Greg Bryant Archives - Her Loyal Sons

Morning Roundup: Sept. 9, 2016

andrewwinn — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 09:00:37 +0000

Mike Tirico says he’s not a Michigan man. Bleacher Report has us reaching for the tissues with its remembrance of Greg Bryant. These stories and more from the last 24 hours of Notre Dame football below.

Bryant Dead

Bayou Irish — Sun, 08 May 2016 20:32:20 +0000

In a terribly sad finale to yesterday’s emotional pendulum, word is in from Florida that erstwhile Irish talent Greg Bryant passed from his wounds.

He was 21 years old.

The post Bryant Dead appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Greg Bryant Shot

Bayou Irish — Sat, 07 May 2016 16:16:35 +0000

Lord please hear our prayers for GB????????. We pray he will be okay. ????

— Nyles Morgan (@Obey_Pride) May 7, 2016

Sad news breaking today out of Florida, where former Irish athlete and four-star recruit from Delray Beach was discovered shot this morning in a car on I-95. According to reports, he is in critical condition and was the driver of the vehicle. Bryant is currently on the roster at UAB in Birmingham.

Everyone please say a prayer for my friend @GregBryantJr2. He was shot last night. This world is a crazy place.??

— Ronnie Stanley (@IamtheGuru79) May 7, 2016

Prayers up for my boy GB man…

— Torii Hunter Jr. (@THunterJr) May 7, 2016

Please pray for my brother Greg Bryant was shot early this morning and is in critical condition, love you man pic.twitter.com/qzYSsyQxpQ

— Will Mahone (@Wmahone4) May 7, 2016

Y'all give my boy Greg Bryant a Prayer… Can't believe he in the ICU. I really hope he come out of this healthy

— stephon tuitt (@DOCnation_7) May 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/WimbushB12/status/729036356110962688

Love you dude!#GregBryant pic.twitter.com/X2DWpepUaF

— autry denson (@autrydenson) May 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/CoreyRobinson13/status/729066624808984576

Prayers up for my lil bro @GregBryantJr2 and his fam! Keep fighting brodie!

— TJ Jones (@IamTJ_Jones) May 7, 2016

Send prayers please to @GregBryantJr2 & his family this shouldn't happen to dudes like him ??

— Keivarae Russell (@Keivarae1) May 7, 2016

Please send Prayers to ma Brodie Greg Bryant ??????

— Jaylon Smith (@thejaylonsmith) May 8, 2016

#PrayforGB keep fighting bro! We all pulling for you! God is with you!! @GregBryantJr2

— DaVaris Daniels (@SincerelyToot) May 8, 2016

The post Greg Bryant Shot appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Bryant Still a Student, Will Miss 2015

Moons — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 10:00:16 +0000

Yesterday, Notre Dame confirmed a report by Irish Illustrated that Greg Bryant will miss the entire 2015 season after being ruled academically ineligible. Brian Kelly issued a statement through football SID Michael Bertsch stating:

There are certain expectations within our program that must be met on a daily basis. Quite simply, Greg did not meet those expectations.

Whether it provides solace or not, Pete Sampson spoke with Bryant’s father who made it clear this was strictly a failure to make grades:

Father said Bryant needed a B+ in a summer school course to stay eligible. Received a B- “It was that close,” Bryant Sr. said.

— Irish Illustrated (@PeteSampson_) August 4, 2015

Sampson’s piece, linked above, contains some other interesting remarks from Bryant’s father. It seems clear that his father expects, at least for the time being, that Bryant will report for classes at the end of August with the rest of the student body and continue to attend the school. It’s also apparent that Tony Alford’s absence weighed upon Bryant quite heavily noting that the lag between Alford’s departure and Autry Denson’s hire may have played a part in Bryant’s troubles. I certainly have to question some of this as Alford was hired by Ohio State in early February and Denson was in place and announced as the new running backs coach for Notre Dame by March 2nd. Given the statement above, I’m not quite sure what that lag has to do with summer school grades, but Alford’s relationship with many of his recruits and particularly Bryant is well documented.

While Alford’s loss was immediately identified by many as a detriment to recruiting efforts, perhaps not enough attention has been paid to the position coaches’ roles as mentors and confidants to these young men. After all, it was just earlier this summer that Brian Kelly spoke candidly about how all of his players were at risk academically and the university’s continued need to consider new ways to better serve these players in their academic affairs.

