Both teams see this game as an opportunity to add a notable, significant win to their postseason resume. For the Spartans, a win essentially guarantees them a top-ten ranking in next week’s polls, especially with #2 Florida State vs. #10 Louisville and #3 Ohio State vs. #14 Oklahoma also on this week’s schedule.

For the Fighting Irish, they need to seize any opportunity they get against a top team in the country. After a heartbreaking loss to Texas in week one, the Irish cannot afford another loss this early in the season. The Spartans are coming off a bye week and had two full weeks to prepare for this game. Let’s see how the Irish stack up against Sparty as we dive into this week’s matchups.

Top: Richard Shiro / Associated Press
Bottom: Mike Carter / USA Today

Torii Hunter Jr. vs. Darian Hicks

Senior captain Torii Hunter Jr. may not be the leading receiver for the Irish so far, but is still the number one receiver. Hunter did not play in Notre Dame’s game against Nevada due to a concussion he suffered in the third quarter against Texas. Hunter is very confident he will play against MSU, as he was basically a full participant in practice this week, going through one-on-ones, seven-on-sevens, and 11-on-11. Hunter acted as a leader, as he did not make this about himself. He said: “It was also a good time for the younger guys to make some plays and put some pressure on them, get them some experience and everything like that.”

Equanimeous St. Brown stepped it up with Hunter on the sideline, as the sophomore grabbed six balls for 85 yards. Even though St. Brown has better numbers than Hunter, MSU senior cornerback Darian Hicks will still focus on Hunter. DeShone Kizer and the offense will probably go after Hicks, who is prone to pass interference penalties for Michigan State. It’ll be fun to watch this matchup of seniors all night.

Mike McGlinchey & Offensive Line vs. Chris Frey

Senior tackle Mike McGlinchey and the offensive line will have figure out how to stop linebacker Chris Frey. Frey was all over the field for the Spartans in their only game this season, totaling nine tackles in the MSU victory. McGlinchey is excited about the matchup saying,  “It’s why I play college football. It’s a really great opportunity against a really great defensive front. They’re a hard-nosed, well-coached football team, and they’re going to do a fantastic job of competing and playing hard.”

The offensive line will have their hands full with a terrific linebacker trio that includes Frey, Andrew Dowell, and Byron Bullough, along with standout defensive tackle Malik McDowell.

Notre Dame’s Nick Coleman (24) breaks up a pass to Massachusetts’ Shaquille Harris (14) during the Notre Dame-Massachusetts game. SBT Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN

Young Irish Secondary vs. Young MSU Receiving Core

The Irish secondary got thinner last week as they lost sophomore cornerback Shaun Crawford, who went down with a torn Achilles. Cornerback Devin Butler remains suspended indefinitely. Safety Max Redfield was dismissed from the team. Sophomore Nick Coleman and freshmen Julian Love and Donte Vaughn will be thrown into the fire in this big game. With R.J. Shelton banged up but ready to go, sophomores Felton Davis III, Madre London, and freshman Donnie Corley will have their chances to make plays against the young Irish secondary. Corley was recently suspended for prioritizing the Yankees schedule over Notre Dames. The Irish secondary has allowed 439 passing yards in two games this season.

The Irish have more at stake in this game, as they can’t afford another loss this early in the season. The offensive line will be challenged up front, along with the young secondary. Brian Kelly will have to instill confidence in his young team, in what will probably be a playoff atmosphere at home on Saturday night.

The post Key Matchups Against Michigan State appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Cowherd likened the differing punishments handed down by Brian Kelly – the dismissal of Max Redfield and indefinitely suspended Devin Butler juxtaposed to the internal discipline of Te’von Coney, Kevin Stepherson, Dexter Williams, and Ashton White – to the way Nick Saban and Alabama generally handle disciplinary actions. Essentially, Cowherd attempts to draw the conclusion that players of less value are often scapegoated in regards to discipline, whereas players of value are treated and disciplined differently. Cowherd’s direct comments are as follows:

Remember when Alabama’s left tackle got in trouble in Louisiana – pot, guns, whatevs. What did I say on the air that day? I didn’t react. I was proactive, I said no way in hell he’ll miss game one. Oh, he didn’t, because ‘Bama was thin at left tackle and I knew it. What they use is the old, ‘We will punish him internally, we’re not worried about the optics.’ But yet, Alabama is loaded at guard – Alphonse Taylor got in trouble and they suspended him indefinitely. Oh, you guys are tough there. Why don’t you suspend the left tackle? Because you’re thin at left tackle.

