Tag: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Okwara Named One of Biggest Steals of NFL Draft by PFF

Its safe to say the Detroit Lions got a steal in the 3rd round when they selected Notre Dame DE Julian Okwara.

Former Irish star Julian Okwara’s career did not end the way he would have liked, breaking his left fibula against Duke which caused him to miss the final few games of his career. Although Okwara put together enough good film to pop up on a few first round NFL mock drafts, it seemed much more likely to hear his name getting called in the second round of the draft.

Well, the second round came and went without Okwara hearing his name being called but didn’t have to wait long in the 3rd round as the Detroit Lions picked him with the 67th overall selection, the 3rd pick of the round. Okwara’s fall shocked many, including the folks at Pro Football Focus.

Okwara was ranked as the 28th overall prospect by PFF, which means he should have been a first round selection based on the grade they gave him. Well, the Lions were the benefactor after Okwara was looked over. Anthony Treash, who put together the info for PFF, explained “there’s no reason Okwara should have been available in the third round. With his explosiveness off the line, overall athleticism and long arms, Okwara was a first-round talent in this draft.”

The Lions should be pretty happy that Okwara slid to the early portion of the 3rd round, anytime you can get a first day talent towards the end of the second day of the NFL Draft, front offices get very giddy. I expect Okwara to have a long and successful NFL career.

Do the Irish already have a 5-Star Commit in their 2021 Class?

The Notre Dame class of 2021 recruits have plenty of stars, but could there be a hidden gem with a position change?

Rivals is updating their 2021 rankings this week and posed a question yesterday regrading which wide receiver could be next in line for a 5-Star ranking. In somewhat of a surprise, Irish commit Lorenzo Styles Jr was on the list. It isn’t surprising because Styles Jr. isn’t good enough to be a 5-Star, it’s the position he would play to get to that status.

Josh Helmholdt, who covers the Midwest for Rivals recruiting, chose Styles Jr. as his guy to rise among his peers. He notes that Styles Jr. has the NFL bloodlines “but if he is going to reach five-star statusI think it will be as a cornerback.” Helmholdt thinks Styles Jr.’s “highest upside is on defense. His size and skill set are more unique at cornerback than at wide receiver. Styles is going to be an impact player no matter which position he plays in college, but if we are talking five-star status it would involve defense.”

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Although the majority of Styles Jr.’s highlight package involves his exploits on offense, but the skills he shows as a corner are impressive. He already has great size for the position at 6’1” and 180-pounds, hands of a WR and impressive ball skills.

Could this be the case for Styles Jr.? Does it make sense to at least give him a shot on the other side of the ball to begin his career? Is there potential for a two-way player? Those are the questions Brian Kelly will have to answer when he arrives on campus. It may make sense to at least give Styles Jr. a look on defense, lock down corners are extremely valuable in today’s pass heavy version of football. Either way, Irish fans are excited that the talented Ohioan chose Notre Dame and will be arriving on campus next fall.

Running back with Irish offer Commits to National Champs

Notre Dame offer Corey Kiner of Ohio commits to LSU taking yet another name off the Irish’s running back recruiting board.

Yet another name can be crossed off Notre Dame’s running back big board as Ohioan Corey Kiner has committed to LSU today. The Tigers just got involved in Kiner’s recruitment, offering him just a little more than 6 weeks ago.

Kiner was a prospect that I thought made a ton of sense for the Irish to go hard after. The Irish have had good luck with prospects from the Cincinnati area, but this just wasn’t meant to be. That seems like the trend with running backs in this cycle, as Notre Dame has missed out on a lot of their early offers at the position, with North Carolina’s Will Shipley going to Clemson hurting the most.

The Irish must now go out and look for a running back that they didn’t expect to go all that hard after, but that is the roller coaster called recruiting. At this point in time I would expect for Brian Kelly to turn his focus onto Michigan’s Donovan Edwards and Texas’ Prophet Brown. If neither of them work out, look for the Irish to go after Louisiana’s Logan Diggs and Texas’ Alton McCaskill. All four of these prospects have Notre Dame offers and each one of them would look fantastic wearing Blue and Gold.

Notre Dame adds NC State Grad Transfer CB McCloud

Irish add former NC State DB Nick McCloud to 2020 roster as a graduate transfer.

The Irish have hit the transfer portal jackpot once again, this time going to North Carolina State and adding cornerback Nick McCloud. An injury held McCloud to only two games last year, his final season after being named a captain.

