Tag: CJ Prosise

Two former Notre Dame players discuss Marcus Freeman’s positive culture change

There’s a stark difference between the former regime and the current one

One of the biggest issues during the Brian Kelly era of Notre Dame football was his reluctance to embrace the past.

Players weren’t as welcome back around the team, and once Marcus Freeman took over, there were changes implemented. Two former players, [autotag]CJ Prosise[/autotag] and [autotag]Corey Holmes[/autotag] on their podcast Lucky Underdogs discussed the difference between the two.

Freeman has an open door policy, which Kelly did not. The biggest aspect they pointed out was the interactions between the players and the coaches, during Kelly’s tenure meeting with him meant you were in trouble, Freeman isn’t like that at all.

Freeman can be very easily labeled as a “players coach” which translates into recruiting, player retention and play on the field. Kelly could never be called that, as his demanding style worked, but ultimately didn’t help the Irish achieve the ultimate goal.

Both Holmes and Prosise believe this difference between the coaches will be stark, as you can see, they think it will end up with a national championship under Freeman for Notre Dame.

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The Longest Runs in the History of Notre Dame Football

What is your favorite run in the long history of Notre Dame football?

Notre Dame has been playing football since 1887 and have had plenty of talented running backs and quarterbacks carry the ball in that time.  Since records began being kept, Notre Dame has had seven different players pull off a run of 90 yards or longer.

Oddly enough, five of those seven 90-plus yard runs have come in the last seven years.

So who holds the record for the longest runs in Notre Dame history?  Check out the answer to that question below and see the actual highlights of a few of the runs:

Bears camp: Chicago hosting several tryouts at QB, RB and WR

It’s been a busy day for the Chicago Bears. After completing their first day of padded practices, the team is working out several players.

It’s been a busy day for the Chicago Bears. After completing their first day of padded practices, the team is working out some offensive players at Halas Hall.

According to Chicago Tribune’s Brad Bigg, the Bears hosted several tryouts with quarterbacks Mason Fine, Kevin Hogan and Kyle Sloter, as well running back CJ Prosise and wide receivers Austin Proehl, Jeff Badet, Rodney Adams and Alex Wesley.

Fine, a two-time C-USA Player of the Year, impressed during his time at North Texas. He’s coming off a season where he played 12 games and threw for 2,820 yards, 27 touchdowns and seven interception. His best season came in 2017, where he threw for 4,015 yards and 31 touchdowns.

Hogan, who hasn’t played since 2018, started eight games in two years with the Cleveland Browns. During that span, he completed 60 of 101 passes (59.4%) for 621 yards with four touchdowns and seven interceptions for a 34.5 quarterback rating. Not exactly encouraging stats.

Sloter, a three-year veteran, has impressed in the preseason. In three preseasons, Sloter has an 11-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio and has averaged a 74% completion percentage and a 119.8 quarterback rating with the Denver Broncos and Minnesota Vikings.

In four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, former third-round pick Prosise has 65 rushes for 264 yards with a 4.7 yards-per-carry average and two touchdowns in 25 games. His best season came as a rookie in 2016, where he 30 rushes for 172 yards with one touchdown and 17 receptions for 208 yards.

Proehl, the son of Ricky Proehl, is a former teammate of current Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky at North Carolina. Wesley was originally on Chicago’s 90-man roster before they waived him to make room for the required 80-man squad. Badet signed as an undrafted free agent with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018. While he’s appeared in his share of preseason games, he hasn’t seen any regular-season action.

Adams, a former fifth-round pick by the Vikings, was reinstated by the NFL back in January. He was placed on the Reserve/Retired list on April 9, 2018. Adams spent time on Minnesota’s active roster and practice squad as a rookie but never saw game action.

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12 under-the-radar free agents for the Bills to target on offense

The NFL’s free agency period is slated to open on March 18 and the Buffalo Bills could be in business. The Bills signed cornerback Josh Norman last week, getting a head start on things.

The NFL’s free agency period is slated to open on March 18 and the Buffalo Bills could be in business. The Bills signed cornerback Josh Norman last week, getting a head start on things.

But despite that signing, the Bills moved from just the fourth-most to fifth-most salary cap space in the league, near $77.4 million, according to Spotrac. That’s a lot of room for more moves, and of course, room for big-named additions.

But in recent years, Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott have had a thing for finding diamonds in the rough. Could the 2020 offseason have more of the same?

With that, here are 12 under-the-radar free agents on offense the Bills could consider adding:

Chiefs wide receiver Demarcus Robinson. Credit: Mike Dinovo-USA TODAY Sports

WR Demarcus Robinson

The Bills have John Brown and Cole Beasley who are solid, but the talent that Demarcus Robinson was behind with the Chiefs has kept his opportunities very limited. At receiver, there’s Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins and Mecole Hardman, then there’s tight end Travis Kelce, who’s basically a No. 1 wideout.

But when Robinson did get some chances when Hill was out, he showed some skill. He caught 32 passes for 449 yards and four touchdowns last season. What could make him further appealing is his 14 yards-per-catch average last season. Over the past two seasons, he’s had eight total scores.

