Tag: 2021 football

Notre Dame receiver earns degree

A pretty significant piece of paper…

Wide receiver Kevin Austin entered Notre Dame in the fall of 2018 with a whole lot of potential but had various issues that kept his playing time limited over his first three collegiate seasons.  2021 saw it all come together for Austin as he hauled in 48 receptions for 888 yards and seven touchdowns.

Austin used that senior season to his advantage as he declared for the 2022 NFL draft shortly after the Fiesta Bowl concluded.  Austin, who was just invited to the NFL combine, will now have a fancy piece of paper to carry with him wherever he goes because he just earned his degree from Notre Dame.

Austin tweeted out a short clip of getting his degree on Thursday afternoon.

Austin attended Notre Dame after being a four-star recruit out of North Broward Prep in Fort Lauderdale.

Related:

Notre Dame football coaching tracker

Notre Dame’s all-time all Super Bowl team

Blue bloods all over Notre Dame’s most recent bowl projections

Which blue blood would you want to play the most of these?

Notre Dame escaped Virginia Tech with an unlikely win last weekend as they had to call upon their benched starting quarterback to bail them out, which he stepped up and did.

Notre Dame now hits their bye week at 5-1 and as unimpressive as they’ve looked at times this year, they’ve still managed to get to 5-1.  Will that be a solid start to a memorable year or will the second half go the same route as some previous duds like 2014 or 2009?

The majority of the experts out there seem to think good things are in store for Notre Dame in the second half based off the most recent national bowl projections.  Five different outlets we found have Notre Dame going to three places and playing five different teams, four who would be included in college football’s group of blue bloods.

Here are the latest Notre Dame bowl projections:

Notre Dame 2021 Football Schedule: Difficulty Rankings

How do you rank the games in terms of difficulty in 2021?

We’re under seven weeks until the ball goes in the air and college football returns nationally.

Can Notre Dame return to the College Football Playoff for the third time in four seasons?

To do so they’ll have to navigate a schedule that may not be categorized as brutal, but presents plenty of challenges.

What are Notre Dame’s perceived easiest games and which ones will be the toughest challenges?  You’re about to find as we rank the games from easiest to most difficult.

Lines released for nine 2021 Notre Dame games

How many games should Notre Dame be the underdog in this year?

Can’t get enough Fighting Irish football and find yourself counting down the days until the 2021 season kicks off at Florida State on September 5?

You’ll be happy to know that point spreads for some of the 2021 games are coming out as South Point Las Vegas has released the spreads for nine of Notre Dame’s 12 regular-season games this year.

The Irish are only the underdog in one of the nine listed contests but have some incredibly thin lines in games being played at Notre Dame Stadium, where they haven’t lost since the second game of the 2017 season.

Here is what South Point Las Vegas has for the 2021 Fighting Irish in mid-May.  My takeaways can be found at the bottom.

Notre Dame key in most respected out-of-conference schedules

Which opponent’s schedules do you always respect?

Want to have a great non-conference schedule this football season?

Try scheduling Notre Dame.

Related:  Notre Dame’s 2021 football schedule

It’s hardly a surprise but Barry Tramel of the Oklahoman graded every Power Five football program’s out-of-conference schedule for 2021 and Notre Dame opponents loaded up the first quarter of the list.

Notre Dame is scheduled to play nine of the 64 Power Five conference schools this year and Tramel ranked all nine of those teams among the 15 toughest non-conference schedules.

Beyond that, four of the five most difficult non-conference schedules had Notre Dame on them while seven of the top-10 while nobody ranked lower than 15 of 64.

Here is how Notre Dame’s 2021 opponents rank for their non-conference opponents according to Tramel:

1 – Stanford
2 – Georgia Tech
4 – Virginia
5 – Florida State
8 – Virginia Tech
9 – USC
10 – Purdue
12 – Wisconsin
15 – North Carolina

Related – Notre Dame’s future football schedules and opponents

Tommy Rees’s spring practice media session (Pt. 1 of 2)

Everything Tommy Rees had to say on Thursday, part 1 of 2.

It’s a year of transition on Notre Dame’s offense as the winningest quarterback in program history is off to the NFL draft and perhaps the nation’s best offensive line from a season ago will see new four starters.

Can Jack Coan or Drew Pyne turn the Notre Dame offense up a level?

And what is a fair expectation for the offense in 2021 as the need to score points in order to be truly elite only grows?

All of that and plenty else was discussed on Thursday as Notre Dame offensive coordinator and former starting quarterback Tommy Rees met the media following the 12th of 15 practices for Notre Dame this spring.

Notre Dame freshmen lineman receive massive praise

A couple of freshmen aren’t acting like freshmen so far this spring.

There are some positions you see as true freshmen who are able to step on the field and be difference makers immediately.

Usually, that doesn’t include the offensive line simply because the time in a college training program hasn’t taken form quite yet and physically players are often overmatched strength-wise.

Known by many as “O-Line U”, Notre Dame brought in another stellar recruiting class on their offense front in 2021.  A pair of those players, Blake Fisher and Rocco Spindler, received massive praise from nose guard Kurt Hinish who battles against the offensive line each practice.

Speaking on Fisher and Spindler specifically Saturday, Hinish offered the following:

“Rocco Spindler and Blake Fisher are damn good.  They’re the best two freshman offensive linemen I’ve gone against.  They’re grown men playing against us.” – Kurt Hinish

By no means does that guarantee a starting spot for either by the time September comes around, but it’s quite the praise for a couple of freshmen who have only ten collegiate practices under their belts to date.

Related:

Watch: Blake Fisher get a carry as a seventh-grader

FPI impressed with Notre Dame for 2021

Is Notre Dame top-10 worthy entering 2021?

Football Power Index, whatever the hell that is, isn’t too big of a fan of Notre Dame in 2021.

Here is how ESPN defines their little gadget, FPI:

The Football Power Index (FPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team’s performance going forward for the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Projected results are based on 20,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date, and the remaining schedule.

Now that you have that in mind, I’ll tell you that the FPI currently ranks Notre Dame 11th nationally.

The top-10 is as follows:

  1. Alabama
    2. Clemson
    3. Oklahoma
    4. Iowa State
    5. Ohio State
    6. Texas A&M
    7. Georgia
    8. Mississippi State
    9. Oklahoma State
    10. Penn State

There are certainly some names that stick out in the top-10 that we could discuss and ponder but that’ll come in time.  What I can’t help but notice is that even at 11, Notre Dame doesn’t have a 2021 opponent that’s ranked above them as North Carolina at 13 is the highest any Irish opponent ranks.

In fact, only Wisconsin at 15 also cracks the top-25 of this power index.

If that’s all to be believed (I’m not buying it, for your information), then you’ll be looking at a Notre Dame team that would theoretically be favored in all twelve games again this coming season.

It’s early and we’re not even sure what a depth chart is going to look like yet, but early on it at least appears the Fighting Irish will benefit from a bit of a break in the schedule.

Related: Early look at Notre Dame’s 2021 football schedule

Brian Kelly recaps first spring practice of ’21

What is the most interesting storyline this spring?

One down, 14 to go.

That’s the case for Notre Dame football in regards to spring practice that got started over the weekend.

Notre Dame took to the practice fields on Saturday for their first practice of the spring.

Related:  Photos from Notre Dame’s first spring football practice of 2021

10 things to watch in Notre Dame’s spring football practices

Brian Kelly met the media after the first practice session and shared his thoughts on everything from the goal of this camp, thoughts on a few position battles, and the health of some of those who were unable to participate.

See everything the Notre Dame head coach had to say below: