Tag: Shaun Crawford

Former Notre Dame player put his recruiting hat on trying to lure Ohio offensive tackle

Will the twin’s follow in their high school alums footsteps?

It’s not just the [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] football staff that is working social media to help recruit for the Irish, sometimes former players get into the mix especially when the recruits are from their former high school.

That’s exactly the case with former Irish safety [autotag]Shaun Crawford[/autotag] and twins [autotag]Devontae Armstrong[/autotag] and [autotag]Deontae Armstrong[/autotag]. Each of them have an offer from Notre Dame and they currently attend [autotag]Lakewood St. Edward High School[/autotag], which is where Crawford prepped.

What spurred Crawford to put his recruiting hat on was when Deontae shared a recruiting edit of himself in Columbus, as Ohio State recently offered both of them. The former Irish player noted that South Bend isn’t far from home, and [autotag]Harry Hiestand[/autotag] would be their offensive line coach.

This most likely won’t push either Armstrong over the edge, but Crawford is an example of a St. Ed’s player having success outside of Ohio, specifically at Notre Dame.

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Shaun Crawford celebrates Notre Dame’s win, throws shade at NBA Finals

The former Irish safety definitely did the NBA dirty.

One man watching Notre Dame’s regional championship win, or at least acknowledging it, was former football safety [autotag]Shaun Crawford[/autotag]. While the Irish were moving onto the Super Regionals, Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics also was happening. Once the Irish won, Crawford took to Twitter and made clear which contest he preferred watching:

Crawford’s point is a fair one, at least for this year. The first two games of the finals have been decided by 12 and 19 points, respectively. There will be at least three more games in the coming days, so there is time for the series to become classic yet. But over half of the 12 conference finals games had double-digit margins of victory, so that’s not an encouraging sign.

Fortunately for Crawford, there is more Irish baseball to be watched. Even if the Irish don’t go all the way, he’s made it clear that he’ll watch more of the College World Series than the NBA Finals. Which camp are you in?

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Brian Kelly: ‘I want to beat Nick Saban’

Guess who’s speaking again?

We get it. You want to move on from [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag]. He did what he felt he needed to do, so why should we even bother discussing him anymore? Well, just humor us for a moment.

You see, Brian Kelly now coaches in the SEC, which means more opportunities to play Nick Saban and Alabama. He only could do that at Notre Dame when a national championship or a spot in the national championship was on the line. That happened twice, and it never went well for the Irish. Kelly said during a podcast interview with former Irish safety [autotag]Shaun Crawford[/autotag] that the opportunity to play Saban factored into his decision:

“I want to beat Nick Saban. Who doesn’t want to beat Nick Saban, you know what I mean? I want to play him in the regular season. I mean, that’s the standard, right? Now, he’s a conference opponent.”

Kelly also offered this on the differences between the Irish and LSU as far as national title chances:

Watch: Shaun Crawford pro day press conference

Shaun Crawford’s time at Notre Dame is done but hopefully he’s able to catch on in the NFL.

It will certainly be strange seeing Notre Dame football happen this fall and Shaun Crawford not be a part of it.  Crawford was a part of the 2015 recruiting class and because of injuries and eligibility rules, played all the way through 2020.

Last year Crawford won the second starting safety spot for Notre Dame as he played opposite Kyle Hamilton.  The move from corner came a bit as a surprise as Crawford earned the job over both Isaiah Pryor and Houston Griffith.

Now Crawford is off to the NFL draft where the next phase of his football career is set to take place.  See below what Crawford had to say ahead of Notre Dame’s pro day:

Grading Notre Dame’s positional groups for the 2020 season

Letter grades for Notre Dame football during their 2020 season, which saw them go undefeated in regular season play, only to lose their final two games.

The season has now ended and we can start to look back on what was a very odd 2020 season of college football. Two of 247Sports analysts Brad Crawford and Bud Elliott, broke down each team in the ACC and gave out grades for their performances.

Both, Crawford and Elliott gave the Irish A’s for the 2020 season, but I wanted to dig a bit deeper and give grades out for each position group and coaching. So here it is, my grades for each Notre Dame unit from this past season.

Shaun Crawford, Tommy Kraemer Earn Weekly ACC Honors

Notre Dame is reaping the benefits of its win over Boston College.

Notre Dame is reaping the benefits of its win over Boston College. Not only did it retain its No. 2 ranking, but the ACC has decided to reward a couple of players for their performances in that game. Shaun Crawford and Tommy Kraemer have been named the conference’s Defensive Back and Offensive Lineman of the Week, respectively. That makes 11 weekly ACC awards for the Irish.

Against the Eagles, Crawford had a team-leading and career-high nine tackles, an 8-yard sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. No other defensive back in the ACC this past week recorded nine tackles and a sack. Without him, Phil Jurkovec would have had a better day against his former team.

Anyone on the offensive line could have won Offensive Lineman of the Week, but the honor went to Kraemer. The Irish’s offense gained 561 total yards, and Ian Book never was sacked during the contest. If the unit is to repeat that success at all the rest of 2020, it will have to do so without starting center Jarrett Patterson, who suffered a season-ending foot injury in the game.