Aside from these two points: replacing a popular and important position coach, and the university continuing to find better ways to help the players with their academic affairs, I don’t think there’s much to be learned here. Oh yes, this will bring out the battle cries from certain voices about Notre Dame’s failures, inability to compete, etc., but there are plenty of students aside from Greg Bryant who struggle at the university. It’s just highlighted more when the context is that of a prominent student-athlete. It’s unfortunate for Bryant that his struggles have to be so public, but they are not unique to him or the school. Nor is this an instance with a whiff of academic fraud such as the circumstances surrounding Everett Golson or last Fall’s suspensions. This is, quite simply, a student who didn’t quite make the grades to continue to play collegiate sports at the same time. Bryant hasn’t lost his scholarship. He hasn’t been further suspended by the team. He’s not being displaced from the University. Greg Bryant is a struggling college student. The HORRORS.

I hope Bryant stays, redeems himself by making grades and having his eligibility reinstated. It’s clear that’s his father’s preference as well. Greg’s preference will only be revealed over time.

As for the on the field impact, I can’t say that it doesn’t matter. While Tarean Folston and C.J. Prosise may have created a bit of distance during spring practice, Bryant was still expected to play an important part in Notre Dame’s backfield puzzle this year. While he’d yet to be the 5-star recruit everyone hoped to see several years ago, all of the physical gifts were/are still there. Furthermore, injuries have a way of creeping up where you least want them. Ask Notre Dame’s linebacking corp from a year ago about that. Better yet, ask a University of Georgia fan what they expected Nick Chubb’s role to be going into last season and then where it ended up. I don’t like to see depth harmed. Ever.

That said, Bryant’s loss shouldn’t move the needle of overall expectations for the team too much. Depth is a virtue, but no need to overstate the loss of the third string running back either. No need to play Doomsday prognosticator at every opportunity. That last sentence might have cost me my Notre Dame fan card…

Part II: Fellow HLS author, andrewwinn provides some broader thoughts on the Bryant suspension as well:

Greg Bryant has been suspended for an entire football season because he can’t maintain a minimum grade point average. I’m disappointed in Bryant, because he’s talented and he’s squandered a decent opportunity to live up to the 5-star rating he received coming out of high school.

Bryant was already going to miss the four games for a matter unrelated to academic performance. Irish fans have become sadly accustomed to this sort of unfortunate development during the offseason.

Witness:

March 21, 2011 – Michael Floyd suspended for spring practice (arrest)

May 2012 – Tommy Rees & Carlo Calabrese suspended one game (police)

Aug. 26, 2012 – Cierre Wood & Justin Utopo suspended two games (violating team rules)

May 26, 2013 – Everett Golson suspended for the season (academic)

Dec. 22, 2013 – Jerian Grant suspended for the remainder of season (academic)

Dec. 28, 2013 – George Atkinson III suspended one game (violation of team rules)

Jan. 9, 2014 – DaVaris Daniels suspended for the spring semester (academic)

June 24, 2014 – Will Mahone suspended indefinitely (arrest)

Aug. 16, 2014 – KeiVarae Russell, DaVaris Daniels, Ishaq Williams and Kendall Moore suspended for the season (academic – cheating)

Aug. 28, 2014 – Eliar Hardy suspended for eight games (academic)

June 29, 2015 – Greg Bryant suspended four games (violation of team rules)

Aug. 4, 2015 – Greg Bryant suspended for season (academic)

We here at Her Loyal Sons have made many jokes at the expense of college coaches – in consort with local police departments – who have declined to discipline players after their brushes with the law or their failures in the classroom.

The university’s decision to suspend Bryant – like the Frozen Four and Everett Golson before him – demonstrates it simply will not tolerate academic missteps, whether through cheating or poor performance. It is also a public acknowledgment that the student-athlete’s support staff failed in its endeavor to keep the individual eligible to participate in athletics.

Notre Dame’s main recruiting pitch is how a four-year commitment to the university will lay the foundation for a 40-year career after college. I see it as a positive sign that students are held accountable for their classroom performance.

That’s why it shocked me to hear comments from Mike Frank on his Power Hour podcast after Bryant’s first suspension was announced.

When you look at the big picture of it, if you’re an outsider looking at it, they don’t really look for reasons why. They just look at, ‘Oh, here’s another guy suspended.’ It doesn’t lodge in their brain like it does for us who follow it very, very closely. To the casual Notre Dame fan or recruiting prospect, all they look at is whatever rolls across the ticker on ESPN or through social media – ‘Another Irish player suspended.’ And that’s what really resonates through. Again, I don’t want to sit and harp on it. It’s just – sooner or later, something’s got to be fixed with this. Hopefully they will get things squared away with this, because I do think it’s going to be affecting the program moving forward if you continue to have these problems – not unlike the University of Florida and Florida State when they had all these issues going on with arrests and things like that. Sooner or later that stuff starts to affect you. The same thing is going to happen to Notre Dame if they continue this way.

Frank’s supposition – I believe – was that other coaches would use these suspensions as a negative recruiting tool, by suggesting any misstep will lead to automatic loss of significant game-time. If that were true, why didn’t Michael Floyd miss a game after being cited for driving under the influence in 2011? Tommy Rees and Carlo Calabrese probably missed a fun trip to Dublin, but their talents were hardly needed in that 50-10 shellacking of Navy.

