Tag: Nd Football

ACC to make Final, Final decision on Fall Football Today

The ACC has a meeting set up for this afternoon to discuss fall football once again.

The ripple effects of the Big Ten and Pac-12 cancelling their fall football seasons continue as the ACC presidents will have yet another meeting to decide if going forward with the season is the correct thing to do.

This tweet is a bit deceiving however, as this meeting was already set up to get an update from their medical advisors. There seems like no need to worry about the ACC joining the Big Ten and Pac-12 in their cancellation of fall athletics.

There will be news coming out of this meeting however, but it will most like just involve a conversation on how each program is doing with their testing and tracing. As we know, the Irish Football team had 9 players miss the first scheduled practice for precautionary reasons after two players tested positive. The Notre Dame student body should be given some kudos as well, as they have been tested prior to their return to campus earlier this week with some very encouraging results.

With the student body having exceptional rates on their return to campus, it gives the football team plenty of hope that the community is doing their part to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to monitor this situation at Fighting Irish Wire and bring you any breaking news that comes from this meeting.

Notre Dame offers ’22 New Jersey Defensive Back

The Irish head out to the east coast for their most recent offer, New Jersey cornerback Avery Powell.

August has been a nice month for New Jersey defensive back Avery Powell. Yesterday the Irish joined Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Florida as the schools to offer the 5-foot-11-inch defensive star so far this month.

A big wow from Powell as he announced that the Irish had offered, a reaction that none of the other offered schools received. That makes 10 total offers out to current class of 2022 cornerback prospects, with the majority if them being bigger prospects. Powell is on the smaller side at 5-foot-11-inches and 170-pounds, but that did not scare the Irish staff.

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Powell’s numbers his sophomore year aren’t eye popping, but playing significantly at that level is impressive. He recorded one interception while having 9 pass break-ups and 52 tackles. The Irish look to add to their 2022 recruiting class that currently has 2 current commits, OL Joey Tanona and TE Jack Nickel, which has them ranked 7th nationally by the 247Sports composite at this early juncture.

ESPN’s McShay projects one Notre Dame star selected in 1st Round

There was one rising Irish star that is projected by ESPN’s Todd McShay to be selected early in next year’s NFL Draft.

We know that there is considerable hype for Irish defender Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah coming into the 2020 season. You can add ESPN’s Todd McShay as a fan of JOK’s work last year and what his future could be at the next level.

McShay mocked JOK to the Atlanta Falcons with the 13th overall pick (insider article) and if McShay is correct, Owusu-Koramoah would be the highest Irish defender drafted since Bryant Young was selected 7th overall all the way back in 1994. McShay believes that the Falcon’s need more linebacker depth and JOK would help them immensely.

The review of Owusu-Koramoah is very favorable as he “is instinctive and fast, with strong recognition skills. He’s all over the field and has the chance to be an every-down impact player,” said McShay. This is all on the heels of JOK’s breakout junior campaign where he tied for the team lead in tackles and had 5.5 sacks. As long as JOK continues his upward trajectory, he should be selected very early in next year’s NFL Draft.

Watch: Brian Kelly and Daelin Hayes discuss Big Ten on the Today Show

Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly and lineman Daelin Hayes joined the Today Show to discuss the future of the 2020 fall football season.

Notre Dame’s Head Coach Brian Kelly and defensive linemen Daelin Hayes joined the Today Show this morning and touched upon many topics including the Big Ten’s decision, the enhanced testing the Irish have done, long-term health risks and more.

 

Irish offer class of 2022 Florida Safety Rowser

Notre Dame offers former Michigan commit Myles Rowser who now preps in Florida.

The Notre Dame football staff saw their class of 2022 work finally be rewarded last week as offensive tackle Joey Tanona and tight end Jack Nickel became the first two verbal commits for the class. As the recruiting cycle continues, so do the efforts of the Irish as they last night offered Florida safety Myles Rowser.

