Domers all around the country world are psyched with the offensive firepower Notre Dame hopes to unleash this year. Likewise, the Irish faithful are conscientious of how important a well assembled depth chart is – especially on defense. But, how many people are equally aware of the importance of the often forgotten third facet of the game? That’s right, we’re talking about those special teams, baby! Invariably, there will be a moment this year when the game comes down to a last second field goal, or the turning point is a clutch downed punt on the opposing team’s two yard line. Thankfully for the Irish, they return two of the most talented specialists in the country.

For The Irish: #19 K Justin Yoon, (Soph.), 5-foot-9, 190 lbs.

Justin Yoon (UND.com)

Yoo(ooooooo)n, the former number one ranked kicker in the country (according to 247sports), earned a spot on Sporting News Freshman All-America team last year after he made 15 of 17 field goals and 50 of 52 PATs. His long field goal was a 52 yard bomb against Navy – one yard less than the school record. With all of these freshman successes, “inconsistency” was the word that surrounded Yoon’s performance following the 2016 fall camp. Yoon elaborated with NDinsider.com reporter Eric Hansen:

“I’ve been having struggles hitting the ball with my foot properly…having struggles of making sure I’m finishing straight through all the way to the field goal posts in the middle. Sometimes my body alignment is off, my rhythm is off. And so I work on each and every little detail that I could to this point, and I think I’ve overcome all the hurdles. I feel like at this point, I’ve come to a solid point where I could say I’m very confident. It’s just a matter of getting ready for Texas now.”

Yoon appears to have all of the mechanical kinks worked out, picking up where he left off last year, drilling 50+ yard field goals with ease. Yoon should benefit, as he did last year, from a dynamic and explosive offense providing many red zone field goal opportunities (hopefully more PATs as well). Expect nothing short of another highly successful year in regards to the Irish kicking game on the boot of Justin Yoon.

For the Enemy: #15 K Michael Badgley (Jr.), Miami, 5-foot-10, 180 lbs.

Like Yoon, Badgley was the number one rated kicker coming out of high school (according to 247sports). Last season, Badgley set a Miami school record connecting on 25 field goals out of 30 opportunities – beating the previous record of 22. He also was perfect on all 40 PAT attempts. He set additional school records notching five field goals in one game (accomplishing this feat twice last year) and connected on a remarkable 57 yard field goal. Badgley failed to split the uprights on other attempts over 50 yards (51, 53). He was named Third Team All-ACC as voted on by the coaches.

If the Irish defense force the Miami offense into a position where Badgley is called upon five times in one game, I like the Notre Dame’s chances given the Irish potential on offense to put up multiples of 7 compared to Miami’s multiples of 3.

For the Irish: #85 P Tyler Newsome (Jr.), 6-foot-2, 210 lbs.

Credit: Michael Caterina / SB Tribune

Tyler Newsome is not your average punter. Before diving into the wide world of punting stats, let’s instead dive into the life of Notre Dame’s coolest cat. Newsome sports long, wavy, blond hair and completely out of style short shorts, which instantly qualify him as worst dressed on the team. Newsome doesn’t care. Instead he chooses to justify his short shorts with the phrase, “sky’s out, thighs out.” He also has a specific “cookin’ dance” he likes to show off after a quality punt. For more on the interesting punter, I strongly suggest reading this piece by Tim Prister of Irish Illustrated.

On to football – 2015 was the first year of punting duties for Newsome. He booted an impressive average of 44.5 yards per punt. His long punt was a solid 62 yard blast. Many, including myself, believe Newsome was snubbed from the 2016 Ray Guy Award preseason watch list – the award for the nation’s best punter. Fortunately, “watch lists” are meaningless.

Newsome’s specialties don’t end with punting  – he also manages the kickoff duties. In 13 games, he recorded 21 touchbacks in 84 kickoffs. Punting is often a thankless job, but only because everyone hates the idea of fourth down. With an established weapon at punter, the Irish should be confident in their ability to flip field position when needed.

