This extended to Notre Dame’s matchup with Boston College, a matchup to give Phil Jurkovec the chance to prove that he was the true winner of Notre Dame’s QB competition last year. Problem was, BC had as much of a chance of repeating a 1993 upset, as Phil did being ND QB1.

But, much like ESPN with a narrative they clearly invested too much into, Shane and I press on and cover what did actually happen before Notre Dame heads off to a well-deserved bye week.

Podcast

Twitch VoD

The post HLS Recap: The QB Controversy That Never Was appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Sure, not a soul on the active Notre Dame roster was around when South Florida kicked 2011 off into hell, but Brian Kelly, Tommy Rees, and all of us sure were. 52-0 heals a lot of wounds.

We reminisce about the Irish blowout and also discuss the Big Ten finding new “medical data”, Navy finding their mojo, FSU finding COVID, Miami finding their swagger, and Phil Jurkovec finding his game.

Oh, and the ACC Sim came for blood, y’all. It was not messing around this week!

Podcast

Twitch VoD

The post HLS Recap: Exorcising Demons appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

During our Hot Dog Bye Week podcast, this Loyal Reader revealed that he would spend his bye week Ubering around Ann Arbor during Army/Michigan weekend. Here’s his playlist:

For those keeping score at home, that’s Army’s Fight Song, The Irish Tenors, “Here Come the Irish”, and the Rudy soundtrack. There’s trolling Michigan and then there’s this next-level, real-man-of-genius moment.

I can only imagine the stream of reactions from Michigan fans as they climb into his car and slowly realize the personal hell they have entered. May his Uber rating rest in peace.

As someone who steers this entire site straight into not just the silliness of college football, but also the pettiness and trolling opportunities it offers, I respect the hell out of this effort. Further, I hope his final Uber ride is given to a group of Army fans still buzzing over an upset over the damned Skunkbears.

The Roundup

The misery index is always a fun read, but typically you don’t see “how is this school a festering corpse?!” in week 2, but I guess Tennessee was just willing to jump on that grenade.

Another fun weekly read is the “top whatever” column. However, I think we can keep the absurdity of Hugh Freeze coaching from a hospital bed at #1 forever. It’s all downhill from here–UPDATE: maybe this dumb ride will keep going.

The silly season of the coaching carousel is always a wild ride. But Tom Herman/Coach O saga a couple of years ago at LSU was a damn rollercoaster.

Ian Book is a unicorn. Maybe not the thing you expected to hear from anyone after his performance against Louisville, but he’s a part of a ever-shrinking percentage of college QBs that actually bide their time before they win the starting job.

Notre Dame did take a hit in one poll. Anxiously awaiting a certain subset of fans that trash #sportsmath to now point to the SP+ as the one true poll that actually reflected ND on the eye test.

Bill C had some other non-stat stuff that you should read. This piece is basically a national primer to some of the biggest storylines for various teams around college football and how week 1 affected them.

I think I have a Beaver correspondent now. Had another line dropped about Oregon State’s next game against Hawaii. It will be aired on Facebook Live; however, no one is quite sure exactly where on Facebook it will be. Regardless, my bet is the answer is “in more homes than the Pac 12 network.”

Offer this kid a scholarship immediately. The all-name champion is here and I don’t know how you top this.

Get me back in school. Notre Dame is offering a course discussing The Good Place. Can I take this online? Please?!

#snacktalk has reached epic proportions. Little did I realize our silly podcast would set off a seismic event of a Rudy parody done by KFC, featuring both actual Rudy (meh) and Sean Astin (YAY!). Not only does this fever dream exist, IT’S AMAZING.

Opponent Watch

Number of former ND coaches to roam the opposing sideline: still zero.

If you’ve ever wondered how Southern Cal has ended up in their current state, you should absolutely read this fascinating piece about the booster that is likely responsible.

The post Friday Roundup: The Trolling Michigan via Uber Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

As we will attempt to do after all night games this season, Shane and I hit record shortly after the final whistle.

Come for the level-headed, we got to sleep on it recap of the national scene in week 1. Stay for the knee-jerk reactions about ND’s less-than-optimal performance.

