Tag: notre dame fighting irish football

USA Today projects ACC’s records, Two CFP teams?

The USA Today’s Paul Myerberg details how he sees the ACC playing out this season.

The season is just around the corner and the USA Today’s Paul Myerberg wondered if the ACC could potentially put two teams into the College Football Playoffs.

The two teams Myerberg is referencing are Clemson and your Fighting Irish. He proposes that if the after the two teams meet in their regular season matchup in November they “could meet again for the conference championship in December holding just one combined loss. In that scenario, the case will be made that even the loser deserves a spot among the final top four.”

It’s hard to argue with his logic, but if either of the teams finish undefeated while the other team has two losses, it’s hard to imagine having a two loss team make the CFP. If Notre Dame and Clemson split their regular season  and potential ACC Championship games, then yes, both teams would have a very solid argument that they deserve to be in the four team tournament.

Myerberg then projects the ACC’s individual team records, as the Irish finish second behind Clemson, with a 9-2 record. Clemson, in his projections, goes undefeated and would get the number one overall seed in the CFP. The Irish be left at the altar as the 5th team, barely missing their second playoff berth in the last 3 years.

Hopefully Myerberg is incorrect in his assessment of the season playing out in the ACC. The ideal situation would see the Irish beat Clemson twice and leave no doubt for the CFP committee to include them in the final four. Hell, a split of the games would work, as that should be enough this year for both teams to make it. Let’s hope it’s one of those two and not how Myerberg see’s the season playing out.

Notre Dame freshman TE Mayer turning heads in camp

The former five-star recruit is already making waves in South Bend for the Fighting Irish.

This should not come as a surprise to hear that true freshman tight end Michael Mayer has performed well early on in training camp. The first-year play arrived in South Bend with plenty of hype, that’s usually what happens when you have 5-stars next to your name as a recruit. Not all recruits live up to their billing but so far so good for the Kentucky native.

Irish Illustrated’s Tom Loy doesn’t think Mayer will start but will play a big role for Notre Dame when the season begins. “(Tommy) Tremble is ready for a breakout season at tight end for Notre Dame, but don’t be surprised to see a lot of Michael Mayer this season for the Fighting Irish. From what we at Irish Illustrated have been told, the former five-star recruit is already making waves as a true freshman. His size, hands, route-running, and overall ability makes him a sure bet to contribute right away for Notre Dame this season.”

We saw a true freshman impress on the field last year as Kyle Hamilton made play after play and is expected to take another leap this season as he is set to be in a starting role. Loy see’s Mayer impact “in a similar fashion to when one-time five-star safety Kyle Hamilton arrived on the scene as a freshman last fall.”

Back to back years with big time freshman contributing early is a great sign for Brian Kelly. Not only would the Irish be cashing in on their current recruiting success, they could turn this around and show current high school prospects that you won’t need to ride the pine and earn your stripes. This is fantastic news coming out of fall camp for Mayer, Kelly and Notre Dame Football.

Offers flowing out of South Bend again, Irish after top Texas RB Blue

Notre Dame goes out to the Lone Star state to offer Jaydon Blue, one of the best running backs in the country.

We have noted that the Notre Dame coaching staff is really working hard on the recruiting trail, specifically the 2022 and 2023 classes just this week. Yet another offer went out today, this time to Texas’ star running back Jaydon Blue.

Blue is viewed as one of the best in the nation, as he was named by Rivals as their top running back and 247Sports has him ranked as their 4th best running back. Multiple schools have noticed Blue already including Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, USC and a load of other top schools. He is currently reporting 29 offers and Blue has yet to play a down in his junior year, pretty damn impressive.

Although Blue isn’t the tallest running back, at just 5-foot-10-inches, he’s compact and runs very balanced. Shows good hands and has breakaway speed. Just watch his highlights and it’s easy to see why he’s so highly regarded by collegiate teams.

That now makes six running backs offered in the 2022 class, the second one this week behind Damari Alston. The Irish have two commits in that class, offensive tackle Joey Tanona and tight end Jack Nickel, and would love to see Blue being added to the group.

Irish have two stars honored as preseason All-Americans by CBS Sports

One Notre Dame star on the first team, one on the second team while a snub happens and head coach Brian Kelly gets some love as well.

