 Florida Safety Rowser

Notre Dame offers former Michigan commit Myles Rowser who now preps in Florida.

The Notre Dame football staff saw their class of 2022 work finally be rewarded last week as offensive tackle Joey Tanona and tight end Jack Nickel became the first two verbal commits for the class. As the recruiting cycle continues, so do the efforts of the Irish as they last night offered Florida safety Myles Rowser.

A Michigan native, who just recently moved to IMG Academy to get ready for his collegiate career. Rowser has already committed once, to home state Michigan, but opted to reopen his recruitment. The 6-foot-1-inch and 185-pound safety already holds 22 offers including Florida, Penn State and obviously Michigan. He will not be afraid to return to play his collegiate football in the Midwest, but it seems like Rowser could have the ability to play in almost any region.

[protected-iframe id=”d9dfc8955de29779a09a94e28e24421f-162776928-178902091″ info=”//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/11685704/5d69e20d688eb509f8c8b9ee” width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]

The Irish hope that a return to the Midwest is the case, more specifically South Bend. Rowser is currently ranked as the 151st overall player nationally and the 10th ranked safety by the 247Sports composite. The Irish are making some waves in the 2022 class, and a future addition of Rowser would be more than welcome.

Big miss for the Big Ten

The Big Ten made themselves look absolutely terrible on Monday.

As rumors swirled of the Big Ten looking to cancel their fall football season Monday morning, Kevin Warren, the first-year commissioner, made the conference look extremely foolish. The presidents of each university informally voted 12-2 that schools did not want to play (Nebraska and Iowa said yes) then multiple coaches caught wind of this vote including Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Ohio State’s Ryan Day and Penn State James Franklin. They all in some way urged the conference to at least make an attempt at their 2020 conference-only plan.

Nothing has been easy throughout this pandemic, but what the Big Ten did yesterday will surely be remembered for a long time. By not consulting with Athletic Directors, Coaches, or players on their impending decision made the conference look weak. School President’s have bigger issues than worrying about college football at the moment, that is the job for AD’s, who had zero say in the decision.

As the conference’s coaches, players and their families continue to fight for a 2020 fall football season, the conference leader crawled into a hole. Warren has yet to make a statement on the firestorm started yesterday. Nebraska head coach Scott Frost expressed his willingness to play, but they will look at other options if the Big Ten does actually cancel for the fall. Other schools have put out feelers, such as Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State. Could the conference survive after losing three of their biggest names to another conference, albeit for just one season? Could you imagine Ohio State or Penn State making the College Football Playoff’s and representing the SEC or Big XII?

It remains to be seen what the Big Ten will do going forward, but they put themselves in a terrible position. It will be used against them in recruiting and it will not soon be forgotten. Monday, August 10th was a dark day for Big Ten football.

Just how good is Notre Dame OL commit Alt?

It has been very tough to figure out what kind of player Irish offensive line commit Joe Alt will be in the future.

When Minnesota’s Joe Alt committed to the Irish early last month, many wondered why the Irish had just taken yet another tight end. Well, that wasn’t really the case as Brian Kelly recruited the 6-foot-7-inch and 260-pound Alt as a tackle. The problem was that many recruiting services had Alt listed as a tight end, which is why his ranking is so low.

Rivals looked into Alt and his rating, due to the fact that they have had issues rating him. Josh Helmholdt, one of their recruiting analysts, said that “we initially rated Alt as a tight end because he is difficult to project to tackle without more information. Alt’s offer list suggests that, by in large, college coaches had difficulty projecting him as well, with several strong regional offers but a total offer list that numbers in the single digits.”

Helmholdt wonders “how much athleticism and foot speed does he lose when he adds the 70-plus pounds he needs to play tackle at Notre Dame, thought?” With the state of Minnesota pushing their season to the spring, we will have to wait and see how Alt’s continues his body transformation to a full-time offensive tackle.