Notre Dame kicked Max Redfield off the team – a senior who has massively underachieved and been in trouble before. For the record during spring practice, freshman Devon* Studstill replaced him anyway. Brian Kelly was tired of him. Devin Butler – we will suspend him! He’s already got a broken foot – wasn’t going to play the first month anyway. What you will find is, the underachieving senior, ‘You’re outta here!’ Guy that can’t stay outta trouble at a bowl game, Max Redfield, underachiever, you’re outta here. The guard at Alabama, Alphonse Taylor, who kept putting on weight, frustrating Nick Saban, deep at the position, you are suspended indefinitely. Left tackle at Alabama, young players at Notre Dame, we’ll take care of it internally. C’mon guys, don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

Notre Dame taking a page right out of Nick Saban's playbook https://t.co/KNvnwfADjR

— Colin Cowherd (@ColinCowherd) August 23, 2016

In the name of full disclosure, I personally agree with Cowherd just as much as I disagree. If you are unfamiliar with Colin Cowherd, it is important to note that his “hot takes” are rarely middle of the road in nature. He continually finds himself at the margins of issues, which, to his credit, is one of the reasons he hosts one of the most popular sports radio shows in the country.

On this specific comparison, I disagree. Cowherd is wrong to liken Notre Dame and Brian Kelly to Alabama and Nick Saban. Yes, Alabama and Saban habitually slap players on the wrist for wrongdoings that range from violations of team rules to breaking laws. Yes, Alabama does this in favor of preserving talent and in favor of future potential wins. Brian Kelly’s decision to dismiss Max Redfield was despite future potential wins. Cowherd conveniently neglects to mention that Redfield logged 64 tackles in 2015 – most of any returner on the 2016 defense. He has 143 career tackles and played in 27 games. This experience is invaluable to a young defense such as the 2016 group the Irish will be fielding.

I don’t believe it is farfetched to make the conclusion that there is no way Nick Saban and Alabama would dismiss a player of Redfield’s caliber and experience, especially when you consider that the Notre Dame defense is remarkably thin at the safety position. Cowherd himself would agree with this notion when he concludes that Saban was quick to suspend a guard, a position they are deep at, yet go easy on a tackle, a position they are thin at. Cowherd, however, contradicts his own logic, neglecting to mention how thin Notre Dame is at safety. Instead he inaccurately pronounces true freshman Devin* Studstill’s name and inaccurately implies that Studstill was slated as the starter for the opener. If Cowherd had done his research he would know what we (Domers) all know: Studstill has been cited as very talented and has shared time with the 1’s in practice, but has also been victim of a nagging hamstring injury. Make no mistake, Redfield was the starter and Kelly dismissed him regardless of talent, experience and wins.

I concede the fact that the disciplinary actions between Redfield and Butler differ with their peers – no doubt about that. However, Cowherd also neglected to reference Brian Kelly’s statement where Kelly addresses these differences, “The expectations we set for the members of our team are high, but they are especially so for the upperclassmen who are expected to provide leadership and a positive example to the other members of the team. Max and, at least at this stage in the review of his case, Devin, have failed in that regard and so have lost the privilege of continuing to be part of our team.”

Yes, Max has had issues in the past which also contributed to Kelly’s dismissal decision. Shouldn’t a repeat offender be treated as such? In regards to Butler, the prosecutor in the case has formally charged him with two felony counts. Per ND’s representative, any student faced with felony charges is subject to dismissal from the university, let alone the football team.

To conclude, Cowherd misrepresents the intentions of Brian Kelly and disingenuously correlates them to the purposely low standards set by Nick Saban and Alabama for the preservation of wins.

The full clip of the above transcription from The Herd can be found here.

Cheers and Go Irish!