Notre Dame beats Boston College: FIW Staff Game Balls

Who were the best Fighting Irish football stars on Saturday? Here are the weekly gameball awards for Notre Dame from the FIW staff.

Notre Dame avoided the letdown game, even if they came out appearing to be sleep-walking a bit as they moved to 8-0 on the 2020 season with a 45-31 win over Boston College.

The Irish now enter a bye week which comes at a great time after a couple of injuries and wear and tear that has accumulated over the last six consecutive weekends of having games, including the double-overtime thriller over Clemson last weekend.

So which Notre Dame players shined the brightest on Saturday?  Here’s who the Fighting Irish Wire staff picked as their offensive and defensive game ball recipients for Saturday’s victory, starting with Geoffrey Clark.

Geoffrey Clark Game Ball Awards for Notre Dame-Boston College:

Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
Offensive: Ian Book
I can’t think of a more complete performance Book has given this season. It was his leadership after the Irish fell behind the second quarter that propelled his team to the win. We’ve come to expect some runs from him, and we saw it in this game, but more impressive is that he was able to spot his receivers either frequently or efficiently, sometimes both. There’s no way this offense would be the same without him.
Defensive: Shaun Crawford
Though the Eagles ultimately found the end zone on the drive in which Crawford sacked Phil Jurkovec, that play reflected the game he had. When you add his team-leading nine tackles and one tackle for loss, that’s an impressive line for a safety. It all showed why he’s a captain. Don’t be surprised to see more games like this from him before season’s end.
Michael Chen’s Game Ball Awards…
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Notre Dame at Boston College: First-Quarter Analysis

So much has been made of Boston College upsetting Notre Dame right after the Irish last took down a top-ranked team.

So much has been made of Boston College upsetting Notre Dame right after the Irish last took down a top-ranked team. Through one quarter of the 2020 edition of this meeting, the seeds for history repeating itself could be sewing. Whether the Irish still are getting adjusted or the Eagles are exceptionally prepared remains to be seen. All we know is we have a dogfight to the tune of a 10-all tie.

The Irish had a chance to assert themselves on their first drive as the Irish had a nice mixture of runs and passes to get into the red zone. They even earned a first-and-goal after a defensive holding call, highlighting the problem with penalties the Eagles have had. But Ian Book had trouble finding open receivers, and the drive stalled out. Though the Irish gladly took a 23-yard field goal from Jonathan Doerer, it was a disappointing end to a promising drive.

Phil Jurkovec only was too pleased to take advantage of his current team’s fortune and begin his revenge against his former team. On his opening drive, he went 4 of 6 for 51 yards and got some help on a 22-yard run from Travis Levy. Though Shaun Crawford sacked Jurkovec right after that run, all that did was delay the inevitable. Jurkovec found Zay Flowers for a 4-yard touchdown to put the Eagles in front.

The Irish’s offense never got a chance to immediately respond to that touchdown because on the very first play of their next drive, a handoff between Book and Chris Tyree was botched, and Brandon Barlow recovered it to set the Eagles up in the red zone. Fortunately, the defense pushed the Eagles back, and the turnover only cost the Irish an Aaron Boumerhi 41-yard field goal. That turned out to be crucial because Book responded to that with a quick, complete 77-yard drive. It ended with a 10-yard touchdown to Ben Skowronek, so no real harm has been done so far.

Notre Dame hero from last weeks win goes back to original position

Notre Dame senior Shaun Crawford will return to safety after playing cornerback and intercepting a pass in last weeks win over Florida State.

Irish senior Shaun Crawford has one of the hero’s during last weeks 42-26 victory over Florida State. Crawford, who has pretty much been a safety his entire Irish career, moved over to player cornerback against the Seminoles. As FSU was driving late in the 4th quarter, Crawford stepped up and intercepted a pass.

His play against FSU didn’t go unnoticed, as he got some recognition from Pro Football Focus.

The position change was short lived however, as this week Crawford will return to his primary safety position.

Although the move back makes sense, it just gives defensive coordinator Clark Lea another weapon to use in case of an injury, a COVID-19 positive test resulting in a player having to sit out or just bad play. Crawford’s versatility will surely be seen by NFL scouts as well.

It’s unfortunate that one of last weeks hero’s is moving back to his original position, but who knows. Maybe Crawford ends up back at cornerback later on in the season and has more big plays left as he complete’s his senior year.

Notre Dame/Florida State: Gameballs for Irish Victory

Who were the biggest stars for Notre Dame in their 42-26 win over Florida State? See who the staff chose for their gameballs tonight!

Notre Dame moved to 3-0 on the season with a 42-26 win over Florida State on Saturday night and despite it being far from a Monet, it was a win and the Irish have a chance to move into the top four nationally when the updated polls come out Sunday.

As is tradition in these parts, the staff at Fighting Irish Wire have decided our game ball recipients for the victory with one going from each staff member to both an offensive and defensive player.

Who do you think should have been awarded them?  Share your thoughts in the comments.

First up – Geoffrey Clark:

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