<steps out of the blogging retirement haze>

<cracks knuckles>

<cracks open beer>

Oh, JimmyG, you poor misguided soul.

Look, I gotta give you credit for seeing the bottom fall out of last season well before anyone else at HLS. However, your desire to remove the graduate transfer exception would be a horrendous mistake; in fact, this rule is one of the better things in the NCAA rule book.

Notre Dame quarterback Malik Zaire, left, runs with the ball against Texas defensive end Naashon Hughes during the first half of an NCAA college football game Sept. 5, 2015, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

And, let’s be honest, that book is full of a lot of stupid.

My basic guideline for “is this rule bad?” is two-fold:

1. Does it manages to hold a student-athlete to a ridiculous standard that no other student at the same school would be held to?
2. Does the rule actually have any effect on competitive advantages that don’t already exist naturally?

Take the undergraduate transfer rule: dumb. If I’m a student and, for whatever reason I want to leave, I can pack my bags, go and start classes the following semester. Even if I’m on scholarship, I’m not restricted to applying for financial aid packages at the school I wish to transfer to.

But if you play sports? <clutches pearls> Oh, my heavens, you must sit out a year because we’d just have rampant college football free agency.

Spoiler alert: this restriction has never really stopped anyone. People will play where they want to play.

Double spoiler alert: up until this past summer even walk-ons in the Big 12 were held to this same ridiculous standard and it screwed Baker Mayfield who also had a his own coach try to stop said transfer.

Now, let’s take a look at grad school. Again, if you are a potential grad student, you take said path to further your own professional career. If your alma mater doesn’t have the courses to get you there or if you think another school will give you a better chance at the career you want, you, again, have no restrictions.

Thankfully, the NCAA sees that this is quite literally the same thing that college athletes desire. However, unlike a student, they have a running eligibility clock as well as a the running clock of father time which is even more crucial for NFL desires. Yet, JimmyG proposes that grad transfers should sit a year, dooming them on both fronts. How does that make sense?

SURVEY SAYS:

Look, I get it, ND has seen a few graduate transfers depart and that sucks. In the face of the (stupid) undergraduate transfer rule, it very much looks like a loophole. That year of sitting out can certainly take a some of the sting away.

I mean, do you really want to see your ex with a new flame immediately after a breakup? Hell no.

Sure, the graduate transfer can definitely suck for a smaller school, but that’s just someone looking for a competitive advantage in their career. It’s the same thing that any other student with a good head on their shoulders would do. The very same thing happens to smaller businesses as well when a the big bad kid on the corporate block comes knocking and steals a star employee away with an offer the smaller company just can’t match.

But let’s look at the smaller school case in a different light. Maybe a student-athlete simply wants to squeeze a little bit more playing time in a sport they love at a smaller school instead of spending their last year standing on the sideline at their current school. As someone that hung their baseball spikes well before I ever wanted to, and seriously considered going to a D3 school to delay that, I can totally relate.

Related to squeezing out playing time, what if your coach looks you in the eye and says “sorry, no 5th year for you”? There needs to be some way for a student-athlete to use that final year of eligibility if they wish.

While the 66% non-graduating stat for graduate transfers in football and basketball was a nice one, I encourage you to dive deeper into the study. 85% of all graduate transfers enrolled in a graduate program that required more than a year of study. Should we really be surprised that student-athletes drop once their eligibility and, more importantly, their scholarships expire?

Another fun stat in that study: only 25% of all graduate transfers across all sports went within the power five conferences. That’s only 64 athletes total across all sports (258 total were tracked in the study). I think that whole “free agency” thing is a bit overstated.

Finally, I shall appeal to Notre Dame fandom to show the folly of wanting to trash this rule. What is the one thing that Notre Dame restricts its football program from adding that practically every other major college football program can?

JUCOs.

JUCOs are key to fill in gaps within recruiting classes. If a certain position group is struggling, it’s far easier to plug that gap with someone that’s been playing college football for two years as they, more often than not, have the physical and mental tools to play high-level college football immediately. Trying that same thing with an incoming freshman? That’s a huge risk and one that burns a year of eligibility as well.

As a ND fan you should want this rule to stay in place as it’s the closest thing that we have to a JUCO transfer (albeit, much rarer). And the impact doesn’t have to be Russel Wilson huge either. Just imagine how much of a dumpster fire the ND secondary would’ve been in 2014 without Cody Riggs. Hell, stay in that same year, look at the LB corps and tell me with a straight face that you wouldn’t have killed for a serviceable grad transfer to step in (or in 2015 for that matter).

Bottom line: the graduate transfer exception is great. We should be encouraging the use of this rule, not demonizing it.

The post Debate THIS! The Graduate Transfer Exception is Awesome appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

I am going on record to say that I cannot stand the graduate transfer rule.