For the Enemy: #46 P Alex Boy (Sr.), Nevada, 6-foot-3, 200 lbs.

Credit: Nevada Wolf Pack athletics

Boy is an extremely talented and experienced punter. In his time at Nevada he has played in 26 games, totaling 124 total punts amassing an amazing 5,346 total yards. He ranks second in the Nevada school record books with an average of 43.1 yards per punt. Boy has been named to the aforementioned 2016 Ray Guy Award preseason watch list. His career long is a 68 yard punt that likely produced a divot in the ground if it wasn’t caught. Fun fact – Boy walked on his freshman year. Hopefully the Irish faithful get to know Boy very well as he is forced to add to his impressive 5,346 career yards after many three-and-outs when Nevada faces off against Notre Dame in the Irish home opener.

May the Notre Dame special teams prove to be nothing short of…special in 2016.

Cheers and Go Irish!

The post Special Teams: Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

For the Irish: #5 Nyles Morgan (Jr.)

Credit: Irish Sports Daily

Nyles Morgan takes over the linebacker corps and is tasked with comprehending Brian VanGorder’s defensive scheme. Joe Schmidt’s graduation clears the way for Morgan’s elite talent, and the defense will look to rebound from large portions of 2015 where their red zone performance suffered.

While Morgan appeared in all 13 games last year, it was mostly in spot duty and accompanied by all-everything Jaylon Smith, who’s now departed for the Dallas Cowboys. Opposing offenses hope to capitalize on Morgan’s relative inexperience and the youth in Notre Dame’s defensive secondary, so the linebacker’s dual role in stopping run & pass efforts will be crucial to the team’s overall success.

Across the front seven, the Irish have enough experience to stack up well against most offensive rosters they’ll face. Morgan is the key cog in Notre Dame’s defensive system. If his potential turns to dependable play, the linebacker unit will perform well. Should Morgan’s inexperience lead to mental lapses, miscommunication on the field, or subpar positioning and fundamentals, the 2016 offense will be playing from behind more often than is prudent.

Preseason news implies that Morgan has grasped the linebacker role, and that mental understanding has caught up with his elite physical gifts. Let’s hope he can continue his improvement as fall camp concludes and the season commences.

For the Enemy: #46 Malik Jefferson (Soph. / Texas)

SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 – Texas’ Malik Jefferson, left, and head coach, Charlie Strong come out onto the field for the second half against Notre Dame at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind., on Saturday, September 5, 2015. Notre Dame defeated Texas 38-3. (RODOLFO GONZALEZ / AMERICAN-STATESMAN)

As soon as the euphoria of last year’s 38-3 Texas victory wore off, I’ve been dreading this defensive rematch with Malik Jefferson. Playing in his first collegiate game at Notre Dame and with the game out of reach for most of the second half, Jefferson still notched 9 tackles (5 solo) and 2.5 tackles for loss (a season high for him). The preseason watch lists already have tabbed him for a host of various defensive awards, and he will look to make his presence known opening weekend against Notre Dame with a large TV audience watching.

His 2015 freshman campaign was good enough to earn him a consensus spot on the Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-America squad as well as Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year and an All-Big 12 honorable mention. His size and impact on the defensive side of the ball will remind Irish fans of Jaylon Smith, and Longhorn fans certainly hope Jefferson makes a sophomore leap as the defense’s leader. Much of the critique of Charlie Strong’s Texas tenure has been directed at his scoring offense, because the defense has been stout — the 2015 defense ranked 7th-best in yards allowed per play (4.68).

For a top-25 defense that returns seven starters, Texas will pose an immediate thread to the Irish offense. Win or lose, ND fans should expect to see Malik Jefferson quite a bit on the evening of Sept. 4.

The post Linebacker: Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

via @WatchND

The Irish: Brian Kelly

Of course, Kelly gets this by default. Opinions on Kelly are as varied as the Notre Dame fanbase. Regardless of where you may lie on the Kelly love/hate spectrum, the fact is that he is the longest tenured coach at Notre Dame since Lou Holtz. Further, Kelly has never finished .500 or worse, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by a ND coach since Dan Devine (and, to Lou’s credit, his only sub-.500 season was his first).

