Tag: Isaiah Foskey

Notre Dame notes: Kelly’s Monday presser focuses on red zone, travel, and more

The highlights of Brian Kelly’s Monday meeting with the press include red zone issues, wide receiver rotation, Jahmir Smith leaving and more.

The Irish have been in a unique situation this season, they have yet to hit the road for a game this season. When their trip to Wake Forest was reschedule due to a rash of Irish football team members testing positive for COVID-19, the schedule just worked out that way. Well, Kelly addressed his team traveling to Pittsburgh this weekend, the issues in the red zone, a player leaving the program and more in his regularly scheduled Monday afternoon press conference. Here are some of the big topics Kelly touched on today.

-The red zone offense needs to be better as Kelly said “we’ve got to be better in that area moving forward.” That’s a huge understatement.

-Going to Pitt this weekend will be treated like a home game on Friday. The team will be very careful during their travels, no team meals, eating at Heinz Field concourses and Kelly wants to “create an atmosphere where we can control it the best we can.”

-Kelly might have pinpointed some issues with the wide receivers because “it has been a revolving door” at the position. With new faces and others working back from injuries, the Irish head coach thinks they may have pushed them too hard in practice. It’s obviously a “work in progress” as he stated.

-Kelly pointed out three players (Isaiah Foskey, Jack Kiser and Joe Wilkins) that need to play more. After Saturday’s win against Louisville, he had notes that said “how do we get them involved more.”

-Running back Jahmir Smith has left the team, Kelly said “he’s decided at this time he is not going to be playing football.”

-Kurt Hinish has been great this year and Kelly attributed it to a few factors, but mainly his high football IQ. “He (Hinish) knows what they’re (the offense) is trying to do scheme wise.”

-On the offense’s strengths and weakness, Kelly said “right now we’re so much better running it than throwing it. I want people to respect our ability to throw it.” The offense will keep at it, “we’re going to push the ball vertically down the field, we’re going to have to be better at it.” He knows there are some issues in “attacking defenses down the field in our passing game, were not there yet. We have to get going.”

-On Pitt’s defense: “game wreckers on defense, they’ll play physical and they’re well coached.”

Notre Dame Dominates USF: 5 Takeaways

Notre Dame dominated South Florida 52-0 on Saturday. Here are five quick takeaways from the blowout victory that moved the Irish to 2-0.

Perhaps it was last week’s slow start against Duke and maybe some of it had to do with what happened against South Florida back in 2011 but it didn’t feel like there was a ton of confidence in the ability of the Irish to entirely dominate going into Saturday’s game.

Then kickoff happened and Notre Dame dominated in every part of the game for the next 60 minutes in their — obliteration of South Florida that puts the Irish at 2-0 for the third straight season.

It wasn’t the most compelling of games as the only thing all that interesting in the final two frames was if Notre Dame could keep the shutout in tact.

With that said here are five takeaways from the victory.

Inside em, outside em…through them, over them, whatever you wanted to do to them….

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Notre Dame Beats Duke: Staff Game Balls

Notre Dame starts the year 1-0. Now see who the FIW staff chose are their game ball recipients for the socially distanced week one victory!

Notre Dame defeated Duke 27-13 to start the 2020 season as a member of the ACC for the first time in program history.  It was far from perfect but it was a win.  Here at Fighting Irish Wire we’ll give out game balls for the best players on both the offense and defense each and every week, here is what we came up with from Saturday’s victory.

First from Geoffrey Clark:

Offensive: Kyren Williams
The Irish have a lot of faith in this kid, and he showed why against Duke. Scoring twice and gaining 205 all-purpose yards, including 112 on the ground, was enough to sway at least some people who might have had any doubts about him. He was the only offensive player to look consistent from start to finish on a day when most of the unit took time to wake up. While he can’t be the Irish’s only weapon if they’re going to succeed, there’s no question he’ll be a big one.
Defensive: Isaiah Foskey
Duke threatened to take control of the game when it got to Notre Dame’s 2-yard line in the second quarter.  Instead, Foskey blitzed and was ruled to have sacked Chase Brice for a 10-yard loss after a replay review.  The Irish’s lead never felt seriously threatened after that because the offense started to get it going.  Foskey also recorded two quarterback hits and 1.5 tackles for loss, which cost the Blue Devils 11 yards.
Next:  Mike Chen’s Game Balls
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5 takeaways from Notre Dame’s win over Duke

Notre Dame beat Duke to start 2020 off right. Here are five quick takeaways from the opening day victory for the Irish.

It was weird, it was different, it was far from pretty but at the end of the afternoon it was a Week One win over Duke as Notre Dame recorded their first official win as a member of the ACC.

There was good, there was bad and there was ugly but most importantly the Irish started the season with a victory on an ugly day in South Bend.

Five quick takeaways from the season opening 27-13 win over Duke.

First – Kyren Williams.  Hello.