In his four years at NC State, McCloud totaled 105 tackles, 3 interceptions and 20 passes defended. What Brian Kelly is getting from McCloud is a talented player who will bring valuable experience to the Irish’s defensive backfield.

The Irish have reworked their secondary, with Ohio State transfer Isaiah Pryor as another player who didn’t start his career in South Bend. McCloud will battle Shaun Crawford and TaRiq Bracy for one of the corner starting spots and should have an impact this year, his only year where he will be able to wear the Blue and Gold.

Notre Dame commit Berrong Has Impressive Hands

The 2021 Irish tight end commit Cane Berrong has been working on his catching, it shows.

Tight End U is getting another great prospect in Georgia’s Cane Berrong and over the weekend the Berrong brothers were getting some work in preparation for this upcoming season. Cane’s younger brother Chase, a 2024 QB, are getting ready for their final high school season together.

The one-handed grab is very impressive, showing great strength along with hand eye coordination. Who wouldn’t love seeing that kind of effort on a Saturday?

Berrong has been committed to the Irish since June 21st, 2019, chose Notre Dame over offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State and others. The older Berrong is ranked by the 247Sports composite as the 159th overall prospect and the 7th tight end in the country.

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The Georgian has added a few pounds since his high school season ended, checking in currently at 6’4” and weighing 225-pounds. A reported 4.53 40 time is extremely impressive for a player his size. Brian Kelly is getting another fantastic tight end product at a position that continues to be a shinning star for the Irish.

Notre Dame Makes Michigan Receiver’s Top Ten

Three-star wide receiver and East Lansing, Michigan product Andrel Anthony, Jr. has cut his list of potential schools to ten and Notre Dame made the cut. Joining Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame squad are plenty of others from the Midwest with seven of the …

Three-star wide receiver and East Lansing, Michigan product Andrel Anthony, Jr. has cut his list of potential schools to ten and Notre Dame made the cut.

Joining Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame squad are plenty of others from the Midwest with seven of the ten finalists hailing from the Big Ten.

Joining Notre Dame in Anthony’s top ten are Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue and West Virginia.

247Sports ranks Anthony as a top 500 player in the recruiting class and the 12th best player from the state of Michigan in 2021. They also rank him as the 99th best receiver in the nation for 2021.

Notre Dame originally offered Anthony a scholarship on September 19, 2019.

Another Flurry of Offers Yesterday for ’22 Notre Dame Prospects

The Irish coaching staff was very busy yesterday, doling out offers to multiple class of ’22 prospects across the country.

The Irish staff has been very busy this past week on the recruiting trail, adding two commits in CB Philip Riley and DE Jason Onye for the 2021 class. The focus isn’t just on this year, but also the next as the Notre Dame staff has been offering prospects left and right this week.

Tuesday it was corner Domani Jackson and defensive end Aiden Gobaira getting offered within minutes of each other, then wide receiver Caleb Burton got his offer on Wednesday as did tight end/athletes Benjamin Gosnell and Jack Nickel. Devin Moore started it off yesterday and he was just the beginning of the Irish offers.

It was then out to Texas as an offer was given to LSU commit Bryce Anderson. The safety stands 6’0” and weights 187-pounds is a big-time player, holding offers from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Ohio State and others.

Anderson has been committed to the Tigers since September of last year, but that hasn’t stopped school like Oregon, Auburn and Arizona State offering the star this week. Anderson seems like a good candidate to be flipped at some point and the Irish are hoping they’re the ones with the spatula.

The next offer went out to wide receiver Kevin Coleman of Missouri. Coleman stands at 5’11” and weights 170-pounds and that size hasn’t scared off anyone. He lists offers from Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Michigan, Penn State among others.

The star sophomore has yet to cut any schools so getting out in front of his recruitment will help the Irish. The battle will be tough going up against major players, but the Irish staff will be up for the challenge.

Georgia athlete Malaki Starks was the next to tweet out his offer from the Notre Dame coaching staff. The Peach State star already had the SEC big boys after him, Alabama, Georgia, and LSU, with the Irish offer his first from a northern state.

Starks could line up at multiple position when he arrives at a college campus, either quarterback, running back or cornerback, depending on how his 6’2” and 190-pound frame fills out.

