Category: Notre Dame

Notre Dame Transfer Pryor Named One to Watch

The graduate transfer from Ohio State is expected to provide an instant impact in the Irish secondary.

When the NCAA instituted the transfer portal, it seemed like college football was going to have a free agency type impact for many teams. That has been the exact case with some big-time examples such as former Alabama QB Jalen Hurts moving to Oklahoma and former Georgia Bulldog Justin Fields going to Ohio State, both helped their new teams make the College Football Playoff last year.

This coming season will feature the same type of instant impact players and today Rivals ranked the top nine transfers to watch for this coming season. It should come as no surprise to see Notre Dame’s presumed starting safety and Ohio State transfer Isaiah Pryor making the list.

Rival’s Recruiting Director Mike Farrell mentioned Pryor “fills a big need at Notre Dame and he has the talent to impact right away.” I tend to agree with him, as the Irish will be breaking in two new safety starters, but neither will lack talent. Kyle Hamilton is the other potential starter.

Pryor went to Columbus from IMG Academy in Florida with high expectations, but after three years could never crack the starting rotation. His playing time dipped from his sophomore to junior year, and with him graduating, had an opportunity to move on and play right away. Pryor committed to the Irish in November of last year and will have two years remaining to play for Brian Kelly.

Also, of note in this article, Farrell opines to have some changes for this recruiting cycle due to the impact the COVID-19 has had on making visits to campuses and contact with recruits. Yes, everything has changed with the mandated dead-period, but when everything returns to normal, so should recruiting. Making changes seems like an overreaction, just getting back to normal would be fantastic.

Notre Dame S Kyle Hamilton Backs up 5-Star Ranking

The former 5-Star lived up to his billing during this freshman year, setting up for a big sophomore year.

When recruits arrive on campus with a 5-Star next to their name, the expectations are high, and that player is expected to make an immediate impact for their team. When Kyle Hamilton arrived at South Bend last summer from Georgia as the highest ranked member of the 2019 class, playing early seemed like a shoo-in.

The question was about production and after looking back at what Hamilton accomplished as a true freshman was impressive and 247Sports thought so as well. Tom Loy of Irish Illustrated noted that Hamilton impressed immediately with “a three-interception performance during his first practice,” which clearly set the tone for his first year with the Irish.

Hamilton then went on to play in all 13 games, registering 41 total tackles, defending 6 passes, picking off 4 and taking one of those to the house. When a true freshman leads the team in interceptions while playing a part-time role, it just puts a stamp on how impressive Hamilton’s season actually was. Multiple outlets named him to their Freshman All-American team: The Athletic, Pro Football Focus, Sports Illustrated and Football Writers Association of America.

Hamilton will most likely step into departing seniors Alohi Gilman’s spot, and after this debut season the expectations will be high once again for him. If he continues improving and posts similar numbers but in a full-time role, you can expect to see Hamilton on All-American lists once again after the 2020 season concludes.

NCAA.com Releases Preseason Top 25, See Where Notre Dame is Ranked

NCAA.com has released their preseason Top 25 and Notre Dame is highly ranked. Find out exactly where they are compared to the nation.

Although spring practices and games have been canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, NCAA.com still has released a preseason Top 25 late last week. With so much uncertainty regarding the sports world, it is always nice to look forward to what could be and where Notre Dame is ranked.

The Irish are just outside the Top 10, checking in at 11th overall in the country which is just a bit lower than where we have seen Notre Dame ranked in other preseason polls. The Irish’s ranking was justified by “QB Ian Book’s return, Notre Dame Should be potent on offense.” With every offensive lineman returning along with Book, the offense will have to find weapons on the outside, making the loss of spring practices loom large for the offense.

Defensively, the Irish “should be strong, though the secondary is the biggest question mark there,” is how NCAA.com sees the other side of the ball. Ohio State transfer Isaiah Pryor bring experience with Shaun Crawford, but the rest of the secondary is fairly green. Again, spring practice would have helped this unit out a ton.

Looking ahead at the schedule, the Irish will face #16 Wisconsin, #1 Clemson and #19 Southern California according to the NCAA.com’s early rankings. They also mention the season opener in Dublin against Navy and the home date against Louisville as tough matchups, so the road to grabbing a Top 4 College Football Playoff spot won’t be easy, but it’s certainly attainable.

Notre Dame TE Commit Berrong Grinding in Weight Room

Notre Dame’s 2021 commit Cane Berrong is working hard in the weight room prior to his senior season.

A huge part of football players success is being physically stronger than their opponent and 2021 Irish commit Cane Berrong has been putting the work in the weight room. Watch as Berrong does a variation of the bench press, using a multi-grip bar.

The rising senior is one of the best at his position in the country, as the 247Sports composite has the tight end as the 7th best at his position and 161st overall prospect. Berrong stands 6’4” and weighs 230-pounds, had offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State and others before committing to Brian Kelly and the Irish last June.

The Georgia native will continue the long line of talented Notre Dame tight ends to line up at the position and could potentially play early in his career. Berrong will surely have plenty of competition to get on the field, but if he lives up to his recruiting ranking, he should make a big time impact for the Blue and Gold.