Let me try to understand this and put myself in the shoes of a student-athlete. I graduated early (good job!), but I don’t play at School X. In that case, I’m going to go shopping for a new school. If School Y has a graduate program that School X does not have, then bingo! I can play right away.

That sure doesn’t sound like the college football that I grew up with.

In the last few seasons, several Notre Dame players have left ND via graduate transfer. The most recent of these include Malik Zaire, John Montelus, Devin Butler, and, of course, we all remember the highly publicized exit of Everett Golson.

(via ESPN)

I question this rule for several reasons. For starters, it creates a pseudo-free agency in college sports, putting college football one-step closer to being a minor-league circuit for the NFL.

Secondly, in my mind, it makes the whole concept of team-building and maybe even program-building laughable. We have been told for decades (and I believe it) that football is the ultimate team game. The idea that a class comes in together and works hard with the goal in mind of winning while forming long-term bonds with teammates is one of the allures of college football. The idea (though far-fetched at many schools) that student-athletes are part of the fabric of the student body is also an attraction that college athletics has. When rent-a-player types are added to the equation, you strip away concepts like team, bonds, and perhaps even loyalty.

Not to mention, aside from Russell Wilson, I cannot think of another graduate transfer who made a great impact at his next stop. Is there one? As the number of graduate transfers increases, perhaps their impact on their new team will as well.

Another area of concern, particularly from smaller schools, is that a school may educate and raise a student athlete, investing time and energy into a player, only to be left “high and dry” by bolting to another program. Vernon Adams from Eastern Washington comes to mind here.

Finally, nearly 66% of graduate transfers in College Football and Basketball never even earn a second degree! We can call it whatever we want, but these players are simply moving on to increase their opportunity to play. The best way to fix this problem is by simply making a graduate transfer sit out a year like a regular transfer. In year one, they can focus on studying and adjusting to their new school, which is the same rationale the NCAA uses for making a regular transfer sit. In year two, they can play and actually earn the graduate degree that was the “NCAA approved” reason for the transfer.

If you want to reward kids who graduate early, there are better ways to do it than NCAA “Free Agency”.

The post Debate THIS! Close the Graduate Transfer Loophole appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Zachary Llorens / The Observer

“Debate This” is a recurring feature here at HLS in which two writers argue an issue. Yesterday, Elvis argued that Corey Robinson should not return to the gridiron due to his concussion issue. Today, for what it’s worth, I argue that he should.

The only reason Corey Robinson should quit football is if he doesn’t love it anymore. Concussion, and its sequelae, shouldn’t keep him from playing, and by finishing what he started, he sets himself up to be the star of one of the more remarkable narratives in Notre Dame football’s storied history.

But first, a few caveats: 1.) Corey Robinson is an adult and will make up his own mind, in consultation with his physicians, family, and coaches. That’s the only caveat. He’s not my son. His decision is his and his future is extraordinarily bright, whether he plays another down or not. In fact, to suggest that he needs to return to the game to complete some dopey narrative is wrong of me. I never caught a touchdown against USC and I never successfully ran for student body president. Thank goodness neither are criteria for graduation from the University.

But Corey should play, because he can. Assuming he is medically cleared, he should play, because he has the talent to be an important part of a championship run and he has the talent to play at the next level. That is an opportunity, professionally and economically that should not be disregarded.

He owes nothing to his teammates or to us. But he owes it to himself to see how great he can be at this remarkable thing we call football. He owes it to himself to see what could be and to see how large the crowds can be and how loud can be their roars. He owes it to himself to see how far the game can take him. Not that these are easy decisions for him or, his peers.

An enormous amount of science is catching up to the game. When I played football and lacrosse, heck, when I played soccer and basketball, we were shown five fingers by a coach and given a cup of water. We were sent back in by well-intentioned guys. Guys like Brady Hoke. Thankfully, sport has changed, and football has changed most of all. There are protocols that now take the decisions away from the coaches and players. These protocols are not perfect, but they’re there now.

Thankfully, concussion protocols, and the recognition that traumatic brain injuries can occur in the absence of bruise or blood, have become accepted in society at large. The military now segregates warriors who were close enough to a blast so that they can be evaluated.  When I deployed in 2003 and 2004, these protocols didn’t exist. I’m glad they do now.

Football is a game of purposeful violence. It will always be dominated by the player who can run faster, or hit harder. Physics will always undo the most careful scheme or the most deliberate technique. Players will forever get hurt, paralyzed, and possibly die. Until the game is changed so deliberately that it becomes a pantomime of itself, there will always be extraordinary risk to life and limb.

Devon Walker and Eric Legrand didn’t get the luxury of walking away from the game on their terms. The twenty-odd first graders dead in Newtown and the fifty-odd revelers in Orlando didn’t get the luxury of choosing their fate. Neither did or will the thousands upon thousands of Americans who have and forever will die or lose limbs for their country.

Corey Robinson should play if the doctors say he can and if he still loves it. Because if he still loves it, he should see how far the game can carry him.