While Kelly’s three 8-5 seasons won’t generate loads of excitement, it’s flat out mind-blowing that it’s taken multiple decades for the Irish to find any kind of consistent success in any form. Since Lou, every Irish coach prior to Kelly had multiple disaster seasons. Multiple.

Further consider that Kelly has done this without having the luxury of seeing the same QB start for him two years in a row. That simply shouldn’t happen in this era of college football.

Feel free to say I’m lowering the bar of success, but when looking out on the landscape of college football, I am certainly more than happy to take what Brian Kelly has given Notre Dame these past five years. I’ve seen some of the alternatives out there and it ain’t pretty (/awaits the “just hire Meyer/Saban/Stoops/Gruden/other big name that’ll never come to ND” retort).

That being said, even with Malik Zaire coming in as, more or less, a brand new starter, 8-5 certainly isn’t good enough with the squad that Kelly is fielding. Baring another absurd rash of injuries that plagued the later half of 2014, this is by far the most talented and the deepest team that Kelly has ever fielded. And by the way, I am able to say that despite some hits to the roster from season ending injuries and a suspension/transfer.

While I can’t speak for everyone that has been a fan of Kelly, the number one reason that I have been on his side is what he was doing at a program level. While 2012’s undefeated campaign was one to remember, Alabama proved that the Irish still had a massive talent disparity to compete with the top tier of college football. After the crushing loss, Kelly spoke as if he realized he had to continue to rebuild the program. It almost seemed like an absurd excuse for getting your ass handed to you.

But fast-forward three seasons later and it’s clear that the 2015 squad is far more talented and far more experienced than that magical 2012 squad. That doesn’t make a 12-0 a certainty, but double-digit wins is practically an expectation for this squad within the fanbase as nationally. It is rare that Notre Dame receives that kind of preseason hype and it appears, for a change, that it is actually based in reality.

This season, far more than 2012, will define his legacy as head coach of Notre Dame. 2012 can be considered a flash in the pan, but 2015 is the realization of Kelly’s vision of the program. The roster is completely his and the depth of talent that he preached in 2012 has been achieved.

The pieces are all there. Now it’s time to see what he does with it.

via Wikipedia

The Enemy: Paul Johnson

I’ll be honest, I really wanted to find a way to shoe-horn Steve Sarkisian in here. Not because I believe he’s the best coach that we will face this season (which should be obvious based on the header above), but because I want to make all kinds of jokes.

However, a combination of making crap up to make Sark look better than I believe he actually is, plus a lack of material that could easily be score-boarded by the absolute disaster that ended the 2014 regular season, I thought better of it. Any attempt at that would become a rambling, slurring mess full of profanity that would just be embarrassing prose.

So I am rolling with Paul Johnson, head coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

If you are a regular reader here at HLS and/or follow my ramblings on Twitter (bless you for dealing with that madness), you know that I love the triple option. The offense so simple, but incredibly effective when run well. However, defenses have long since figured out how to effectively stop it. So the offensive gurus of today are trying to perfect a different kind of option, the packaged play, because defenses haven’t yet gotten wise on how to completely shut it down when run correctly.

But Paul Johnson? Hell no, he’s going to run the triple option down your throat because screw you that’s why. Seriously, Paul Johnson believes in the triple option offense so much that he has a beef with current Irish coach Brian VanGorder for scrapping the offense at Georgia Southern:

“VanGorder had made some comments that he didn’t think too highly of the offense, and Paul called me up and said, ‘I need to talk to (athletics director) Sam (Baker) and get Georgia Southern on the schedule,'” Inman said. “I said, ‘Why do you want to play us?’ And he said, ‘Because I want to beat the hell out of Brian VanGorder.'”

Y’all, I can’t help but love that. He is pissed at another human for not being a fan of his offensive scheme. The WWE couldn’t even imagine that kind of an angle.