The post Cowherd: In punishments, ND & Bama no different appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Devin Butler was born the year AFTER I graduated. Which makes him twenty-one. So he ended up at The ‘Backer last Friday. His season ended shortly thereafter.

He’s lucky to be alive. At some point during his physical altercation with South Bend police officers Luke Pickard and Aaron Knepper, Butler punched Knepper several times, wrestled him to the ground and “physically ripped” Knepper’s duty belt off his body. Knepper was subsequently able to deploy his Taser and subdue his assailant.

Knepper, or his partner, could have had grounds to use lethal force. On the use of force continuum, grappling with a police officer usually gets you Tased or hit with a baton. But it could get you shot, too. If Butler separated Officer Knepper from his gun, Pickard could have made a justifiable decision to shoot him. It might not have been the right decision, but it might not have been wrong, either.

Unfortunately, we’ve had to write too often about Notre Dame’s disciplinary process. Suffice it to say that a student who is charged with a felony can be summarily, but temporarily, expelled. A conviction can result in permanent dismissal. For Butler, the University’s investigation and adjudication process will run parallel with the District Attorney’s process. He could beat the charges and avoid jail, but the University could find his conduct, which involved alcohol and violence, so negatively impacted the community and the school that his continuing enrollment would impossible.

Butler was apparently immediately sorrowful and remorseful, but his conduct could be found to have been so egregious that he should be separated from Notre Dame. Because he did not immediately kick him off the team, I believe Kelly wants to give him a chance. But Kelly may not get that chance. Butler is facing multiple charges and if he sinks under du Lac, there’s nothing Kelly can do to save him.

I’d be surprised if Butler is not suspended for the season. I would not be surprised if he were expelled. If he is allowed to stay and to remain a part of the team, it would not be the only bullet Devin dodged.

The post Devin Butler’s Wasted Opportunity appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Devin Butler / Credit: 247 Sports

Senior cornerback Devin Butler, junior running back Justin Brent and junior cornerback Nick Watkins are among Irish injured during recent football activities, with Butler’s injury expected to sideline him until late September.

Coach Brian Kelly revealed Monday that Butler sustained a second fracture to his left foot. After starting in place of the injured KeiVarae Russell, Butler missed the Fiesta Bowl after breaking the long bone on the outside of his foot that connects to his little toe.

Kelly said Butler has had “a great semester academically. We really see him trending in the right way. And then to have an injury like that was very disappointing for him. And we’re disappointed for him.”

The 6-foot-1/2, 200 pound senior was expected to compete for an open position opposite fellow senior cornerback Cole Luke. Watkins, who suffered a fractured left humerus April 2, was also vying for the position. The junior is expected back when camp reconvenes in August.

Redshirt freshman Shaun Crawford, who may have already hopped Butler before his recent injured, is now a favorite to open the season with Luke at cornerback. Irish Sports Daily’s Jamie Uyeyama said sophomore Nick Coleman, who played primarily on special teams last year, and redshirt freshman Ashton White will probably get more attention for a spot behind Luke, Crawford and Watkins.

The Irish certainly lack experience at the corner position, with Butler giving them a little more than they’ll obviously have without him.

Justin Brent / Credit: 247 Sports

Butler started against Arizona State and USC in 2014; against the Trojans, he recorded a career-high 7 tackles. The junior also made seven tackles on special teams last year, third highest among the Irish. Butler also recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half against Navy, which ultimately resulted in a touchdown. He started against Stanford last year, recording three tackles.

Brent, who has struggled to crack the depth chart at running back, suffered a Lisfranc injury and had a screw inserted into his foot.

“He could be slowed for the first week or two,” Kelly told Blue Gold Illustrated’s Lou Somogyi.

Other injury news:

• Corey Robinson, who suffered multiple concussions during his football career, will announce Wednesday if he will continue to play. Robinson, who is the university’s student body president, is a senior with one year of eligibility remaining.
• Sophomore wide receiver C.J. Sanders is progressing nicely from surgery to repair a hip flexor. Kelly told Blue Gold Illustrated that “CJ is ahead of schedule by almost three weeks, which is really good news.” Sanders is expected to compete for the starting role at the slot position with redshirt sophomore Corey Holmes and may also be the Irish’s primary kick and punt returner.

