Tag: Brian Kelly

Notre Dame Football: Four-Star OL Michael Carmody Signs with Irish

now they officially have a young man from Mars.

Brian Kelly has spoke often about being willing to play anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Apparently that philosophy also applies to recruiting. As you read earlier today, Kelly’s staff was able to land Alexander Ehrensberger from Germany in this recruiting class and now they officially have a young man from Mars.

Mars, Pennsylvania that is.

6-6, 285 pound offensive tackle Michael Carmody signed his NLI Wednesday and will enter Notre Dame as one of the most highly-regarded offensive tackles in the nation this year.

Carmody chose Notre Dame while holding offers and making official visits to Ohio State, Texas A&M and Penn State.

Carmody will enroll at Notre Dame this coming summer.

Notre Dame Football: Cornerback Landon Bartleson Signs with Irish

Bartleson is listed at 6-1, 182 pounds and originally committed to Notre Dame back in June of this year.

Signee number four of Wednesday morning was three-star cornerback Landon Bartleson of Danville, Kentucky (Boyle County High School).

Bartleson chose Notre Dame over the likes of Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan and Colorado.

If you’d like to see his speed on display the best example of that would be this touchdown run early this past September.

Bartleson is listed at 6-1, 182 pounds and originally committed to Notre Dame back in June of this year.

Notre Dame Football: 5-Star RB Chris Tyree Signs with Irish

An easy way to see how big of signing a player can be is by looking at other schools to offer them and as Tyree’s list includes but is not limited to the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, its easy to see good of player he is.

Perhaps the biggest name of the day to sign a letter of intent for Notre Dame has officially done so as Chris Tyree is officially a member of Notre Dame’s 2020 recruiting haul.

Tyree is a speedy, shifty all-purpose back that comes with a five-star grade from 247Sports and ranked as the 25th highest player nationwide in this 2020 class.

An easy way to see how big of signing a player can be is by looking at other schools to offer them and as Tyree’s list includes but is not limited to the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, its easy to see good of player he is.

Running backs coach Lance Taylor and former offensive coordinator Chip Long hit a long home run with this signing.

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Tyree enters Notre Dame as the most coveted recruit at running back since perhaps Julius Jones.  It’s feels safe to say if you aren’t already familiar with his work that you’ll quickly become familiar with what the captain of the Under Armour All-American Game has to offer.

Tyree is scheduled to enroll in June of 2020.

You can find a fantastic write up on Tyree here.

Notre Dame Football: Kevin Bauman Signs with Irish

Kevin Bauman, four-star tight end out of Red Bank, New Jersey was the second player to send his in Wednesday morning.

Some things we’ve known for weeks, months and in some cases years are becoming official today as the early signing period has officially opened.

Notre Dame is hot out of the gate this morning as the class of 2020 sends in their National Letters of Intent.

Kevin Bauman, four-star tight end out of Red Bank, New Jersey was the second player to send his in Wednesday morning.

Bauman is listed at 6’5” and 235 pounds and chose Notre Dame over the likes of Boston College, Michigan, Nebraska and North Carolina, originally commiting all the way back in June of 2018.

Bauman is listed as the fifth best tight end in the nation by Rivals and the second best player in the state of New Jersey.

Notre Dame’s National Signing Day: Five Things to Know

Five-star wide receiver Jordan Johnson hadn’t announced if he was going to announce his signing on Wednesday and some took that as him not being thrilled with Chip Long’s departure and what it meant for his commitment.

 

The early period for recruits in the class of 2020 to sign their letters of intent is upon us and it promises to be a huge day for the future of Notre Dame football.

The first commitment was announced by the Notre Dame football Twitter account around 1:30 AM ET on Wednesday with the official announcement coming from German prospect, Alexander Ehrensberger, a three-star defensive end.

In what will be a huge day in shaping the landscape of college football for the next few years here are five things you should know about Notre Dame’s day:

1:  Size Matters (at least in rankings):

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National Signing Day: Three-Star Ehrensberger Officially First to Sign

It came across bright and early (OK, not so bright seeing as it’s going to be dark for another 5 hours in South Bend as I type this) as Alexander Ehrensberger, defensive end from Dusseldorf, Germany has signed his letter of intent.

The official early signing period is upon us and Notre Dame has their first official signee in the 2020 recruiting class.  It came across bright and early (OK, not so bright seeing as it’s going to be dark for another 5 hours in South Bend as I type this) as Alexander Ehrensberger, defensive end from Dusseldorf, Germany has signed his letter of intent.

Signing day can officially begin at 7 AM local time so Ehrensberger was the first to officially sign this year and by a distant margin.