Johnson is on his own personal mission to prove the triple option can still work and he’s been succeeding. Last year, Georgia Tech, finished as the runner-ups in the ACC after giving Florida State all they could handle in the ACC Championship. Before that, he closed the regular season with wins against Clemson and Georgia, the later of which was on the road. After the near miss at the ACC title game, the Bees steamrolled Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl.

That recent success isn’t the sole reason why Georgia Tech is one of my most feared opponents on this year’s schedule. It isn’t even the fact that he managed to snap Navy’s losing streak to the Irish back in 2007. It’s not just because he runs the triple option with legitimate monsters and not undersized Midshipmen.

No, it’s because Johnson knows the triple option better than any human on the planet. Not only that, he finds way to still throw in some innovative wrinkles into what many feel is an obsolete system. Most teams run the triple option to try and level the playing field when facing superior talent and size. Johnson is doing it because he believes he can beat any team with it.

And with a .628 winning percentage at Georgia Tech (2nd all time at Tech and the most successful coach since…George O’Leary), he’s proving it.

The post Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy: Coach appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Moons you need a good hook to draw readers in, then maintain your story arc and you’ll net a good story…if you keep it to 3 good points

I think he’s onto something here. If my placement is even slightly off, things could drift and get away from me in a hurry, so let’s jump right in to talking about kickers and punters:

The Irish: For Notre Dame to get a leg up on the competition in 2015, they’ll have to replace kicker/punter Kyle Brindza who was lost to graduation. The horror of graduating players. Despite a rough senior season which saw Brindza convert just 58% of his field goal attempts, he still ended his career as Notre Dame’s all-time leading kicker. Brindza also finished the season 3^rd nationally in touchbacks in 2014 and had a punt average of 41.4 yards. He was a one stop shop for all your kicking needs.

Enter…

Justin Yooooooooooooooooon.

HLS has spent a great deal of time discussing Yoon this offseason. Perhaps kickers are the staff’s Achilles heel, or perhaps we’re geniuses (only time will tell). Andrewwinn toed the line for Yoon naming him Notre Dame’s 9^th best player in his countdown of this year’s team. It’s obvious all the other writers who contributed to Keith Arnold’s countdown had cold feet about Yoon. I also set out my expectations for Justin Yoon and compared him to some other recent highly touted kicking recruits. If we split the uprights with these previous predictions, everyone in Notre Dame land should be happy.

There’s not a lot else to say about a kicker who’s never appeared in a collegiate game. He’s got all the tools. As importantly, he’s got an amazing name for kicking. This is where you Loyal Readers come in. There are many opportunities for some great name puns:

• Just-inside the uprights
• Yoon-ever know what’s going to happen when a kicker lines up.

4 years to improve and take advantage of this A+ kicking name. And with #HLSRecap set to return this weekend, you won’t have to wait long to try a few out. In the meantime, here are some highlights of Justin Yoon kicking odd shaped balls:

Punting duties will be handled by another player seeing his first ever game action: Tyler Newsome. Newsome, a sophomore, has two things going for him: 1) He’s from Georgia. I may be biased, but I find Georgians to be remarkably likeable, and they have a decent recent track record at ND (Stephon Tuitt, Darius Walker, TJ Jones to name a few). 2) Please take a look at Newsome’s profile at ND’s official site. The guy’s hair looks like it has some fantastic hang time. Let’s hope his punts follow suit.

The opponent: So…..speaking of amazing names for a kicker, ND will be exposed to some rarefied air of kicking names when they match up with Pitt’s prolific pedi-athlete: CHRIS BLEWITT. This may sound like a name out of a Matt Christopher book or a name made up for an Ashley Madison account, but nope, it’s real, and it’s spectacular. Don’t worry, Chris has already performed his Pitt duties by totally Pitt-ing a game versus Duke last season. If you click on that link, you can see a sampling of what the Internet had awaiting him. Again, Loyal Readers, this is on you…you have MONTHS to prepare for this opportunity. Please don’t (ahem) blow it Blewitt.