The post A Trio of Irish Injuries appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Holmes was a four-star prospect from St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.), who was considered both “highly overlooked” and “underrated” by professional talent evaluators coming out of high school. Holmes’ best attributes were his length, his speed and his route running ability. The then-senior was most often compared to T.J. Jones, a former Notre Dame captain who now plays on Sundays for the Detroit Lions.

Here are Holmes senior season highlights:

In the highlights, you see a receiver who is fast, who can get open and who does a fairly decent job of blocking downfield on running plays.

Holmes did enough to impress Notre Dame’s coaches in his freshman year, seeing the field for a few plays versus Rice & Michigan in 2014. But he’s sat since; the only opportunity for us to see him play has been during the 2015 Blue-Gold game.

COREY HOLMES CATCHES

In his best catch of the afternoon, Holmes (bottom of the screen) appears to stumble off the line. Travis Allen (#25), a walk-on DB, tries to check him and misses. Holmes finds a seam between the linebacker (Te’von Coney) and the deep safety (Nick Watkins). Everett Golson’s pass is high, but Holmes snags it without a problem. On his high school highlight reel, Holmes is listed as having a 39 inch vertical. That’s more than 5 inches higher that Will Fuller’s result at the NFL Combine recently.

Two different catches here. On the left, Holmes (top of the screen) runs a slight comeback route and then leaps over an unprepared defender (Allen again) to make the first down grab. It’s a nice catch in traffic. On the right, it’s pretty straightfoward. Watkins is giving Holmes (bottom of the screen) a cushion, so Holmes runs six yards and stops. Malik Zaire’s pass is waiting for him. Holmes absorbs the hit without bobbling the ball.

COREY HOLMES GETS OPEN

Holmes (very top of the screen) beats his man – cornerback Jesse Bongiovi, who gives him a slight shove – and gets past deep safety Matthias Farley. It’s hard to say if Farley would had let him get over the top if Zaire’s pass wasn’t looking like a wounded duck. But Holmes was open if Zaire could have stepped into the pass instead of throwing off his back foot.

On a designed pass play, Zaire ends up feeling the pocket collapsing and scampers for a first down. Holmes – at the bottom of your screen – beats Devin Butler with a nice outside fake to inside pivot. My only criticism is that Holmes doesn’t get himself downfield enough to assist with blocking after Zaire continues to run – although Torii Hunter Jr. (#16 – middle of screen) appears to do the same.

Holmes can first be seen in the back of the end zone. He follows DeShone Kizer, who is on a rollout, and manages to get himself open a bit – despite some light holding by Nick Watkins. Unfortunately, Kizer throws the pass out of bounds. Holmes’ athletic attempt isn’t enough.

Holmes (lined up at the top of your screen), gets inside position against Nick Watkins. The throw is low; it’s difficult to tell from the broadcast if Holmes had an opportunity to get his hands under or if the ball skipped right when it got near him. Regardless, it’s an incomplete pass on what could have been six.

AREAS OF CONCERN

True freshman Equanimeous St. Brown passed Holmes on the depth chart last year. As Will Fuller’s backups, neither were expected to see a lot of playing time. Brown managed 15 snaps; Holmes never got one. When St. Brown was hurt during the Wake Forest game, Holmes was listed as Fuller’s backup for the Boston College, Stanford and Ohio State games.

While Holmes was considered a diamond in the rough coming out of high school, St. Brown was even more highly regarded.

Holmes was rated most favorably by ESPN, which had him the 94th player overall in the 2014 class. He was #200 on Scout’s list and #224 on Rivals. St. Brown, meanwhile, was ranked #63 in ESPN’s 2015 class, #144 at Rivals and #207 at Scout.

St. Brown may be higher on the depth chart because he’s about four inches taller than Holmes and – if high school statistics can be believed – runs as fast as Holmes. (St. Brown was listed as running a 4.44 40-yard dash, while Holmes allegedly ran a 4.0 40.)

But it may be other attributes. Holmes’ biggest issues, it appears, is his physicality and his situational awareness. Chris Brown is a similar height and weight to Holmes, and he was an excellent downfield blocker. It can be done by a “lanky” receiver type. These clips would give any coach pause.

