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.

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.