I’m sure Frank is right that other coaches say terrible things about Notre Dame when they’re trying to sway a teenager to their college. They may even suggest to prospective student-athletes that it’s hard to make grades at Notre Dame.

But I’m not sure how Notre Dame could sell a recruit on its “4-for-40” plan, only to have that undone by a competing coach. It’s fair to assume that a high school student commits to Notre Dame, in part, because he’s serious about his education. What serious student would be worried about a scenario in which, at most, 6 percent of scholarship athletes on the football team miss games because of academic reasons?

Greg Bryant made his own mistakes. He wasn’t dragged down by an unwritten university policy that makes classes tougher for student-athletes, by a cabal of conniving professors or by zealous police officers looking to beef up numbers. He did something stupid (and perhaps not for the first time) to warrant the four-game suspension and then didn’t put the same effort into his classes that his teammates did. So he’s paying the consequence.

Not to pick on Frank – because I think he speaks for a significant subset of Notre Dame fans – but I’m befuddled as to what is his alternative to suspensions. No one wants to hear about suspensions, but surely that doesn’t mean the university should sweep any academic misconduct or abuse of alcohol or drugs under the proverbial rug. Right?

I also don’t care for the idea of coaches as nannies. These are teenage boys who, like the rest of us, will do dumb things from time to time. I’d hate to see the university or football program institute some sort of monitoring system. If a football player wants to abuse alcohol or drugs – or cheat on a test – he’s going to find a way to do it, no matter how many times the coach, his parents and his peers have chirped in his ears that it’s wrong.

Instead, I think it’s important that the university – and by extension the coaches – clearly define the support system that is available to the player for all facets of his life and periodically check in with that player to make sure he’s balancing his responsibilities on and off the field.

I wish Greg Bryant all the best of luck as he continues to pursue his college degree and, hopefully, his football career at Notre Dame.

The post Bryant Still a Student, Will Miss 2015 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Cruel Summer: Greg Bryant Suspended for Four Games

Ryan Ritter — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 10:00:55 +0000

The five-star gun show won’t appear until the season is well under way. (AP Photo/South Bend Tribune, Robert Franklin)

Bad things happen in threes. On the day that Everett Golson announced he would transfer from Notre Dame, Bo Wallace announced that he would not be enrolling at Notre Dame. After the one-two punch on that fateful day in May, we’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop and fill the offseason trinity of pain.

Yesterday morning, that shoe came crashing down as Irish247 announced that a source confirmed Greg Bryant would be suspended for the first four games of 2015 for the ever-so-specific “violation of team rules.” There was some smoke about something like this going down even back to the spring, but nothing of substance seemed to come of it. Personally, I just wrote such scuttlebutt off as someone trolling during the offseason to see if it would stick.

Either way, that day is now here and Bryant is gone until Notre Dame visits Clemson.

The good news is that Bryant isn’t a starter and you could argue that C.J. Prosise showed enough at RB in spring ball to, at the very least, give Bryant a run for is money at his spot on the depth chart. The better news is that Byrant is still enrolled at Notre Dame and reportedly has no plans to transfer. The bad news is that this is a five-star recruit that we’ve all been waiting to have a breakout year and riding the pine for four games certainly doesn’t help that cause.

And of course, the further bad news is that this is another crappy offseason story for Notre Dame. Granted, it’s rare for any major college program to survive an offseason without something happening (an issue that Moons is investigating for tomorrow), but that doesn’t make it suck any less.

Still, in an attempt to find a silver lining, file this under “let’s hope correlation equals causation”: in the 2012 offseason, Notre Dame had offseason issues with a quarterback and running back battling for depth chart supremacy. Tommy Rees and Cierre Wood found themselves suspended to start the year and Everett Golson and Theo Riddick took their opportunities and ran with it all the way to a national title berth.

Yes, I am well aware this situation is completely different as Everett transferred and Folston is easily the top back for ND right now, BUT DAMMIT I’M TRYING HERE.

Anyways, and in all seriousness, Bryant staying at Notre Dame should be treated as more than just a sidenote in this situation. Count me in among the hopeful that believe Bryant will indeed live up to his recruiting hype. Count me in as further hopeful that Bryant will come back after his suspension ready to make an impact. And even if he doesn’t, the worst case scenario is that Folston and Prosise tear it up in Bryant’s absence with two hungry freshmen, Josh Adams and Dexter Williams, waiting in the wings and Bryant may struggle to get carries in that crowd.

Let that simmer for a while. Despite this hit to the depth chart, Notre Dame has four options in the backfield (and they likely won’t have to use the freshmen either).