Dulce et decorum est.

The post Debate This: Corey Robinson Should Return appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Corey Robinson’s football playing days should be over. I make this assertion not because I think he’ll hear my advice (he doesn’t follow me on Twitter), nor because he’s short on mentors (his father’s face rings a bell), but because it’s in his best interest as an individual. Should you disagree with my conclusion above, I’ll happily give you my reasoning for your consideration:

Football is a Platform

Notre Dame Football is a grand stage, but it’s and end in itself as well as a means to a greater end. It’s why the program espouses the “4 for 40” slogan — the four undergraduate years in South Bend provide an inflection point to a life of greatness. For some, that translates to athletic success in the National Football League. Yet there are countless others who seek success elsewhere — you can look at Jeff Samardjiza on the pitcher’s mound in Major League Baseball, or as far afield as Steve Elmer‘s recent foray into political consulting.

Life After Football

If Corey Robinson hangs them up, “life after football” has already begun. As student body president, he has a unique set of responsibilities before him this coming academic year. Those finicky admissions folks strive to balance a well-rounded class each year, and Robinson’s an embodiment of this diversity of interests. I have no doubt that he’d deftly juggle both tasks with equal aplomb, but there’s no gaping void if he steps away from football — he’ll merely fill that time with similar work that leverages his work ethic and desire for leadership.

Return on Investment

As with any endeavor (athletic or otherwise), football is a labor-intensive process. The hard work is done behind the scenes and away from the bright lights. Improvement (and recovery) are accomplished in relative obscurity. Football may be a mental game, but it’s a physical one as well. There’s a far greater likelihood that Robinson’s history of concussions would manifest itself in practice rather than in a game. The long-term risk of persisting mental health is too significant to be cast aside. The dude caught the go-ahead pass vs. USC last fall…he’s done his fair share in my book.

My Advice to Corey Robinson

From a financial standpoint, if you’re having second thoughts about football this year, NFL scouts will pick up on that and your draft status will suffer. If you *really* want to go on one last ride with your football brethren, that’s your prerogative. But I perceive you have much more than football that you want to accomplish in life. In the past year you’ve started a non-profit, studied abroad, and successfully run for student government. You’re not quitting as much as you’re refocusing your energies into activities that are even more fulfilling than football.

Time, and its passage, changes all things. There’s no shame in acknowledging new seasons in life and adjusting priorities accordingly. Most of us do not get to set our terms on when we walk away from a job or an athletic career. In your early 20s, this is a new phenomenon…but it’ll become a bit more familiar as life moves along. If you’ve given football your best and your body and external forces still won’t cooperate, what else is there to do?

The post Debate This: Thanks for Playing, Corey Robinson appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Many moons ago (these moons) (not that moons) (bless his heart), I wrote about the subway and the importance to the University of Notre Dame of its formative footballing years and how they helped build a national brand out of the little school on the shores of Lakes St. Mary and St. Joseph. Sorry, Father Sorin, il y en a deux.

Those games were played in Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds, and in Ebbetts Field. In seasons past, the Irish brought the Shamrock Series to Yankee Stadium and to Fenway Park. By continuing to schedule and play football games in baseball stadiums, Notre Dame honors its past and builds important bridges with future fans.

The popularity of Major League Baseball relative to the NFL, the NBA, heck, even to NASCAR has been popular fodder for sports-writers for some years, now. The MLB couldn’t crack the top twenty-six most-watched sporting events of 2015, while women’s soccer and NCAA basketball managed one appearance each, while college football came in thrice.  Still, Game Five of last year’s World Series attracted a pretty respectable 17,206,000 pairs of eyeballs on the television.

I am happy to concede that shoe-horning a football game into a ball park does not make for the most ideal sightlines. That said, its just as hard to play baseball on a football field and make it fan-friendly. Just ask anyone who attended the baseball game between LSU and Tulane in the Superdome back in 2002. Or anyone who watched a game at Shea.

Still, there is no denying the jazz a marquee venue brings. Playing in Yankee Stadium is an homage to the past. Playing in Fenway is a chance to bring the Notre Dame experience to Boston, home of Brian Kelly and Irish-Catholics the world over. Can you imagine the excitement for a game at Wrigley?

I think what I like most about these “baseball games,” if you want to call them that, is that they’re played in either “classic” or “regenerated classic” ballparks.  In her terrific Master’s thesis, Christine A. Mello categorized parks into one of three categories, the two just mentioned and “super stadiums.” “Classic” stadiums now number but two: Fenway and Wrigley, while super stadiums are on their way out, their hulking multi-purpose, please-everyone approach soundly outdone by Camden Yards and its progeny.

