Tag: Fighting Irish football

Notre Dame Football Cancels all 2020 Summer Camps

These camps might get looked at as not being very big deals but they’re important in terms of selling the program.  Sure, you’ll have dozens and dozens of players that attend that the football program will never have any desire to offer a scholarship to but for the ones they are interested in you can bet your bottom dollar the selling of the program is going on then.

It had been a while since the sports world got news of more cancellations.  Well, Notre Dame football announced the cancellations of no games, but instead all of their summer camps for 2020.

The athletic department made the announcement via the Notre Dame Football Twitter account on Monday morning.

These camps might get looked at as not being very big deals but they’re important in terms of selling the program.  Sure, you’ll have dozens and dozens of players that attend that the football program will never have any desire to offer a scholarship to but for the ones they are interested in you can bet your bottom dollar the selling of the program is going on then.

The camps canceled include:

Lineman Challenge
Overnight Camp
Specialist Camp
7×7 Passing Camp
QB Academy
Irish Invasion
Notre Dame Sunday Night Football

And for the non-high school football players:
Adult Fantasy Camp
Youth Camp
Football 101

For those looking for a positive sign in terms of things getting going and starting on time, this certainly wasn’t the signal you wanted to see on Monday morning.  Let’s hope it’s a just pothole on the road to football and doesn’t lead to a crater that we’re unable to drive through.

Is Notre Dame LB Owusu-Koramoah in line to Blow Up NFL Draft Boards

After a breakout season last year, will Irish pass rusher Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah be a player who shoots up NFL draft boards?

If you follow Notre Dame Football, which you clearly do, then you know what linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah did last year. However, many fans don’t pay much attention to what other teams are doing, aside from their rivals, so there is a possibility his great season went unnoticed by many people. Those people were not NFL scouts as yesterday 247Sports named Owusu-Koramoah as the next Patrick Queen.

Don’t know who Queen is? Well, all he did was lead the LSU defense to a National Title after having a so-so start to his career. Queen doubled his career tackles total, picked up his first interception, and added 3 sacks to the one he had in his previous two seasons with the Tigers.

Owusu-Koramoah’s breakout was last year, after taking the quarterback down 8.5 times while totaling 79 tackles. The rising redshirt junior’s stats are much more impressive than Queen’s, but this is more about being a nationally known player, as “perhaps he (Owusu-Koramoah) has a little bit more name appeal nationally than Queen’s 2018 profile. But after the 2020 season, expect Owusu-Koramoah to be a household name.”

The hype train should be building for the Irish star defender after what he did last year. If Owusu-Koramoah is about to at least replicate his stats from last year, he will surely be a household name. If he can exceed those impressive numbers from his redshirt sophomore campaign, Owusu-Koramoah should be hearing his name being called in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Notre Dame’s Rivalry with USC Ranked Among Best in all of NCAA Athletics

Notre Dame against USC make top 10 list of rivalries in all of college athletics.

When you have a rivalry as heated as the Irish and Trojans have, it comes as no surprise that it is among the intense rivalries in the NCAA, on the gridiron or hardwood. Brad Crawford of 247Sports ranked the fiercest rivalries  in all of collegiate athletics and Notre Dame’s annual contest against USC was among them.

Ranked as the 9th fiercest, Crawford noted that the rivalry between the two schools “is defined by it’s series of high stakes meetings as two of college football’s most stories programs.” Crawford is right by that as the game normally has national implications for the winner of the contest.

In recent memory It has been the Irish who have owned the rivalry, winners of seven of the last ten, including the last three years in a row. Prior to that ten-game stretch, it was USC who owned the rivalry, winning eight of the ten games in the 2000’s.

The hated between the two schools is strong, which is why I believe that Crawford ranked it a bit too low. At worst USC/Notre Dame is a top 5 rivalry in all of major collegiate athletics, and clearly it is up for debate. This year’s game will be played in LA Memorial Coliseum and is the final game on the schedule for both teams. Although the time is undecided right now, it should be a prime-time match-up as both teams should be highly ranked coming into the season.

