Tag: Colin Grunhard

Ex-Notre Dame O-lineman Colin Grunhard compares Irish to Kansas

Will Colin Grunhard experience a turnaround in Lawrence like he did in South Bend?

After four years of mostly sporadic playing time for Notre Dame, offensive  lineman Colin Grunhard chose to move on. He entered the transfer portal and quickly chose to go back home and play at Kansas. Going from a national championship contender to a team that went 0-9 in 2020 can be daunting, even if you’re closer to familiar surroundings. However, Grunhard recently decided to compare his new situation with when he first came to the Irish:

“When I was a freshman at Notre Dame, we were coming off a 4-8 season, one of the worst years in Notre Dame history. The biggest change happens in the weightroom. With [KU strength] coach Ben [Iannacchione], I’ve been experiencing that a lot. We’re working out hard. When we’re running, we’re running hard. Everything matters. The little things matter. If it’s three seconds, you hold it for three seconds.”

Obviously, Grunhard will need a lot more than his own improvement to win with a program that just dismissed Les Miles and has yet to hire his replacement. After all, you can’t just join an offensive line that allowed a nation-worst 47 sacks and 5.22 sacks a game last season and expect a quick fix. The good news for Grunhard is he has two years of eligibility remaining, so he can at least help his new unit make incremental changes. Who knows how much better it will be by the time he’s done playing in Lawrence?

Notre Dame football: who replaces Patterson at center?

Notre Dame received bad news on the injury front Monday as star center Jarrett Patterson is done for the year. So who will replace him?

Tough news for the Notre Dame football program came out early on Monday morning when news broke that standout center Jarrett Patterson was lost for the year after injuring his foot late in Saturday’s 45-31 win at Boston College.

Patterson’s play and importance can’t be understated as he started each of Notre Dame’s last 21 games dating back to the opener at Louisville in 2019.  Although individual stats aren’t simple to look at for offensive linemen like they are their defensive counterparts, Patterson been receiving praise from multiple outlets throughout the year.

So how does Notre Dame go about filling the hole left by Patterson’s injury?

Sophomore Zeke Correll (6-3, 295 lbs.) has been listed second at center on Notre Dame’s depth chart all season long but has played in just one game this season, the 52-0 win over South Florida, but did see action in four contests a year ago.

Correll was a four-star recruit in Notre Dame’s 2019 recruiting class out of Anderson High School in Cincinnati.

Another potential replacement could be senior Colin Grunhard (6-1, 290 lbs.) who has more game experience than Correll, as Grunhard has appeared in 11 games all-time at Notre Dame, including this season’s South Florida contest.

Grunhard is the son of former Notre Dame standout Tim who helped lead the Irish to the 1988 national championship before playing 11 seasons in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs.

It’s worth noting as well that senior Josh Lugg (6-7, 310 lbs.) took some reps at center back in spring of 2019 but it’d appear to be quite the upset to see take over the center position.

Notre Dame’s next three games come against North Carolina, Syracuse and Wake Forest, who rank nationally 59th, 70th and 94th respectively in terms of yards allowed per play.

Notre Dame Football: Santa Awards Two Scholarships to Walk-Ons

With Mrs. Claus by his side and Brian Kelly speaking for him, Santa dropped off two presents for the young men earlier this week.

Santa has been busy the last few days but did find the time to make a stop in Orlando to give out a couple of presents to two members of the Notre Dame football team.

Those two are Mick Asaff, a walk-on running back from Atlanta and Colin Grunhard, a walk-on offensive lineman from Kansas.

With Mrs. Claus by his side and Brian Kelly speaking for him, Santa dropped off two presents for the young men earlier this week.

These never get old to me and my favorite part may be seeing how excited the scholarship players are to see their teammates who have given so much time, energy and effort get rewarded.

Assaf has 34 yards on 10 carries for his career and Grunhard, son of Tim (played at Notre Dame from 86-89, later with the Kansas Chiefs) has appeared in eight games over the last two years.