Who to watch Spring Game Part II

As I reviewed the roster for this spring a few more names jumped out at me as being interesting to be to keep an extra eye on this Saturday.  Every player seemingly has some note or story that makes them interesting this spring but we have to limit this somewhere.  So in addition to the seven names from Monday’s article here are a few more to pay attention to in the Blue Gold Game.

Tony Jones Jr.

Tony Jones Jr.  Seen as the third string running back on a traditional depth chart, his praises are being song by coaches and media alike.  I am interested in seeing how he fits into the mix with Adams and Williams.

Nick Watkins  The Irish have a ton of potential in its defensive backfield but it comes in the form of mostly sophomores who were thrust into action last season.  Nick needs to be the leader of this group on and off the field and after his bouts with injury it needs to start now.

Brock Wright

Brock Wright  Based on number this freshman tight end could redshirt this year but based on what we have heard it might be impossible to keep him off the field.  I for one what to see if he is indeed college ready.

Sophomore Defensive Backs (Cornerbacks) Tony Pride Jr., Julian Love & Donte Vaughn (Safeties) Devin Studstill & Jalen Elliott.  All of these players were thrown into action last year as freshmen and had to sink or swim.  They all had ups and downs.  After a year under their belts I am interested in seeing who is ready to really step up.

Tom Rees

New Coaches Mike Elko, Chip Long, Brian Polian, Clark Lea, Del Alexander & Tom Rees (note Tom not Tommy).  Usually you only see this many new coaches when there is a new Head Coach.  I am interested to see how they carry themselves and interact with each other and the players. 

Who to watch - Spring Game

Each spring Irish fans can get a football fix to carry them over until August in the Annual Blue Gold Game.  The fact is the best fans should hope for is no injuries and impressive individual performances.  Overall if the offense looks really good does that mean the defense is in trouble or to the contrary if the defense looks impressive does that mean the offense is bad? 

That is why I like to key in on individual players and look for specific things from each of them.  Here is a list of players I will be paying extra attention to this Saturday afternoon when they take the field for Notre Dame’s annual scrimmage.

Aaron Banks

Aaron Banks I have hear a lot about this incoming freshman and am very interested in seeing if he is as good as advertised.

Ian Brook Pretty much everyone, including myself believe there is little question that Brandon Winbush will be the starting quarterback.  However God forbid something happened to Winbush it is very likely that Brook will assume that role and it is important that he be up to the task.

Chase Claypool After discussions about whether we would see this kid on offense or defense it seems to be settled that he will be a receiver (and special teams).  He is supposedly the most dynamic player on the roster so I want to see if he is ready to settle in at the receiver position and contribute.

Liam Eichenberg and Tommy Kraemer These two redshirt freshman are said to be in a dead heat for the last starting position on the offensive line.  I don’t think who will start at right tackle will be decided  on Saturday but I am excited to see firsthand how each of them do.

Durham Smythe

Durham Smythe  This is Smythe’s last chance to step up and be the main guy at the tight end position.  Being the main guy won’t mean having the most receptions but it will mean taking the most snaps and contributing in an impactful way.

Jerry Tillery For the most part we have seen what Jerry Tillery has been, s decent player however it is now time to see what he can and should be.  As good as he has played at times he has he has underachieved compared to his potential.  We need to see if he is going to move up to elite status for 2017.

What Irish Fans can be thankful for this year

It may seem that there is not a lot to be thankful for this year as a Notre Dame Fan.  However we took a deeper look as where we are as Irish faithful and even at 4 and 7 believe it or not there are things we can be thankful for.   As you go through this list you will notice that most of them do focus on the future, so here we go.

To be part of a great tradition with a great history.

Josh Adams; a bright spot this season with 2 years of eligibility left, guaranteeing at least one more year with the Irish.

Jarron Jones

Chris Finke; a former walk on that has made for an inspirational story this year.

Jarron Jones; always giving us hope that an extra point or field goal might me blocked. 

DeShone Kizer; giving us hope (if he returns) for next season

Isaac Rochell; for four years of loyal service and leadership.

Equanimeous St. Brown; for bringing unlimited potential to the receiving corps.

USC; because maybe, just maybe a win over the hottest team in the nation to end the year will make us feel a little better about the 2016 season.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Can the Irish make it to .500?

With five games remaining on Notre Dame's  schedule the Irish need to win four of them to be a .500 team and become bowl eligible.  This is possible but after seeing how the first seven games of the season have gone not probable.  Here is a quick look at Notre Dame's remaining opponents ranks on the best to worse chances of winning.

Army (4-3).  The Black Knights have a nice win early against Temple but also have a losses to Buffalo and North Texas.
Navy (5-1). With the exception of  their win over Fordham before yesterdays win over Memphis the Midshipmen don't have a victory over seven points.  Navy could also be at the top of this list as the toughest tem they the Irish still have to play.
Virginia Tech (5-2).  Even with an odd 31-17 loss to Syracuse the Hokies are playing well with wins over Miami and a ranked North Carolina team.

Miami (4-3).  The Hurricane's losses have come against good teams and their wins have come against cupcakes, but this is a talented team.