Notre Dame ’21 QB Commit Buchner Earns Invite to Prestigious Elite 11 Finals

Notre Dame ’21 QB commit Buchner earns invite to Elite 11 Finals.

The early spring season for high school football players is made mostly up of camps, qualifying to make the next round, ultimately ending in the 7-on-7 The Opening Finals at Nike Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. This weekend Notre Dame QB commit Tyler Buchner competed and impressed enough to earn an invite to their final competition.

Current Irish QB Brendon Clark made the finals in ’18 and potential number one pick and 2020 Notre Dame opponent Trevor Lawrence of Clemson are some former participants at the prestigious event.

Buchner was more than impressive throwing as he was the winner of the Golden Gun Accuracy Challenge, putting up the best score at the camp along with two other competitors.

At the current moment, Buchner, the 6’2” and 200-pound signal caller, is the highest rated commit in the 2021 Irish class. 247Sports composite rankings have him as the 33rd best overall player in the country while being the 3rd best dual-threat QB in the nation. The California star will most likely arrive in South Bend with an opportunity to compete to start as a true freshman as senior Ian Book graduates after this year.

2020 NFL draft: Cole Kmet scouting report

Everything NFL draft fans need to know about Notre Dame tight end prospect Cole Kmet

Cole Kmet | TE | Notre Dame

Elevator Pitch

When you look at Kmet, he immediately wins getting off the bus. Very much looks the part of a NFL tight end. Standing in at 6’6″, Kmet is a big target who will be the best friend for any quarterback in the league. He has had growing production each year in South Bend. Now he looks to be the next Fighting Irish tight end to be productive at the next level.

Vitals

Height | 6-6

Weight | 262

Class | Junior

College Stats

College Bio

Combine Profile

Strengths

Kmet is a big target, not just because of his height. He has long arms and big hands. His catch radius makes him a very inviting target for quarterbacks. Definitely a guy that can climb the ladder and shows good body control in the air, will come down with the ball. A reliable target for the most part.

One of the best aspects of his game is that Kmet can create separation at the second level. While he can bring down contested throws, he provides his passer a good target. A linebacker will have trouble keeping up with Kmet, and they will struggle with his physicality at times. Very much a bowling ball as he will crash into defenders when running after the catch.

Tight ends in the NFL need to be able to block and Kmet is an above average run blocker. He can latch onto his guy and drive him off the line to create space for running backs. Uses his length to keep defenders off his pads, can maintain the block.

Weaknesses

Pass blocking is suspect at best. Not where he will win early on in his career, will need a lot of work on technique. As well as understanding of where he needs to get in his block fits. He will need on getting stronger and holding his blocks in the pass game. However, Kmet needs to be running routes on passing downs instead of staying in to protect his quarterback.

Kmet also needs to work on route running, coming in and out of his breaks. Footing can be an issue as he has been known to slip a time or two. Needs to work on his balance in both blocking and running routes. Can come out of his breaks too high.

Projection: Day 2

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Breaking: OG Crippen Decommits from Notre Dame’s ’21 Recruiting Class

Florida OG Greg Crippen decommits from Notre Dame’s 2021 recruiting class.

Brian Kelly had gotten off to a great start to the 2021 recruiting cycle, up to today he had 8 total commits. However, with developing news that offensive guard Greg Crippen decommitting, the class now sits at one less player.

Crippen is a high thought of prospect, as evidenced by his offer list of Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, USC and others, will not take any interview requests now. He had committed to the Irish almost a year ago, on March 27th, had a change of heart in that time frame.

