Photo by James D. Smith/Dallas Cowboys

CHRIS BROWN: There are actually two players named Chris Brown on the Dallas Cowboys roster as of right now. The first is the Notre Dame graduate who was a great complement to Will Fuller in the 2015 Irish receiving corps. The second is a former Cal Poly QB who was invited to a minicamp to prove himself as a wide receiver. In a Tuesday post, SB Nation’s Ryan Ratty wonders aloud if Notre Dame’s former standout could push fellow Cowboys WR Devin Street off the roster.

Obviously, Brown will have a tougher road, as Street has the advantage of knowing the offense and being more familiar with the rest of the roster. But Brown will be given the opportunity to jump right in and prove himself. Brown’s workout numbers were impressive. It’s worth mentioning that he was a stud track jumper and sprinter in high school. If Brown can put on weight to match his speed, which he likely will with an NFL weight room and conditioning program, the Cowboys will be getting a unique player that can do a lot for this offense.

Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

AMIR CARLISLE: Carlisle, who is sporting #81 in camp, has survived the first round of cuts with the Arizona Cardinals. SB Nation’s Jess Root, who profiled the former Irish receiver Wednesday for the Revenge of the Birds blog, said Carlisle’s long-term viability with the Cardinals is in doubt: “Carlisle will have a very hard time even sticking on the practice squad. The receiver room is stacked right now. However, his versatility could prove valuable. Nonetheless, he is likely just a camp body.”

MATTHIAS FARLEY: Like Carlisle, Farley signed with the Arizona Cardinals after going undrafted. I haven’t been able to find any news about Farley since his May 1 signing.

EVERETT GOLSON: Golson transferred to Florida State after graduating from Notre Dame in 2015. He started the season for the Seminoles, but was benched by season’s end and skipped the Peach Bowl for personal reasons. He returned to Notre Dame for Pro Day. After the draft, Golson accepted an invitation to tryout with the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts are low on quarterbacks, so they invited Golson and former Irish adversary, UMass’ Blake Frohnapfel, to throw and “to help the practices function.” I haven’t seen official word on how the event went. But the Colts claimed former Liberty QB Josh Woodrum off waivers on Tuesday, so it’s safe to assume that the Golson/Indianapolis relationship may soon be at an end.

JARRETT GRACE: Grace, who started for the Irish at middle linebacker in 2013 before a devestating leg injury, participated in Notre Dame’s March 31 Pro Day. While his performance was not enough to be drafted, the Chicago Bears have extended a mini-camp tryout invitation. The mini-camp begins this weekend.

Eilar Hardy

EILAR HARDY: Hardy, a former Irish safety perhaps best known for his inclusion in the “Frozen Five” academic scandal, was invited to tryout with the Cincinnati Bengals. That happened May 6. On Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Times’ Greg Auman tweeted that Hardy has been offered a second tryout with the Buccaneers. Hardy returned for the final five games of the 2015 season, then spent his senior season at Bowling Green. He returned to Notre Dame for its Pro Day.

MATT HEGARTY: The former Irish center, who finished his career at Oregon, was invited to the San Francisco 49ers’ rookie minicamp, which took place last weekend. The 49ers start organized team activities in two weeks. To my knowledge, they haven’t announced any signings or cuts.

ROMEO OKWARA: Okwara signed as an undrafted free agent with the New York Giants. There’s not much news coming out of camp about him. The Twitter account of Big Blue United, a popular Giants-related site, said Okwara was an “extreme long shot to make it past the first cut at training camp.”

ELIJAH SHUMATE: Undrafted, the former Notre Dame safety signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the conclusion of the draft. Shumate, wearing #41 for the Bucs, had an interception – one of at least three on the day – off former Alabama and Toledo QB Philip Ely during the Saturday session. Shumate, a film, television and theatre major, graduates this weekend from Notre Dame!

Rookie Mini-Camp Check In ?

Elijah Shumate is already making plays in Tampa Bay.#NDinTheNFL
pic.twitter.com/Pl5XVY3KTv

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) May 8, 2016

Shumate told the Essex (N.J.) News Daily that he plans on a career in the NFL.