With all that said, please let the end of the offseason come swiftly and without any more bad news because I’ve had my fill and it’s not even July.

The post Cruel Summer: Greg Bryant Suspended for Four Games appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Straight Expectations: Chapter Two – Greg Bryant

Moons — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 10:00:21 +0000

It’s hard to imagine any player better personifying the term “expectations” than rising junior Greg Bryant. With arms as chiseled and meme worthy as any since the Brady Quinn days and a pedigree to match, the cliché’ of “it’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’” seemed a fitting tag line for describing Bryant’ s ascent to greatness. The departures of both Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood following the National Title Game in 2013 left a seeming void in the backfield. Yet, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who wasn’t optimistic about the highly recruited pair of Bryant and Tarean Folston.

In many ways, Bryant’s career thus far has the same feel as the man he was in essence being asked to replace: Cierre Wood. The recruiting parallels are eerie. Both hail from football rich states. In Wood’s case, California. In Bryant’s case, Florida. Each was valued by 247 Sports composite ranking as the 6^th best running back recruit nationally and a top 100 overall player. Each arrived on campus with plenty of buzz about how he would turn around the Irish’s fortunes in the backfield. Finding a feature back had proven to be an elusive task. After having a 1,000 yard rusher in 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006, when Wood arrived in 2009, it had been several years of struggling to find that feature style back. Many viewed him as the answer.

Wood wouldn’t play at all during his freshman season which also happened to be Charlie Weis’ last. During Brian Kelly’s inaugural campaign, Wood found himself thrust into game action more regularly when incumbent starter Armando Allen was lost to injury. Wood finished the season with 600+ yards rushing, a yards per carry average over 5.0, and 3 touchdowns. It was Wood’s junior campaign when he settled into the role of star(ter). Wood did in fact become a 1,000 yard rusher nearly doubling both his carries and yards from sophomore to junior year. He again averaged 5.0+ yards per carry and scored 9 touchdowns. There was a place in Brian Kelly’s system for an explosive, dynamic runner, and Wood showed just what that could accomplish.

Fast forward to 2015, and Greg Bryant enters his junior season under similar circumstances. Bryant was limited to just 3 carries his freshman year. An early season injury led to Bryant’s sidelining, and everyone was forced to press pause on the presumed Bryant highlight reel. An explosive run during the 2014 Blue & Gold Game started the hype train anew. 2014 was in many ways a failure to launch for Bryant. Part of this was because classmate Tarean Folston took his strong end to the 2013 season and (excuse the pun) ran with it to become the featured back. While never outright acknowledged by Brian Kelly, it also seemed that some perceived deficiencies in pass blocking and perhaps some mental lapses also kept Bryant buried behind team heart throb Cam McDaniel.

Despite receiving only 54 rushing attempts, Bryant finished second on the team with 289 net rushing yards (1st – Folston, 889). Bryant’s 5.4 yards per carry was exceeded only by Malik Zaire (5.7) among back field members who received at least 20 carries. And, while maybe not ideal, Bryant’s 27 yard rush in the USC game was the Irish’s longest rush by any running back in 2014.

As Bryant enters 2015, his story remains one of untapped potential, but with Cam McDaniel’s departure, the time is ripe for Bryant’s full impact to be felt. 57 rushing attempts, like 103 snaps for a quarterback, can only tell you so much, but consider these interesting tidbits I found looking at every carry of Bryant’s career:

For his career, Greg Bryant is averaging 5.3 yards per carry. That’s better than either of Tarean Folston’s season averages as well as Cierre Wood’s averages for his sophomore or junior year. In fact, Bryant’s 5.4 ypc average last year was the 8^th best average for any Notre Dame player who received at least 50 carries in a season since 2000.

While perhaps anecdotal proof of Kelly’s lack of faith in Bryant’s pass protection, Bryant has received just 3 third down carries in his career thus far. However, in each of his three third down carries, Bryant rushed for the requisite yardage to get a first down* (Only 2 of the 3 led to a first down as one play involved a 15 yard sideline interference penalty which moved the chains backwards). There is an advanced metric some analysts use called play efficiency. Loosely, it looks at each individual play and decides whether the play was “successful” (efficient) or not based on its progress towards achieving a first down.

I looked at each of Bryant’s carries and assessed it as efficient or not based on the following criteria: (1) A first down play was efficient if it gained at least 40% of the necessary yards required to get a first down (at least 4 yards under normal circumstances). (2) A second down was efficient if it gained at least 50% of the remaining yards necessary to achieve a first down (2^nd and 5…a rush of at least 2.5 yards would be deemed “efficient”). (3) All third or fourth down plays must gain 100% of the yards remaining to be deemed efficient.