By Official Navy Page – Flickr: Ireland VIP’s take part in the opening coin toss., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21168415

By selecting unique stadiums in which to play, Notre Dame opens itself to limitless opportunity. Recall that we played Navy in Dublin at a rugby ground. I’d love to see the Irish at Old Trafford or Wembley or The Azteca. I’d love to see the Irish in Paradise.

I’m all in favor of continuing the Shamrock Series and of playing Notre Dame football in unique places.

The post Playing Football in Baseball Stadiums is Awesome appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The novelty has officially worn off. Playing football in stadiums designed solely for baseball is a dumb practice which should end immediately. Here’s two reasons why:

THE VIEWS SUCK

Pinstripe Bowl seating chart

When architects are contracted for millions of dollars to design baseball stadiums, they are looking for a layout that will provide unimpeded views for the majority of fans. They take into consideration natural obstructions, such as foul poles. If you’ve watched a game at Wrigley Field or Fenway Park, you know this wasn’t always the case. Someone is inevitably stuck with “pole position.”

The general design is based around a diamond configuration. With the exception of the outfielders, the action is wholly contained within that pattern. Depending on the ballpark, you may have a few blind spots – extreme corners that can make the action hard to see, depending on your vantage point. But, again, most of the action is taking place in a well-defined area that is purposely close to the stands.

If you lay a football field on a baseball diamond, there is usually only one way to accommodate it – from home plate to the deepest part of center field. This creates an artificial distance from your seat to where the action is taking place. You’re no longer sitting on top of the action.

Imagine getting 35-yard line seats…and then watching the game around a pole.

Measurements are way more important in football than they are in baseball. It’s unnecessary to know how many feet the outfielder traversed to put himself in position for that fly ball. The average fan merely wants to know: Did he catch it or did he not? In football, the difference in a yard can mean the difference in your team punting or continuing its march down the field. Baseball seats are lower and rise more gradually than seats in football stadiums. When you put a football game in a baseball stadium, you’re putting people in seats that are too low for the action on the field.

That creates two problems. First: If you’re sitting at home plate, you’ll never know if the running back scampered 2, 3, 4 or even 5 yards if the action is taking place past midfield. (The videoboards help, sure. But who wants to watch a video board all game long?)

I speak from experience. I attended the 2013 Pinstripe Bowl and sat in a prime location…for a baseball game. My seat on the first base side of the dugout was looking dead on to the corner of the end zone. If the play was happening right in front of me, it was fantastic. If it was happening on the other side, I had to rely on the reaction of the crowd or the video board to give me the information necessary to understand what had transpired.

The second problem is that the “field level” seats along the sidelines are merely great views of players’ backsides. Again, when you’re sitting at roughly the same height as the third baseman, this is great. When you’re trying to look around 105 people bunched up right in front of you, it’s annoying. When the Irish played Boston College at Fenway Park, both teams shared a sideline. Everyone on that side who was down low had a line of players and coaches partially obstructing their view.

THE FIELD SUCKS

Notre Dame and Northwestern have scheduled a Nov. 3, 2018 game — and I’m worried they’re going to play it at Wrigley Field.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the Cubs agreed in 2013 to stage five more football games at the Friendly Confines. With a “Shamrock Series game before there was a Shamrock Series” at Yankee Stadium in 2010 and the Fenway Park game last year, the Irish have already signaled their willingness to play in famous ballparks for the right price.

Wrigley Field, which was built in 1914, accommodated the Chicago Bears until 1970. But there’s always been a major problem: The field isn’t big enough to fit the full football configuration. When Northwestern and Illinois played at the stadium in 2010, they used a third-base-to-right-field setup. It didn’t provide the maximum six feet of buffer around the end zone, so the teams were forced to play in one direction. The Bears used to play home plate to the outfield, which required one end zone to be only eight yards (instead of the traditional 10). This is no way to play a football game.

Turf problems have plagued Yankee Stadium. In the third quarter of the 2013 Pinstripe Bowl, the Irish faced a 2nd-and-3 from Rutgers’ 7-yard-line. T.J. Jones was given the ball on a sweep, turned the corner, had daylight and promptly wiped out. The Irish would eventually settle for a field goal, breaking a 13-13 tie. The missed opportunity didn’t cost Notre Dame the game, but it certainly could have if the opponent was a little stronger.

The temporary surface was blamed for Tarean Folston’s minor injury, a squibbed kick by Kyle Brindza and the Rutgers quarterback falling on a big run when he was untouched. Dan Duggan, covering the game for NJ.com, said: “Receivers and defensive backs on both sides have struggled to get in and out of their breaks. There basically isn’t a play where someone on the field isn’t slipping.” Duggan also noted the field was in similarly bad shape when Rutgers played a pair of games there in 2011.

The St. Louis Cardinals proved how ill-fitting football is in a baseball stadium, when they let two FCS teams trample their bluegrass in September 2013.