Rothstein Reports Winter Athletes Unlikely to get Extra Eligibility

In a report by CBS Sport’s Jon Rothstein, the NCAA most likely will not grant an extra year of eligibility to winter sport athletes.

The NCAA wants to do what’s right for their athletes after canceling the remainder of the winter sports and all of the spring season. Immediately there were rumors that the springs sports would be given an extra year of eligibility, which has yet to become official, with the winter athletes still waiting on a decision.

It seems though, as CBS’s Jon Rothstein reports, that the winter sport athletes will not be given an extra year of eligibility. The winter sports consist of men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s hockey, will not get another opportunity to suit up for their respective schools after the NCAA stopped all athletics amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Although this is an extremely tough decision, it seems like it’s the right one to make. For instance, John Mooney, Notre Dame’s senior basketball star finished his career with some very impressive career statistics. Would it be fair to former ACC stars for Mooney to get a full extra year to make a run at some of their career records? The answer is no, although Irish fans would love to see Mooney’s name atop the list of some impressive stats, it is not what the NCAA should allow.

It was not the ending any of the winter sports would have liked to see, but the simple fact that they played the majority of their season, as opposed to spring sports who played less than half of their regular season. It’s a difficult pill to swallow, but the correct move if true by the NCAA.

247Sports Updates ‘22 Recruit Rankings, Several Notre Dame Prospects Ranked Highly

The class of 2022 isn’t that far away from signing day and 247Sports updated their rankings with several Irish prospects ranked high

It is never too late to look ahead and today 247Sports made their initial Top247 recruit rankings for the class of 2022. These prospects are rising juniors, so this list will surely change drastically before any of them sign a letter of intent, but nevertheless it is a good barometer of where they stand compared to their peers.

The Fighting Irish have extended scholarships to numerous ’22 prospects, so let’s take a look at who could potentially be wearing the Blue and Gold in a few years. There have been around 30 verbal offers out to prospects that have been reported, with a good number of them showing up on 247’s list.

Starting in the backfield, Brian Kelly has offered three running backs: Colorado’s Gavin Sawchuk, Pennsylvania’s Nicholas Singleton and Texas’ Emeka Megwa. Each of them were ranked, with Sawchuk leading the way at 39th overall, Singleton checking in at 84th and Megwa making the list at 215th.

The wide receiver offers double the amount already given out to the RB’s but each of them has been included in the rankings. California star Tetairoa McMillan leads the list as the 5th best player in the country while fellow Golden State prospect C.J. Williams is the 31st player on the list. A pair of Illinois WR’s in Kaleb Brown and Tyler Morris made it as well, Brown at 35 and Morris a bit lower at 56. Oklahoma WR Talyn Shettron is 93rd while Ohio’s Kaden Saunders, listed as an athlete, made the list as well at 166th.

It should come to no one’s surprise that the Irish are after elite tight ends, two of them holding offers and both of them making the Top 247. Tony Livingston is considered an athlete, but many believe the Florida native will play tight end in college, check in as the 53rd best player. Texas star Donovan Green holds the other Irish TE offer, is ranked as the 112th player nationally.

On the offensive line, only a few offers have been dolled out and three of Notre Dame’s targets made the list. Wisconsin tackle Joe Brunner is the 67th ranked prospect and fellow statesman Carson Hinzman, a guard, is the 81st best player. Florida tackle Julian Armella also holds an Irish offer is the 127th best player in the country.

One the defense, the nation’s best prospect according to the rankings has an Notre Dame offer, Florida DE Shemar Stewart. Staying with the defensive ends, Texas’ Ernest Cooper IV is ranked 76th, Maryland’s Dani Dennis-Sutton ranked 99th and New Jersey’s KJ Miles as the 117th best player in the country all have gotten Notre Dame’s attention.

Each of the four offers out to linebackers are ranked in the Top 247, with Nevada’s Cyrus Moss the highest ranked at 28th. Maryland’s Jaishawn Barham is a high-level prospect as well, ranking 40th overall. Ohio’s Gabe Powers is just a few spots being Barham, at 43rd while Kansas’ Dasan McCullough is 73rd.

In the secondary there are multiple players the Irish are courting, California star Kamari Ramsey being the highest ranked at 96th. New Jersey’s Jaeden Gould is ranked slightly behind at 96th while Wisconsin’s Braelon Allen is 116th. Staying in the Midwest with Iowa’s Xavier Nwankap, ranked 123rd and Ohio’s C.J. Hicks is 162nd. Back out west to California, you’ll find Ephesians Prysock ranked 195th and the final player with an Irish offer in the secondary is Texas’ Cristian Driver, ranked at 212.

The Irish have gotten off to a fantastic start to their 2021 class and if you look a the offers out to the 2022 class, it seems like Brian Kelly could have yet another outstanding group of players heading to South Bend when the cycle ends.

Notre Dame Student Tests Positive for Coronavirus

A Notre Dame student studying abroad has been diagnosed as positive for the Coronavirus.