Looking at all of Bryant’s carries, 68% of attempts by Bryant have been efficient. His efficiency by down is:

1^st Down: 64%

2^nd Down: 73%

3^rd Down: 100%

Interestingly, despite at times being accused of dancing too much in the backfield, Bryant has just 6 carries which resulted in negative yards. Of those 6, only 3 have been for more than a loss of one, and only one has resulted in a loss of greater than 2 yards.

It’s difficult to set a baseline of success for Bryant’s junior year. All summer the questions about Mike Sanford’s impact will remain as well as the questions on Malik Zaire as a starter. If the team truly moves towards a power rushing attack with greater use of spread/speed option concepts, Bryant’s got all of the tools to be a superstar. Then again, that’s been true since his arrival. It seems only fair to expect Tarean Folston to receive at the very least close to a 50/50 split of playing time unless the dynamic changes.

While I’d love to continue the parallels to Cierre Wood and state I expect Bryant to follow suit and become the next 1,000 yard Notre Dame rusher, I’m going to say we’ll see 2011-esqe stat lines but slightly differently. I see Folston as the guy likely to see an uptick in rushing yards to the 1,100 yard range with a 5.1 ypc. Bryant might end up with a stat line more like Jonas Gray’s 2011: 800-900 yards and a yards per carry exceeding 6.

From what we’ve seen from Bryant, it would be unfair to pencil him in to suddenly be a 20-25 carry per game work horse. After all, we’ve yet to see that out of him, and with Folston and Zaire in the back field, thinking any of those three will consistently get that many carries is unlikely. That’s okay.

Where Bryant’s value can shine through is as the homerun threat similar to what Wood became his junior and senior years. After having no rushes of even 40 yards his sophomore season, Wood had rushes in excess of 50 yards in each of his junior and senior seasons. That’s what Bryant is capable of. An efficient game breaker. And that’s my expectation for Bryant in 2015: He’ll rush for at least 800 yards, score at least 7 touchdowns, and have at least 1 touchdown of 60+ yards. Yeah, I could live with that.

The post Straight Expectations: Chapter Two – Greg Bryant appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

How Do We Judge Brian Kelly in 2015?

Ryan Ritter — Tue, 26 May 2015 10:00:11 +0000

via @WatchND

The public and constant evaluation of the head coach of Notre Dame football might as well stand with death and taxes in the certainties of life. It comes with the territory and, in this day and age, provides easy fodder for spilling internet ink on blogs, forums, and social media.

However, just because this fruit hangs low doesn’t mean it isn’t worth taking a look at. Looking at a coach’s progress and/or expectations is a solid health check for the program in both its current state and the future. The higher the standard, the better the program.

Since the time that I started my Notre Dame obsession, the Ty Willingham years when I walked onto campus in 2003 season (yeah, I didn’t even get to enjoy 2002…), to now, I have learned that there are two absolutes to this little exercise:

A “national title or bust” attitude is an impossible standard, especially in this current era where parity is at an all-time high. Even in this playoff era, expecting to always be one of the top four teams in all of college football is a little unrealistic. This should always be the ultimate goal for any serious program like Notre Dame, but if this is your annual expectation, expect to be disappointed almost every year.
Mediocrity is unacceptable. Every Notre Dame fan will agree with that statement. Every Notre Dame fan will have their own definition for just what the hell mediocrity is.

In my opinion, the definition of mediocrity in regards to ND football is the #1 argument among ND fans. It’s also the #1 thing that has college football fans around the nation ready and willing to laugh at us once they claim to see or hear an Irish fan proudly setting an absurdly high bar, usually with a specific win number attached to it, as their definition of mediocrity.

And, to be honest, using the number of wins as the sole measuring stick every year seems to be a fool’s errand. Schedules and their difficulty are fluid entities and thus so should the number of wins expected on an annual basis. Further, who the wins and losses come against should matter. For example, beating LSU in the Music City Bowl was a fantastic win, but that doesn’t wash away just how bad the Northwestern loss was.

Or, to put it another way, think of every argument that we’ve use against other teams and their inflated win totals when debating rankings. It cuts both ways.

Rankings, as volatile as they can be, are likely a better standard to judge a team and its coach. In fact, when Bill Connelly of SBNation did his preview for Notre Dame, he did so with the title of “Notre Dame football has no excuse to finish outside the top 20” instead of assigning a win total. Basically, it’s asking the audience to judge Notre Dame’s potential as one of the 20 best teams in college football, rather than making the assumption that a 9 or 10 win season gets ND there.

And with practically every starter returning for Notre Dame in 2015, Bill’s standard of a top 20 finish might actually be something of a low bar for the Irish to clear. Sure, Malik Zaire, with only one start at quarterback under his belt, is a huge wildcard for this team, but then again, so was Everett Golson in 2012. Now, I’m not saying Zaire should go 12-0 (after all, he doesn’t have a veteran like Tommy Rees as a safety net), but I am saying that I expect that Brian Kelly is true to his “next man in” mantra and can recruit quarterbacks in the same caliber as Golson and results shouldn’t see a major drop off.