Kickoff was still an hour away when [the head groundskeeper] noticed turf coming up as linemen went through drills. Even the kickers’ sideline ballet rubbed bare spots. By the time [the head groundskeeper and vice president of stadium operations] took their halftime tour, the turf looked as though it had staged a cattle drive followed by a rodeo capped by a monster truck pull.”

The Cardinals were approaching their final homestand of the season and preparing to host playoff games. After the game, their field needed a major patch job: 13 truckloads of sod.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It’s fun for our favorite team to play in iconic baseball venues. Now that they’ve done it at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, we’ve experienced the novelty. It’s simply not worth it – from a fan experience standpoint or a player safety standpoint – to continue trying to put the proverbial rectangle peg into the diamond shaped hole. Baseball has gone at late as Nov. 4 to accommodate a seven-game World Series. Let’s hope the Cubbies are good enough in 2018 to make my worry a moot point.

The post Playing Football In Baseball Stadiums is Dumb appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Let’s just get this out there: I love the Shamrock Series. I was as president of the ND Club of El Paso when NDAA Executive Director Chuck Lennon traveled to San Antonio for a whirlwind tour and to meet with the other club presidents from the state to figure out how the first game was going to come together. There was so much excitement and pride by everyone involved. There was no question the goal was to put on the best experience possible.

By the time the weekend came to an end, it was indeed a lot of fun. Alumni and fans from all over met up on the Riverwalk the night before and tailgated like there was no tomorrow at the Alamodome. Everyone had a rousing good time and it also helped that ND whipped up on Washington State.

I bought into the idea of an away “home” game hook line and sinker back then and I continue to do so because it’s all about location and here’s why.

Recruiting

The game has allowed the Irish to continue to target areas of the country where the coaching staff has looked at specific players in the region. Bringing the recruits to the Shamrock Series game has allowed the staff to showcase ND in a way that no other school has yet to replicate. The student-athletes see the game in a completely new environment and experience the hype of the game in a way that only ND can offer. There’s a different pomp and circumstance because it’s a unique venue with a primetime TV slot (more on that later) as well as the one-off game jersey that “kids” like to see. It’s a different and exciting game.

Mind you, it’s great to go to campus and experience the tradition of Notre Dame. It’s a totally different thing when you get to experience that game tradition in addition to a game that is a quasi-bowl game experience. Because if we are being honest here, that’s really what this amounts to. If you’re telling a recruit that this is what to expect not just once but hopefully twice a year while getting nation prime-time exposure while winning the game and being in the conversation for the national championship playoff games, I find it hard not to think that’s not a big selling point.

It’s Still a Business.

At the end of the day, this is still a business and when you have a major product in a prime-time game, you wanna get the most bang for your buck. NBC was genius in moving the game to the evening (not including this year’s game) to compete with the ESPN/ABC or Fox Sports night game. There is always a strong viewing contingent which means more ad dollars even if it’s another Xerox commercial. It doesn’t hurt ND has drawn respectable ratings and I would expect that to continue because when NBC is happy with us, the TV contract gets a little sweeter the next time around.

2013 Shamrock Series uniforms

Adidas and now Under Armour have done a bang up job with targeted merchandise for the game. We’ve seen some pretty cool one-time game jerseys (see Dallas-Ft. Worth in 2013) and some ho-hum ones too (Chicago, 2012). Yet with both companies, there has been a little more effort to make the merchandise just a little bit more special. There’s a new shirt that is produced one time or a sweatshirt just looks a little cooler than the tried-and-true one that’s been at the Bookstore for 20 years. Just like the TV contract, the more specialized game-related merchandise we all buy, Under Armour smiles a little bit bigger and that will help with the next contract negotiation.

Closer to home, I have heard from a number of alumni who have said their local alumni club has made a big deal of the game. The game watches are little bit bigger with local venue’s working a little more on getting food and drink specials while clubs get a little more support for scholarships with club dues and donations. The fact of the matter is when the game comes on and it has been marketed well, more alumni and friends come out for a night at the bar and that always helps the local club.

Seeing Notre Dame play

Perhaps the biggest thing I have heard and seen over the years from friends is this: I can’t believe I get to see Notre Dame play because I would have never been able to make it to campus.

I often take it for granted of the opportunity I have to see Notre Dame play every season as an alumnus. I’ve been fortunate to have the means and connections to get tickets to a game, sometimes at the last minute, and make my way to South Bend. I forget that as a student, I was there all the time and it’s a way of life every fall.

I take it for granted the excitement I have every season because I know it’ll be there next year.

And then I remember the time I got a call from a friend who was living in Virginia. He was ecstatic and almost inaudible. He finally got his hands on some tickets to the game at FedEx Field back in 2011. His voice was high pitched as he said they weren’t the greatest of seats but he didn’t care because he was finally going to watch “the Fighting Irish, the greatest team of all time play, with [my son] and words can’t describe this feeling I have. I can’t believe this is happening.”

