Tag: Tobias Merriweather

Notre Dame statistical leaders through five games

Who can get the Irish back on track after their heartbreaking loss?

Notre Dame doesn’t have time to think about what could have been against Ohio State. Its focus now must shift to a resurgent Duke team. Wins continue to be necessary because you never know what can happen over the next two months. The College Football Playoff might still remain in play.

Here are the Irish’s statistical leaders to watch for against the Blue Devils:

Notre Dame statistical leaders through four games

Here are the players most equipped to take down the Buckeyes.

Notre Dame got through its four games unscathed, and now it’s time for the really big test. Ohio State is coming to South Bend, and this could more or less decide the Irish’s fate for 2023.

It will be tough, but they’ve shown they have the personnel to meet the challenge.

Here are the statistical leaders to watch out for in the upcoming contest:

Social media reacts to Sam Hartman’s 76-yard TD pass to Chris Tyree

What a throw.

Full confession: I thought that [autotag]Chris Tyree[/autotag] had scored the game’s first touchdown. In fact, it was [autotag]Tobias Merriweather[/autotag]. However, it didn’t matter because it took only one quarter for Tyree to receiver a similarly long touchdown pass from [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag]. In fact, it was a full yard longer than Merriweather’s reception:

You have to love how well Tyree has played in the first part of this season in his new position. You never would have known he was a running back a year ago if you had just started following the Irish this season. That’s how effective he’s been.

The question is whether Tyree will be able to sustain this for the full season. We’ll find an answer to that question in the coming weeks, but one could make similar arguments for many players on this roster that have gotten off to hot starts. Until then, here are some tweets reacting to Tyree:

Social media reacts to Merriweather TD on first Notre Dame possession

Nice score, Tobias.

Notre Dame wasted little time getting on the board against Central Michigan. After the defense forced the Chippewas into a three-and-out on the opening possession, the high-powered offense took the field for the first time. The first three plays were handoffs to [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag]. Then, [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] unleashed his big throwing arm for the first time, and [autotag]Tobias Merriweather [/autotag]benefited from it by catching the ball and going for a 75-yard touchdown:

The variety of Hartman’s receiving core has been nothing short of amazing. Any doubts that he would be able to get so many receivers involved have been vanquished. Hartman will continue to hit them with regularity, and Merriweather appears that he will reward that faith frequently. What a nice offensive start for the 2023 Irish.

Here is what folks on social media saying about Merriweather’s touchdown, although we can’t say for certain that they expected him to score as quickly as he did:

Notre Dame statistical leaders using 2022 statistics

Get ready for the season with some familiar names.

The first buildup to a Notre Dame football game for 2023 finally has arrived. You all have been very patient in waiting for this week, but that patience has paid off. Waiting for this long deserves a pat on the back, so give yourself one as you’re reading this. And even if you have heard this preseason spiel before, give yourself a pat on the back anyway.

With that schmaltz out of the way, let’s talk about the players on the 2023 Irish roster who performed the best in 2022. We should see some of that on display in the season opener against Navy. Although the Midshipmen are not exactly the best opponent to use as a measuring stick, we at least can get an idea of what’s to come. After all, they don’t call it Week 0 for nothing.

Here are the 2023 Irish players who did the best in football’s top statistical categories:

Notre Dame football: Watch Morrison and Merriweather battle in camp

A couple of members of the 2022 Notre Dame recruiting class went head-to-head in one-and-one drills and it was certainly entertaining.

The top returning Notre Dame defender has matched up frequently in fall camp with sophomore wide receiver Tobias Merriweather.  Morrison was a freshman All-American last season while Merriweather struggled to get playing time despite showing flashes.

At practice on Wednesday the two did one-on-one battles and fortunately for us, Andrew Sanders of WNDU was able to capture a couple of the plays.  The first saw Merriweather show every bit the hype he’s received as he worked Morrison.

The good news for Notre Dame fans is that Merriweather did that against an absolute stud of a cornerback.  Perhaps just as good of news is that Morrison bounced right back and won the next round.

A ton has been made of the freshmen receivers but in Merriweather’s second go-around expectations are clearly high for him.  As exciting as these were for what they are, thank God a game against an actual opponent will be played in less than 10 days.

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Notre Dame football: Former starting receiver enters transfer portal

Just a day before the annual spring game, Notre Dame wide receiver Lorenzo Styles is entering the transfer portal.

One of Notre Dame’s more prized wide receiver recruits in recent years is entering the transfer portal.  Rising junior [autotag]Lorenzo Styles[/autotag], who was rated as a four-star prospect in the 2021 recruiting class, threw his name in the transfer ring one day before the annual Blue-Gold spring game for Notre Dame.

It’s been a bit of a mixed bag for Styles.  Towards the end of his freshman season it appeared he was going to be a major part of the future for Notre Dame at wide receiver.  His sophomore campaign this past season didn’t see the progress most had hoped for.  Styles caught 30 passes for 340 yards and one touchdown in 2022.  His freshman year saw him haul in 24 receptions for more yards (344) and a score as well.