Even with a rookie QB, the offense has an embarrassment of riches in their two-deep. Will Fuller should have himself a whale of a season with opposing defenses needing to worry about the new dynamic that Zaire brings to the run game with Tarean Folston and Greg Bryant in the backfield. The offensive line brings back 67 career starts and, thankfully, zero need to thrust a true freshman into the two-deep this season.

While the offense has plenty of weapons, Brian Van Gorder’s defense is the bigger question mark. It’s almost impossible to judge that unit’s performance last season, an absolute collapse that followed incredible early success. That collapse, however, was triggered by practically everyone getting injured. The injury situation became so comical/sad, that no one would’ve been surprised if Kelly pulled someone from the stands to play LB last season just to get a warm body in there. Still, even with all the questions surrounding the defense, with the return of KeiVarae Russell to the secondary, coupled with the 2014 starters coming back healthy, you would think that situation will never get to the lows that it saw last season.

So with all that being said, for me, judging Kelly boils down to two huge factors:

Can he coach Zaire to succeed with all of the weapons that surround him? We’ve seen Kelly’s success in recruiting at the skill positions; in fact, 2014 was “who will step up at WR?” and then Fuller happened. So now it’s time to see if he can translate that success to the all-important QB position. After all, Kelly had the Cincinnati offense running so well in his final season there that it looked like a fern could slide in a QB with no dropoff. But was that thanks to then assistant Jeff Quinn or has Kelly found the right guy in Mike Sanford?
Has Kelly found the proper replacement for Bob Diaco in Brian VanGorder? There’s certainly plenty of talent on the defensive side on the ball to be solid and with practically every starter having a year of experience in VanGorder’s system, there should be marked improvement. If there isn’t, I’m personally going to be a little concerned that Kelly without Diaco could equal defensive nightmares down the road.

And as far as the results in the rankings, here’s how I see it and where I see Kelly’s future in each scenario:

Unranked: Something went terribly, terribly wrong. Unless the 2014 injury bug returned, Kelly’s seat is going to get quite warm going into 2016.
Top 25: Fully within this team’s potential; however, if the Irish struggle to just hang on to their ranking, Kelly should certainly shoulder some criticism and his seat should be “Jack Swabrick ‘accidentally’ left the seat warmer on” level of warmth.
Top 20: I think Bill’s earlier headline is a decent standard, but on the low end of what this team could and should achieve. The only way I see Kelly’s seat getting warm in this situation if is something disastrous like “lost to UMass/Temple” is something that we have to say about the season.
Top 15: Personally, this is what I want to see. It’s aggressive for a new QB, but the Irish simply return too much talent for me to sleep on them (especially as a homer). Another reason for this: the Irish lost an absurd amount of fumbles last season and that seems to correct itself quite quickly the following year. I expect turnovers to be down across the board, but even in a worst case scenario, dumb luck alone should improve it. As for Kelly? Everything remains status quo.
Top 10: High end of my personal expectations. A lot has to go right for this to happen, but this team has a lot of “trendy sleeper pick for playoff contention that really isn’t a sleeper” going on in my mind right now. Kelly’s 2012 season now looks more like a realistic occurrence than a one-time outlier.
Playoffs: This isn’t even on my radar this season. Personally, I’ll be thrilled if the Irish find their way into the conversation. If they somehow make it, sign him to the Weis deal (kidding).
National Title: Actually sign him to the Weis deal.

Yes, you can bookmark this post and throw it in my face later if it looks like I start to backtrack if things go south. Simply put, I have high expectations for the Irish this season despite new QB and questionable defense concerns and it ain’t just because I’m looking at everything with blue and gold glasses. This team is absurdly talented and I cannot wait to wait them kick off against Texas in September.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know how you see it.

The post How Do We Judge Brian Kelly in 2015? appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Morning Roundup: April 3, 2015

andrewwinn — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 12:00:59 +0000

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 ($): Video: Lucas at The Opening ( AZ RB Chase Lucas)
Dawg Post (F): Big get for Dawgs – Price commits ( GA OT E.J. Price)
Irish247 (F): Robinson, family excited about Notre Dame offer ( KY CB Davonte Robinson)
Irish Turning Point: The buzz buzz
Scout (F): Offers coming in for Ulmer, Robinson ( KY CB Davonte Robinson)
Scout ($): 4-star TE Angeline planning Penn State return (PA Cary Angeline)
Scout ($): 4-star TE Angeline gets Michigan fill (PA Cary Angeline)
Scout ($): ND history on, off field impresses 4-star TE (PA Cary Angeline)
Scout ($): Fulton likes LSU’s DB track record ( LA CB Kristian Fulton)
Slap the Sign: Notre Dame offers ’17 Florida offensive lineman Dillan Gibbons
USC Football.com: Trevon Sidney steals the show ( CA CB, also CA WRs Tyler Vaughns and Dylan Crawford)