He was sky high from then until after the Irish won. He sent me pictures of the family tailgating with other ND fans, of he and his son in the stadium decked out in their jerseys and hats, and of his son later that night asleep in his bed with his jersey on because he refused to take it off.

It was the greatest game he had ever been to.

I forget that there’s a love for Notre Dame like no other and the Shamrock Series game helps with that feeling. The game gives people a chance to experience the Irish Guard lead the band onto the field, seeing the golden helmets glisten in the lights and yelling to their hearts content as they cheer on the team to victory.

At the end of the day, there are a million reasons as to why the game is a great business decision. But to me, it’s the immeasurable experience that means more. The series will take a break in 2017 so we can get one extra game at home in the newly completed Campus Crossroads project. But I can’t stress how much I hope the game comes back for 2018.

The post The Case For Continuing The Shamrock Series appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

There’s not a lot of downside to the Shamrock Series, in my opinion. If I were to nitpick/speculate a little however, I believe the Shamrock Series could become a drag based on the following:

1) The additional home game (albeit at another location) may be viewed as a negative with the CFP Committee over time. This may be concerning as ND is already perceived as playing from behind without a conference championship to play for.

2) We lose the series’ value proposition if we skew scheduling of the matchups towards ACC opponents. The series is meant to be a modern day barnstorming. If we end up just playing ACC schools, I personally think the allure of the series/game takes a hit. Three of the eight games (including 2016) were against ACC schools. While using the SS game as an ACC match-up might help us in our requirement to schedule an ACC opponent, it seems to help the ACC more than ND.

3) This is baseless speculation. But if we’re moving the kickoff for Texas to a Sunday, what will prevent us from facing pressure to play a Thursday night game at some point? Imagine a scenario where the Shamrock Series is pitched as a Thursday night game against a high profile opponent for a rating boon? As a fan of college football, I would love to see that – but as a highly anxious ND fan scared of playing a premier opponent on a short week of practice? Not so much.

The post The Case Against the Shamrock Series appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Jaylon Smith was right to play in the Fiesta Bowl because it’s what he wanted to do, because devastating injuries can happen at any time and because playing tentative or afraid won’t make him a great football player.

Notre Dame’s Jaylon Smith (9) celebrates a sack during the Notre Dame-Texas NCAA college football game on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. SBT Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN

JAYLON SMITH WANTED TO PLAY

Smith, the former Irish linebacker, said he had zero regrets about playing in the Fiesta Bowl, during which he suffered a torn ACL and LCL.

“Even if I had a chance to go back, I would play in the bowl game again. You’re playing in the Fiesta Bowl, first time in my life, against a great team in Ohio State. I would never want to let my teammates down, and no regrets.”

The junior continued to assert that he was not troubled by the decision, even days prior to the draft. Smith told the Chicago Tribune:

“It’s just understanding that everyone is dealt their own hand and just dealing with that. I don’t want people to be sad for me or mad, because I’m not sad for myself. I look at it as an opportunity for growth.”

Smith doesn’t even blame Taylor Decker, the Ohio State offensive lineman who shoved him before the injury. Decker, the Lions’ first round draft pick, told the Detroit Free Press:

“Football is a physical, violent game. I just wanted to reach out to him and wish him all the best. And he told me right back, he’s like, ‘No hard feelings at all.’ So I think that was really mature of him.”

Coming into the Fiesta Bowl, Notre Dame and Ohio State had 19 individuals on their roster that would go on to be drafted by NFL teams. Imagine if Ohio State’s five first round draft picks and Notre Dame’s two first rounders refused to play to protect their draft stock. The fans would lose out, but their teammates would too. There’s no worry about who wins the matchup between wide receiver Will Fuller or cornerback Eli Apple – both would be sitting. Ditto for offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley and defensive end Joey Bosa. (Because of Bosa’s ejection, this isn’t a perfect example.)

Setting aside the question of whether players should be paid, they are being compensated. There’s an exchange that takes place: The school offers a full scholarship and the player offers his time and talent when healthy. Jaylon Smith was healthy and in a position to help his team win a game. He took that commitment to the team seriously, and he played when asked. Coaches aren’t offering scholarships to guys who want to play until their team is out of championship contention. They expect their players to give full effort until the end. Frankly, it would undermine the entire system if players decided to unilaterally pick and choose which games to participate in to protect their draft status. It would be less about team and more about the individual. Jaylon Smith isn’t wired that way. He cares about his teammates. The game had meaning to him because it was an opportunity to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his teammates on one of the biggest stages against an elite team and to find a way to win.

SMITH’S PAYOUTS ARE RICH ENOUGH

The injury may have cost him up to $21.4 million, and this 20-year-old said he still would have played. So let’s talk about the money.

Smith purchased a loss-of-value insurance policy for $50,000 that paid out up to $5 million if he suffered an injury and fell out of the first round. It’s the sort of policy that’s a wise investment for any highly valued player and, in Smith’s case, a necessary one. The policy will pay out $900,000 – which is tax free, so the true value is closer to $1.7 million.