The thing you should know about Blewitt is that when his name’s not serving as Internet fodder for the worst of us punsters, he’s actually a pretty good kicker. For his career he’s converted 30/39 attempts with a long of 52. His 98 points tallied last season was 5 points ahead of Brindza’s tally.

As for punter…we’re going to give it to Navy’s Pablo Beltran as he had the best yards per punt average of any opponent kicker ND will see this year. Notre Dame might face 3 or 4 of the best quarterbacks in the nation, but they seem to have successfully tap danced around seeing the nation’s best punters. So who knows, maybe CJ Sanders and Will Fuller (named as the 2-deep at punt returner for Texas) will get a chance to work some Irish magic on the punt returns this year. Leave your snickering for the comments.

The post Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy: Kicker/Punter appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

For Notre Dame, its linebacking corps is full of proven talent and promise. Captains Joe Schmidt and Jaylon Smith anchor a deep group that sees the return of Jarrett Grace to pre-injury form. James Onwualu is going to start, leaving Jarrett Grace, Nick Coleman, and Greer Martini as the backups. Nyles Morgan should see time as well, giving the Irish its deepest squad in years.

Irish linebacker Jaylon Smith (9) (Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports)

The Irish: Without question, Jaylon Smith, 6’2.5″ and 240, is the best player the Irish have and among the country’s top linebackers overall. A player whose physical abilities and game-savvy challenge the writer to come up with ever-more hyperbolic descriptions of his brilliance, Smith’s name can be found on the watch lists for the Lombardi Award, the  Butkus Award, the Nagurski Award, the Bednarik Award, and, well, you get the idea.

Smith finished last season as Notre Dame’s defensive player of the year and a second team All-American.  Watching him play, it was too easy to forget that he was just a sophomore as he started all thirteen games and dominated in almost every situation. He lead the team in tackles, solo tackles, assisted tackles, and charm. His tackle-tally is second only to Manti Te’o for sophomores. If he comes back for his senior season, I’d be amazed; most pundits have Smith as the top linebacker prospect eligible for the 2016 draft.

The Enemy:  Su’a Cravens, 6’1″, 225 pounds, is the kind of athlete who makes defensive coordinators salivate and keeps offensive coordinators awake at night. Cravens was a five-star safety who has transitioned to linebacker and has the moves and speed to return punts. Of all of his traits, it is Cravens’ quickness that separates him from the pack and allows him to close and tackle in space better than most. A junior, Cravens is making waves in Troy with a new leadership voice. By the time the Trojans face the Irish, he should have developed into a California dream and Irish nightmare.

Cravens is on the Bednarik, Butkus, Walter Camp, and Lombardi Award watch lists. He finished last season with sixty-eight total tackles, five sacks, nine passes broken up, and three interceptions.

The post Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy: Linebacker appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

For the 2015 Fighting Irish, the defensive line is a position group that could have been one of the greatest of all time if commitments were carried through, talent had been lived up to, and injuries and academics not nipped and nicked. Eddie Vanderdoes bolted for UCLA. Jarrion Jones was done in by a knee. Ishaq Williams saw his last chance to live up to his outlandish potential scuppered by the NCAA. What was once a position of considerable strength is, six days from the season, one of semi-uncertainty.

Junior Defensive Tackle, Sheldon Day (Photo: Andrew Lamping)

The Irish: While I am probably most interested in and intrigued by the promise offered by Jerry Tillery, Sheldon Day, a 2015 Bronko Nagurski Award watch listee, is the best player on the Irish line. One of five team captains, and one of only twenty two-time captains in Notre Dame history, the 6’2″, 291 pound senior, is a force along the line and in the locker room. In 2014, he registered forty tackles and was second on the team in hurries and tackles for loss. Day played in every game his freshman year, 2012, and picked up three tackles against Alabama. As a sophomore, he lost two games to injury, but turned in notable performances against BYU, Stanford, Rutgers, and Pitt.