The 6-7, 238 pound defensive end has some filling out to do but has incredible height and more importantly, reach as you can see in his senior highlight tape.

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247Sports lists Ehrensberger as a three-star prospect who also had an offer from Florida International University while displaying interest in Connecticut, Michigan and Ohio State.

Assistant coaches Mike Elston and Clark Lea played a large part in Ehrensberger’s recruitment.

Be sure to be following us at Fighting Irish Wire all morning, afternoon and evening as we’ll have all of the news that comes from national signing day!

Notre Dame: Decade Challenge Fighting Irish Football Version

Previous to Kelly’s arrival you would have to count back all the way to 1991 if you wanted to count out all of Notre Dame’s victories over USC, a number Kelly was able to reach in just one decade.

While looking through Twitter on Monday afternoon I stumbled into a tweet from a fun follow, CFBTalkDaily.  They do a good job discussing the national news both on their feed and on their podcast and are worth a follow if you’re a part of that website.

They however asked a very simple question on Monday that I wanted to look a little further into instead of just give a simple yes or no.

Let’s examine this from the Notre Dame fan perspective for a bit, shall we?

It starts with coaching:

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Notre Dame Football: Star Tight End Recruit Confirms Commitment

Theoretically that is still the case with Notre Dame and Michael Mayer, a four-star tight end recruit out of Alexandria, Kentucky, but there sure don’t appear to be any issues holding him up from officially becoming part of Notre Dame’s 2020 class.

I understand it because until the ink is dry and every “t” is crossed and “i” is dotted there is always a chance something could change.

Theoretically that is still the case with Notre Dame and Michael Mayer, a four-star tight end recruit out of Alexandria, Kentucky, but there sure don’t appear to be any issues holding him up from officially becoming part of Notre Dame’s 2020 class.

With the early signing period coming Wednesday, Mayer took to Twitter to confirm his intentions later this week.

You can see the top-rated player in Kentucky participate in the 2020 Army All-American Bowl on January 4. The game will air on NBC at 2:00 pm ET.

Mayer is one of five Notre Dame commitments scheduled to appear in the game.

Notre Dame Football: John Shannon Wins Inaugural Patrick Mannelly Award

John Shannon is a name only the most doe-hard of Notre Dame fans are probably familiar with even though he has played in every Fighting Irish game over the last three seasons.

John Shannon is a name only the most doe-hard of Notre Dame fans are probably familiar with even though he has played in every Fighting Irish game over the last three seasons.

His most recent game saw him get awarded the game ball because of a huge play he made in determining the victorious outcome at Stanford.

That wasn’t the only hardware Shannon would bring home in 2019 however as Saturday night he was awarded the inaugural Patrick Mannelly Award for being the best senior long snapper in the nation, edging out Liam McCullough of Ohio State and Steven Wirtel, Iowa State.

Taken from the official award website is the following:

Long Snappers don’t make the cover of the program. They’re rarely asked to sign autographs. You don’t typically see them being interviewed before the game. But Long Snappers aren’t driven by these things. Quiet, selfless, focused and courageous, the Long Snapper is content to trade conventional superstardom for the opportunity to do one job very well.  – PatrickMannellyAward.com

Upon reading that I find it fitting Shannon won the award on Saturday of all days. Just hours earlier Brian Kelly announced that Shannon would be passing up his fifth year of eligibility at Notre Dame. It wasn’t because he is trying to make it on an NFL roster, however, it’s because he’s beginning his career in law enforcement.

Brian Kelly Won’t Be Calling Plays Anytime Soon…or Ever Again

Much has been made of who will be the next OC. Another question that has been asked is who will call plays? Could it be Kelly who has done so in the past?

We hadn’t heard from Brian Kelly since the end of the regular season as he hit the road recruiting right after the win against Stanford.

Saturday he met the media after the first practice to prepare for the Camping World Bowl took place. He began by discussing the news of the week, confirming Chip Long’s departure as offensive coordinator.

Much has been made of who will be the next OC. Another question that has been asked is who will call plays? Could it be Kelly who has done so in the past?

As for the Camping World Bowl it’ll be Tommy Rees coordinating the passing game while running backs coach Lance Taylor coordinating the run game. As for who actually calls the plays December 28 is yet to be hammered out.

I don’t want to discredit the importance of a good play caller – clearly look at LSU, Oklahoma and other top offenses around the nation and tell me that it doesn’t matter.

But when you’re essentially the CEO of a powerhouse college football program I can see how that can get in the way of other big-picture obligations.

Is his time best-spent calling plays and planning all of that or would he be better served spending time in recruiting, General game planning or anything else?

Safe to say we know Kelly’s answer to that question.