RECRUITING – ND INTERESTED, NO OFFER

Big Red Report (F): Brendan Scales talks about Nebraska offer ( MO TE)
Big Red Report (F): D.J. Morgan adds Nebraska offer ( CA S)
Irish Illustrated ($): LaBruna visits dream school (CA QB Andrew LaBruna, no rating yet)
Scout ($): Alloway has two on top ( CA WR Damian Alloway)
Show Me Mizzou ($): Mizzou offer for Scales ( MO TE Brendan Scales)

CURRENT TEAM

CSN Sportsnet Chicago: Notre Dame won’t be surprised by Will Fuller’s growth
Inside the Irish: Opportunities await Notre Dame’s running backs
Inside the Irish: Spring practice breakdown: A look inside (finally!)
Irish247 ($): Irish staff navigating through quarterback competition
Irish247 (F): Denbrock: ‘(QB) is going to be a hard decision to make’
Irish247 (F): Smythe leads the way for Irish at tight end
Irish Illustrated (F): From a one in a thousand chance to…
One Foot Down: Notre Dame football – Spring practice recap for April 1
Rant Sports: 5 questions for Notre Dame football during 2015 spring practice

COACHING

CBS Sports: Power Five college football coach rankings: The top 25 (Brian Kelly is #13)
Irish Illustrated (F): The village voice(s)
Irish Illustrated (F): Sanford scouting style, substance

IRISH IN THE NFL

Bleacher Report (Monaco): Notre Dame football: DaVaris Daniels, Kendall Moore eye NFL careers
ESPN: Atlanta Falcons waive safety Zeke Motta
Irish247 (F): Daniels ready for next step
Irish247 (F): Boosting draft stock was Koyack’s Pro Day focus
Irish Turning Point: Pro Day results
State of the Texans (F): Vince Wilfork is “here for Houston” (Louis Nix)

MISC.

USA Today: College football playoff will keep weekly rankings

The post Morning Roundup: April 3, 2015 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Morning Roundup: March 18, 2015

andrewwinn — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 12:00:31 +0000

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 press conference (3:16)

PODCAST

Blue & Gold Illustrated: The Irish Huddle (28:15)

RECRUITING (2016 offers / 2017 offers)

Irish Sports Daily: Oden defines determination (Tylin Oden)
Rivals: Rivals 100: 61-80 updates (Donnie Corley, Dwayne Haskins, Javon McKinley)
Scout: Scout 300: Big West movers (Jack Jones, Curtis Robinson, Brandon Burton and N’Keal Harry)
Scout: South 2016 rankings: 10 big moves (Brandon Hill, Keyshon Camp, Devin White, Patrick Bethel)
Scout: Midwest recruiting notebook (Brandon Peters, Sean Foster and Donnie Corley)
Scout: West moves outside the Scout 300 (Troy Warner)
Scout: New 4-star DL in Florida (Keyshon Camp)
Scout: Gators impress 4-star RB (Elijah Holyfield)
Scout: Commitment analysis: WR Theo Howard
Scout: 5-star Calif. LB wowed by Michigan (Part 1 – Caleb Kelly)
Scout: 5-star Calif. LB wowed by Michigan (Part 2)
Scout: No. 1 safety talks recruiting (Brandon Jones, although Notre Dame is not in his top 10)
Scout: Lewis has special feeling in Baton Rouge (Cameron Lewis)
Scout: Holmes takes Big 12 swing (Darnay Holmes)
Scout: Week in review: Chicago area (Julian Love)
Scout: Houston recruiting notebook (3/18/15 – Eric Monroe, Dontavious Jackson, Deontay Anderson and Devwah Whaley)