Podcast

Twitch Broadcast

The post HLS Podcast: Week 1 Recap appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Now that Douglas Farmer has unveiled the consensus top 25, much like last year, I was ready to defend my picks and hot ranking takes…except I don’t think I really need to.

This was perhaps the toughest year to rank the Irish roster and for the best reasons. When I looked back on the consensus rankings, I really didn’t have much of a problem with any variance and was surprised how much I was in line with this little Irish think-tank.

Top 25 Irish for 2019

Consensus Top 25, HLS Unranked

#25 Jayson Ademilola – Ademilola was in a group of five players that just missed my ballot. Really, this was more of a matter of “should I really rank another D-lineman over someone else?” than anything. Yeah, the big guys up front are indeed that good and I already felt like ranked damn near the whole two-deep and that’s just really wild to say.

#20 Jeremiah Owusu-Kormamoah – The downside to this year’s ballot is that we didn’t get the benefit of practice reports or film to watch before we submitted our ballots. Owusu-Kormamoah was absolutely on my radar being the first true rover recruited, but just didn’t have much data on him. I’m quite happy that people more plugged in where already in on him before the reports that he is progressing as hoped so far early in fall camp.

#18 Jarrett Patterson – Patterson was also in my group of five players that I just left off. At the end of the day, again, I didn’t have enough data even though internal scuttlebutt was already rather high on him. Another case of me deciding to take a shot on someone else.

HLS Top 25, Consensus Unranked

Kyle Hamilton (HLS #25) – I believe that this is the first time that I’ve ever done this exercise and only put in one freshman. This is also the first time that my “bottom” three in my ranking were the only ones that didn’t make it. This is also the first time that I believe I’ve grossly under-ranked a freshman.

Unless y’all have been living under a rock, Kyle Hamilton is the damn truth. Ryan Harris dropped by our annual ND Dallas Kickoff event, had the crowd repeat his name over and over, and then said he was going to win a Heisman.

You know what, I wouldn’t doubt it.

Kevin Austin (HLS #24) – I wasn’t the only one that had Austin, who is this year’s double-secret-probation award winner much like Kevin Stepherson and Dexter Williams before him, on their ballot. While I don’t think he’s going to make a Dex-like impact when he finally gets some touches, this kid has loads of talent.

I’m just hoping he gets out of the dog house enough to flash it. Even if he doesn’t, the crew of Chase Claypool, Michael Young, and Chris Finke (all consensus top 25) will be more than enough firepower.

Houston Griffith (HLS #23) – I only worry that Griffith is lost the Kyle Hamilton shuffle right now. There’s good talent there, but it’s a matter of figuring out where to put him and, right now, my gut is the focus is getting Hamilton on to the field first.

Don’t sleep on Griffith though, I’m still expecting a big impact from him before he leaves ND.

Closing Thoughts

How in the world was Jafar Armstrong (Consensus #11, HLS #5) rated so low?! My best guess is there is both a concern of durability from last year’s injury and the fact that he’s a converted WR.

From where I sit, Jafar is a key cog in the Irish offense not just on the ground, but in the passing game as well. Only Dexter Williams had more receptions than Jafar did last season and that kind of a reliable target is key in a spread offense to counter…let’s say a strong front seven of an SEC East favorite on the road.

The biggest variance I had with the crowd was with Shaun Crawford (Consensus #23, HLS #15) which I somewhat expected, but perhaps not with an eight-spot difference. Yes, I understand the health concerns, but that wasn’t the ask. It’s if they play, who’s got the talent.

Bottom line: Crawford makes plays.

In the two games he saw action in 2016, Crawford had a pick. In 2017, he had two INTs, a forced fumble that prevented a Sparty TD (and basically was the turning point in the game), had another fumble recovery against BC, and had 1.5 sacks and 1.5 TFLs to boot.

He’s not going to be the standout stud in the secondary, but there’s a reason why he’s cross-training at nickel and safety right now: ND wants him on the field.

I’m happy to see I’m not on an island this year in ranking Asmar Bilal (Consensus #19, HLS #14), but I’m going to keep stumping for him like I did last season. People see the shifting in positions as a downside of “hasn’t found a fit”, but I see “Bilal plays his way into the starting lineup.”

