Tag: Brian Kelly

Notre Dame: April’s Top Ten Stories on FIW

April has come and gone. Which Notre Dame stories were the biggest the last month? Count down the top ten right here.

And just like that April has come and come.  Amazing how fast (or slow) a month goes by when you’re stuck inside the confides of your home unless you’ve got an essential job you have to punch into still.

What all happened during the month of April at Fighting Irish Wire?  Well it was an interesting month that saw the retirement of a legendary coach at Notre Dame, six players get drafted in the NFL Draft and a 2021 football recruit give a verbal to Notre Dame.

If you missed anything this month or are just curious to look back, here are your ten most popular stories from Fighting Irish Wire during the month of April.

10.  Niele Ivey wasn’t even on the job a week when she saw two prime-time recruits commit to the Notre Dame Women’s basketball program.

9.  Deion Colzie, prized wide reciever in the 2021 recruiting class de-commited from Notre Dame in March.  Could he still re-commit though?

8.  Brian Kelly gave an early-April update on the latest on Notre Dame/Navy in Ireland, something we’re still left wondering about as we say goodbye to the month.

7.  Christian McCaffrey never played for Notre Dame but the Fighting Irish coaching staff continues to promote the highest paid running back in the NFL as one of their own.

6.  We found out more information on Will Shipley’s recruitment in the early parts of the month.  We’re still without any absolutes but Notre Dame clearly has a spot at the table with Clemson and North Carolina.

5.  We don’t have an answer yet on if Notre Dame and Navy will play in Ireland but a recent mandate by Ireland’s government has me scratching my head trying to figure out how this game gets played overseas.

4.  Notre Dame quarterback commit Tyler Buchner, the prized jewel so far of the 2021 cycle, received a fifth star by 247Sports. 

3.  Brian Kelly had strong words he offered up for Kirk Herbstreit’s prediction that college football wouldn’t be played in 2020. That was this month?  Seriously it feels like eight weeks ago at least.

2.  The latest news of Notre Dame being a finalist to land former Stanford running back Trevor Speights got a lot of attention the last few days.  Stay tuned as we could get an announcement there before much longer.

April’s Most Viewed Story:  Notre Dame made a scholarship offer to one of the nation’s top defensive recruits in the 2022 class, Denver Harris as they’re trying to hit one out of the park with the prized defensive back.

Thank you everyone for making April great and can’t wait for an even better May.  Hopefully we’ll all be able to get back to a little more normalcy this month compared to in the last but I hope you’re saying safe, sane and healthy.

 

Brian Kelly Compares new Bears TE Kmet to some of the best

I also think it’s important to look at the Chicago Bears selection of Kmet independent of what they’ve done at the position in recent years.  Spending bad money on Trey Burton, a bad draft pick on Adam Shaheen or more potential bad money on Jimmy Graham doesn’t mean just because he’s a draft pick of theirs that he’s going to flop like some seem to want to suggest.

Brian Kelly knows a thing or two about coaching and developing tight ends.  Sure, we’re all aware of Notre Dame being seen nationally as “Tight End U” but Kelly has been doing it longer than just since he’s been in South Bend.

Travis Kelce starred for Kelly at Cincinnati before becoming one of, if not the best tight end in the NFL over the last few seasons.  Kyle Rudolph, Durham Smythe and Tyler Eifert are just a few others have starred at the position under Kelly in recent years.  Kelly met the media today to recap Notre Dame players and their NFL landing spots and sees Chicago Bears draft pick Cole Kmet on a collision course with some of the good ones.

“I’ve had Travis Kelce, Tyler Eifert, Kyle Rudolph, Durham Smythe — a number of tight ends that are doing exceedingly well in the NFL,” Kelly said Tuesday. “Cole Kmet will be in line with all of those guys.”

Kmet has a couple of knocks coming out of Notre Dame. Mine are mostly in regards to inconsistency in run blocking, maybe waiting for the ball to get to him instead of attacking a reception all the time and his production being based on a very small sample.  That all said, I think his ceiling is plenty high by even NFL standards.

I also think it’s important to look at the Chicago Bears selection of Kmet independent of what they’ve done at the position in recent years.  Spending bad money on Trey Burton, a bad draft pick on Adam Shaheen or more potential bad money on Jimmy Graham doesn’t mean just because he’s a draft pick of theirs that he’s going to flop like some seem to want to suggest.

“They would not have drafted Cole Kmet if he was the 10th tight end,” Kelly said. “You don’t make those kinds of investments unless you know what you’re getting, and what they’re getting is an athletic tight end that is going to impact their offense immediately.”

I agree with Kelly in that assessment.  Kmet is by no means a finished product but based off of what the Bears have at tight end he may also enter the 2020 season as the best all-around tight end on the roster as Jimmy Graham isn’t anywhere near the talent he was seven years ago and Adam Shaheen has been an epic bust.

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I like the pick of Kmet, I really do.  I’m not as sold on instant impact for the newest Bears tight end in 2020 but I have trouble believing that if he stays healthy that the Bears and their fans won’t really come to like the pick a couple of years from now.