Holmes (bottom of your screen) does a poor job of keeping Butler (#12) out of the play. Butler pretty easily pushes Holmes aside. Although the play was, for all intents and purposes, over before Holmes lost his block, the wide receiver would not have known that. Losing contain on your primary responsibility is problematic.

There’s two different plays here. On the left, Holmes (bottom of your screen) makes a late block on the defender – who has sniffed out the play and gotten a good break on Amir Carlisle. The pass is too high – perhaps Carlisle should have walked more toward the sideline so that Holmes’ block could have been more effective. Then he’d have to beat just one defender before the end zone.

On the right, Holmes – playing the slot (top of your screen) – makes contact with his defender but doesn’t keep engaged with him. Meanwhile, a second defender has run right past him to grab Carlisle for a two yard loss. Zaire’s pass is low, causing Carlisle to almost kneel down to get the pass. But Holmes’ block leaves much to be desired.

CONCLUSION

With St. Brown completely healed from a late-season shoulder separation, I’d expect he’ll see the majority of the first team reps at the X (Fuller’s old position) initially. I’d imagine Holmes will see reps with the second team with freshman Kevin Stepherson and others nipping at Holmes’ heels. I’m obviously not privy to practices, so I don’t know why Holmes isn’t seeing the field. But I know this is his make-or-break year. If he can’t find the field this year – whether through talent or through opportunity due to injury of another player – I expect the situation to only worsen for him in 2017.

I’m hopeful Holmes will have a break out junior season, just as Will Fuller emerged on the scene during his sophomore season in a very unexpected (but fantastic!) way.

The post The Case For Corey Holmes appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Don’t get me wrong, the feature was great, but a basically started at my title of “Fall Camp Practice Report #3: CB Report” for about an hour and realized there was no way that I could even drag 100 words out of the topic.

So I passed on the post. Ten more practices are in the books (ND completed practices #12 and #13 yesterday) across the past eight days and quite a bit has happened. It’s time to play some catch-up.

So today, it’s time to enjoy a very Irish-centric special edition of the Roundup. Think of this as the quick way to catch up the past week of fall camp.

The Roundup

I will never cease to be amazed at the freaks of nature we have at TE. Koyack should not be able to move as fast for how big he is. Tyler Luata is also an absolute freak of nature. Just check out the pancake he delivers at 3:20 in the clip. Yeah, that’s a freshman.

The first day of practice in full pads is probably the real first glimpse of what we can expect this season. I think this goes double for defense. For most of the videos to this point, we’ve seen the secondary just abuse receivers with incredibly physical play. Throughout this clip though, they seem to have backed off behavior that would draw out more defensive PI flags than Sparty trying to stop Tommy Rees. Other highlights that I liked: Sheldon Day looking like a beast and Ishaq Williams putting some good rushes together:

The August 9 practice gave us a peak the Irish in the red zone. Spoiler alert: THEY RAN THE DAMN BALL! In all seriousness, the last bit of the video has Greg Bryant flat out GOING OFF on two great runs. Once the Irish got inside the 10, we saw Bryant get a blow and Cam tried to punch it in. The next play featured Bryant in a personnel package that included freshman beast Tyler Luata that got the TD. As for the rest of the practice? Probably the most physical highlights we’ve seen thus far:

The RB profile gave us no clues on the depth chart battle. The combination of Cam McDaniel, Tarean Folston, and Greg Bryant make this position one of the most exciting on the team. With their talent though, it’s hard to project who is going to come out of the gate as the starter or how all three will rotate. If I could read any of the tea leaves that Tony Alford was throwing out there, it appears that Bryant might have the most work to do out of the trio.

