Tag: notre dame draft

Troy Pride, Jr. Impresses His New Coaches Wife

Troy Pride, Jr. made quite the first impression on his new head coach…and his new head coaches wife. See what Panthers HC Matt Rhule said

Troy Pride, Jr. was a fantastic corner at Notre Dame the last couple of seasons.  He may not have finished with huge interception numbers but he wasn’t a guy that was really ever picked on by opposing quarterbacks, either.

Pride was drafted by new head coach of the Carolina Panthers, Matt Rhule over the weekend in the draft’s fourth round.  Pride had a video meeting with Rhule recently that left with Rhule not being the only person impressed in his household.

Pride is a big believer in himself, and after getting drafted shared the following:

“I’m a competitive peach…my will to win is higher than a lot of individuals. My competitive edge is always going to keep me with any athlete that I play against and any system I play in.”

Good luck to Pride in Carolina, a team that looks to be trying to revamp/load up on defense.

For more on Pride and the Panthers along with all Notre Dame players who were recently drafted, check out our podcast that breaks down all six draft picks and the other six undrafted free agents:

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Notre Dame’s Kmet Describes NFL Draft Week from Home

What do you do at mom and dad’s house?  Where and how will he watch the draft?  And is he especially hoping to play for his hometown Chicago Bears?  find out for yourself.

Welcome to NFL Draft week 2020.  It will be like any draft we’ve seen in recent years with no sold out venue and no bro-hugs between the latest draft picks and the NFL commissioner.  Instead it’ll all be done online, an exhibit in what much of the working world will be headed towards after “stay home” orders are lifted.

Notre Dame has 12 players hoping to have their name called between Thursday and Saturday with the likelihood of probably six of them being very good.  One of those is tight end Cole Kmet and he’ll probably be the first former Fighting Irish player to hear his name called, whether it be late Thursday night or sometime during rounds two or three on Friday.

Kmet did a video call with Mike Berman of NBC 5 Chicago over the weekend and detailed what the days ahead of this nontraditional draft.  What do you do at mom and dad’s house right now?  Where and how will he watch the draft?  And is he especially hoping to play for his hometown Chicago Bears?  find out for yourself.

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Kmet is projected everywhere from late in the first round to not having his name called until the third per some experts.  Where do you think Kmet ends up and is there somewhere you’re especially hoping to see him go?

I’d love to see him go to his hometown Bears but I’d be lying if I said I had any faith in that organization to give him the best chance to succeed in the pros.

Pro Football Focus Mock Draft Puts One Notre Dame Player in Top 20

What is important to remember is how PFF chooses to do their mock drafts as its who the experts would pick there, not who they think teams are going to take.  So I guess “mock” is used even more liberally here.

Will a Notre Dame player go in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft?  Time will tell but if someone does it appears the best bets are either tight end Cole Kmet or edge rusher Julian Okwara.

Pro Football Focus released their latest mock draft on Monday and in it was a Notre Dame player not just in the first round, but in the top 20.

Austin Gayle of PFF had Julian Okwara going to the Las Vegas Raiders at 19 overall with the folllowing reasoning:

There’s currently not enough hype surrounding Okwara. The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Notre Dame product is a freakish athlete with absurd bend and flexibility that defensive line coaches salivate over at the next level. His technique will require improvement at the next level, but he still earned a 90.4 PFF pass-rushing grade before his 2019 season was cut short due to injury. His pass-rushing grade improved every year of his career with the Fighting Irish.

What is important to remember is how PFF chooses to do their mock drafts as its who the experts would pick there, not who they think teams are going to take.  So I guess “mock” is used even more liberally here.

What is worth noting however is how sure they seem about Okwara even with him breaking his fibula against Duke and not playing in Notre Dame’s final four games of the 2019 season.

NFL Draft: Notre Dame’s Tony Jones, Jr. Combine Bound

Good news came the way of one of those exact players Tuesday as Tony Jones, Jr. posted the following to Instagram

As we continue to prepare for the NFL Draft, the next step welcomes the top prospects in the 2020 NFL Draft to Indianapolis for the annual combine.

40 yard dashes, vertical leap, bench press reps, interviews and everything else will be used in Indiana’s capital city to help teams decide who they ultimately select and who they avoid.

Notre Dame figures to have several representatives with a few others remaining tossups as to if they get invitations or not.

Good news came the way of one of those exact players Tuesday as Tony Jones, Jr. posted the following to Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

See y’all in Indy ✈️✌🏾

A post shared by Tony T. Jones Jr. (@thats_6ixx) on

I hope Jones turns heads and gets himself selected. When we looked at Matt Miller of Bleacher Report’s Seven Round Mock Draft, he had Jones going in the seventh round.

That will probably remain a tossup but here’s to hoping he turns some heads. One part of his game he unfortunately won’t be able to highlight these coming days in Indy will be his pass-protection. I truly feel he isn’t just acceptable at it but legit good. However they don’t so much do pass-protection drills to showcase running backs at the scouting combine.

Knock em dead, 6.

Watch: Troy Pride, Jr.’s Senior Bowl Interception

However, had Pride left a year early you’re looking at what, a very late round pick if he gets drafted at all?

Let me just start by saying evaluating passing games in the Senior Bowl is difficult. It’s difficult in that only very generic coverages are run, quarterbacks aren’t facing blitzes, nor do they have to worry about twists or anything wild being thrown at their linemen.

With that said, I still think making a huge play in the game as a defensive back is better than not making a big play.