Notre Dame Football: 2021 Commitment List

Bookmark this page as we’ll keep it updated and linked to everything on all of Notre Dame’s 2021 football commitments!

Notre Dame sits in a bit of an interesting spot in terms of recruiting with Brian Kelly having already been on the record about wanting to take a step in the caliber of talent the Fighting Irish bring in annually.  Kelly and his staff would probably be best described as having done a good but not great job in terms of recruiting in his decade at Notre Dame.

In Kelly’s now 11 classes he’s signed to Notre Dame, only once has a class finished in the top five of recruiting rankings (per 247Sports), that being the 2013 class that featured five-star talents Jaylon Smith and Max Redfield.  Other than that only three of the ten remaining class finished in the top ten, those coming in 2011 (ninth), 2017 (10th) and 2018 (10th).  The last two seasons have seen Notre Dame rank 16th (2019) and 17th (2020) by 247’s rankings.

So where does Notre Dame currently sit in terms of their commitments?  We’ll keep a running list for you to be able to easily use in the future.  As of posting, 247Sports ranks Notre Dame the 10th best class in 2021.  Obviously that can change relatively quickly with just one commitment or de-commitment from the class.

Here is who has committed to Notre Dame for the class of 2021 with a link to every post we’ve done that’s mentioned them in some capacity.  Bookmark it, refer back to it, do whatever it is you do because we’ll keep it updated until the class of 2021 becomes official months from now.

2021 Notre Dame Commitments:

It’s far from a complete class but clearly a lot of work remains over the next seven months or so.  Right now all eyes are on Will Shipley as Notre Dame, Clemson and perhaps North Carolina remain the front runners to land the star all-purpose back.

 

Notre Dame Offers a top 2022 Cornerback

Keenan Nelson now has 15 offers with some big-time players as you’d expect including Georgia, Penn State, Miami, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Pitt and Michigan State among others.

Notre Dame continues to try and shape the 2022 recruiting class as they offered a scholarship to one of the nation’s top corner backs in the class Monday morning.

Keenan Nelson, Jr. of St. Joseph’s Prep School in Philadelphia was officially offered by the Irish and let the world know on Twitter.

Nelson is listed at 6-1, 200 pounds and as a four-star corner back.  247Sports ranks him as the 60th best player in the 2022 class and ninth best corner.

Nelson now has 15 offers with some big-time players as you’d expect including Georgia, Penn State, Miami, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Pitt and Michigan State among others.

If you’d like to know more about the latest Notre Dame offer you can watch his sophomore year highlight video below.

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2021 NFL Draft – Any Notre Dame First Rounders?

I’m curious to see a year from now though if Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah ends up being a day one pick.  Koramoah had 8.5 sacks last season, twice recording three or more in the same game, doing so against Virginia Tech and having another 3.5 against Iowa State.

It’s way too early to be talking about the 2021 NFL Draft outside of a couple of things.

The year long debate is on as to who the better quarterback prospect is between Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and Justin Fields of Ohio State.  Lawrence enters as a slight favorite but not by nearly the amount he would have been viewed as a year ago.

What about Notre Dame?  Will the Fighting Irish see a player or two selected in the 2021 NFL Draft’s first round or will it be two straight seasons without a Notre Dame player getting their name called on day one?

Jason McIntyre of Fox Sports released his self-admitted too-early 2021 NFL Draft mock for the first round Monday.  In it he has Trevor Lawrence going first overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Justin Fields fourth to the Chicago Bears.

And to the Notre Dame question?

Left tackle Liam Eichenberg is the 16th player off his board as he has the offensive lineman headed to the New York Jets.

Looking around a couple sites today I’ve seen a few people throwing junk at the wall and hoping something sticks in terms of 2021 mock drafts.  They seem to think at this point Eichenberg is the best bet to be a day-one selection.  I don’t question that although I think his ability in the run game has a lot of catching up to do compared to his pass blocking.

I’m very curious to see a year from now though if Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah ends up being a day one pick.  Koramoah had 8.5 sacks last season, twice recording three or more in the same game, doing so against Virginia Tech and having another 3.5 against Iowa State.

Well-respected draft analyst Todd McShay thought the same a little over a month ago when he was trying to evaluate a few Notre Dame players for the 2020 NFL Draft.

I don’t know where most experts have Koramoah slotted right now but if there is such a thing I’d like to get in now on his draft stock because a year from now I have a strong feeling it’s going to be a lot higher.

Notre Dame/Chargers Alohi Gilman’s Epic and Emotional Draft Celebration

The former Navy transfer finished his two year career at Notre Dame with 169 tackles, including a career-high 10 versus Louisville to open the 2019 season in which he served as a captain.  He also forced six fumbles, recovered one and intercepted three passes in the blue and gold.

If you’ve followed this site or my ramblings about Notre Dame football in various locations over the years you’re aware that I’ve got a fondness for Alohi Gilman even if I’m aware of where he doesn’t grade out as an elite college football player or draft prospect for that matter.

If the Notre Dame defense needed a stop or turnover in the last two seasons it was as likely that Gilman was going to make it as anyone else.

