Jimmy Clausen

Notre Dame quarterback Rick Mirer scores a touchdown against the defense of Michigan's David Key (26) and Chris Hutchinson (97) at Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 15, 1990. (Getty Images / John Biever)

Who Was The Greatest Irish Signal Caller In Modern History?

April 5, 2016 by Jimmy Grant

Ask 10 Notre Dame fans and you might get 10 different answers. Their opinion may be influenced by the player’s NFL performance or penalized for not living up to expectations. I’ve developed a simple and easy formula to determine who was the greatest quarterback in Notre Dame history (minimum 10 starts). I measure a quarterback by his completion percentage, his total yards, his yards per attempt, his touchdown percentage, his interception percentage and the number of fourth quarter ...

Brandon Wimbush As Starter: A Hypothetical

March 18, 2016 by andrewwinn

"If you dropped a red shirt freshman Brandon Wimbush into ND's QB competitions of 2010, 2011 and 2012, would he win all three?" Irish Illustrated's Pete Sampson offered this hypothetical Tuesday on Twitter. Sampson added Wednesday that he believed Wimbush would have prevailed each year, underscoring his point that this is the best depth in the Brian Kelly era. Kelly indicated Tuesday that Wimbush would be given an opportunity to compete for the starting spot, backing off comments he made ...

Can Kelly Coach Quarterbacks?

March 7, 2016 by Bayou Irish

In today's piece, I respond to a comment made by loyal reader Irishize that called into question Brian Kelly's ability to coach the quarterback position. In six seasons since Brian Kelly came to South Bend, the Irish have played in, and lost, one national championship game and one major bowl game. They've won fifty-five games and lost twenty-three. But what does this mean for Kelly's success with the quarterbacks? To answer the question of whether or not Brian Kelly can coach quarterbacks, I ...

Does Notre Dame Have a California Problem?

February 12, 2016 by tricerapops

I'm admittedly a fan of prospects out of California that go on to become great college football players. I especially love it when they buck the trend and go out of state, and take a chance on Notre Dame. From my days of cheering on Kory Minor, I have always had a soft spot for guys on our roster from the Golden State. Fresh off signing day 2016 and the anticlimactic Caleb Kelly announcement, I wanted to know how Brian Kelly has fared recruiting wise compared to his predecessor, Charlie Weis. ...

Courtesy of Sporting News

DeShone Kizer’s Year (In Five Charts)

January 6, 2016 by andrewwinn

Throughout the year, Her Loyal Sons has documented DeShone Kizer's surprising and outstanding season. We've compared the redshirt freshman's hot start to the beginnings of the Irish careers of Everett Golson, Tommy Rees, Dayne Crist, Jimmy Clausen and Brady Quinn. Enjoy the following five charts. No matter how you slice it, Kizer has had a better beginning than anyone in the past 15 years. (You may click on the first two graphs for a bigger size. If you'd like to see the numbers, game logs ...

Morning Roundup: Feb. 17, 2015

February 17, 2015 by andrewwinn

Good morning! Here are your headlines: PODCASTS Irish Sports Daily: 2-16-15 Power Hour (1:06:27) RECRUITING Irish Sports Daily: In the film room: Donnie Corley Irish Illustrated: Irish offer 2017 four-star (Maleik Gray) Bleacher Report (Monaco): Notre Dame football recruiting offers of the week (Cary Angeline, Maleik Gray and E.J. Price) UW Dawg Pound: 2016 UW football recruiting: The rest of the West (Devin Duvernay, Byron Murphy and Chase Lucas) USA Today: Nation's No. 3 ...

Tabling the Issue: How Does Everett Golson Do?

March 13, 2013 by Bayou Irish

One of the things I wanted to do this off season is see where Everett Golson fits in among his peers, and, thanks to the statistics nerds at www.und.com, I was able to pull all the data I needed (except for 1998) (WTH?) from the source, as it were. So, with a data-set of 21 years, I looked at each QB's Total Passing Yards (TPY), Attempts (Atts), Completions (Comps), Completion Percentage (%), Touchdowns (TD's) and Interceptions (INT's). To qualify, a quarterback had to start four games in a ...