Day’s best performances in 2014 came against Rice, Michigan, Navy, Florida State, and Arizona State. Against Northwestern, though, he suffered a knee injury that saw him side-lined until the Music City Bowl. There, Day notched two tackles and a fumble recovery as the Irish defeated the LSU Tigers in a clash of FBS foes.

The Enemy: While Clemson loses a lot along the line heading into 2015, Shaq Lawson, a 6’3″, 275 pound junior, is a returning force and may be the best individual opponent the Irish will face all season. Lawson is a Bednarik Award watch listee with tremendous speed and strength. Though he only started one game in 2014, Lawson converted his opportunities, as evidenced by his performances against North Carolina and Georgia: four tackles and one sack for a safety in twenty-one snaps, four tackles and two pressures in thirty-three snaps, respectively. Overall, he finished with forty-four tackles, eleven tackles for loss, three and a half sacks, and a forced-fumble. In Clemson’s bowl game, the Russell Athletic Bowl against Oklahoma, Lawson blocked an extra point, caused a fumble, and recorded four tackles in only nineteen snaps. In short, Lawson was a critical cog in a terrific unit on the country’s best defense last year.

The post Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy: Defensive Line appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Ronnie Stanley (UND.com)

At the end of the day, none of the other position groups matter much if the O-line doesn’t establish a line of scrimmage. Without lanes, the running game stagnates and depends upon defensive miscues. Without an adequate pocket, the quarterback cannot progress to the open receiver or intelligently choose to advance the ball with his feet. Without communication and discipline, the offensive line foments flags, sacks, and blown-up plays.

Notre Dame was able to win, early, last season, despite an uncharacteristic unease along the offensive line. Coach Harry Heistand undertook a fairly significant shuffle as the Irish headed into the Syracuse game and the feeling that things were not settled never really went away, especially as the other position groups began falling apart to some extent or other.

2015’s success will depend upon, in very large part, whether or not the O-line plays at it did in, say, the Music City Bowl or as it did against, say, Arizona State. In the Music City Bowl, against LSU, the Irish line kept the chains moving and the quarterback clean, for the most part, and lead the way to an improbable win over an SEC West opponent. So, without further ado, please, if you will, this:

The Irish: Harry Heistand knows how to recruit and to keep the larder full. Young talents like Mike McGlinchey, a monster at tackle, are interspersed with veterans like Nick Martin, so that whatever last year’s disquiet may have been, you get the sense that the O-line can only be so bad. A massive reason to believe that the O-line will perform well is the presence of Ronnie Stanley, arguably the best NFL-prospect in some time and rather likely the best player on the roster. That he chose not to enter the draft speaks to his hunger to contend for a championship and his belief that this year’s team is special.

Stanley is likely going to be the top offensive lineman in the 2016 NFL draft. At 6’5.5″ and 315 pounds, he’s a massive piece of real-estate. That, alone, makes him mentionable. His footwork and endurance make him remarkable. Stanley is agile and able to slide between the fastest of defensive players and the quarterback. As a blocker, he’s just punishing. If he stays healthy, he’ll go higher than Nick Martin or last season’s top O-lineman, Stanford’s Andrus Peat.

The Enemy: Going through the opponents, it’s clear that the Irish will face some great O-lines this season. Of them, Stanford and USC are at the top. Out of them, USC’s Max Tuerk is likely the best.

Tuerk is a senior and three-year starter and has played every position along the line, earning him the sobriquet, “most versatile.” You’d be forgiven for thinking that meant he could make fifty different cocktails from memory.

Tuerk is an All-Everything center and at 6’6″ and 285 pounds he has the mass to gum up the works in the middle. Don’t be surprised to see his wingspan and agility on full display when Jaylon and Jerry come calling on Troy.

The post Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy: Offensive Line appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

VIDEO BOARDS/IN-GAME ENTERTAINMENT

….

Okay, no, it’s not. I’m sorry. I got caught up in the moment. Today’s topic, for real, is defensive backs. As always, let’s start with the good guys:

The Irish – KeiVarae Russell, Senior, 5’11”, 196 lbs.

