Tag: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Irish in Top 4 for Class of 2021 Michigan WR

Notre Dame makes the cut for a very intriguing wide receiver prospect in enemy territory.

Over the weekend, Michigan standout wide receiver Andrel Anthony released his final 4 schools, as instate Michigan and Michigan State along with Penn State joined Notre Dame as contenders for his commitment.

Although Anthony has yet to set a commitment date, the 6’2” and 175-pound wide out will be difficult to lure out of his hometown of East Lansing. The Spartan’s are viewed as the favorite in Anthony’s recruitment, so Brian Kelly and DelVaughn Alexander have their work cut out for them.

[protected-iframe id=”f1b344f5c5094198f6382a5ffbf59c48-162776928-178902091″ info=”//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/9896329/5dd8a742f326940ca878194b” width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]

At this stage of the 2021 Irish recruiting class, there is just one wide receiver committed, Ohio’s Lorenzo Styles Jr. Notre Dame is definitely looking to add another player to the position group, as they previously had a commitment from Georgia’s Deion Colzie. It seems like the search to find a pairing to join Styles Jr. is continuing and Anthony would be a welcome addition to the group if Notre Dame can lure him away from the Mitten state.

Irish Trending for Georgia Prospect who has set Commitment Date

A Georgia athlete has set his commitment date and it looks like the Notre Dame could be adding onto their 2021 recruiting class.

Back on the first of this month, Georgia star safety Kaleb Edwards named his Top 10 schools, Notre Dame included. Fast forward to today and the 6’0” and 190-pound Edwards is closing in on picking a school as he will announce a commitment on the first of July.

The Irish already have three commits in the secondary, cornerback’s Philip Riley and Ryan Barnes and safety Justin Walters. Although Edwards just received his Irish offer in the middle of May, Brian Kelly has impressed the defender enough to be in contention for his commitment.

[protected-iframe id=”bf04c2c85dfb7f47b0e70735bb539811-162776928-178902091″ info=”//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/8429430/5ddb36b8b023750d90baca0c” width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]

Looking at what the experts predict to happen is very interesting. Over at 247Sports there have been four crystal balls put in for Edwards, all of their experts have Notre Dame as the choice. Looking at Rival’s futurecast there was one expert who has made a prediction and it’s for the good guys in Blue and Gold.

If the experts are correct the you can expect to see Edwards commit to the Irish in a little less than two weeks. Here’s to hoping they’re right and the Irish can add a talented athlete to their 2021 recruiting class.

Notre Dame announces staNDtogether Time

The Irish football team with get together tomorrow and hold a prayer along with a peaceful march on campus.

The Notre Dame football team will come together tomorrow, Friday June 19th for a peaceful prayer and walk in support of equality and unity. The march begins at 12:30pm EST at the Irish Green Arena, and a request has been made to wear black along with protective face coverings.

The Irish now join multiple schools who have responded to the Black Lives Matter movement, including Clemson, South Carolina, Auburn and others to back the cause. After multiple instances of issues around the country, such as Iowa firing their strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle for numerous accusations from players for his treatment of them, Oklahoma State’s head coach wearing a OAN shirt and star running back Chuba Hubbard not standing for that.

It takes many for a movement like this to continue to see progress and the Irish have joined in on the cause. Just look at how many player’s tweeted about the event.

 

 

 

Notre Dame understands it reach and the impact they can have on many young peoples lives. Actions like these bring groups together and with the college football season still influx anything the Irish can find to rally around is a good thing.

New 247Sports Recruit Rankings Sees Irish Commit Fall

With a new update to the 2021 class recruit rankings, a once highly thought of Notre Dame commit has fallen in 247Sports update.

In their newest update to their Top 247 players at 247Sports, Notre Dame commit Cane Berrong is going the wrong way in the rankings. Previously the Georgia tight end was the 218th overall player, but with another update, Berrong has dropped once again, all the way off the list.

It seems like the recruiting service is not very high on the tight end, as Berrong continues to see his ranking fall. It is unfortunate for the Irish to see this happen, but it’s hard to justify prospects moving anywhere due to the inactivity this summer with the country dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Players all across the country are being reevaluated on old tape and it doesn’t make much sense to me why we’re seeing movement in the rankings.