Captain Obvious, right?

Well, Troy Pride, Jr. wrapped up his impressive week at the Senior Bowl with exactly that.

People have taken notice of Pride who showed out in practices long before Saturday’s interception.

What I do know is that Pride is a fantastic example of what staying in school can do for a player. Yes, it’s easy to want the money and I’ll never knock a football player for seeking compensation for putting their bodies on the line like they do.

Had Pride left a year early you’re looking at what, a very late round pick if he gets drafted at all?

Now you’re talking a possible day-two of the draft type player as Pride proved Notre Dame’s pass defense wasn’t just a fluke but that is was one of the very best in college football in 2019.

Senior Bowl Update – Chase Claypool

To the surprise of absolutely nobody who has watched him the last two seasons, Chase Claypool measured out about as well as he could possibly hope.

Senior Bowl festivities got started Tuesday morning in Mobile, Alabama as participating players checked in with their official heights, weights and measurements.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody who has watched him the last two seasons, Chase Claypool measured out about as well as he could possibly hope.

Claypool’s height of 6-4.3″ was the second-tallest of any wide receiver at the Senior Bowl while coming in at 229 pounds makes him the heaviest receiver participating this week.

He also measured out to have the second longest arms, biggest hands and the second widest wingspan of any receiver in Mobile.

Meeting the media ahead of practice, Claypool spoke about his physical nature on the field, his love for special teams and how football isn’t the only sport he’s talented at.

To further the solid start to Senior Bowl week for Claypool, one of the NFL’s proudest franchises is also looking to learn more about him.

If you watched Chase Claypool from the second half of 2018 through his final game for Notre Dame in the 2019 Camping World Bowl you saw an elite talent who offers a rare combination of size and athleticism, even if the speed isn’t elite.

I’m becoming more curious by the day if Claypool’s future in the NFL wouldn’t be best served by putting on another 10-15 pounds and becoming a tight end.

His physicality certainly would fit that role.

 

Notre Dame Football: Alohi Gilman Declares for NFL Draft

He has a nose for the football and made a habit making huge plays which was on display Saturday as Brian Kelly gave him the game ball for his performance in the Camping World Bowl victory over Iowa State.

It wasn’t much of a surprise if you’ve been paying attention but on Monday night Notre Dame safety and captain Alohi Gilman announced he’ll be passing on his fifth year of eligibility and putting his name in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Gilman played the last two seasons at Notre Dame after spending his freshman year at the Naval Academy where he was credited with 76 tackles (50 solo) and a forced fumble.

After sitting out the 2017 season due to a transfer ruling it didn’t take long for Gilman to make an impact on the field in 2018.

When I think of Gilman I think of a player that teammates clearly love and feed off of but someone who has a knack for making a huge play in the most-necessary of moments.

He has a nose for the football and made a habit making huge plays which was on display Saturday as Brian Kelly gave him the game ball for his performance in the Camping World Bowl victory over Iowa State.

With Isaiah Pryor coming in next season and Houston Griffith already being on campus it’s easy to see why Gilman is deciding to take his NFL chance now instead of playing with Kyle Hamilton another year.

From the way-back machine – Alohi Gilman takes down Josh Adams back in 2016:

FWIW – WalterFootball.com ranks Gilman as the 19th best safety in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Notre Dame Football: Top Plays of the Year – Number 10

Previous to 2019 Cole Kmet was a pretty strong rumor and the idea of him was great to Notre Dame fans but the actual output left plenty wondering what he’d do as the main tight end entering the season.

As we near the end of the 2019 calendar year its a good time to look back at everything that went on in 2019 both personally and for our favorite sports teams.  We’ll be doing that in the coming days here at Fighting Irish Wire over the next few days as we continue to get ready for the Camping World Bowl versus Iowa State on Saturday, December 28.

In the days leading up to the bowl game we will be counting down the top-10 plays of the 2019 Notre Dame football regular season.  They could have happened on offense, defense or special teams but they had to have happened in a game and not in practice so please go easy on us when we fail to have 10 Kyle Hamilton plays on the list.

We will unveil the plays twice a day from now through Friday and feel free to leave comments in our forum if you agree or disagree or are just looking for some general Notre Dame or college football conversation.

I don’t want to keep you waiting any longer so here is the first play on that list:

Previous to 2019 Cole Kmet was a pretty strong rumor and the idea of him was great to Notre Dame fans but the actual output left plenty wondering what he’d do as the main tight end entering the season.

His year couldn’t have gotten off to much worse of a start as he broke his collarbone early in fall camp and missed the first two games of the season.

When he did finally take the field in game-action, well ahead of when most expected him to be ready to play I should add, he didn’t take long to be a dominating force.

That is why our number 10 play of the year for 2019’s regular season is:

Cole Kmet’s go-ahead touchdown at Georgia

Notre Dame was unable to hold on for victory in that contest but Kmet showed he was worth every word of hype that night, finishing with nine receptions for 108 yards and that touchdown on the night.

He would finish the regular season with five more touchdown receptions and a total of 41 catches for 482 yards.

He said previously he’d be returning to school for the baseball season this spring and his senior year of football but until he’s actual playing on the diamond I will be a bit worried about that just because others have caught up with what we told you two months ago – that he’d be under strong consideration to be a first round draft pick.

Stay tuned to FIW throughout the week as we’ll continue to countdown the top 10 plays of the regular season.  Number nine will be out early this evening.

Thanks as always for reading and as always – Go Irish!