I refuse to re-hash last summer’s missteps. The past is the past. Russell has paid his penance, earned his way back, and quickly re-installed himself as the vocal heartbeat of the defensive unit. I love looking back at Russell’s time at ND. He’s been a personal favorite nearly from the outset. Go check out basically any recruiting site and find KeiVarae’s profile: Like all sites, there was disagreement about how “good” a prospect he was. One thing more consistent: No one envisioned him as a cornerback.

Russell embraced the switch to secondary almost immediately. To step in as a true freshman, move positions, start every game for a team that went to the national title game, and receive Freshman All-American honors from multiple outlets speaks to KeiVarae’s dedication.

His 2013 was even better as Russell firmly established himself as a shutdown cornerback. Notre Dame’s had a rich recent history of smack talking corners from Clifford Jefferson to Preston Jackson, to Bennett Jackson. The unique difference is in how Russell backs up his talk. He’s a physical, aggressive corner capable of locking down an opponent’s best receiver.

Heading into 2014, Russell made several pre-season watch lists including the Bednarik and Nagurski trophy lists. Despite a year away from playing, Russell finds himself on those same watch lists again this year. Nothing should be taken away from the job Cole Luke and Cody Riggs did in Russell’s absence last season. There’s also no reason to deny that Notre Dame’s pass rush must improve for the team to reach their loftiest goals, but let me suggest something: The Notre Dame secondary is the most important component to the team this season. I don’t say this just to be contrarian. I agree that a lot hinges on the defensive line improving. A lot hinges on Zaire’s development as well. However, a Brian Kelly coached Notre Dame team has demonstrated that just average quarterback play can get the team pretty dang far. If the pass rush approaches average, that’ll be a drastic improvement from last year. By contrast, the secondary, with Russell back, Luke on the other side, and some talented if inconsistent pieces in safety has an opportunity to be elite. Given that the most talented team Notre Dame will face this year comes in the form of USC, who passed for 7,000 TD’s last year versus the Irish, the secondary’s chance to be elite is the difference maker this year. It’s Russell’s presence that gives them this shot.

The Opponent – Quin Blanding, Virginia, Sophomore, 6’2”, 205 lbs.

Oh sure, Clemson’s Mackensie Alexander has proclaimed himself the best cornerback in America and he is really, really good. USC’s also got a guy who will receive plenty of attention in Adoree’ Jackson because he’s going to play both ways and has a lot of athletic skill, but neither of these guys is Virginia Free Safety Quin Blanding. All those Freshman All-American accolades I just mentioned for Russell? Yeah, Blanding’s got those too. Blanding had 123 total tackles (60 solo) as a true freshman last year. He added on 3 interceptions, a sack, played and started every game, and well….he’s really freaking good. This wasn’t a fluke or because Virginia was bad. Blanding was 247 Sports #6 overall player on their composite board for the 2014 class (one spot ahead of Adoree’ Jackson) and the top safety/defensive back in the country. Consider this – Notre Dame (and its fans) were pretty hyped up when Max Redfield committed in 2013. Redfield was the #3 safety in his class with a composite score of 0.9852. #1 that year was now USC hybrid linebacker-secondary-mercenary Su’a Cravens. His composite score of 0.9960 was also lower than Blanding’s. I only lead you through all of this to say: he’s a man bear pig who’s been given license to freely terrify anyone who enters Virginia’s secondary. Need more proof? Here’s like 6 minutes of Blanding doing amazing things as a freshman (set to really terrible music). [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/hL1ct1bEuaE”]

The post Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy: Defensive Back appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Heading into the season, Notre Dame has six tight ends on the roster: Chase Hounsell, Ben Suttman, Durham Smythe, Nic Weishar, and Alizé Jones. See? Not a lot of big game experience. So, leaping with gusto onto my Jump To Conclusions mat, may I please present, if you will, this:

The Irish: I’m going to go with the sophomore Nic Weishar here. Why? Well, for one, he’s had a great set of practices and has taken absolutely every advantage of Alize’s absence from the rotation due to injury. For two, Weishar looks the part. At 6’4″, 241, the sophomore, a redshirt last year, is a touch shorter than some of his predecessors. For three, the kid’s got a toughness of heart rare in a young man of his age. Losing an older brother to colorectal cancer could derail many young athletes, but Nic has managed to not just move on, but to thrive.