Looking at the rest of the class, there wasn’t as much movement. The crown jewel of the 2021 Notre Dame recruiting class is California quarterback Tyler Buchner, who went from 49th to 43rd, a move in the positive direction. Offensive tackle Blake Fisher dropped one spot to 85th, while wide receiver Lorenzo Styles Jr. moved up 3 spots to 125th. Gabriel Rubio, the defensive tackle from Missouri, once again dropped, this time from 112th to 147th while Philip Riley stayed at 216th in the country.

With this new update the Notre Dame 2021 recruiting class is currently 15th in the country, with just 11 total commits. Brian Kelly has made it known that to get to the next level, the Irish need to recruit with the elite’s like Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia. Kelly and his staff will need to step their game up in order to finish near the top of the recruiting rankings this cycle.

CBS Sports Ranks QB Tiers, Find out where Notre Dame’s Book Landed

Irish quarterback Ian Book has received some hype going into the season, find out where he ranks among his peers.

As the most important position on the football field, and potentially all of sports, having an elite level quarterback typically elevates a teams play. Ben Kercheval of CBS Sports ranked the collegiate signal callers into tiers, as he explained that passing numbers were the primary focus along with experience.

All of those factors led to 5 tiers, the first being All-American and Heisman contenders, the second as all-conference players and fringe Heisman contenders, third being the established starters, players primed for a breakout in the fourth tier and questions to be answered in the final tier.

Based on this criteria, it would be easy to think that Irish quarterback Ian Book probably would land into the second tier, given the decent amount of hype for the fifth-year senior. Well, Kercheval didn’t quite see it that way, as Book landed on the top of the 3rd tier. A bit disappointing where the Notre Dame star landed but it was also noted that this list could change and it just how he sees things shaking out at the moment.

The Irish will have to face many talented quarterback’s this coming season, as one of two tier 1 QB’s (Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence), one tier 2 quarterback (USC’s Kedon Slovis) and two tier 3 QB (Wisconsin’s Jack Coan and Louisville’s Micale Cunningham). Not surprising that each of those teams have very high expectations coming into the 2020 season.

We know Book is an established starter, but for the Irish to make the leap to the next level of elite football, quarterback play is paramount to getting there. Kercheval’s lists isn’t the end all of quarterback rankings, but it’s a good indication of how much potential these players possess. Book has the makings of a final go around that could be among the best in the nation. If he improves in just a few areas (completion percentage and yards per attempt), Book could have one hell of senior sendoff.

Irish offer Massive Class of ‘22 Tackle from South Carolina

Notre Dame continues to attack the offensive line class of 2022, this time going out east to offer an offensive tackle.

For a sophomore going into his junior year in Greenville, South Carolina, Collin Sadler will most likely have his choice of virtually any school he would like to attend to play collegiate football. The 6’6” and 295-pound tackle got his Notre Dame offer yesterday as they joined an impressive list at this early stage in his recruitment.

Sadler adds the Irish verbal offer after already collecting the same from Clemson, LSU, Michigan, Oregon and others. It might be tough getting him to leave the state as the Tiger’s are his perceived leader at this moment.

[protected-iframe id=”af338740f6bbdb96f3e46b7975a98574-162776928-178902091″ info=”//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/12761119/5d75d3b1ff03800f382b6793″ width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]

The massive tackle isn’t just a large body, as his Greenville team has him pulling on outside run plays while also getting to the outside to block screens. Sadler is the ninth offensive tackle Brian Kelly and offensive line coach Jeff Quinn have offered. At the current moment, the Irish do not have any commits in the 2022 class and are looking for their first pledge from the rising junior class.

Future Notre Dame Teammates Get Together

In what probably was seen as a lifetime, two Irish commits in the 2021 class finally got to see each other again.

Two of the biggest 2021 Irish commits got reacquainted on Sunday as offensive tackle Blake Fisher and defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio met in Fisher’s hometown. The two would have most assuredly seen each other prior to yesterday but with camps and campus visits being shut down due to COVID-19, they haven’t had the chance to see each other face to face in a few months.

Both players are highly rated, Fisher is the 54th overall player in the nation while Rubio is the 112th according to the 247Sports composite rankings. There is a lot that bonds the future teammates, as both of them committed to the Irish on this day last year.