The only returning players with more TFL in 2018 than Bilal are Khalid Kareem and Julian Okwara–not too shabby for playing a position that’s a linebacker/safety hybrid that wasn’t his “natural” position.

Finally, I would like to take a victory lap from 2018 in being one of the four that had the courage to rank Ian Book (Consensus #2, HLS #3) in their top 25. The only thing I regret was not being the one that had him ranked the highest last season.

The post Notre Dame Roster Top 25 Countdown 2019 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Anyway, I forgot to tune in because 1) I was actually attending a social gathering, and 2) nobody from Notre Dame was even remotely involved. And if you think about that, isn’t that sort of funny? Who would have ever guessed that a Notre Dame squad could go undefeated in the regular season with an incredibly good starting quarterback, and that QB wouldn’t even get invited to NYC? Every Saturday this fall I would regularly marvel at Book’s abilities, whether he was destroying defenses with his lethal efficiency or putting the game on his back and forcing good things to happen to keep ND’s playoff hopes alive. And yet he didn’t get invited to NYC.

Book, while a major injection of offensive output for ND, was simply not on the same tier as either Kyler Murray or Tua Tagovailoa, but even I was sort of stunned by the difference when I really looked at the stats.

Among the 4 QBs in this year’s playoffs, Tua and Murray are simply other-dimensional. Both managed QBRs of over 200 while maintaining YPAs over 11. Absurd. Where Book was an engineer of excellent scoring drives, Tua and Murray were destroyers of worlds. Both had at least 18 more TDs than Book’s 19 on the season. Meanwhile, Book’s season compares quite well with 2 of ND’s best QBs of the recent era, Brady Quinn and Jimmy Clausen. Ian managed to have a better completion % and QBR than either Brady or Jimmy in their best seasons. Further, Ian managed to best at least one of the duo in 4 of the 8 categories examined above. Pretty damned good. Ian’s only problem is that he’s had this wonderful season while the college football world was having its collective mind blown by Tua and Murray. Not unlike opening a wonderful movie at the same time as Star Wars: A New Hope.

The post Ian Book Is Smokey and the Bandit appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Interestingly enough, “Rudy” had its world premier in South Bend exactly 25 years ago this month. That season, the Fighting Irish went into the last game of the year, at home, undefeated and #1, only to be beaten by a substantially lower-ranked opponent. Let this be a dire and horrifying warning!

For October is the month of horror, ending as it does with Halloween, the night when ghosts and demons cavort openly among the living. American film-goers love to be horrified, because they know that what they are watching is not real. Irish football fans hate to be horrified, because what they see before them is oh-so very real.

Thus, let us bring together movies, the Fighting Irish, and the Naval Academy Midshipmen (who can be all too horrifying) and re-imagine some horror films with better endings:

“The Poseidon Adventure”

In theaters: A rogue wave capsizes a cruise ship, killing all but our heroes, led by a Minister.

In San Diego: A wave of Irish offense swamps the Middies, led by our hero, a Book.

“The Last Voyage”

In theaters: A heroic father leads his wife and daughter to safety after a boiler explosion sends a cruise ship to the bottom.

In San Diego: A heroic Kelly leads his Irish and their fans to victory after an explosive Notre Dame sends Navy to defeat.

“The Perfect Storm”

In theaters: Three deadly weather systems converge on a fishing boat which is engulfed by the sea.

In San Diego: Eleven deadly defensemen converge on the hapless Middies who are engulfed in loss – unfortunately for Navy, it will be Tranquill weather.

“Below”

In theaters: Terrible things happen on a Navy submarine.

In San Diego: Terrible things happen to Navy next to their submarines.

“Jaws”

In theaters: A great white shark eats people.

In San Diego: A great Irish defense eats Middies.

“The Abyss”

In theaters: Divers encounter underwater aliens.

In San Diego: What the Middies will be staring into.

“Dead Calm”

In theaters: A murderer pirates a sailboat.

In San Diego: The Navy cheering section.

