Greer Martini Archives - Her Loyal Sons https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog A Notre Dame Football Blog Wed, 28 Jun 2017 04:28:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.3 https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/HLS-Avatar-Option-2-150x150.png Greer Martini Archives - Her Loyal Sons https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog 32 32 Waiting for the Phone to Ring https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2017/06/28/waiting-phone-ring/ Wed, 28 Jun 2017 10:00:49 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/?p=37292 As we are finally inching towards July and in desperate need of football content in our lives, I hope this piece does not ramble too much. I remember being a ninth grader the last time Notre Dame won the National Championship. Back then, I thought his would happen regularly. Time and adulthood has proved otherwise,...

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]]> As we are finally inching towards July and in desperate need of football content in our lives, I hope this piece does not ramble too much.

I remember being a ninth grader the last time Notre Dame won the National Championship. Back then, I thought his would happen regularly. Time and adulthood has proved otherwise, but still we press on.

It is funny how our fandom evolves or even ebbs and flows. I buy “The Shirt” every spring, for starters. I think it is a good cause, but more importantly it is a sign post leading to the start of the season.

For years, I was a buyer of the Blue and Gold preview Notre Dame preview magazine; however, I stopped buying after a particularly disappointing season and I thought the magazine had become “too optimistic”. I’m happy to say I’m back now; in fact, I’ve already pre-ordered this season’s edition.

In a summer that has been slow (as always no news is good news), I was heartened last week when Kirk Herbstreit took to twitter to sing the praises of Brandon Wimbush.

Over the years, Herbstreit and his buddies at Gameday typically don’t fill the role of avid Notre Dame believers. Yet, here we are and with a simple tweet, we find some hope in the air!

Via Flicker, Credit: Nick Kenrick.

I equate this time to waiting on the phone back in the pre-cell phone era. I feel like I’m back in high school waiting for my buddies to call, anticipating the endless possibilities of roaming the mean streets of suburbia on a Saturday Night! Or, even better, waiting patiently on a girl who I’m sure is going to call…yes possibilities.

But right now, is 4-8 far enough in the rear view mirror?

An inexperienced quarterback, zero collegiate starts…blah who cares about that.

Difficult early test versus Georgia (a dreaded SEC team) at home, no problem! See 2014 Music City Bowl vs. LSU.

What about all the coaching changes? Is that a problem? Nope…I see my beer glass more than half full on that one, especially given the chaos that ensued last year. Things on the coaching front simply have to be better, right?!

Trips to Michigan State, Miami, and Stanford…difficult but doable!

Yes, summer affords us the possibilities of Greer Martini morphing into Thor and turning in a Butkus Award caliber season. Drue Tranquill matches football IQ with enormous potential and makes plays all over the field on defense. The offensive line finds a consistency and dominance that eluded them too often last season, allowing Josh Adams to punch giant holes in opposing defenses.

If nothing else, summer is a time that rekindles my hope and rejuvenates my Notre Dame football spirit. The perceived and apparent blemishes our team may have can be carefully covered up by hope. At the end of last season, I thought that, given all the change, 7-5 was realistic, but the hope of summer has me thinking bigger!

Please, phone, ring soon!!!

 

 

 

 

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]]> Morning Roundup: Sept. 10, 2016 https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2016/09/10/morning-roundup-sept-10-2016/ Sat, 10 Sep 2016 09:00:33 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/?p=35721 Torii Hunter Jr. is ruled out for today’s game due to ongoing recovery from a concussion. This story and much more from the past 24 hours of Notre Dame football. FROM OUR SITE Friday roundup: The “Hooked” episode Predictions: Growing our Wolf Pack PODCAST Irish247: Wrapping Notre Dame-Texas, previewing Nevada Irish247: On-air talking Kizer, Notre...

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]]> Torii Hunter Jr. is ruled out for today’s game due to ongoing recovery from a concussion. This story and much more from the past 24 hours of Notre Dame football.

FROM OUR SITE

PODCAST

NEXT GAME: vs. NEVADA (3:30 ET SATURDAY, NBC)

https://vine.co/v/5JqQ2WXm1hu

OFFENSE

DEFENSE

SCHEDULE

RECRUITING

LAST GAME: Texas 50, Notre Dame 47

MISC.

