School’s out, at least for GrantlandX. For anyone who cares, I finished up my finals yesterday and headed on home. But have no fear, I will still be providing in-depth Notre Dame football analysis and coverage all summer, as always, from the student perspective.
Speaking of summer, what is next for the Irish? Here is the summer schedule, and what to expect for each period:
Friday, May 11th – Sunday, June 3rd “Break” – The 11th officially ends Finals Week at Notre Dame, when everyone is free to take a deep breath, relax, and return home. For Notre Dame players, this is the only real time they get to go home and be with their families each year (though they do get a short Spring Break as well), considering they are still occupied with football activities through Fall, Thanksgiving, and even Winter breaks. So this is essentially the players’ time to decompress from 11 months of absolutely brutal schedules.
That being said, this four week period is potentially the most significant time of the year for players to move themselves up or down the depth chart. For roughly four weeks, every player is out of the coaching staff’s hands, and therefore each player is completely responsible for keeping in shape, continuing to learn the playbook, and working on their individual game. And certainly, all of the players handle these duties differently. This past week, I got to talk to many of the players on the team, and asked them what their time at home would entail as it relates to football, and predictably I received a wide array of answers. Some of the players that sensed they have a great opportunity (mainly eager younger players) ahead of them cited hiring personal trainers, or sticking to the exact regiment that they have during the school year, with the exception of resting instead of attending classes. Other guys talked about working out regularly, but using it more as a healing period for their body and instead focusing on getting their assignments and the playbook down when they don’t have homework as a distraction. And then a few of the veterans on the team talked about staying away from football activities altogether — that clearing their minds and relaxing was the most important thing for them, as it really allows them to refocus when they come back for summer workouts.
But the one thing that most of them acknowledged was that the summertime break is a huge make-or-break period. Some of them expressed interest in working out with each other to develop chemistry with and confidence in eachother, Jimmy Clausen Style. Personally, I am a big of this option.
Monday, June 4th – “Voluntary” Workouts Begin – Starting the first week of June, players can report back to campus for voluntary workouts. While they are completely voluntary, most of the team does report, because players who don’t are almost sure to fall behind. The voluntary workouts are led by Notre Dame student-athletes with strength and conditioning exercises supervised by Notre Dame’s staff.
Monday, June 18th – Summer Classes Start – By this point, very close to 100% of the team is back in South Bend. Most Notre Dame athletes take full schedules of summer classes, because it allows them to take a lighter course load during the in-season for their sport. This is the first chance that the new freshmen get to balance Notre Dame academics and workouts, although admittedly summer courses tend to be much easier and more relaxed. But it does serve as a good acclimation period.
Friday, August 3rd – Summer Courses End – From late June to early August, Notre Dame players have very few commitments. Typically, they go to two classes each day, followed by moderately intense voluntary workouts. Which leaves them with 18+ hours to do whatever they please. Because it is no secret that the summer is a huge party period for the team, here’s to praying that everyone stays out of trouble this year.
**Note** While this is as good a time as ever to restate that I am not officially affiliated with the team, yours truly, GrantlandX, will also be taking summer courses, and will keep everyone up to date on workouts and such.
Monday, August 6th – Practice Officially Begins – This is what all fans salivate for during the summer: the first time that the coaching staff gets their hands on the team since the Blue-Gold Game. We hope to see that self-motivated hard work and dedication pays off for the players, and hope springs eternal for Notre Dame Football success. At this point, we can turn our heads toward the season. Counting down the days until practice already! (89 days from 5/10)
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NDtex
Ah, gotta love athletics and “voluntary” anything. I always loved how Weis called such practices “optional-mandatory”.
Mark G.
I am truly in awe of how ND student athletes, not just football players, handle the grind during the regular school year. Wake up very early, go lift weights, eat, go to classes, eat, go to more classes, go to practice, eat, study in study hall, study some more, and sleep. The repeat over and over through the school year, will little true down time. Amazing. I see it as the equivalent of going to school full time while holding down a full time job.
Ken Kessner
Agree with Mark May. The dedication & drive of student athletes is incredible, not just the football team but all collegiate sports.
Another task for the players the first week of June will be assisting the coaching staff with the ND Football Fantasy Camp. They will be on the practice field with a bunch of old guys, many of whom never played organized football, who will get to experience ND football from the inside. They encourage, coach, answer questions and help the coaching staff prevent the old dudes from hurting themselves! I will get to experience the event for the second time this year. I suspect this task is truly voluntary for the players, and for their involvement I sincerely thank them!
Chuck
It is documented that John Huarte and Jack Snow dedicated the summer prior to the 1964 season to developing their passing game together. They were quite succesful, as the Huarte To Snow combo was clicking flawlessly during the season. The team almost won the National Championship, except for some tawdry officiating during the last half of the game with USC.