“Deep Rising”

In San Diego: Irish Rising

“Moby Dick”

In San Diego: A cut-blocker

“All Is Lost”

In San Diego: The Story of the Navy Midshipmen

“A Night to Remember”

In San Diego: The Story of the Fighting Irish

EFS CSC

The post Good Fridays w/Padre: The Horror appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Still, a game with rainy conditions, in Florida, on New Year’s Day, facing an opponent with a solid defense, especially in the secondary against a shaky passer, with multiple key ND players suspended, and seeing a last minute stripping of a captaincy from a defensive star didn’t inspire much pre-game confidence. An opening 35 yard strike from Brandon Wimbush to Equaniemous St. Brown restored it. Watching Josh Adams rush for a loss of three on a 4th and 1 behind the Joe Moore Award winning offensive line snatched it back away.

And so started another ride on roller coaster that is Irish fandom. The defense, as they have so often this season, upheld their part of the bargain. While they failed to register a single takeaway all game from an LSU team that does a fantastic job protecting the ball, although in this game, it appeared they really wanted the Irish to recover one of their many fumbles, they forced the LSU offense to enter in to a first quarter punt fest.

The problem: Notre Dame decided LSU needed another team to tango and joined the dance.

But with the maddening frustrations the first half, Wimbush failing to complete the easiest of passes, the Irish running questionable trick plays, and #33Trucking trying to figure out how to start its collective engine came glimmers of hope. The Irish defense stood tall on the goal line to force an LSU field goal which they promptly missed. After the Irish forced another LSU field goal attempt, this time with a different LSU kicker missing the try, Ian Book took the helm in the two minute drill and, showing shades of Thomas Rees (I cannot believe I just typed those words), led the Irish down the field for successful Justin Yoon field goal.

The 3-0 Irish lead at the half still wasn’t much to inspire confidence. Whether Wimbush was still suffering from migraines or just flat-out failing to execute, it was hard for us to all believe that Notre Dame once again was staring a QB controversy in the face. Not only that, it was abundantly clear that Book had to take over.

And, in seemingly true Irish fashion, the QB issue that we all thought would dominate the second half ended up being the last thing on anyone’s mind. An almost inexplicable error on a rolling punt saw a ball careen off an Irish player’s leg and into the waiting arms of the LSU punt team. The Tigers made the Irish pay for the mistake, scoring the first touchdown of the game via a pass completion to stud LSU RB, Derrius Guice.

If 7-3 didn’t seem an already insurmountable task to come back from in this sloppy game, Ian Book threw an interception after leading the Irish into LSU territory. Not only that, the play preceding the interception was a fantastic nine yard run from Tony Jones Jr. that put the Irish into the red zone that was promptly wiped out by a terrible illegal shift penalty that made the already nearing purple-faced Brian Kelly want to explode on the sidelines.

All the nightmares for Irish fans came rushing to the surface. Notre Dame found themselves trailing. They made far more mistakes than their opponent. LSU looked content to bleed the clock, showing the Irish they could dominate on a 75 yard TD drive that lasted 6:34 to bring the lead to 14-6 in the fourth quarter. Hope was all but lost. Painful reminders of past failures from this team and this coaching staff swelled to the surface. Same song, second verse. We’ve all seen this story before and we know how it ends.

Little did we know Book would rewrite the ending to this story.

An impressive 75 yard TD drive, highlighted by a 31 yard Dexter Williams run (who, sadly was promptly yanked after having far too big a role in a sack the next play), a 29 yard completion to Miles Boykin and a career-first TD reception from Louisiana native, Michael Young, brought the game to 14-12. We all knew what was coming next: a two-point try in the rain. If thoughts of the failures in a rain-soaked game at Clemson weren’t already in the front of my mind, my wife made sure that I would by asking me why ND would do this with about half the fourth quarter to go.

This time around, the Irish executed on a beautiful play call. It was a pass, but a high percentage shovel. It put the ball into Josh Adam’s hands. It called upon the strength of the Irish team, the offensive line, to blow LSU off the ball and Quentin Nelson gets all the bonus points in the world for his effort.

pic.twitter.com/xGQVI3kbeX

— OL Watchdog (@OLineScout) January 1, 2018

With the game tied up 14-14, LSU did their best to rip out hopeful Irish hearts. Then the unthinkable happened. We saw an opposing coach play not to lose, kicking a field goal just inches away from the goal line. Coach O’s inexplicable desire to not go for the throat after a review confirmed Guice fell just short of the goal line, on a similar shovel pass that the Irish just converted their two-point conversation, gave a Book-led Irish team one more chance.

