Today, a mere eighty or so days from the opening kickoff against Rice, we begin our third season of “Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy…” In this series, we will analyze the best Irish player at a given position or position-group and compare him to the best our enemies have to offer. Frankly, I love this series because it forces us to look outside our little bubble of camaraderie and Field Turf and into a whirling maelstrom of Wolverines, Trojans, Seminoles, and Tree. It also gets the predictive pucker-factor up a little a bit, because you can get it wrong. Like this.
Anyway, the position-groups we’re going to look at are quarterback, offensive line, defensive line, running back, wide receiver, tight end, linebacker, secondary, and head coach. Today, we start with quarterback.
Irish Player to Watch
Everett Golson, Senior
6′, 185 lbs.
At the risk of inviting a Homer Simpson-esque “doh!” moment, I am going with Everett Golson as the starter at the QB position for the 2014 Fighting Irish, over the young challenger, Malik Zaire. While I think the staff, and Coach Kelly in particular, have done a great job of keeping the “quarterback controversy” alive, I just don’t see a realistic scenario in which the senior from South Carolina doesn’t get the nod come Rice. Despite losing his place on the team and at Our Lady’s University, Everett Golson has demonstrated that he can win on the biggest of stages. Perhaps his return to the classroom, to the starting lineup, and to the National Championship will be the coda to which Golson plays himself out.
In 2012, Golson proved himself to be an effective, if unpolished, air marshal. He won huge games on the road, as he did against Michigan State and Oklahoma, both top ten teams at kickoff. He showed enormous arm strength and the elusive trait known as “escapability” that last year’s starter-by-default, Tommy Rees, just didn’t have. But most of all, Golson did whatever he had to do to win games, and if that meant getting spelled by Tommy, so be it. Regardless of whether or not he gripped the ball correctly or grasped the subtleties of the offense, Golson took the Irish to an undefeated regular season.
Golson’s 2012 stats, tallied against a punishing schedule, are pretty impressive:
Passing:
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Rushing:
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It’s remarkable that we’ve only one season to go on, for all the ink this player has generated. There’s an argument to be made that he won the QB1 spot when Tommy turned it over in the wake of an alcohol incident, but there’s no question that going into last season, EG was the unquestioned starter and leader of the Irish offense. While we’ve got nothing but old data and high hopes, I think it’s safe to say that Golson will be our starter and that he should take us through the season that way.
Enemy Player to Watch
Jameis Winston, Florida State, Sophomore
6’4″, 235 lbs.
I’m going with the returning Heisman Trophy, 2013 ACC Player of the Year, 2013 ACC Rookie of the Year, Walter Camp Football Foundation Player of the Year, and O’Brien Award winner, Jameis Winston. Like Golson, we only have one year to go on, but what a year it was. Look:
Passing:
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Rushing:
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To place Winston among his peers on our schedule, I’d put him over BYU’s Taysom Hill, despite Hill’s greater experience. They’re both dual-threat QB’s. Hill had 1344 rushing yards last year and 10 rushing touchdowns to go with his 2938 passing yards and 19 passing TD’s. Still, I give the nod to Jameis Winston. The showdown in Tallahassee on October 18 could very well see a clash of two top ten teams, if not of a reprise of 1993’s 1 versus 2 classic.
- Finding Flaws in a Diamond: Clemson’s Rushing Offense - December 17, 2018
- Why Nobody Will Cotton to Notre Dame - December 3, 2018
- Irish Finish Regular Season Perfect 12-0 - November 26, 2018
Noel
I’d like to see more Zaire when ND gets up by a couple of TD’s, not just in the 4th for clean up time. Now that BK is running the Offence, hopefully running the score up will happen, especially against SCUM & MSU. 81 days till kick off.
Andrea Pierson
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