It’s complete speculation that an uninjured Smith would have gone first overall, especially considering the Rams and Eagles traded up to get a quarterback. The Chicago Bears took the first linebacker with the 9th overall pick.

Let’s compare former Georgia linebacker Leonard Floyd’s new contract with Jaylon Smith’s.

Floyd will receive $15,782,861, all guaranteed. He’ll pay an estimated $2.2 million in taxes in 2017 and, assuming a 3 percent fee, his agent will take home about $473,480. That leaves Floyd with about $13 million before 2018 taxes are due.

Smith will receive $6,494,970 plus the $900,000 insurance payout, for a total of $7.4 million. He’ll pay an estimated $877,534 in 2017 taxes and send $87,708 to his agent. That leaves Smith with about $5.5 million before 2018 taxes are due.

Is there a big difference between $5.5 million and $13 million? With prudent investing, both could take care of you for a lifetime.

If Smith never plays another down of football in his life, that $5.5 million and (presumably forthcoming) college degree from Notre Dame could ensure financial stability until his death. (The average American male with a bachelor’s degree can expect to make $2.1 million during his lifetime.)

If he does play, Smith has the opportunity to make tens of millions more in a second contract. This injury didn’t take away his ability to provide for himself and his family; it limited his ability to buy a yacht and a private jet simultaneously.

Notre Dame’s Jerry Tillery (99), left, and Jaylon Smith (9) bring down Clemson’s Deshaun Watson(4). SBT Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN

DEVASTATING INJURIES CAN HAPPEN AT ANY TIME

Bart Hubbach, a NY Post columnist, recently criticized Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly for not forcing Smith to sit.

“Sometimes kids need to be protected from themselves. Kelly and other head coaches need to be the adults in the room,” tweeted Hubbach.

That would be an impossible line to draw. If Notre Dame had lost two or three games early in its season – removing all legitimate hope for a national title – should Kelly sit Smith to protect him from himself? In those “way too early” mock drafts, Smith was a top 25 pick or even top 10 pick before the 2015 season even kicked off. Certainly, that’s higher than he went after the injury. Should he have sat the entire season? Of course not.

Season-ending or career-altering injuries can come at any time. Mike McGlinchey finishes a block on Joe Schmidt during summer practice before the 2015 season, and Schmidt takes out Jarron Jones’ knee. Jones was lost for the season

In the first game of the 2015 season, running back Tarean Folston made a series of nifty moves. Fourteen yards later, he was down…with a torn ACL. In the second game, quarterback Malik Zaire runs a draw play. His ankle is trapped underneath a defender, who is tackling him. Zaire suffers a fractured ankle and is lost for the season. In the third game, Drue Tranquill breaks up a pass in the end zone and celebrates by doing a butt-bump with Schmidt. Tranquill lands on the knee awkwardly and tears an ACL. He’s lost for the season.

Like Jones, Folston and Zaire, Smith was just unlucky. Freak season-ending injuries were a too-common part of Notre Dame’s 2015 season.

AFRAID AIN’T A GOOD LOOK

In a recent interview on SportsBeat 960, Draft Countdown’s Scott Wright said there would “most likely” be negative repercussions for any college player who skipped a bowl game for fear of injury.

“No question. NFL people want to see guys compete and get out there on the field, even though you can make a very good argument that it’s in their best interests to sit it out. Teams would not like that. But ultimately – at the end of the day – what it comes down to are: Hhow talented are you? If you’re a Jaylon Smith-level talent and you skip that bowl game, maybe it would have dropped him a few spots. But I still think he would have gone in the top 10 overall. I think it’s something that players are going to start asking themselves more and more as the years pass. I guarantee you the NFL people would not like it at all and they would have a lot of harsh words for them.”

Smith was asked about being afraid that he would never recover from his injury. “I don’t have time to be afraid,” he told the NFL Network. “I don’t have any time to be afraid. For me, it’s just about putting the work in, controlling what you can control.”

Jaylon Smith leaps over Cardinal Ritter’s Jalen Chandler during the fourth quarter of play in the Class 2A IHSAA football championship game Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Playing scared is also contrary to Smith’s style of play.

Ty Hunt, the coach at Cardinal Ritter High School in Indianapolis, recalled a moment when his team played Smith’s in the Indiana Class 2A state championship.

‘‘They had a third-and-five, and they gave him the ball to the outside,’’ Hunt said. ‘‘I have a DB who’s going to an NAIA school. He’s 6-1 and came off a block and went to get him, and Jaylon hurdled him like he wasn’t there. It was pretty impressive.’’

Chicago Sun-Times’ Mark Potash picked up the story from there.