After complaining all season that Irish receivers failed to make big plays, we got an all-timer:

ABSOLUTELY JUKED 2 DEFENDERS FOR THE NOTRE DAME WIN. #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/AQ0wY0ZLbw

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 1, 2018

One of the best secondary’s in the nation flat out got dunked on. An offense led by a Purdue QB transfer, despite how good a game he played, wasn’t enough regardless of how much time the Irish left LSU. Book ended the game with a single kneel down and that was that. The Irish had their first fourth quarter comeback of the season to claim their first January bowl victory since the 1994 Cotton Bowl against Texas A&M.

I will absolutely revel in this fantastic start to 2018 (especially considering Michigan and Stanford both blew leads in their bowl games, Southern Cal got embarrassed in theirs and, if your pettiness extends to Miami and Boston College, you can laugh at them as well); however, you won’t see me walking around in a Citrus Bowl Champion gear. There is still much work to be done and this game alone had examples of every issue that plagued the Irish all season. Plus, ND now stares yet another QB competition this season that will see four horses in the race, a trend that is getting highly concerning in the Brian Kelly era.

Still, this win is quite sweet. Notre Dame beat another quality opponent on a rather decent stage at a neutral site. LSU came to play and threw one hell of an effort at the Irish. Personally, I’m excited to see whether or not the Irish will be able to build off of this victory into the 2018 campaign.

The post There and Back Again: A Citrus Bowl Tale appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Mike Vorel wrote the magazine’s cover story, “Avoiding A Split Decision,” on the quarterback competition between redshirt sophomore DeShone Kizer and redshirt senior Malik Zaire. Vorel interviewed former Texas head coach Mack Brown, former Notre Dame quarterbacks Joe Theismann and Brady Quinn and ESPN’s Austin Ward, who covered a similar competition at Ohio State last season. These experts have all previously endured summer-long speculation on who starts and who sits, and know how the student athletes will be evaluated, what intangibles will give one the lead over the other and importance of establishing an identity around the player ultimately chosen.

Brown’s probably got the most interesting tidbit, in explaining to Vorel how Vince Young got the starting nod at Texas in 2003.

Chance Mock was the No. 1 passing efficiency quarterback in the country, but we were really young up front and we couldn’t pass protect. … Chance wasn’t a great runner. So we put Vince Young in when we had the No. 1 passing efficiency quarterback in the country, because we needed to run the ball. We just couldn’t throw. Then we won 30 games and lost two. Was it fair to Chance? Probably not. But it was the best thing at that time for our football team.

Eric Hansen, the Tribune’s ND Football Insider, writes about middle linebacker Nyles Morgan, who was blocked from playing time by captain Joe Schmidt. Now that Schmidt has graduated, great things are expected of Morgan at the middle linebacker position. Morgan, from Crete, Ill., told Hansen:

Even though I was playing behind him, people assumed we had bad blood, but I loved Joe. If I had a question, Joe would answer it anytime.

I love Hansen’s writing style, especially when he described Morgan’s practice partner, Quenton Nelson, as a “garage with arms and a snarl.”

In a separate article, Shane Walton shares with Hansen what he sees from the current Notre Dame secondary. Walton, a 2002 graduate, is the Irish’s last All-American at cornerback. Will this be the year that senior Max Redfield consistently displays the talent that earned him five stars from recruiting services in high school?

Hansen also got an one-on-one interview with Coach Brian Kelly, including his insights on quarterback gurus, academic suspensions and playing the Shamrock Series overseas. Tyler James, the Tribune’s football recruiting expert, offers a piece on the risks and rewards of offering scholarships to three-star recruits. He also talks to three of the recruiting world’s most respected analysts about how Notre Dame can become a consistent top 10 powerhouse.

The magazine also includes smaller stories written by Vorel, Hansen, James and Tribune columnist Al Lesar about freshman quarterback Ian Book, senior running back Tarean Folston, sophomore wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, nose-guard-turned-tight-end Jacob Matuska, junior offensive guard Alex Bars, junior defensive tackle Jay Hayes, sophomore linebacker Asmar Bilal, freshman safety Jalen Elliott, redshirt freshman cornerback Shaun Crawford and fifth-year senior long snapper Scott Daly. There’s also a preview of all 12 teams on Notre Dame’s 2016 schedule.

