Tag: notre dame fighting irish football

Duke names their starting QB against Notre Dame

The Blue Devils gave up some valuable intel when they announced their season opening quarterback. Advantage Irish.

Clemson has been a quarterback factory, with many of them highly ranked who can’t crack the starting lineup transferring to different programs. Duke was the benefactor of Trevor Lawrence’s greatness, as Chase Brice transferred to Durham looking for an opportunity to start. Well, that opportunity has become reality, as Duke named Brice their starter.

The Irish will face a former 3-star recruit who in limited playing time behind Lawrence completed 82-of-136 passes for 1,023 yards and 9 TD’s with 4 INT’s. Brice also rushed for 187 yards and 1 TD on 30 attempts.

Duke struggled at the quarterback position last year after first round pick Daniel Jones went off the to NFL. Brice is a solid quarterback, but obviously is not Lawrence and will not have the talented skill position players Clemson has at their disposal.

Now that Clark Lea and the rest of this defensive staff know who they are going up against they can properly game plan for Brice. Honestly, this isn’t the smartest decision by Duke head coach David Cutcliffe. He could have announced to the team his intentions, and not make it known to everyone, giving Duke an advantage without the Irish knowing who would be behind center the first snap. Now this is a wash, as Brian Kelly and Lea will surely be looking over old Clemson tape to get a feel for what Brice can do. Duke’s announcement is Notre Dame’s gain in this situation.

ACC reveals preseason projected standings

The media, 134 members total, gave their projections as to how the 2020 ACC season will play out. Find out where they place Notre Dame.

One week from today, we will all be excited, exploding with anticipation as the Irish are set to kick off their season the next day. Today, the results of the annual ACC media poll were released.

The Irish were the only other team to get votes to finish first, although Clemson got all except 2. If the projections are correct, the Irish and Tigers will face off twice, once during the regular season and again in the ACC Championship game.

Although the media members don’t project records, the 134 polled think the season will play out with the Irish at least having a chance for an ACC regular-season championship. Hopefully, they are wrong, or at worst the Irish split the games with the Tigers and give the College Football Committee something to think about when it releases the final rankings.

Clemson’s quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, was selected as the conference’s preseason player of the year. This isn’t a surprise at all, since most pundits have Lawrence as the projected first pick in next spring’s NFL draft.

Could another Styles be headed to Notre Dame?

The Fighting Irish coaching staff are trying to have Sonny Styles, young brother to commit Lorenzo, join him in South Bend.

The Fighting Irish already have secured a commitment from one Pickerington Central star in Lorenzo Styles Jr. and there is plenty to be excited about his pledge. There could be another Styles on the way to South Bend as Lorenzo’s younger brother, Sonny was offered by Brian Kelly and his staff on the first of the month.

After watching Lorenzo’s highlights from their season opening win, I thought they could be making a move on the younger Styles soon. That’s exactly what happened as Sonny put on a show during a nationally televised game.

The Irish joined instate powerhouse Ohio State in offering the star sophomore, and once again more flip ideas went into many peoples minds. The Buckeyes have done well keeping the best talent in state, but the Irish are one of the very few schools that can pull elite talent out of Ohio. Recently, Notre Dame has pulled offensive lineman Zeke Correll, Tommy Kraemer and Liam Eichenberg away from their home state to play for the Blue and Gold.

Rivals once again revisited Lorenzo’s potential for a flip and both of their recruiting experts Mike Farrell and Adam Gorney don’t believe the Buckeyes will be able to. They actually see Michigan as Notre Dame’s biggest threat to flip Styles Jr., but I just don’t see that happening.

Back to Sonny, who seems to be on the verge of blowing up nationally, already with two Midwestern power programs after his pledge. Having a family member as a teammate is always something players will consider and when Lorenzo ultimately signs with the Irish, a build in recruiting advantage will be made.

The recruitment of Sonny is just beginning, but already having a relationship with the Styles family, father Lorenzo played for the Buckeyes, is an advantage that Kelly must take. Lorenzo Jr. is already asking Irish Nation to show his younger brother some love. The Irish coaching staff has already done that and hopefully they will once again be reunited on the field wearing the same colors.

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.