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]]> Analyzing the Fall Camp Depth Chart https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2016/08/11/3-fall-camp-buzzwords/ Thu, 11 Aug 2016 09:00:05 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/?p=35116 Fall camp produces the perfect mix for any college football junkie – immeasurable aspirations coupled with unlimited potential. The 2016 Fighting Irish are no exception. Many positional battles follow #NDFB into fall camp and understandably so with the solid depth at all positions. Let’s do a quick rundown of what to expect. Depth, baby! Everything...

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]]> Fall camp produces the perfect mix for any college football junkie – immeasurable aspirations coupled with unlimited potential. The 2016 Fighting Irish are no exception. Many positional battles follow #NDFB into fall camp and understandably so with the solid depth at all positions. Let’s do a quick rundown of what to expect.

Depth, baby! Everything this fall will revolve around the exceptional depth that has slowly been built year over year. The coaching staff has recruited exceptionally well over the past few years (the 2017 class aka #IRISHEL17E and the 2018 class aka #IrishBouND18 are stacking up quite nicely as well) especially addressing specific positional needs.

adamsThe depth is far and above where it has been in years past. The offense returns multiple assets at every position. Proven running backs Tarean Folston and Josh Adams will lead the ground game along with Dexter Williams guaranteed to be fighting for carries.

The offensive line depth is nothing short of incredible considering it lost two future NFL starters from last year in Ronnie Stanley and Nick Martin. Junior guard Quenton Nelson has been named a Sports Illustrated preseason All-American and senior tackle Mike McGlinchey is garnering elite status as the 64th best player in the nation – according to ESPN. These two woolly mammoths will anchor the left side of the offensive line, and the right side anticipates a battle between junior Alex Bars and seniors Hunter Bivin and Colin McGovern.

Tight end, once a surging position of depth, took a hit in the academic ineligibility ruling against Alize Jones. As reported, Jones will miss the entire 2016 season. The return of transferring/not transferring Tyler Luatua provides the group with a huge (255 lbs. pun intended) veteran h-back, and his decision to not transfer now proves to be vital to the position group. Nic Weishar and Durham Smythe are both capable and consistent targets from a three point stance and split wide – this groups presence and overall utility within the red zone should not be understated.

Credit: Matt Cashore

Credit: Matt Cashore

The wide receiver cupboard is full – yet unproven. The only shoe-in to start is senior Torii Hunter Jr. Behind him will be an intriguing battle between Equanimeous St. Brown, Corey Holmes, Miles Boykin, C.J. Sanders, and potentially true freshman/early enrollee Kevin Stepherson. Finishing on the offensive side of the ball, who could forget the quarterback situation, in which the Irish arguably have the most collective talent at the position in the entire nation (including Brandon Wimbush)? *Insert your own opinions about the QB situation* and find my own here.

The defensive line (also unfortunately known as the Irish’s Achilles heel in recent years) is loaded with talent and (FINALLY) depth. Isaac Rochell, Jarron Jones and Daniel Cage are battle tested veterans while Andrew Trumbetti, Jay Hayes, Jerry Tillery, Jonathan Bonner, Micah Dew-Treadway and Elijah Taylor all look to make significant impacts and potentially break out. Also, look for the word “sub packages” to be thrown around as highly talented true freshman defensive ends Daelin Hayes and Khalid Kareem could be utilized as pass rushers in such schemes.

Nyles Morgan (Credit: Chicago Tribune)

Nyles Morgan (Credit: Chicago Tribune)

Nyles Morgan is an automatic upgrade at the Mike linebacker position, and while replacing the “once in a century” freakish athleticism of Jaylon Smith is no small task, the linebacker corps is well stocked with young talent. Te’von Coney saw limited action last year and is reported to be fully recovered from a shoulder injury suffered in the Fiesta Bowl. His classmates and other blue chip linebacker recruits, Asmar Bilal (2015 defensive scout team player of the year) and Josh Barajas redshirted last year. This young talent will push upperclassmen, Greer Martini and James Onwaulu for reps.

The secondary returns Jekyll and Hyde aka Max Redfield along with sixth year Cal transfer Avery Sebastian and fan favorite Drue Tranquil – all at safety. Garnering spring ball notoriety was true freshman and early enrollee Devin Studstill, who was my “most likely to make an immediate impact” of the 2016 recruiting class.