The preseason accolades will be changing significantly with the absence of the Big Ten and Pac-12, but no Notre Dame player who gets nominated will care much about that. Today, 247Sports and CBS Sports, in conjunction announced their 2020 preseason All-American teams.

There was only one Fighting Irish star to make the first team, offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg. The presumed leader of the offensive line should complete his Notre Dame career with plenty of pancakes. He will literally have quarterback Ian Book’s back for the season. Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah made the second team, but safety Kyle Hamilton was omitted from the list. I think the experts overlooked the rising sophomore star as he was named to the USA Today preseason All-American second team yesterday.

It shouldn’t be ignored that head coach Brian Kelly garnered votes for coach of the year, even if another ACC coach was selected, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney. Notre Dame should be able to navigate through their ACC schedule fairly easily, with the game against the Tigers in South Bend as the contest everyone has circled on their calendars. Kelly last took home coach of the year honors during the 2018 campaign, which he led the Irish to an undefeated regular season and berth into the College Football Playoffs.

These are big honors for Eichenberg and Owusu-Koramoah, as the culmination of their collegiate careers will hopefully be very fruitful. Also, keep an eye out for Kelly and Hamilton, they could potentially be in line for some postseason recognition.

Breaking: Notre Dame suspends football practice today

According to Yahoo’s Pete Thamel, the Fighting Irish will pause practice as they work out logistics as the university battles COVID-19.

The hits just keep coming in South Bend, as yesterday the campus put a hold on students on-campus learning and today the football team has halted practicing.

This should not come as a surprise, as there was an off-campus party during the weekend that resulted in over 80 positive COVID-19 cases for Notre Dame students. This is unprecedented waters that the Irish are navigating, but it’s not isolated to just students in South Bend. Michigan State announced they will have students stay home for the fall semester and do online learning. North Carolina had a similar situation to Notre Dame’s and instead of giving two weeks off from in-person learning, the opted to go right to online classes.

This news that Notre Dame has stopped practicing isn’t a surprise, as Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick is taking proper precautions as to how the university will handle the outbreak among the student body. Stay with Fighting Irish Wire as we will continue to monitor this situation.

No Big Ten or Pac-12, Irish should move up in Top 25 rankings

With two power-conferences opting out of the 2020 fall football season, Notre Dame should see their pre-season ranking improve.

With the announcement that the Big Ten and Pac-12 will not play fall football, there will be changes to many preseason rankings. When the Amway Coaches poll powered by USA Today Sports dropped eleven days ago the Irish were ranked 10th but was prior to two conferences bowing out.

Now there are just three major conferences playing football in the fall, the SEC, Big XII and ACC, there will be movement within the rankings. 247Sports repolled their experts and came up with new rankings and the Irish are just outside the top 5, ranked 6th overall.

Chris Hummer, who put together the piece, sees one huge hurdle for Notre Dame this season, their potential two games against the Clemson Tigers. He said “you could strongly argue the schedule got easier for the Irish. But … they’ll have to play Clemson twice in order to reach the CFB Playoff.” The Tigers are a huge challenge for any team and having to match-up against them twice in one season is a daunting task. They are ranked as 247Sports top team in their updated preseason rankings.

Let’s look at the positives Hummer takes note of, the arrival of “some exciting impact freshman (Chris Tyree, Jordan Johnson) who can help right away. The offensive line will be strength as always, especially with Tommy Kraemer and Robert Hainsey returning from injury.” Hummer did forget about 5-Star Michael Mayer, who along with Tyree and Johnson should make a formidable trio of true-freshman stars.

On defense there is hope as Hummer says “you have to trust defensive coordinator Clark Lea, though. He’s put together back-to-back top 15 defenses. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Kyle Hamilton give Lea two start (I think he meant star) defenders to shape the unit around.”

Looking at the rest of the opponents on the slate, the Irish will face the 12th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels, the 17th ranked Louisville Cardinals, and the 24th ranked Pittsburgh Panthers. The expectations for Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish are high in this very odd season. Expect a very fun one-off year of ACC action.

Scout’s view: Newest Notre Dame commit LB Will Schweitzer

Take a look at what can be expected in the future out of the Irish’s newest commit, linebacker Will Schweitzer.

The Notre Dame Football coaching staff realized there was a need at linebacker and have quickly made up for lost time. First it was Prince Kollie from Tennessee and today they got the spatula out and flipped former Nebraska commit Will Schweitzer.