The decommitment leaves the class with just one other offensive lineman, in-state tackle Blake Fisher, but with plenty of time until the early signing period, Crippen’s decision won’t hurt the Irish as much. The Florida star will focus on his development, with recruiting taking a back seat, but don’t expect a reunion between Notre Dame and Crippen

Notre Dame Adds 2020 Walk-On Quarterback

New Prairie High School’s Chase Ketterer announced Thursday night that he’ll attend college at Notre Dame as a walk-on prospect in the 2020 class.

Local kid chooses local school.  No matter how many times you rinse and repeat, that story never gets old and always feels good.  Now we get to hear it in regards to Notre Dame’s latest 2020 commitment, a local quarterback who is chasing big dreams with the Fighting Irish.

New Prairie High School’s Chase Ketterer announced Thursday night that he’ll attend college at Notre Dame as a walk-on prospect in the 2020 class.

The most interesting piece of conversation in this story isn’t so much a walk-on taking a chance at a big time school, but one doing so instead of taking Valparaiso up on their scholarship offer.

As a prospect Ketterer isn’t some incredible get.  He’s a run first quarterback, going for 5464 rush yards over the last three seasons and scoring 98 touchdowns.  He added 1494 pass yards and 17 passing touchdowns in that time.

Ketterer was a 2019 Indiana High School Athletic Association, Northern Indiana Conference (North) MVP and named a member of the Indiana class 4A All-State team this past fall.

Camping World Bowl Sold Out

Congratulations to the Notre Dame athletic department as it has now sold out more consecutive bowl games than it has home football games.

 

We mentioned earlier this month when Iowa State was announced as Notre Dame’s opponent in the Camping World Bowl that one of the reasons they were chosen over other 6-3 in conference Big XII teams that beat them head-to-head was because their fan base will travel with the best of them.

Only a few days after tickets went on sale it was announced by Iowa State’s athletic director that Cyclones fans had bought all of their allotted tickets for the game.

Well, now all the tickets to Saturday’s game are spoken for.

At least on the initial market.

So there you go, for the first time since Notre Dame played Florida State in the then-Champs Sports Bowl and for now just the second time ever, the Camping World Bowl has sold out.

Congrats to the bowl for picking Iowa State and rewarding a fan-base that travels to support it’s squad.

Also congratulations to the Notre Dame athletic department as it has now sold out more consecutive bowl games than it has home football games.

Interview (Listen) – Always Irish Podcast

John was kind enough to invite me on his show and discuss the state of Notre Dame football and how close they are to catching the next level of teams that are always contending for national championships.

In preparation for the Camping World Bowl I was asked to come on the “Always Irish” podcast with John who is about as passionate of Notre Dame fan as you’ll ever meet.

You can follow him on Twitter @jkznd4 where he shares his love for Notre Dame football, animals and battles general stupidity on a daily basis.

John was kind enough to invite me on his show and discuss the state of Notre Dame football and how close they are to catching the next level of teams that are always contending for national championships.

The recent recruiting class, Camping World Bowl and offensive coordinator search are all discussed as are some just real general Notre Dame topics. Hope you enjoy and if you’d ever like to have me on a similar show feel to reach out and I’d be happy to.

Here is John’s latest episode of the “Always Irish” podcast with my appearance.  I hope you enjoy:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk06sb8n_c0&w=560&h=315]

Notre Dame Football: Three Star WR Xavier Watts Signs with Irish

Notre Dame beat out in-state Nebraska who Notre Dame coaches at one point thought were getting a commitment from Watts. 

 

Notre Dame went to the heartland and took a three-star wide reciever right out of Nebraska, Iowa and Iowa State’s backyard when they landed Xavier Watts on National Signing Day.

Watts checks in as the second rated prospect this year from the state of Nebraska, but its worth noting that he’s ranked 75th among receivers nationally, per 247Sports.

The 6-1 Watts had 1072 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns in 11 games as a high school senior at Burke High School in Omaha, Nebraska.  Notre Dame beat out in-state Nebraska who Notre Dame coaches at one point thought were getting a commitment from Watts.

Watts will enroll at Notre Dame in January and be on campus for spring practice.