A Michigan native, who just recently moved to IMG Academy to get ready for his collegiate career. Rowser has already committed once, to home state Michigan, but opted to reopen his recruitment. The 6-foot-1-inch and 185-pound safety already holds 22 offers including Florida, Penn State and obviously Michigan. He will not be afraid to return to play his collegiate football in the Midwest, but it seems like Rowser could have the ability to play in almost any region.

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The Irish hope that a return to the Midwest is the case, more specifically South Bend. Rowser is currently ranked as the 151st overall player nationally and the 10th ranked safety by the 247Sports composite. The Irish are making some waves in the 2022 class, and a future addition of Rowser would be more than welcome.

Just how good is Notre Dame OL commit Alt?

It has been very tough to figure out what kind of player Irish offensive line commit Joe Alt will be in the future.

When Minnesota’s Joe Alt committed to the Irish early last month, many wondered why the Irish had just taken yet another tight end. Well, that wasn’t really the case as Brian Kelly recruited the 6-foot-7-inch and 260-pound Alt as a tackle. The problem was that many recruiting services had Alt listed as a tight end, which is why his ranking is so low.

Rivals looked into Alt and his rating, due to the fact that they have had issues rating him. Josh Helmholdt, one of their recruiting analysts, said that “we initially rated Alt as a tight end because he is difficult to project to tackle without more information. Alt’s offer list suggests that, by in large, college coaches had difficulty projecting him as well, with several strong regional offers but a total offer list that numbers in the single digits.”

Helmholdt wonders “how much athleticism and foot speed does he lose when he adds the 70-plus pounds he needs to play tackle at Notre Dame, thought?” With the state of Minnesota pushing their season to the spring, we will have to wait and see how Alt’s continues his body transformation to a full-time offensive tackle.

It is something that isn’t overtly concerning to Kelly and offensive line coach Jeff Quinn, as a project like Alt is worth looking into. With most of Alt’s experience at tight end, don’t be surprised to see Alt take a redshirt as he learns the technique in his new position. It would be even less surprising to see Alt continue his progression and not make an impact for a few years as a member of the Irish. He is looked at as a high ceiling but low floor player, however the effort for the Irish is worth it to see if Alt can become the next star Notre Dame offensive tackle.

Satterfield: ACC plans to move forward regardless of others

With reports of the Big Ten cancelling the 2020 fall football season, it seems as if one ACC coach is confident his conference will play.

On a day where we have seen legit rumors of the Big Ten cancelling their fall football season, there was some potential good news in regards to the Irish and the ACC’s.

Satterfield is Scott Satterfield, the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals. Yes, he might think that the ACC will continue to charge on to a season in 2020, but the reality is that it is looking more and more like a full on cancellation of the season.

The face of the ACC players, Clemson’s quarterback Trevor Lawrence, along with Ohio State’s Justin Fields expressed their willingness to get on the field this year and compete. Both of them tweeted out the #Weareunited #Wewanttoplay last evening.

This all may end up being a moot point, as we all continue a wait-and-see approach to what will ultimately happen this fall. We hope there will be football, but continue to be prepared to be very lonely on Saturday’s in the coming months.

Scout’s View: Newest Irish Commit Offensive Guard Rocco Spindler

Find out what to expect out of Notre Dame’s newest 2021 commit, Michigan offensive lineman Rocco Spindler.

It isn’t very often that Brian Kelly and his staff go out searching for offensive guards. The philosophy on recruiting linemen has been to go after a center, which the Irish have in Illinois’ Pat Coogan, then get tackles like instate Blake Fisher and Minnesota’s Joe Alt. The last time Kelly signed a guard was in 2017 with Robert Hainsey, that turned out pretty well, but that all changed today with the commit of Michigan’s Rocco Spindler.

Spindler is ranked even higher than Hainsey was, 48th nationally compared to 84th, but expectations will remain the same for the 6-foot-5-inch and 315-pound star. The Irish beat out Midwest powers Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan, his perceived runner-up, along with defending national champion LSU for Spindler’s commitment.