Rounding out the secondary at cornerback is senior multi year starter Cole Luke along with juniors Nick Watkins and Devin Butler. They are surrounded by younger talent in sophomore Nick Coleman and Shaun Crawford, who was slated to be the team’s starting nickel back last year until suffering a torn ACL in fall camp. Crawford drew incredibly high praise during the 2015 fall camp before his injury, and his return provides a massive athletic boost to the secondary.

Credit: UHND.com

Credit: UHND.com

Over the past few years the Notre Dame special teams have often been regarded as the “not-so-special teams.” Last year, however, the group made great strides and improvements. Returning “The Big Three” key specialists in kicker Justin Yoon, punter Tyler Newsome, and long snapper Scott Daly should pay dividends for the special teams in 2016. DeShone Kizer has been relieved of his holding duties and he will be replaced by Montgomery VanGorder. The Irish also have the luxury of Sanders’ electric and ever-elusive return skills. As a true freshman, Sanders returned both a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown last season. The special teams should continue to build off of last year’s success.

With the well-rounded depth in place, #NDFB is primed for an entertaining fall. Don’t forget that it is your civic duty as a Domer to recite one Hail Mary each day of camp for the shake of keeping this vital depth healthy!

Cheers and Go Irish!

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]]> Morning Roundup: April 3, 2015 https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2015/04/03/morning-roundup-april-3-2015/ Fri, 03 Apr 2015 12:00:59 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/?p=28816 Good morning! I’m here to catch you up on all that has transpired with the Notre Dame football program in the last 24 hours. Here are your headlines: PODCAST Irish Illustrated (F): Irish hit spring stride (50:55) ND Insider: Podcast: ND Insider recruiting update 4-2 (10:42) RECRUITING – OFFERED Bruin Report Online ($): Video: Lucas...

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]]> Good morning! I’m here to catch you up on all that has transpired with the Notre Dame football program in the last 24 hours. Here are your headlines:

PODCAST

RECRUITING – OFFERED

RECRUITING – ND INTERESTED, NO OFFER

CURRENT TEAM

COACHING

IRISH IN THE NFL

MISC.

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]]> Morning Roundup: March 18, 2015 https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2015/03/18/morning-roundup-march-18-2015/ Wed, 18 Mar 2015 12:00:31 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/?p=28529 Good morning! Here are your headlines: FROM OUR SITE Step one: Northeastern VIDEO WatchND: Brian Kelly press conference – March 17, 2015 (42:18) Blue & Gold Illustrated: Video: Kelly previews spring ball (3:03) Irish247: Video: Kelly previews spring practice (3:08) Irish Illustrated: Video: Kelly welcomes QB battle (3:03) Irish Sports Daily: ISD video: Brian Kelly...

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]]> Good morning! Here are your headlines:

FROM OUR SITE

VIDEO

PODCAST

RECRUITING (2016 offers / 2017 offers)

CURRENT TEAM

COACHING

SCHEDULE

MISC.

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]]> Friday Roundup: The “Notre Dame Fall Camp 2014 Catch-Up” Edition https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2014/08/15/notre-dame-fall-camp-2014-catch-up/ https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2014/08/15/notre-dame-fall-camp-2014-catch-up/#comments Fri, 15 Aug 2014 10:00:25 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/?p=25622 Once WatchND started pumping out Notre Dame football fall camp practice videos, I was all in for breaking each one down. It worked great for the first two practices, but then practice #3 happened and saw the video breakdown was a position profile for the CBs. Don’t get me wrong, the feature was great, but...

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]]> Friday RoundupOnce WatchND started pumping out Notre Dame football fall camp practice videos, I was all in for breaking each one down. It worked great for the first two practices, but then practice #3 happened and saw the video breakdown was a position profile for the CBs.

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:

[table “” not found /]

And now you’re moment of Nix…

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.

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]]> https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2014/08/15/notre-dame-fall-camp-2014-catch-up/feed/ 3 2014 Needs & Wants: Defense https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2013/03/18/notre-dame-recruiting-2014-defense/ Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:00:04 +0000 http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/?p=17588 Last week, we looked at the offensive recruiting plan for the 2014 class. This week, we will look at the defensive side of the ball. Again this will be a slim class as most projections have the scholarship number at about fourteen about fourteen scholarships available. With this in mind, even though Notre Dame has...

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]]> Last week, we looked at the offensive recruiting plan for the 2014 class. This week, we will look at the defensive side of the ball.