It is something that isn’t overtly concerning to Kelly and offensive line coach Jeff Quinn, as a project like Alt is worth looking into. With most of Alt’s experience at tight end, don’t be surprised to see Alt take a redshirt as he learns the technique in his new position. It would be even less surprising to see Alt continue his progression and not make an impact for a few years as a member of the Irish. He is looked at as a high ceiling but low floor player, however the effort for the Irish is worth it to see if Alt can become the next star Notre Dame offensive tackle.

South Bend Bracing for Economic Impact Without Notre Dame Football

We’re looking at a situation without Notre Dame football until the spring or maybe even next year.

We’re looking at a situation without Notre Dame football until the spring or maybe even next year. For most of us, we’d only lose a small part of our autumn lives. However, South Bend’s economy stands to lose a lot more if there’s no football at all.

A story by WNDU-TV sheds light on the situation. This community already lost a healthy dose of revenue when Notre Dame’s 2020 commencement went virtual. If Rob Decleene, Executive Director for Visit South Bend/Mishawaka, is correct, a lost football season would be devastating. One football weekend bring in $17 million from visitors to St. Joseph County and $22 million to the South Bend/Elkhart region.

All told, $102 million in economic impact is at risk. The bars, restaurants, stores and hotels that rely heavily on fans who spend all or part of their weekends in South Bend in the fall will need to start thinking of ways to keep going without that annual revenue. That might not be easy in a world where COVID-19 reigns supreme and keeps people away during times of year that football isn’t played. As we all know by now, this virus doesn’t discriminate.

Satterfield: ACC plans to move forward regardless of others

With reports of the Big Ten cancelling the 2020 fall football season, it seems as if one ACC coach is confident his conference will play.

On a day where we have seen legit rumors of the Big Ten cancelling their fall football season, there was some potential good news in regards to the Irish and the ACC’s.

Satterfield is Scott Satterfield, the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals. Yes, he might think that the ACC will continue to charge on to a season in 2020, but the reality is that it is looking more and more like a full on cancellation of the season.

The face of the ACC players, Clemson’s quarterback Trevor Lawrence, along with Ohio State’s Justin Fields expressed their willingness to get on the field this year and compete. Both of them tweeted out the #Weareunited #Wewanttoplay last evening.

This all may end up being a moot point, as we all continue a wait-and-see approach to what will ultimately happen this fall. We hope there will be football, but continue to be prepared to be very lonely on Saturday’s in the coming months.

NFL to Saturday’s if no College Football?

What do we do without college football on Saturdays this fall? The answer might just be watch more NFL instead.

With the news from the Detroit Free-Press that the Big Ten has voted to cancel their 2020 football season, it feels like just a matter of time until the ACC, SEC, Pac-12, Big 12 and everyone else follows their lead.

For college football fans it’s not fun to think about, even if it makes all the sense in the world, which I think there are clearly two sides to see.

But one question we’re left with as college football fans that we are is, “What do we do on Saturdays now?”

Saturdays in the fall.  I guess pumpkin patches and apple farms and whatever other non-football fall activities are right around the corner like always but there may be a different league for us to watch on Saturday this year.

Related:  Report – Big Ten Cancels Football for 2020

According to one report from Mike Freeman, that league might just be the NFL.

It’d make all the sense in the world as long as the NFL is playing, I will give them that.  All of this open time with a lot of people craving sports to watch and all of a sudden a lot more TV availability.

It is just one report but the idea of it certainly makes all kinds of sense.

Notre Dame returns to classes Monday

The University of Notre Dame has officially reopened as classes for the fall semester of 2020 began today.

After a weekend of rumors and speculation about college football taking place or not taking place in 2020, some colleges and universities are officially opening their doors to students this week.

The University of Notre Dame is one such institution as they begin the new school year with their fall semester today.  Students will have classes for fall term straight through until Thanksgiving and then be on break until January 11, 2021.

With classes getting going and”normalcy” somewhat being returned to in that sense, we’d like to wish the best to all students, faculty and staff in what will undoubtedly be an incredibly strange academic year