CURRENT TEAM

AP: Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly unsure on starting QB
Bleacher Report (Monaco): Notre Dame football: What to expect at the start of spring ball
Blue & Gold Illustrated: Notebook: ND ready for spring ball (Everett Golson, Malik Zaire, Nick Martin, Matt Hegarty, Colin McGovern, Hunter Bivin, CJ Prosise, Matthias Farley, John Turner, Doug Randolph, Chase Hounshell, Jalen Brown and Ishaq Williams)
Chicago Tribune: Notre Dame enters spring with no clear No. 1 at QB
CSN Sportsnet Chicago: With depth up front, Notre Dame eyes physical practices (Greer Martini, James Onwualu, Jarrett Grace, Nyles Morgan, Jaylon Smith, Te’von Coney, John Turner, Max Redfield, Elijah Shumate, Nicky Baratti, C.J. Prosise, Tarean Folston, Greg Bryant, Matt Hegarty, Quenton Nelson, Alex Bars, Ronnie Stanley, Nick Martin, Sam Mustipher, Mark Harrell and Chase Hounshell)
CSN Sportsnet Chicago: Notre Dame LB Jarrett Grace cleared for spring practice
CSN Sportsnet Chicago: Ishaq Williams not guaranteed to return to Notre Dame
CSN Sportsnet Chicago: Notre Dame hits the reset button on quarterback competition
Elkhart Truth: Notre Dame football spring storylines: Wide receivers have top-tier potential; tight ends a mystery
Elkhart Truth: Brian Kelly believes Notre Dame has great opportunity with Golson, Zaire at QB
Goshen News: Notre Dame football: Irish start spring practice, quarterback battle between Everett Golson and Malik Zaire
Inside the Irish: Irish open spring: Five quick updates from BK (Ben Councell, Jalen Brown, Alex Bars, Quenton Nelson, Nick Martin, Matt Hegarty, Amir Carlisle, C.J. Prosise, Tarean Folston, Greg Bryant, Josh Adams, Dexter Williams, Chase Hounshell, Durham Smythe, Tyler Luatua, Everett Golson, Malik Zaire)
Irish247: Defensive line tandem highlights players to watch (Jonathan Bonner, Jhonny Williams, Jerry Tillery, Jaylon Smith, Max Redfield, Greg Bryant and Tarean Folston)
Irish247: Irish247 extra points (KeiVarae Russell, Ishaq Williams, James Onwualu, Greer Martini, Joe Schmidt, Nyles Morgan, Jarrett Grace, Joe Schmidt, Josh Atkinson, Jalen Brown, Ben Councell, Anthony Rabasa, Drue Tranquill)
Irish247: Kelly talks depth chart, position moves, QB timetable (Everett Golson, Malik Zaire, Matt Hegarty, Alex Bars, Quenton Nelson, Sam Mustipher, Tristen Hoge, John Turner, Elijah Shumate, Max Redfield, Chase Hounshell, Mike Heuerman, Durham Smythe, Nic Weishar, Tyler Luatua, Doug Randolph, C.J. Prosise and Amir Carlisle)
Irish247: Notre Dame releases spring football roster
Irish Illustrated: From second to first? (Jaylon Smith, Max Redfield)
Irish Illustrated: Spring finally suits Kelly (Matt Hegarty, Mike McGlinchey, Nick Martin, Alex Bars, Quenton Nelson, Colin McGovern, Hunter Bivin, John Montelus, Jarron Jones, Sheldon Day, Isaac Rochell, Jay Hayes, Kolin Hill, Daniel Cage, Pete Mokwuah, Andrew Trumbetti, Jhonny Williams, Grant Blankenship, Doug Randolph, Jerry Tillery, Ishaq Williams and KeiVarae Russell)
Irish Illustrated: Of graduates, nuts and realigned roles (Avery Sebastian, KeiVarae Russell, Ishaq Williams, Amir Carlisle, Connor Cavalaris, Matthias Farley, Everett Golson, Jarrett Grace, Chase Hounshell, Nick Martin, and Joe Schmidt, Montgomery VanGorder, Ben Councell, Jalen Brown, Matt Hegarty, Jarron Jones, Joe Schmidt, Drue Tranquill, Nicky Baratti, Will Fuller, James Onwualu, Nyles Morgan, Greer Martini, Te’von Coney, C.J. Prosise, John Turner, Doug Randolph, Jonathan Bonner and Jerry Tillery)
Irish Turning Point: Brian Kelly spring presser recap (Ben Councell, Jalen Brown, KeiVarae Russell, Chase Hounshell, John Turner, Doug Randolph, Greer Martini, CJ Prosise, Jonathan Bonner, Nick Martin, Will Fuller, Drue Tranquill, Jarrett Grace, Jerry Tillery, Te’von Coney, James Onwualu, Quenton Nelson and Alex Bars)
Journal Gazette: Brian Kelly: Need basketball team’s unselfishness
ND Insider: No room for excuses for Notre Dame football (Everett Golson and Brian Kelly)
ND Insider: Brian Kelly opens Notre Dame spring practice with QB questions
ND Insider: Notebook: Jerry Tillery, Te’von Coney stir interest for Notre Dame’s spring (Charlie Weis Jr.)
One Foot Down: CTTCS: Brian Kelly’s pre-spring update
UHND: Return of Ishaq Williams to Notre Dame in doubt (Jarrett Grace, Ishaq Williams, KeiVarae Russell, Matt Hegarty and Ben Councell)
UHND: Notre Dame’s Jarrett Grace cleared for spring football (Joe Schmidt, Nyles Morgan, Greer Martini and Jaylon Smith)
UHND: CJ Prosise cross-training at RB for Notre Dame