Last week Styles tried his hand at corner back, something Marcus Freeman discussed.  With the young wide receivers like [autotag]Tobias Merriweather[/autotag], [autotag]Rico Flores[/autotag], and [autotag]Jaden Greathouse[/autotag] garnering so much attention this spring, it’s easy to assume that he was being surpassed on the depth chart.

Styles chose Notre Dame over offers from nearly 20 schools including Auburn, Florida, Michigan, and Ohio State (where his younger brother now plays).

Assuming Styles doesn’t exit the portal and return to Notre Dame, his career with the Irish will conclude with him having 58 career touches for 770-yards, and two touchdowns in 22 games.

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Former Notre Dame commitment transferring from USC

What would have happened had Notre Dame been able to keep his commitment?

At one time before the early signing period in December 2021, it appeared Notre Dame was going to land a good amount of wide receiver talent from the West Coast. [autotag]Tobias Merriweather[/autotag] wound up at Notre Dame, but former Fighting Irish commitment [autotag]C.J. Williams[/autotag] of Santa Ana, California, flipped his commitment to USC.

After one season at Southern Cal, Williams appears to have had enough. On Tuesday he entered the transfer portal. Williams hauled in four receptions for 34 yards this fall for USC.

Notre Dame held his commitment for some time before Williams ultimately chose USC over the Irish and UCLA. With it being incredibly difficult to enter Notre Dame as an undergraduate transfer, one would assume they’re out in terms of possible new landing spots for Williams. UCLA would certainly make plenty of sense.

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Notre Dame hosting Virginia Tech wide receiver transfer this weekend

He would be a great addition!

The Irish have a few needs that they are going to try and fill via the transfer portal. One of the biggest is quarterback, but there has not been much news from any of the multiple targets Notre Dame is going after. They have already found a kicker, [autotag]Spencer Shrader[/autotag], and are hosting former [autotag]Virginia Tech[/autotag] wide receiver [autotag]Kaleb Smith[/autotag] this weekend.

Smith, a grad transfer, played his best football during his final year for the Hokies, catching 37 passes for 674 yards and three touchdowns. All of those numbers were career highs for the six-foot-two-inch and 222-pound receiver. By getting Smith to South Bend, it’s a big first step in gaining a commitment from the transfer.

The wide receiver unit struggled mightily this fall and with tight end [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] leaving, the need to add more talent really is paramount. [autotag]Lorenzo Styles Jr.[/autotag] suffered through a sophomore slump after it looked like he was primed for a breakout after a huge [autotag]PlayStation Fiesta Bowl[/autotag] last year.

[autotag]Jayden Thomas[/autotag] showed flashed, but wasn’t consistent. Same goes for [autotag]Deion Colzie[/autotag] and [autotag]Tobias Merriweather[/autotag]. If the Irish are able to get a commitment from Smith, it would be a very big transfer portal recruiting win.

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Should Chicago’s college football team try poaching another from Chicago’s Big Ten team?

Should Chicago’s college football team try to poach another from Chicago’s Big Ten team?

Notre Dame doesn’t use the transfer portal like Lincoln Riley and USC, as the Trojans have become college football’s version of shopping on Black Friday.  The end result may be great but the process in getting there makes you want to vomit.

Notre Dame has been known to pick their spots in the portal, however.  We’ve been tracking all the quarterbacks who enter the portal for obvious reasons, but a compelling non-quarterback entered Tuesday.  It’s especially compelling for Notre Dame because it’s a program just down the road that the Irish have poached a couple of talents from in recent years.

Malik Washington was Northwestern’s leading receiver this past season and entered the portal Tuesday.  He’s listed at 5-9, 180 pounds and although nobody would describe him as a burner, he consistently makes plays on the ball.  It should also be noted that perhaps no Power Five team has had less production from their quarterbacks in the past two seasons.

Washington hauled in 65 receptions for 694 yards (10.7 avg) this year, the sixth-highest total in the entire Big Ten.  He did find the end zone just once but then again, Northwestern threw for just 10 touchdowns all year.

Notre Dame had massive receiver issues this season as a sophomore [autotag]Lorenzo Styles[/autotag] was the only one to amass 300 yards.  If it wasn’t [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] chances are it wasn’t getting done in the passing game and the group of receivers would certainly use some help and experience.

Wide receivers coach [autotag]Chansi Stuckey[/autotag] has the cavalry coming but counting on several underclassmen is a risk I certainly wouldn’t prefer taking.  Growth and development will help Styles, [autotag]Deion Colzie[/autotag], [autotag]Tobias Merriweather[/autotag], and the incoming freshman group, but it would certainly be nice to have some proven veteran experience as well and Washington would accomplish that.

And heck, [autotag]Ara Parseghian[/autotag], [autotag]Ben Skowronek[/autotag], and [autotag]Brandon Joseph[/autotag] all worked out alright so why not do it again?

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