Durham Smythe brings the only experience the Irish have at the group while Alizé Jones is clearly the most physically-gifted of the bunch. His right hand is the size of a first baseman’s mitt and his vertical leap is thirty-four inches, making most non-commercial flying machines within his impressive reach. In fact had he not been bit by the injury-bug in practice, I would have probably gone with Jones, all other things considered. While Smythe or Jones might have been the safe or sexy picks at this position, don’t be surprised to see number eighty-two on the highlight reels this season.

The Enemy:  If the Irish are inexperienced at tight end, their opponents this year aren’t exactly a murderer’s row, either. The best of the bunch, though, is Stanford’s Austin Hooper. A redshirt freshman last year, he caught forty balls for 499 yards and two touchdowns. He will feature in a very young combo with Dalton Schultz, the nation’s number one recruit at the position in 2014, and should feast on smaller defenders throughout the season. He’s listed at 6’5″ and 249 pounds, and, if you look at the right place, so is Nic Weishar. Frankly, though the Tree is in a bit of a slump at tight end, Hooper is bringing them out of it and you can bet he’ll be a second- or third-round draft pick whenever he leaves.

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Frustratingly, no. Tarean Folston and C.J. Prosise, a converted wide-receiver, have the potential to be as dynamic a backfield duo as any before them, but potential is a funny thing. The loss of Greg Bryant for the season to academic ineligibility makes the loss of Cam McDaniel to graduation and a supporting role in Zoolander 2 especially hard felt. With freshmen Josh Adams and Dexter Williams, maybe even throw upper-classman Amir Carlisle in there, Brian Kelly has plenty of options behind Folson and Prosise, but no real proven commodities who’ve shown they can carry the load over a season.

Thankfully for the Irish D, they’re not exactly facing a murderers row of running backs this season, either. There are some good backs out there, for sure, but this is one time I didn’t look at the schedule and the Top 10 or 25 lists and just collapse my face into my hands. This season, there’s one who leads them all, one opposing team running back who’s better than everyone else. You’ll read about him in a minute.

Photo: Robin Alam/Icon SMI

The Irish: But first, we need to talk about Tarean Folston. The guy has all the potential in the world, without question. He has demonstrated an ability to run over people, and is at his proven best in space, where I’m pretty sure he’s broken some guys’ hips with his spins and jukes. But he’s been frustrating, too, or maybe frustrated by, or in, a system that has allowed QB1 run the ball as much.

On the biggest stages, though, Coach Kelly fed Folston. Against both LSU and FSU, Folston was handed the ball twenty-one times, both career highs. In both games, the 5’9″ junior showed the ability to move the ball against conference-style defenses capable of scheming against FBS and FCS opponents.

It’s against the “lesser” competition that Folston has been, at times, missing in action. If he is able to put together a complete season, though, the Irish will be smiling come selection season.

The Enemy: Pitt’s James Conner is the best running back the Irish are going to face this season. At 6’2″, 240, the junior out of Erie, Pennsylvania, is a monster who is probably among the top three or four players in the country at his position. His preseason awards include All-ACC and a nomination to the Walter Camp watch list. He finished 2014 with 1765 yards on 298 carriers. Compare that to Folston’s 889 on 175 and you see how heavily Conner was used, but also that he averaged almost one more yard per carry than did Folston. Conner also ran for twenty-six touchdowns and led his conference in pretty much every metric by which one would rank running backs.

I like this kid on the field, too, not that I follow Pitt football much. He runs the way you’d want a running back to run. He follows his blocks real well and only cuts when the play calls for it. Straight ahead seems to be his first and second option and when he gets into that second or third level, straight ahead and over the defender seems to be his preference. He is going to really test our D-line.

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