Each has taken a role on social media to reach out to other commits and uncommited Irish targets in hopes to help Brian Kelly and his coaching staff’s recruiting forces. Their efforts hopefully result in Notre Dame getting commits from many of their top remaining targets in the 2020 recruiting class and many more get togethers like this happening in the future.

Notre Dame is Not named Tight End U?!?

A point system to establish Tight End U by 247Sports doesn’t have the Irish on top. Find out who was and where they placed Notre Dame.

Many of us have automatically assumed that every list that ranks collegiate tight ends always seems to have Notre Dame next to the number 1. Well, that wasn’t the case when 247Sports looked into the matter, in fact they named Iowa as Tight End U.

This is all based on what have you done for me lately, as Barton Simmons explains the timeframe is just for the last 5 years. A point system that awards a first round pick 7 points, a second rounder worth 6 and so on, saw the Irish finish with 11 points, good for a tie for 5th on their list.

With “just” 3 draftees in the last five years: Durham Smythe in the fourth round in 2018, Alize Mack in the seventh round last year, and Cole Kmet in the first round this past draft got the Irish to their somewhat disappointing ranking. The quantity is good however, as the Irish only trail Stanford with their four drafted players in the time span.

Simmons looks at this current unit and sees “some good tight ends left on the roster in Brock Wright and Tommy Tremble but true freshman Michael Mayer is the next guy that could sniff a first-round level career.” Although they weren’t named the best group in the last five years, the future looks bright when you also add in 2021 commit Cane Berrong to the lineage.

There is much debate when it comes to assembling these kinds of lists, arguments are surely to arise when trying to rank positional groups. The great news for the Irish is that these numbers should only improve within the next five years as the current and future group should continue the great tradition in South Bend.

Boyle only Notre Dame Baseball player Drafted

In a short draft, Notre Dame baseball had one player, pitcher Joe Boyle selected in the 2020 MLB Draft.

At the beginning of the second day of the MLB Draft, MLBNetwork showed a graphic of which pitchers had the best traits in the draft. Notre Dame pitcher Joe Boyle was given the designation of having the best fastball in the draft, but that doesn’t always equate to being drafted highly.

Boyle had to wait until the final round, the fifth, to hear his name called by the Cincinnati Reds, the 143rd overall pick. His pick value was estimated by MLB.com at $382,700 and the fourth-year junior has the option of returning to school.

It remains to be seen if Boyle will sign or stay in South Bend as the 6’7” and 240-pound pitcher has a life-changing decision to make. Although the draft was truncated this season, normally the draft consists of 40 rounds, getting drafted in the first 5 rounds is still an impressive feat. At his point in time, if I had to guess, Boyle will sign with the Reds and start his professional career when the minor leagues resume play.

247Sports: A Super Team would Consist of an Notre Dame Positional Group

An Irish positional group is included as part of a super-team of units across the country.

This should not come as much of a surprise to anyone, especially from the school that hold’s the mantle of Offensive Line U, that Notre Dame’s group of 5 road graders would be named among the best in the nation. As 247Sports continues their preview of the upcoming season, Chris Hummer chose the Irish offensive line as his group when building a super team.

The talented group of linemen all return boasted by some impressive stats they as a group accumulated last season. Pro Football Focus was very high on “all five Irish starters return off a unit that ranked 13th nationally, per PFF College. Notre Dame was particularly good as a pass-blocking group, ranking second nationally in PFF’s grading system.” Those numbers equal a very formidable group heading into this season.

Of the five returning starting offensive linemen just one, guard Tommy Kraemer, didn’t make PFF’s top 30 returning offensive linemen. The rest of the group, tackles Liam Eichenberg and Robert Hainsey, guard Aaron Banks and center Jarrett Patterson combine to make the best group in the country.

There was some negative about the group however, as they we not particularly great as a run-blocking unit. Hummer noted that “Notre Dame finished a respectable 28th nationally in yard per carry last season. But that’s a little misleading. The o-line finished just 62nd nationally in line yards per carry – a Football Outsiders stats that gives the line credit on a percentage basis depending on the length of the run – indicating much of the Irish’s rushing success was due to running backs creating chunk runs instead of the line consistently creating holes.” If that is the one issues with the unit, then the Irish are in great shape. Run-blocking can be seen as a mentality, one that former Irish star Quenton Nelson has plenty of. If this current line can get that nasty streak going, there is no doubt in my mind they can fix their perceived run-blocking issues and be the best group in the country.