Gilman was selected in the sixth round of the NFL Draft this past weekend by the Los Angeles Chargers where he’ll have work cut out to make what is a pretty loaded roster at the safety positions.  Gilman’s ability to perform well on special teams certainly won’t hurt his case.

One of the cool images or moments of the weekend was seeing Gilman’s celebration after finding out the news of being drafted by the Chargers.  Like Kmet in Illinois and Troy Pride, Jr. in South Carolina, Gilman was treated to a massive parade back home that was in-junction with Bradlee Anae of Utah, who lives down the block and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys.

There was also a great moment just after Gilman found out the news from the Chargers as he and his dad shared a moment in the family home.

The former Navy transfer finished his two year career at Notre Dame with 169 tackles, including a career-high 10 versus Louisville to open the 2019 season in which he served as a captain.  He also forced six fumbles, recovered one and intercepted three passes in the blue and gold.

Recapping All Notre Dame NFL Draft Picks

Cole Kmet “stays home” during quarantine and lands with hometown Chicago Bears.  Just how bad have things gone at tight end there that he’ll be counted on to fix?

This weekend saw six players from Notre Dame selected in the 2020 NFL Draft with another hand-full being signed to free agent deals.  Who landed in the best places to find success and which of the later picks or free agent signings will have the best chance of making a roster?

In our podcast with myself and Jeff Feyerer we discuss the landing spot of every Notre Dame player this draft season.

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Cole Kmet “stays home” during quarantine and lands with hometown Chicago Bears.  Just how bad have things gone at tight end there that he’ll be counted on to fix?

Did Chase Claypool get selected by the best franchise in football to get drafted by if you’re a wide receiver?

How much did Julian Okwara’s injury effect him falling to the third round and how many stories were better this weekend than him getting to play pro ball with his brother in Detroit?

We also analyze the rest of the picks:  Troy Pride, Jr., Khalid Kareem and Alohi Gilman before breaking down all of the undrafted free agents as well. Take a listen and on Apple Podcasts go ahead and hit subscribe.  Hope you enjoy what you hear and we’ll be doing this a lot more in the near future.

(Any feedback we are happy to take on Twitter at @NickShepkowski and @JF_Fey)

Twitter reacts to Steelers selection of WR Chase Claypool

Twitter reacts to the Pittsburgh Steelers selection of wide receiver Chase Claypool

Nearly 3,000 Steelers fans voted in a Steelers Wire poll asking which position the Steelers should target in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. 41% voted running back.

Instead, the Steelers selected Notre Dame wide receiver Chase Claypool — to the delight of 18% of the voters who wanted a WR.

Steelers fans, players, and media took to social media to make their thoughts known on the Steelers selecting Claypool at No. 49 overall.

The first to the punch was Steelers defensive end Stephon Tuitt, followed by Claypool’s head coach at Notre Dame, Brian Kelly.

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Watch: Newest Chicago Bears Tight End, Cole Kmet’s Highlights

Cole Kmet didn’t star at Notre Dame for long but he did make plenty of memorable plays. Watch them right here!

The Chicago Bears selected Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet 43rd overall Friday night.  Kmet had been thought by some to be a potential first round pick but was still available when the Bears were picking in the middle of round two.

Kmet missed the first two games of 2019 for Notre Dame with a broken collarbone but splashed on the scene in his season debut at Georgia, pulling down nine receptions for 108 yards and a touchdown.

Kmet isn’t a finished product by any means.  Some knocks include inconsistent in run blocking, although willing to engage.  I’ve also thought at times that he uses his body a bit too much when making a catch, something that will get you in trouble at the next level.  That said, Bears fans should be excited to get what is easily the best tight end in this draft as they look to fill what has been a black hole at the position in recent years.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51fNVJDj-ZE] Kmet’s career stat line at Notre Dame:
35 games, 60 receptions, 691 yards, six touchdowns.

Kmet’s final season at Notre Dame:
11 games, 43 515 yards, six touchdowns

 

Notre Dame Swings for Fences with Latest Offer

Brian Kelly mentioned right before the 2019 Camping World Bowl that one of his goals was for Notre Dame to take a step in their recruiting efforts.  Not that they’ve been poor by any means (see Willingham years for examples of that) but they haven’t been anywhere near elite, either.

Brian Kelly mentioned right before the 2019 Camping World Bowl that one of his goals was for Notre Dame to take a step in their recruiting efforts.  Not that they’ve been poor by any means (see Willingham years for examples of that) but they haven’t been anywhere near elite, either.

Their latest scholarship offer out is for elite 2022 corner Denver Harris, a 6-1, 180 pound junior-to-be from North Shore in Houston, Texas.  247Sports ranks Harris as the current 26th overall prospect in the ’22 class after he helped lead North Shore to a 15-1 record last season that ended in their second consecutive Texas 6A D-1 state championship.

Notre Dame joins several of the big dogs of college football in offering Harris, who now has 32 reported offers.  The likes of Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Texas, USC and plenty of others have already extended offers for the prized recruit.

Harris was a Texas first-team all-district 21-6A as a sophomore and will be one of the hottest commodities in the 2022 recruiting class.