Again this will be a slim class as most projections have the scholarship number at about fourteen about fourteen scholarships available. With this in mind, even though Notre Dame has offered nearly everyone in the top 50, we have only listed the “Top Targets” below as those believed to have the most interest in Notre Dame.

*Denotes available 5th year

[table “” not found /]

Commits: Jay Hayes

Need level- Medium to High

Top Targets-Enoch Smith Jr., Thomas Holley, Khairi Clark

Assessment- The linchpin of the 3-4 defense, this should always be an area of need. We have a lot of people that could be moved here, and one commit already. We should hit this every year, and have been able to get elite talent here the past few years.

I’m assuming the Louis Nix III will be going pro, even though he will have one year of eligibility left. He’ll have his degree, and his senior day, leaving him very little motivation to hang around for another year.

A strikeout on elite talent wouldn’t be terrible considering some of the current talent and current DEs that could shift to DT if need be. However, not land a DT in this class would make this a large area of need the following year.

[table “” not found /]

Need level-Low to Medium

Top Targets- Deondre Clark, Malik McDowell, Andre Trumbetti, Andrew Williams

Assessment- Even if we lose Tuitt to the draft, we’re still pretty deep at DE. But, as football is won in the trenches, I expect the Irish to be after very elite talent here, and be OK with a miss if it happens.

There is some talent in the linebacking corps that could be mover here if they don’t find a home because of young talent, or if we strike out and need it. Justin Utopo comes to mind.

[table “” not found /]

Commits – Greer Martini

Need level- High

Top Targets- Nyles Morgan, Raekwon McMillan

Assessment-While Smith could slide inside to fill this gap, we’ll assume he stays at OLB until we know different. Being 2-deep at this spot isn’t ideal. The three that will be left all have a good deal of eligibility left, but I think this will be the biggest position of need on the defense. We wouldn’t be immediately hurting if we missed, but it would be a gap that would show up down the road if we missed in this cycle.

[table “” not found /]

Need level- High

Top Targets- Dillon Bates, Clifton Garret

Assessment-Very interesting looking ahead this far to think about what Williams, Councell, and Rabasa will turn into after four years in the program.  Same as ILB, there’s a good deal of eligibility here but you just don’t like to risk injury problems. Further, if one of these gentleman needs to be moved to OLB then it will strain the ILB corps more. We’ll hope to get elite talent, but we’d take a RKG with a lower rating I think.

[table “” not found /]

Need level-  Medium

Top Targets- Parrker Westphal, Jalen Tabor

Assessment- There’s a chance Lo Wood might not take his 5th year(or even have it offered). Even if we lose him, the Irish are 2-deep at the CB spot. However, the staff has been known to move players to and from this position and you simply don’t pass up elite talent if you can get it. Further, great CBs allow for more blitzes, exotic coverages, and other high risk/high reward defenses. Although this position not necessarily a major area of need, the value of the raw talent at this position makes landing recruits here quite desirable.

[table “” not found /]

Need level-low

Top Targets- Quincy Wilson, Jamal Adams

Assessment- Several of these young men were highly touted recruits and I expect one or two of them to step up and live up to their billing. Several of these young men have a lot of eligibility left.

This year the secondary finally evolved into no longer being a liability, but, with these kids, it may be able to make the leap to strength. Elite talent like Redfield might even struggle to press for time, although I’d be shocked to not see him on the field somewhere in the secondary. I think a few of these gentleman will live up to their billing, and Redfield is so physically talented, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone got moved over to CB.

We can miss here and be ok for a year, but if we can get another Redfield its a no-brainer.

 _________________

Overall it is exciting to look at the names on this list. This is who’s left after next year.

Attrition to people going pro is a problem you get with having great talent on your team. The coaches have gotten some “6 Star” recruits before, so maybe we can hold on to some hope of these kids staying longer than expected.

That said, the defense is in a similar position to the offense. Outside of linebacker we don’t have any specific needs. We don’t have highly rated recruits everywhere, but we’re close. We lack a true “shut down” corner, but I thought we did pretty good with the secondary last year, and have some recruits coming.

Overall I say we’re loaded for at least two years right now, and have the opportunity to add to the spoils. With this comes the ability to practice harder, substitute more, and continue the tradition of excellent defenses. If anything keeps us a contender for the next few years, its the names on this defense.

I’m really excited to watch these kids in the next few years. I just wonder when the defense will start to score more… or is that greedy??

 

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