“Smith actually was penalized for hurdling on that play. But it’s that kind of aggressiveness that Notre Dame wants, no matter where Smith plays. Coaches tried to recruit Smith as a running back — he rushed for 1,625 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior — but the kid rather would hit than be hit and insisted on playing defense.”

In a February 2013 scouting report, FoxSports.com Director of Scouting Scott Kennedy raved about Smith in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:

”When you speak about players like this, you use a lot of superlatives, because he is one of the top five players in the country in a nation of a million football players. If you are trying to pick him apart, where is his weakness? He can play safety for God’s sake. He’s great in coverage. He’s got flexible hips. He’s got long arms. He’s aggressive. He’s not afraid to go up and smack people. He’s so instinctive that he plays all over the field, so he has a very good feel for the game on what the offense and defense is trying to do. On top of that, he’s a great kid.”

The post Debate This: Jaylon Smith Was Right To Play In Fiesta Bowl appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Courtesy: Getty Images

Debate This is a recurring series on HerLoyalSons in which two writers take opposing sides on a hot topic. Today and tomorrow, we will debate whether or not Jaylon Smith should have played in the Fiesta Bowl. Today, IrishJimmy leads us through the “he should have skipped it” argument. Tomorrow, andrewwinn takes the other side.

Jaylon Smith should have skipped the Fiesta Bowl because it was far more important for him to stay healthy and protect his financial future than it was to win a meaningless bowl game.

MONEY LOST

In a Feb. 19 interview, ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. said:

To get anything out of Jaylon Smith this year would be a surprise. But this is a kid, unlike Cedric Ogbuchi last year, or even Todd Gurley — you can make an argument that Jaylon Smith is the best player in this draft.

Smith tore his ACL and LCL and suffered nerve damage during the first quarter of the Battlefrog Fiesta Bowl. Had he skipped the bowl and stayed healthy, Smith could have been the top overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. Jared Goff, the actual first pick, will sign a $27.9 million contract – all guaranteed – with an $18.5 million signing bonus.

Smith dropped to the fourth pick of the second round and will sign a contract estimated to be worth $6.5 million, with a $2.9 million signing bonus. He’ll also capitalize on a loss-of-value insurance policy worth $900,000, which is not subject to taxation.

If these numbers are accurate, Smith’s injury cost him as much as $21.4 million.

MEANINGLESS GAME

Smith’s injury could be the impetus for high profile stars to skip essentially bowl games that are essentially meaningless in the playoff era. If this is the case, the players who opt not to play couldn’t be more right.

Jaylon Smith is a perfect example. The linebacker was not going to return to Notre Dame to play his senior year, so why play in a bowl game that has zero national championship implications?

Sure, people will say all the right things. As athletes – or, in my case, former athletes – were are conditioned from a young age to finish what we have started. Some will argue that college players have an obligation to the team and the university.

However, we are well past the point of blasting athletes who leave college early for the NFL. Although they may not like it, most people understand that these athletes have a ton of money at stake.

There was an era when Notre Dame would not play in a bowl game unless it could significantly improve the final ranking. In this day and age, though, almost every college participates in a bowl game regardless of ranking.

Imagine if Smith has suffered this catastrophic injury in the Quick Lane Bowl, playing for a 6-6 Notre Dame team. Perhaps even more people would make the suggestion that players should avoid these games.

Most colleges enter these games simply for the bowl payout, of which nothing goes to the player. And don’t forget: It isn’t the bowl game that poses the only risk. Most coaches who advocate for accepting a bowl bid do so because it entitles them to 15 additional practices. That, in essence, amounts to 15 more opportunities to have a devastating injury.

BLAMING COACHES IS MISPLACED

https://twitter.com/BartHubbuch/status/726108303877660672

https://twitter.com/BartHubbuch/status/726111324451799041

https://twitter.com/BartHubbuch/status/726115630118801408

With all the above being said, I don’t blame the coaches for this situation. Bart Hubbuch, the New York Post columnist who publicly blasted Brian Kelly for playing Smith, is, at best, naïve and, at worst, pointing the finger in the wrong direction.

Coaches are employed and retained purely for winning percentage. No coach has ever saved a job because of a high graduation rate, team GPA or lack of player injuries. They have to win. As such, they should be purely evaluated on win-loss record.

The responsibility for this issue falls squarely on the NCAA. If the NCAA cares about the “kids” as much as they claim to, they should foot the bill to insure potential high draft picks prior to bowl game participation.

Some schools out there don’t even guarantee scholarships for four years. Conceivably, it’s possible a underclassman could have a career-ending injury in a meaningless bowl game and later find themselves without a scholarship.

While it paints me to think that high-profile Notre Dame players may skip these games in the future, I truly believe they have every right to do so. In fact, a projected Top 5 pick would be foolish, in my mind, to play.

Players would be wise to view Jaylon Smith’s injury as a cautionary tale on the downside of bowl game participation.

The post Debate This: Jaylon Smith Should Have Skipped Fiesta Bowl appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.