It seemed like it was inevitable that a Notre Dame student would contract the COVID-19 virus plaguing the world and this afternoon the first positive case has been reported.

Although the student never made it to the main campus after studying abroad, it is still quite concerning. The virus has spread all throughout the world, hitting major cities and smaller cities alike, no one being excluded in the pandemic.

As per this report done by WNPR in Chicago, as of last night around 9pm EST there have been 6,353 confirmed cases of the virus and 108 deaths directly related the symptoms. Notre Dame did the right thing by closing campus quickly, on the 11th  of this month, almost a week ago.

The nation has been at grips with this ongoing crisis and it does not look like it will stop anytime soon. Notre Dame’s Building Services have been hard a work, maintaining a clean campus and trying to stop the spread of this virus.

Students, faculty and visitors should be very happy about the approach the university has taken to putting an end to this worldwide issue.

Notre Dame in ’21 TE Fidone Final 6 Schools

The Irish along with 5 other schools make up the final list for talented Iowa TE Thomas Fidone.

Although there is an NCAA mandated recruiting dead period happening now until April 15th, that doesn’t stop recruits making their decisions as to where they will spend the next three to five years. Talented Iowa tight end Thomas Fidone released his final Top 6 schools and the Irish are squarely in the mix for one of the top players in the country.

https://twitter.com/ThomasFidone/status/1239681676994916352?s=20

Fidone’s final six teams include home state Iowa, Penn State, Michigan, Nebraska, and LSU along with Notre Dame. The 6’5 218-pound tight end looks like a wide receiver when he runs routes and his blocking will catch up to his pass-catching ability when he adds more good weight.

https://twitter.com/Rivals/status/1227341511035150336?s=20

The Irish offered the talented tight end a scholarship at the end of January, and in that short time Brian Kelly has impressed Fidone enough to be included in this final 6 schools. Tight End U would surely take a commitment from this emerging star.

Three Early Lines Released for Notre Dame’s 2020 Football Season

It’s early but BETFox released some betting lines on college football games in 2020, giving Irish fans three games to think about.

The College Football world never sleeps, even during this time when the COVID-19 has taken over the headlines. Yesterday FOXBet released a few of their lines for the upcoming 2020 season with three of the Irish’s game’s being given very early betting odds.

The first game on the docket and with a line is the Irish’s visit to Ireland to face Navy for the season opener on August 29th. FOXBet has Notre Dame the favorites against the Midshipmen, a two-touchdown favorite to be exact. With a line that is that large of a margin, it should be believed that the Irish should be able to handle Navy fairly earsy.

Their second game with a line is their contest against Wisconsin in Lambeau Field on October 3rd with a 7:30pm EST scheduled time. The Badgers are the early favorites in this game, although its just a field-goal difference for the two teams. With such a small line, this game is almost a pick-em, Wisconsin being the favorites most likely due to having the “home field” advantage. The Badgers do return their starting QB Jack Coan, but they will have to fill the shoes of star RB Jonathan Taylor, C Tyler Biadasz and WR Quintez Cephus.

The final game FOXBet gave odds to is when Stanford comes to South Bend a week after facing the Badgers, the Irish being a 10.5 point favorite. This game could be one where the Cardinal sneak up on the Irish, coming off a potential Top 10 matchup the week before, then facing a gutted Stanford team. The Cardinal has seen 14 players from last years roster enter the transfer portal and that lack of depth will clearly hurt them in this coming season.

One matchup that was not given a betting line is the contest against Clemson. At some point that game will get early odds as well, but at this moment FOXBet has not given one of the more anticipated games of the 2020 docket a line. Do you see the Irish getting a fair shake by FOXBet with these three early lines?

AP Writer Names Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly Top 3 Coach in Country

AP writer Ralph Russ ranked the Top 25 collegiate football coaches and was very high on Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly.

Although the NCAA has canceled all of their sports through the end of the academic year, there still will be conjecture as to who is the best coach in the NCAA. AP College Football writer Ralph Russo recently ranked his Top 25 coaches in the country.

The caveat here is that Russo does not rank first or second year coaches, otherwise the list would be somewhat different. Either way, to see Brian Kelly’s name along after Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney should make Notre Dame fan’s very happy about how high Russo is on the Irish’s leader.

Kelly in his tenure at Notre Dame is 71-37, and his total career record after previous stops at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan and Cincinnati is 242-93-2. There are 21 wins that don’t show up on Kelly’s career record that were vacated as well and if you add in those wins, his time in South Bend looks even better at 92-37, the losses in those seasons are added into his overall record.

When you look at the 92-37 record, Kelly sports a .718 winning percentage, which might not be exactly what Irish fans are looking for, but after a disastrous 2016, Kelly make drastic changes to his coaching staff. Those changes have resulted in three straight 10 win plus seasons, an appearance in the College Football Playoff and Top 15 finishes in each year. Those are the kind of results most Notre Dame fans expect, and if Kelly can continue his recent trend of winning at a high level, Irish fans will be extremely pleased.