The last offer that went out yesterday was to Louisiana corner Laterrance Welch. He already possess ideal lock down corner size at 6’1” and 180-pounds and once again the SEC powers have already noticed Welch. Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma are just some of his early offers at this juncture.

It is so early in the 2022 cycle so it is hard to tell at the current moment how much impact these early offers will have. There is one thing that we do know, that the Irish want these talented athletes to matriculate to South Bend and wear the Blue and Gold in the near future.

Kelly Mentioned as one of the Top Coaches in the Country

Once again, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly ranks high among his coaching peers.

It is a fair assessment to add Notre Dame’s head coach Brian Kelly in a conversation for one of the best coaches in the nation. Although he has yet to win a championship in South Bend, he thinks they’ll break through soon, his run as the Irish leader has gone well.

Today, Brad Crawford of 247Sports, named Kelly the 10th best coach in all of college football. Although the Irish haven’t had a chance to be crowned champs since losing to Alabama in the BCS Championship game in 2012, his tenure has seen 92 wins, 5 bowl wins, and six Top 25 finishes. Yes, 21 of those wins have been vacated, but its still impressive none the less.

Crawford had an interesting assessment of Kelly, as he “isn’t often mentioned as one of the nation’s elite, but his four Top 15 finishes since the start of the 2015 campaign proves otherwise.” Only a few schools can beat that, as Kelly has preached the need for winning consistently to take that next step for the program.

The consistency is coming, the last three years a combined 33-6 record indicates the Irish are well on their way to being a top tier program. The list is clearly subjective, I think Kelly is better than Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Florida’s Dan Mullen, but getting placed inside the top 10 is a very good sign for the Irish.

Irish Offer Two New Tight Ends in 2022 Class

The Notre Dame staff was busy yesterday with the ’22 class, offering two tight ends to continue the vast tradition at the position.

The Irish have been hitting the recruiting trail hard, as they continue to verbally offer prospects in both the 2021 and 2022 classes. Yesterday, Brian Kelly was looking towards the future in offering two prospects who could continue the long tradition of talented tight ends to don the Blue and Gold.

Ben Gosnell of North Carolina was first to tweet out the offer, has seen his recruitment heat up. In the last week Penn State and Georgia offered the 6’4” and 220-pound athlete.

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Watch as Gosnell lines up all over the field and makes plays. Getting a little deeper into his highlight reel and you’ll see big number 6 lining up in the backfield taking handoffs. Gosnell is one hell of an athlete, check out this backflip he seemingly casually pulls off. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

The other offer was out to Georgia’s Jack Nickel, who’s size is almost identical to Gosnell’s at 6’4” but weights a bit more at 230 pounds. The Irish join schools like Miami, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech and others to offer Nickel.

Although Nickel is young, he already has a college ready body and it shows when watching his highlight tape. He blocks defensive ends with ease and almost never goes down on first contact. Nickel will be a force wherever he lines up at in the future.

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There is a little caveat with both the offers to Gosnell and Nickel. They are good enough on the other side of the ball and both could potentially end up on playing defense. Gosnell’s athleticism could have him lining up as an outside linebacker while Nickel could put his hand down and play defensive end. Either way Kelly wants them both in South Bend and would figure out what position best suits the Irish later.

Another Notre Dame offer out to an top ’21 Running Back

That’s two days in a row for the Irish staff looking towards the Lone Star State for running back help.

The search for a class of 2021 running back for the Irish continues after yesterday saw Texas’ Alton McCaskill get an offer, today it was another Texan getting an offer in Johnathan (LJ) Johnson.

With Brian Kelly losing out on North Carolina’s Will Shipley, there has been a huge focus on securing an elite running back for the class. Johnson checks a lot of boxes with a 5’10” and 200-pound frame and his offer list shows he’s one of the country’s most wanted backs. Johnson holds offers from Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Texas and now the Irish have joined the fold. Johnson is ranked as the 43rd overall prospect nationally and 4th running back by the 247Sports composite.

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Johnson isn’t going to blow by many defenders but takes great angles due to his exceptional vision. He has a nose for the endzone and is a bruiser, punishing the opposing team running through arm tackles.

Kelly and his staff went all in for Shipley and came up second in his recruitment, which means they have to make some inroads with running backs they weren’t heavily recruiting. Multiple offers have gone out in the last two days to back as they continue to find who will fit in best with the 2021 class. A talent like Johnson’s would be more than welcomed into the Irish’s running back room.