Lesar has a lead-off column that, frankly, befuddled me. He argued that, in light of a “dead heat,” that Kelly should pick Zaire because he is “brash,” the “biggest talker” and has “attitude” and “swagger.”

Trailing Michigan State by five with four minutes to play and the ball at the Irish 20, the Notre Dame offense won’t be able to look at a blueprint of how to mount a comeback. It’s going to take a unit determined to get the job done, led by a guy who defines the word moxie. He might not always have the most accurate passes or the most seamless execution, but Zaire isn’t timid about improvising his way to a successful outcome.

Perhaps Lesar missed last year’s Virginia and Temple games?

The digital edition contains audio and video segments that just can’t be included with the magazine. I’d definitely recommend paying the $4.99 for the digital version, although I’d do so only if you have an iPad or comparatively sized tablet. Even with a generous text size, it’s impossible to read the stories on an iPhone without zooming in, which in turn makes scrolling a hassle. If you’re old school, the magazine is available for $9.95 on local racks in the South Bend area. (It costs $12.95 for a mailed copy.) I’ll definitely be dog-earing my copy as the season progresses.

Buy the digital version (Android or Apple) and the hard copy here.

Disclosure: The South Bend Tribune provided Her Loyal Sons with a complimentary hard copy. I paid for the digital version.

The post HLS Review: The 2016 ND Insider Football Preview appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

All have already picked their numbers, with some announcing them through social media. Here’s the rundown:

#12 QB IAN BOOK: Book sported #11 in high school, which is currently sported by redshirt sophomore running back Justin Brent. Book said last Tuesday that he’ll be wearing #12, which was most recently worn by fellow quarterback Brandon Wimbush. Wimbush, a sophomore, will be wearing #7 this year, which was most previously worn by wide receiver Will Fuller. Fuller is now in the NFL with the Houston Texans, where he wears #15 – the same number he sported his freshman year at Notre Dame.

#50 OG PARKER BOUDREAUX: The Orlando, Fla. product wore #56 in high school, but that’s fellow guard Quenton Nelson’s number. Boudreaux said last Tuesday he’ll be wearing #50, which was defensive lineman-turned-tight-end Chase Hounsell’s number in 2014.

#83 WR CHASE CLAYPOOL: Claypool wore #21 in high school. Junior cornerback Nick Watkins sported #21 last year, although that wouldn’t preclude Claypool from wearing it on offense. The Abbotsford, British Columbia product has decided to wear #83 instead. That number was worn by Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija when he played wide receiver at Notre Dame. It was most recently worn by Jalen Guyton, who was suspended and is no longer with the team.

#74 OT LIAM EICHENBERG: Blue & Gold Illustrated’s Andrew Owens reports that Eichenberg will wear #74, but I haven’t been able to independently confirm that. (Eichberg has private accounts on Twitter and Instagram.) Eichenberg wore that number in high school and it was last worn by an Irish player – right guard Christian Lombard – in 2014.

#21 CB JALEN ELLIOTT: Elliot wore #1 in high school. Elliott’s new coach, Todd Lyght, wore than number in college for the Irish, but #1 is being reserved for special recognition this year. Elliott decided instead to wear #21, with Watkins switching to #7. No one has worn #7 on defense since Stephon Tuitt left in the university 2013 and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

DE JAMIR JONES: Jones, as far as I can tell, has not announced his number publicly. The upstate New York product wore #15 in both football, basketball and lacrosse for his high school last year. Corey Holmes wears that number on offense, but there’s no one currently assigned to that number on defense. Safety Dan McCarthy, a member of the 2012 team, was the last to sport that number as a member of the Irish defense.

LB JONATHAN JONES: Jones wore #45 in high school, which was most recently sported by defensive end Romeo Okwara. Okwara was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Giants. I’ve looked at his social media accounts, but they don’t seem to include an announcement on a jersey number.

RB TONY JONES JR.: Jones has not announced his jersey number on social media, to my knowledge. The IMG Academy product wore both #4 in football and in baseball this past year. That number is worn on offense by junior QB Montgomery “Gummy” VanGorder and on defense by linebacker Te’von Coney.