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Although Spindler also lined up at tackle for his Clarkston High School team, he will make the full-time transition over to guard when he arrives at South Bend. Spindler is a devastating run-blocker, often getting to the second level and allowing the skill position players to matriculate down the field. A matchup between Spindler and a linebacker isn’t going to end well for the defender. He shows good footwork during pass blocking, sometimes he does get a bit upright and has to use his strength to overpower rushers. That will not be as effective at the next level when he faces against players who are of similar strength, but his frame looks like it could add on good weight in the near future. Spindler’s footwork allow him to be very effective at pulling and being the lead blocker on screen plays.  What he does have is a nasty streak, something coaches just can’t teach, a trait of any elite lineman.

Anytime you beat the Wolverines, wither it’s on the field or off it, it’s an extra cherry on top. The Irish scored in a big way today with the commitment of Spindler, who should have a bright future in Blue and Gold.

Grim outlook on College Football from NCAA President Emmert

NCAA President Mark Emmert make some very discouraging comments regarding NCAA fall sports.

Last night NCAA President Mark Emmert and chief medical officer Brian Hainline made some very discouraging comments regarding the playing of college football this fall. While conferences continue to adjust their schedules, just this morning the MAC canceled all fall athletics following the lead of Division II and III, the COVID-19 pandemic keeps throwing wrenches at NCAA’s fall sports schedule.

Emmert said in an interview last night via the NCAA’s twitter that “this is going to be difficult, to say the least, going forward.” Hainline was even more pessimistic as he believes “we’re in a place that is exceptionally narrow. The boundaries are … there’s not a lot of places to move one way or the other. Almost everything would have to be perfectly aligned to continue moving forward.” Needing perfection to play sports this fall is something that is a stretch, at this point in time it just seems like it’s not in the realm of possibilities.

Many players and coaches have gone to social media to plead with fans to wear masks and do their part, but unfortunately that just isn’t working. We all want to see college football in the fall, along with every other sport that participates when the leaves change. As of right now, the season is set to begin but there is still plenty of time to make changes. It wasn’t all doom and gloom from Emmert as “everybody wants to have kids back on campus. Everybody wants fall sports to return. But we can’t do it unless we can find a way to do it with minimized risk for these young people.”

Scout’s View: Linebacker Prince Kollie, Newest Notre Dame Commit

Take at look at what to expect out of the newest Irish commit, Tennessee linebacker Prince Kollie.

The Irish are starting to finalize their 2021 recruiting class and the newest addition is Tennessee linebacker Prince Kollie.

Kollie has started since his sophomore year on varsity, his tackles increased from 65 his first year to 78 in his second. He also added two more tackles for loss from the year prior with 4 total in his junior year. Kollie added two sacks to his junior stats along with an interception while causing 3 fumbles and recovering one. He did this in two less games as well.

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After watching his highlight reel, the 6-foot-2-inch and 200-pound ‘backer shows a great nose for the football. Kollie lines up all over the field, from a strong safety in the box, blitzing off the edge, to a stand-up defensive end rushing the passer. He is a willing tackler and shows great hands, Collie caught 65 passes for 1,085 yards and 9 TD’s last year. Collie’s run defense is much more ahead of his coverage skills at the moment, he does play well when the play is in front of him. This could eventually lead to him moving back to safety at some point in his career. Although he is most likely going to start out as an outside linebacker, he could ultimately be looked at as a hybrid defender like Clemson had with Isaiah Simmons, making plays from different positions.

When Collie arrives on campus, defensive coordinator Clark Lea will have to figure out if Collie will join him in the linebacker’s room or if he’ll start out in the defensive back room with Terry Joseph. My guess would be starting off with Lea, due to the fact that the Irish did not sign a true linebacker in last years recruiting class. Either way, it’s a good problem for Brian Kelly to have as we welcome Prince Kollie to the Notre Dame family.