What many peg for the Bills is adding a wideout with size, though. Robinson isn’t overly big at 6-foot-1, 203 pounds, but stretching the field is a plus with quarterback Josh Allen’s arm strength.

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Notre Dame Football All-Decade Team – Running Backs

I know I wasn’t the only one invigorated by the short-lived Adams Heisman run as I’ve seen other people wearing the campaign-sanctioned trucker hats at games,

One position down on our All-Decade Team, now it’s on to the Fighting Irish backs that carried the rock at a high level during the last decade.

The three players selected had the first, fifth and eighth most carries among running backs from 2010-2019, but we didn’t simply weigh longevity. We weighed impact on the program during the time they played.

There are really good backs we left off this list but the three backs we did include were the only three running backs to have seasons of at least 900 rushing yards while averaging six yards per carry. That wasn’t the determining factor, it just so happened to work out that way.

First up – The Backups:

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Notre Dame Almanac: Happy Anniversary Music City Bowl

LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings completed a then game-record 75 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver John Diarse.  Jennings other 13 pass attempts on the afternoon totaled just 76 more yards.  Joe Burrow was still a senior at Athens High School on this day.

I woke up this morning and began flipping channels only to come to ESPN-U.  I thought I was still in a haze when it said the 2014 Music City Bowl between Notre Dame and LSU was being shown.

If you’re a Notre Dame fan you remember the Irish pulling off the win to finish a 2014 season that began with so much positivity until one bad call in Tallahassee sent things spiraling out of control the second half of the season.

It did end on a high note however as the Irish earned their first win over an SEC team since beating Tennessee in 2005.

Do you remember how ridiculous that game was, though?

A young man named Leonard Fournette announcing his arrival by returning a kickoff 100 yards for a socre and setting the record for longest run in Music City Bowl history, an 89 yard touchdown run.  He’d finish with 264 total yards.

Notre Dame went back and forth between Everett Golson and Malik Zaire at quarterback as the two combined to throw for 186 yards and a touchdown while Zaire also helped play the ball-possession game in carrying 22 times for 96 yards.

Notre Dame ran the ball 51 times on the day, an almost exact 2:1 ratio as they attempted 26 passes.

CJ Prosise began his transformation to running back that afternoon as he had three carries (also had three carries all year coming in) for 75 yards, including a 50 yard scoring run.  A pretty nice first step for what wound up being a special 2015 for him.

LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings completed a then game-record 75 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver John Diarse.  Jennings other 13 pass attempts on the afternoon totaled just 76 more yards.  Joe Burrow was still a senior at Athens High School on this day.

And most importantly it all ended with Kyle Brindza hitting a 32 yard field goal as time expired to give Notre Dame (+8.5) the upset victory.

That was five years ago today, relive some of those fun memories by watching the highlights below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp7jkgtWNVc&w=560&h=315]

 

 

Signing Marshawn Lynch is a boom-or-bust move for Seahawks

Signing Marshawn Lynch to shore up their depleted running back unit is a bold move for the Seattle Seahawks and could be boom or bust.

Marshawn Lynch’s recent return to the Seattle Seahawks has generated a lot of buzz over the past 48 hours.

The team had become desperate for running backs in the wake of the injuries to Chris Carson and CJ Prosise. In addition to signing Robert Turbin to complement rookie Travis Homer, they made a bold and perhaps desperate move coaxing “Beast Mode” back to the game. This set Twitter ablaze, with Seahawks fans are particularly excited to no one’s surprise.

However, Lynch should not be expected to revert to his prime form by any means. He is 33 years old and his abilities are not what they used to be. This is the second time he has come out of retirement, initially bowing out after the 2015 season and later returning to play for his hometown Oakland Raiders in 2017 before retiring again after 2018. In addition, he did not play in 20 games over the last three seasons he spent in the NFL, so his durability is a serious question.

Of course, there is always a chance that Seattle will catch lightning in a bottle with Lynch again. However, fans should not be surprised if he does not stay healthy or display the same amount of power and speed that made him such a joy to watch in his prime years.

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All duds and no studs in Seahawks 27-13 loss to Cardinals Week 16

The Seattle Seahawks suffered a devastating loss to the Arizona Cardinals Week 16, with players struggling on both sides of the ball.

For the fifth time in the last seven years, the Seattle Seahawks were embarrassed at home by the Arizona Cardinals. For whatever reason, the Cardinals always seem to know the trick to defeating the Seahawks in Seattle.

Of all the losses in the past seven years, Sunday’s was without a doubt the most disastrous in the recent series. The Seahawks looked absolutely futile in every aspect of the game, leaving little room for hope moving forward.

Before the day began, the Seahawks were on the inside track for the No. 1 seed in the NFC, a first-round bye, and a division title. Now, they are staring directly at a wild card spot, perhaps even as low as the No. 6 seed, with a trip to either Lambeau Field or a return to Philadelphia.

There is no other way to put it – this one was brutal. As a result, there are only duds and no studs in Week 16.

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