#78 OT TOMMY KRAEMER: Kraemer is looking to fill big shoes with the departure of tackle Ronnie Stanley, who was drafted by the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. What better way to get started than taking over Stanley’s #78? Kraemer, who attended Elder High School in Cincinnati, also picked the number as tribute to St. Xavier’s Matt James. James, a Notre Dame commit, died after falling from a fifth-floor balcony. Luke Massa, St. Xavier’s quarterback, wore #78 on his senior day at Notre Dame to honor James. (Stanley wore #69 that day.)

#27 CB JULIAN LOVE: Love wore #20 in high school. Again, no one is listed on Notre Dame’s spring chart as wearing #20. (RB C.J. Prosise, now with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, wore it last year.) However, Love decided on #27 instead. That means redshirt freshman linebacker Asmar Bilal is getting a new number, which is reportedly #22. (That was last worn by safety Elijah Shumate. Shumate is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.)

RB DEON MCINTOSH: McIntosh has not announced his jersey number on social media. He wore #1 in high school, but Irish Coach Brian Kelly has already indicated a different individual will be wearing that number every week.

WR JAVON MCKINLEY: As of June 9, McKinley said he did not know what number he’d be wearing. The California product wore #88 in high school, which was worn by senior Corey Robinson last year. Robinson announced Wednesday that he will forgo his senior season after suffering multiple concussions.

#32 S D.J. MORGAN: Morgan wore #27 in high school. Did Love beat him to the number? If Morgan’s Twitter announcement is any indication, he wanted a new number for a fresh start. He picked #32 and included pictures of fellow #32s – Chargers defensive back Eric Weddle and Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu. Two walk-ons – WR Cam Bryan and S Nick Ossello – wore #32 last year.

DE ADETOKUNBO OGUNDEJI: Ade wore #80 with his high school football team and #34 with the basketball team. To my knowledge, he has not announced his number.

#42 DE JULIAN OKWARA: Okwara, the younger brother of former Irish football player Romeo Okwara, wore #8 in high school. That’s sixth-year safety Avery Sebastian’s number. Okwara has decided on #42. The most famous Irish player to wear #42 was linebacker Michael Stonebreaker, part of Notre Dame’s last national championship team in 1988. Sophomore kicker/punter walk-on Jeff Riney wears #42 on offense. Walk-on linebacker Jimmy Thompson was also listed as #42 in the spring.

CB TROY PRIDE JR.: Pride said in a May 19 interview with Blue & Gold Illustrated that he has a fondness for the number 17, which he first wore during Little League. The South Carolina speedster wore #5 in high school, but said he didn’t care what number he was assigned. “I could be a number 63, and I’ll go out there and be a lockdown 63,” he told the publication. Linebacker James Onwualu wears #17 for the Irish and #5 is worn by fellow linebacker Nyles Morgan.

Credit: Instagram

#54 LS JOHN SHANNON: Shannon wore #42 in high school, which classmate Julian Okwara has already claimed. Shannon announced on Instagram that he’d be sporting #54, which is also worn by defensive lineman Lincoln Feist. It was also worn in 2011 by inside linebacker Anthony McDonald and in 2007 by outside linebacker Anthony Vernaglia. No offensive player has worn #54 in more than a decade.

Early enrollees:

• DE Daelin Hayes is wearing #9, last worn by LB Jaylon Smith. Smith was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys, and is wearing #54 with them.
• DE Khalid Kareem is wearing #53, which is also worn by OL Sam Mustipher on offense and last worn on defense by DL Justin Utupo in 2014.
• S Devin Studstill was wearing #13, which was last worn on defense by outside linebacker Danny Spond, who last played in 2013. (Blue & Gold Illustrated reports he’s switching to #14.)
• S Spencer Perry is wearing #31, which was worn last year by safety John Turner. Turner graduated.
• WR Kevin Stepherson is wearing #29 in honor of a high school teammate, Johnnel Johnson, who was shot and killed by a classmate at a house party. Kicker Sam Kohler, a walk-on, is also wearing #29.

Blue & Gold Illustrated has a good rundown of the non-freshmen who are switching jersey numbers.

The post Freshman Reveal Jersey Numbers appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.