USC (4-3).  This is not your father's rivalry matchup.   After opening the season by being lambasted by Alabama and going 1-3 the Trojans have seemed to righted the ship.

More or less these are interchangeable.  It would be interesting and a bit exciting (which might be a good thing) if Notre Dame's game against the Trojans was the deciding factor if the Irish become bowl eligible.

The bye week and deep sigh

Ok, we are at the bye week and I think it is safe to say we are not where we thought the Irish would be at this point of the season.  When I looked at the schedule at the beginning of the year I thought we would need it to rest, recover and rejuvenate for second half of the season a run at the college playoffs not a break to stop the bleeding.

Here are a couple of things to put the first half of the season into perspective.  When the Irish play Navy in a few weeks Notre Dame will be unranked and Navy will probably "still" be in the top 25 and they are ahead of only a 1-6 UMass team among Independents.  We were supposed to have a dominate offensive line and two if not three high level running backs the running game is ranked 29th in the country.  We knew the defense might be a bit off, especially with a new line backing corps and a depleted defensive secondary but to be ranked 68th nationally in points allowed, accompanied by being 68th for points scored? 

If you had not watched a game and were to only look as some specific player stats a 2-5 record word surprise you.  Kizer; 1775 yards with 14 passing TD's and7 rushing scores and a 147.4 rating, Josh Adams; 4.7 yards for a total of 416 rushing yards, Equanimeous St. Brown averaging 19.7 yards a catch / 95.2 a game for 611 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Food for thought:  Overall for the season points for the Irish are 202 and opposition is 177.  Opposing teams have scored a total of 75 points off of Irish turnovers, Notre Dame overall has more offesnive yards than their opponents 2590 to 2503.  The Notre Dame defense only has 3 sack on the season whereas the Irish have been sacked 15 times so for this season.  Out of 6 games played Maki Zaire has appeared in 4 of them.  Notre Dame has fumbled 11 times losing 6 of them.

The bottom line is that there is a lot of room for improvement and a lot of work for Kelly and crew to do in the second of the 2016 football season.

Where do we go from here?

2-4 with losses to teams that in the summer we thought we should beat or at least could beat and the tough games are still to come.  A winning season and a bowl bid in serious doubt and keeping an optimistic but realistic approach  it's now a "take one game at a time" season.  Each win should be celebrated as individual victory not a means to an end. 

Out of loyalty let's see what we need to so to get a bowl bid, get to 6 wins.  The Irish need to win 4 of their final 6 games.  Balancing logic and hope we'll lean and the side of positive thinking and give Notre Dame wins to the 3 remaining unranked opponents, Navy, Army and USC (I would bet that Navy will be ranked this week and USC's stock is rising).  That means Kelly and crew will need o have at least one win over one of the remaining ranked teams in Stanford, Miami and Virginia Tech.

Going back to celebrating individual wins and zooming out to a 30,000 foot view here are things that Irish fans need to focus on and ponder.  Keeping players injury free for both the rest of the season and next year including those with NFL possibilities.  After that wins over any of their ranked opponents, USC, Miami and Standard would be feel good moments upsetting rivals in the role of underdog.

As disappointing as Saturdays loss to NC State was what may have been more disappointing was the manner the Irish loss.  I for one thought the play calling lost the game and that is what is making the season even worse.

At least we beat Syracuse

I have to admit even though it may be a bit sad it is still true that I felt relived after beating Syracuse to get to 2 - 3 on the season.  As much as it seemed possible that this season could not have gotten any worse a loss to the Orange would have done just that.  Imagine 1 - 4 with back to back losses to Duke and Syracuse.

Even though the Irish scored 50 points this in no way was a great game for Notre Dame.  I will give credit where credit is due; it was a tale of two half's as far as how the defense held the Syracuse offense in check (relatively speaking) on Saturday afternoon.  The first half looked as if the combined final score would easily reach 100 points and Orange quarterback looked like Tom Brady.  Of course against the Irish secondary this year that is not hard to do.

Let's start with the offense that looked as good as they are supposed to against a team like Syracuse (2-2 heading into the game).  Kizer!  Folks we could have two more years of this kid, working along  Equanimeous St. Brown and Josh Adams.  23 of 35 for 471 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air, along with rushing touchdown.  Overall the Irish offense racked up a total of 654 yards (471 in the air and 183 on the ground).  There is still room for improvement after going 3 for 12 on third downs and committing 6 penalties (including 4 defensive offside's) for 55 yards.  The good news if the Irish need to score 50 points a game each game this season I feel they can, the bad news is it might not be enough.

Jarron Jones Blocked PAT

The second half against Syracuse was the best game of the season for the Irish defense all season.  Kelly said that they would be playing more guys on defense, 28 different Notre Dame players, including 9 freshmen made tackles yesterday (note that some were on special teams and 1 was offensive lineman Quenton Nelson after a turnover).

Special teams at times defiantly looked special; C.J Sanders averaged 35.8 yards on 4 kick returns including 1 for 93 yards and a touchdown and Jarron Jones blocked is second PAT of the season (both have been returned for 2 points).  I'll give Justin Yoon partial credit for making 6 extra points and going 2 for 3 on field goal attempts.