The profile on the safeties led me to an interesting conclusion. Kerry Cooks said a few different things that jumped out at me. Firstly, Austin Collinsworth has clearly jumped out as the QB of the defense. The mention that he can play both positions jumped out at me as well. Cooks also mentioned that Max Redfield was making noticeable improvement. Mathias Farley was listed in the video as a S/CB. Finally, Cooks touted Shumate as the most talented of the group. All of this together leads me to believe that nickel and dime packages might feature some hybrid roles that we haven’t seen before. Either that or we are going to see a crazy, constant rotation:

Here’s a shocker, Everett Golson is your starting QB for Rice. Yes, “for Rice”, much like the same language Kelly used in 2012. That’s fine, I’m good with it and I’m sure Malik Zaire is going to see the field a fair amount this season (hopefully not due to injury). Want to know what really stood out to me though? The managers got to play the pitch man for the QBs during an option drill and I’m forever sad that I didn’t get to do that:

Yesterday’s practice video focused on the defensive line. Honestly, I thought this was one of the more enlightening position profile videos to date. The D-line has to be the lead as far as question marks go considering all the talent that was lost. Listening Mike Elston break down everyone’s performance and what they expect of everyone was great. I know Andrew Trumbetti made a lot of waves this week (more on that later), but it’s good to hear that another freshman, Johnny Williams is standing out a bit as well, even if it appears he is behind a touch on the learning curve:

And here’s your main event: Brian Kelly’s August 13th presser. Loads of information in this one, including our first peak into portions of the depth chart. I had a few things that stood out to me:

• Kelly talked a lot about rotations on defense, especially in the front seven.
• Mentioned that VanGorder’s defense allows the young guys to just go and play on instinct.
• In fact, for all that’s been made about how complicated the schemes on defense are, I have a feeling VanGorder is scheming to his talent.
• Kelly seemed frustrated with questions about if ND had their base defense installed. I read that as “we won’t have a traditional base”.
• Everett can check out of plays, but he probably won’t need to due to the way the offense is designed.
• No major injuries on the O-line, but with various guys being out for a day, the starting five is still up in the air.
• Kelly is taking a look at individual competitive drills before he decides who is on the special teams units.

With all that in mind, here’s the depth chart. Or rather, what Kelly confirmed explicitly thus far:

And now you’re moment of Nix…

What is this I don't even #MSPaintMonday pic.twitter.com/MBKxDzX8Yw

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) August 12, 2014

The Booze

Summer is nearly done and I haven’t yet had one of my favorite summer whiskey cocktails, the Lynchburg Lemonade:

1 part Jack
1 part Triple Sec
1 part Sour Mix
4 parts lemon-lime soda

You can sub in Jack with a bourbon as well (obviously it kills the Lunchburg namesake, but whatever).

Cheers.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Notre Dame Fall Camp 2014 Catch-Up” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

All 18 unsigned verbal commits sent their national letters of intent to South Bend. There were no surprise defections; in fact, the only surprise of the day was a positive one as Eddie Vanderdoes became the 24th and final member of the recruiting class dubbed as the Irish Mob.

Just how great was this recruiting class? Let’s take a look:

And below is the full roster for the recruiting class of 2013 complete with links to their bios here at HLS:

Personally, I’m thrilled with this class. The only thing that would’ve possibly made this class better would have been if Alex Anzalone had stayed in the fold to bring the class to a full 25, but, honestly, at that point, I’m just being greedy.

With this class the Irish could almost field an entire team of just freshmen on both sides of the ball save for one linebacker. The Irish managed to snag four five-star players (according to Rivals) which is the most I can ever remember the Irish having in a single class.

Notre Dame also only trailed a single school in the Rivals average star ranking. That school is Southern Cal, who bested the Irish’s 3.92 average stars with 4.42 average stars — of course, USC only managed to sign 12 players, so that skews that average ever so slightly.

Oh, and right below the Irish in the same ranking: Alabama with 3.84 average stars.

I could go on and continuously gush about this class, but the bottom line is that Notre Dame finished yesterday with an elite recruiting class. It is incredibly well balanced, addresses areas of need, and stocks the depth chart in crucial areas like both the offensive and defensive line (and Brian Kelly said he still considers those areas of need for 2014 — this is a man after my own heart).

Be excited, be very excited about what Brian Kelly and his staff just pulled off. This future is beyond bright for this team.

Finally, the folks at IBN Sports have reached out to us to share their ND signing day segment, featuring Mike Frank of Irish Sports Daily. They have loads of other signing day segments over at their site as well so be sure to check them out if you are interested.

The post National Signing Day 2013 Recap appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.