Tag: ND Footbal

Was Notre Dame a winner or loser during the spring transfer portal window?

How did you feel about the Irish’s spring portal work?

As we all know, there was plenty of movement for [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] football during the spring transfer portal window.

Now that player are no longer allowed to enter their names into the portal, 247Sports took a look back and named winners and losers of the spring transfers and it didn’t go all that well for the Irish.

It’s hard to argue Robbie Weinstein’s assessment, they losses were significant. Key contributors on offense quarterback [autotag]Tyler Buchner[/autotag], running back [autotag]Logan Diggs[/autotag] and wide receiver [autotag]Lorenzo Styles Jr.[/autotag] all left for more playing time.

Linebacker [autotag]Prince Kollie[/autotag], a former 5-star, was the only defender to leave and even though he didn’t make much of an impact on the field, losing a talent like that isn’t easy to overcome.

For me the biggest loss was Buchner. It wasn’t about his productivity on the field, as I was often a critic of his play, it was about the depth. Weinstein also sees that issue as he noted “but if (Sam) Hartman gets hurt? That could be an issue.”

A big one, there’s no experience behind transfer [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] and it might be in head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag]’s interest to go to the portal and get one. Even that move wouldn’t make them a winner, but it would give some much needed depth at quarterback.

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The five hidden plays that decided Notre Dame’s loss to Stanford

These hidden plays made a big impact in the outcome

In every game, win or loss, there are plays that aren’t scoring plays that impact the outcome for both sides. For Notre Dame, it wasn’t unfortunately a losing effort but those plays still happened. Find out which five helped change the course of the game for the Irish.

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Former Notre Dame star has massive first season in NFL

No surprises in South Bend to find this out

We all were aware of the impact that linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah had in South Bend. The winner of the 2020 Butkus Award was expected by many to get selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.

That didn’t happen and JOK fell to Cleveland in the second round, the 52nd overall pick. It’s safe to say that if teams could have a re-do, JOK was absolutely phenomenal during his rookie year in the NFL. The linebacker had 43 tackles, 1.5 sacks and forced two fumble while make a significant impact for the Browns.

Today, Owusu-Koramoah was recognized by the Pro Football Writers of American as one of their All-Rookie linebackers.

The expectations for JOK will be much higher in his second-year after an honor like this, but we all know he will rise to the occasion.

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Watch: Notre Dame freshman tight end Mayer scores against Pitt

Michael Mayer, Notre Dame’s star freshman tight end, scores a touchdown against the Pittsburgh Panthers.

The hype is real for Notre Dame freshman Michael Mayer. The 5-Star recruit from Kentucky has lived up to his billing so far this season. He cashed in on this play from 14-yards out.

The touchdown for the freshman is the second of his career, expanding the Notre Dame lead to 38-3 in the third quarter.

Watch: Foskey block and recovers punt for TD against Pittsburgh

Notre Dame’s Isaiah Foskey comes up with a key block and scoop and score of a punt against the Pittsburgh Panthers to extend the lead.

Brian Kelly pushed the right buttons late in the first half. He knew the offense probably couldn’t score with just a few ticks left on the clock, so Kelly called a time-out and drew this up.

What an enormous play to end the half for the Irish. The special teams touchdown gives Notre Dame a 28-3 lead over Pittsburgh at the half.

(Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics)

Does Clemson’s Xavier Thomas Redshirting Impact Notre Dame?

It seems like this is a loss for the Clemson Tigers, but is it really?

It came out yesterday that Clemson’s junior defensive linemen Xavier Thomas will be taking a medical redshirt this year and will not “play” for the Tigers. Thomas’ situation was scary, as head coach Dabo Swinney explained that Thomas was one of the many Clemson players to contract the Coronavirus, then after a quarantine contracted strep throat. The illness made an impact on Thomas’ physical well-being as he added 10-12 pounds.

While it may seem like the Irish are getting good news with Thomas not playing this year, that might not exactly be the case. His situation is different than some other collegiate stars who have opted out like Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons. Those players have given up their eligibility while Thomas is still a member the Tigers.

With the new redshirt rules this would enable Thomas to play in four games this year and still keep his extra year of eligibility. This is Swinney’s plan for Thomas this year, but the question remains which four games will he participate in? Looking at Clemson’s cakewalk schedule, the regular season really just see’s the game against the Irish as their only real competitive game on paper. The Tigers avoid North Carolina, but they will face Virginia Tech, the lowest rated ACC team inside the Amway Coaches poll powered by USA Today Sports.

The Tigers have been mainstays in the College Football Playoff’s and with their preseason number 1 ranking, another trip seems very likely. When you add in the ACC Championship game along with the potential of two more playoff games, it whittles down Swinney’s options for getting Thomas on the field. Games later in the year will give him more time to get physically in shape after his illness’, with the hope that the former 5-Star recruit will finally breakout, even in just 4 games.

If you go by my logic, there will be just one regular season game that makes sense for Thomas to play in, the first Saturday in November against the Irish. It may seem like Thomas’ decision to redshirt will help the Irish, but that might not be the case after all. We will wait and see how it plays out, but there is a very real possibility that Thomas will be in South Bend and play a role for the Tigers.