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Notre Dame vs. Duke: Second-Quarter Analysis

Well, that’s a little more like it. Though it may not seem so, Notre Dame finally looks something like the team it’s expected to be in 2020.

Well, that’s a little more like it. Though it may not seem so, Notre Dame finally looks something like the team it’s expected to be in 2020. Thanks to a little trickery, the Irish find themselves ahead of Duke at halftime, 10-6.

When it looked like another Irish drive would die early, Jay Bramblett successfully executed a late punt. It woke the offense up, as evidenced by Kyren Williams’ 11-yard run, which was added onto by a face-mask penalty, and a nice catch by Jafar Armstrong, who took it 20 yards to the Duke 2. Williams ran it in for the Irish’s first touchdown of the season one play later.

The defense was picked apart on a drive that Duke got down to the Notre Dame 2. With the Blue Devils threatening to retake the lead on third-and-goal, Isaiah Foskey got to Chase Brice and ultimately was credited with a 10-yard sack after a replay review. Charlie Ham salvaged the drive with a 30-yard field, his second of the game and his career.

On the next drive, the Irish had a chance to extend their lead further after Williams caught an Ian Book pass and ran 75 yards to the Duke 11. But Book made an ill-advised throw into traffic, and Lummie Young IV intercepted it in the end zone for a touchback. Book then threw another interception when he got back on the field, but an offsides penalty wiped it out. The drive continued, and Jonathan Doerer kicked a 48-yard field goal as the clock expired on the first half.

California Dreaming, Notre Dame Recruits well in Sunshine State

The Irish have traditionally recruited California well and expect that to continue.

Yesterday, it was the minimal presence that the Irish in their neighboring state Ohio, but today Rivals took a look at who recruits California the best. It should not come as a surprise that Notre Dame made the list, the Irish have traditionally recruited the state well.

The Irish have secured a commitment from Tyler Buchner in the 2021 recruiting cycle, he is the top rated quarterback and second overall prospect in California. Last year it was CB Ramon Henderson and in the 2019 class it was CB Isaiah Rutherford and DE Isaiah Foskey. It was CB TaRiq Bracy, OT Jarrett Patterson and LB Jack Lamb who signed with the Irish in 2018.

It is safe to say the state of California has been kind to the Irish, and Brian Kelly keeps dipping into the Sunshine State for talent every year. There is potential for more Californian’s to sign with the Irish this year as RB Prophet Brown and DB Dyson McCutcheon both have Notre Dame in their top few schools.

Of the offers out to the 2022 class, only Texas with 10 has more than California’s 5 right now, so expect Kelly to continue to look for talent out west. Making the state a priority is a good thing, as it’s a hotbed for Division I talent. The California to South Bend pipeline should continue to be strong in the future.

Notre Dame Football: Ogundeji Returns for Fifth Year as Expected

Ogundeji joins Daelin Hayes, Isaiah Foskey, Ovie Oghoufo, and Justin Ademilola in a strong defensive end grouping that should be a strength for the 2020 Fighting Irish.

It wasn’t shocking news to say the very least but it was news nonetheless on Wednesday when Notre Dame defensive end Adetokunbo Ogundeji announced he will be returning to Notre Dame for a fifth season.

Ogundeji came on late for Notre Dame this year, recording 4.5 sacks on the year and all of them coming in the final three games of the year.  Two of those alone came against Boston College in what was to me the best game we’ve seen him play.

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Ogundeji joins Daelin Hayes, Isaiah Foskey, Ovie Oghoufo, and Justin Ademilola in a strong defensive end grouping that should be a strength for the 2020 Fighting Irish.

We’ve got official word from Ian Book, Alohi Gilman, Tony Jones, Jr. and now Ogundeji.  We still await Cole Kmet’s official decision after he statedhe planned on returning for his senior year during the fall.

Game Ball Awards for Notre Dame’s Win over Stanford

I still think the Irish win Saturday had Isaiah Foskey not blocked the punt late in the first half because Notre Dame was simply too dominant afterwards to think it was only that play.

A look at the final score and you might not think Saturday’s 45-24 Notre Dame win over Stanford and think they dominated for the entire afternoon.

Although domination eventually came on, for 27 minutes or so in the first half things were anything but for the Fighting Irish.

So who gets the reward of the game balls in today’s win that wraps up a 10-2 regular season?

Let’s check it out:

Offense:

I could go a couple different ways here with Chase Claypool scoring twice and providing the go-ahead touchdown or Tony Jones scoring and putting up 90 total yards but to me it was Ian Book that offensively was the biggest star.

Four touchdowns and no interceptions, his ground game wasn’t as strong today but it was just as lethal when it absolutely needed to be, his fourth down run for 26 yards to the Stanford three while still only leading 21-17 was a huge play by the quarterback who Brian Kelly had big-time praise for after the game (more on that, later).

Ian Book: 17/30, 255 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT, 29 rush yards

Defense and Special Teams…

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