Let’s take a look at what to expect out of the newest Irish commit Schweitzer.

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The first thing that jumps out is Schweitzer’s size, at 6-foot-4-inches and 220-pounds, he looks skinny with room to add good weight on. What I love is his versatility, being able to line up with one hand in the ground or roaming the middle of the field and just reacting to the play. Schweitzer shows a variety of moves from defensive end, often going to his favorite spin move to elude offensive linemen. He plays sideline to sideline and when he matures and just focuses on defense (he plays tight end on offense), Schweitzer has a huge ceiling. He reads plays well and has an endless motor, Schweitzer looks like a perfect hybrid outside linebacker, playing off the line when needed and rushing the passer on obvious situations.

Brian Kelly and defensive line coach Clark Lea got a good one Sunday night, filling a need at linebacker and adding to an impressive 2021 class. Schweitzer is the 18th total commit, putting the Irish class at 12th nationally according to the 247Sports composite.

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.

How much of an impact could freshman RB Tyree have this season?

Notre Dame freshman running back Chris Tyree has a golden opportunity to make an impact in his first year on campus.

We all know about Virginia’s Chris Tyree’s exploits as one of the fastest players in the country. Notice how it wasn’t just incoming freshmen, it’s in the country. While we know about Tyree’s speed, what we don’t know is how much of an impact he could have year one in South Bend. What we do know is that 247Sports Brad Crawford has Tyree on his list of 10 most impactful freshmen in the country.

The speedy back finished his high school career as the number 1 rated all-purpose back and 70th overall prospect in the country according to the 247Sports composite rankings. An ankle injury during his senior season derailed what would have been three straight seasons over 1,000 yards rushing.

The biggest knock on Tyree has nothing much to do with his game, but his stature. At 5-foot-10-inches and 180-pounds durability obviously could be an issue. That’s exactly how Crawford’s scouting report sees Tyree noting “there will always be questions about his frame and work-load compacity.” There weren’t many other detractors to Tyree’s game in the other parts of the report aside from “adding strength is a must. Yet to show he can be good at pass protect.” Adding solid weight to Tyree’s frame would go a long way for his on-field production.

The remaining portion of his scouting report was very positive as Tyree has “blazing speed with verified 4.38 second in 40. Burst is a plus. Vertical of 38.2 inches. Stop-start ability is impressive. Wildly productive. Good vision and patience in the hole. Excellent body control. Accelerates to full speed within three steps. Can run inside or outside. Tough to arm tackle. Dangerous pass catcher who can lineup in slot….Major contributor at elite college program. Middle round NFL draft pick.”

The opportunity there for Tyree to contribute after Tony Jones Jr’s departure to the NFL leaving the Irish running back room without much experience. If Tyree takes advantage of the situation and stay’s healthy, we could be seeing a big season from the speedy freshman.

Notre Dame shakes up ESPN’s FPI after joining ACC

The Irish make their presence known with the latest update to ESPN’s Football Power Index.

With the announcement last week of the Irish joining the ACC for the 2020 season, many outlets needed to adjust their preseason rankings to account for this massive change. ESPN has just updated their Football Power Index and it looks fairly favorable for Notre Dame.

When looking at the numbers, there are plenty of them when breaking down the FPI, they Irish are almost assured of having a bowl game, as long as more of them don’t get canceled. With a 89.3% chance at more than 6 wins, you can bring that one to the back. The problem when looking further into the FPI is that the projection model has Notre Dame winning only one more game past that threshold.

ESPN’s projections have a final record of 7-3, but there is a silver lining to this, a chance to bring home an ACC Title. Clemson is the overwhelming favorite to win the conference, as the FPI gives the Tigers an 88.7% chance to bring home the hardware. The Irish rank second, and although chances are slim at 4.3%, it’s still a chance.

There’s a smaller chance the Irish win out, at a minute 0.2%, and even smaller chance to win the national title at 0.1%. Playoff’s are now the gold standard goal of ever program, and the FPI gives the Irish a 1.6% chance at making the coveted final four.

Getting an opportunity to play for a title in 2020 would be fantastic, even if it is an ACC one. How awesome would it be to play in a conference for a season, win the ACC title and ride off into an independence sunset hoisting the trophy and heading to the playoffs. Hopefully the FPI is off and that’s exactly how the 2020 season plays out for the Irish.