“That been a dream of mine since I was 6, but I also want to work with inner-city kids and help change the environment to not only a comfortable environment but also a confident one, too. I want kids to feel they have the sources to put them in good standing with kids that are more fortunate. Some of my fondest memories growing up in East Orange was having everything I needed, within a matter of a few steps from my house; a park that I not only had fun in, but also help make me become the person I am today. Stemming from either competing on the court or even as little as talking to a girl, (I) just did not want to lose and that is one of the biggest character traits that I carried.”

New York Giants defensive end Ishaq Williams runs through a drill during NFL football rookie camp, Friday, May 6, 2016, in, East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

ISHAQ WILLIAMS: Williams, whose last competitive game was in December 2013, impressed New York Giants personnel enough to earn a contract at the conclusion of his tryout. In a Giants.com video, the WFAN’s Paul Dottino said Williams may have gotten a look due to a recommendation of new Giants strength and conditioning coach, Aaron Wellman, who worked in a similar capacity for Notre Dame. The only problem with that thought: I’m not sure how much interaction Wellman would have had with Williams, who the NCAA ruled ineligible for the 2015 season. It may have been because Williams was New York State’s 2010 Gatorade Player of the Year and a standout in nearby Brooklyn, N.Y. Regardless of why the Giants invited him, Williams is providing much needed depth for Big Blue at the defensive end position. Williams is currently three classes short of graduation.

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The 3-0 record may have been foreseen at this point by many Irish fans, but did we know that there would be two 30-plus point victories? Did we know that we’d have a poor performance against a rival and still find a way to coast to a victory (which is more than we could say at this point in 2012)? Did we know that Michigan would be a part of the former and not the latter?

But more impressive than the record is what is going on behind the curtains at this time regarding the academic fraud scandal.

We all know the narrative by now: DeVaris Daniels, KeiVarae Russell, Ishaq Williams and Kendall Moore have all been suspended indefinitely from the football team until more information and hearings are held to determine what happened in 2012 and what should happened from this point moving forward.

I know many Irish fans have become upset at the slow pace of justice resulting from this investigation. I understand. But these are events that happened two or three years ago and include tens of people, not just a few. Notre Dame investigations are extremely thorough; they get every drop of data and information they can. They also present their case against the student TO the student before the final hearings. This is the phase that the four suspended players seem to be going through currently. This way the student has the ability to know what they are up against and create a defense of their actions. It’s due process, and although nerve-wracking while involved it is an extremely fair process.

Quarterback Everett Golson knows all about this as well. Following the 2012 season, it came to light that Golson had participated in some form of academic fraud (Notre Dame does not release official charges against students as part of their privacy policy) and was no longer eligible to play as per the University’s guidelines. A common judgement in these cases is for the student to take a year off from the University and reapply for the following school year.

Will Mahone was dismissed from the University of Notre Dame and is currently enrolled at Youngstown State University

This disciplinary result is based on one goal: rehabilitation. They give the student a chance to not only be punished for their mistakes, but also to work on what caused them to make that decision. It gives them motivation to work harder to get back to where they want to be. Golson fought for this. He never once wavered regarding his desire to return to campus and he was readmitted.

Not all students are as lucky as these players, however. Notre Dame has often held to the standard that felonious acts are cause for expulsion and they maintained this policy regarding former RB/WR Will Mahone. Mahone was arrested and charged with five counts after an incident involving vandalism and resisting arrest in his hometown. He was immediately suspended from the team and the school asked him to leave after formal charges were filed. They made it very clear that Mahone would be allowed to reapply after the process was complete or if his felony charges were dropped or changed.

Mahone stuck to his guns and plead not-guilty at first, but as part of a pre-trial plea bargain he ended up pleading guilty to four misdemeanor charges and spent only ten days in jail. To the best of our knowledge, he never attempted to reapply to Notre Dame and now currently attends Youngstown State University.

In all three events, Notre Dame has been extremely consistent. Upon discovery of the event, the students involved immediately lose football privileges. University hearings are slow but fair. The University is open to readmission.

The sports news during the last couple of weeks has been very disturbing: Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, Ray McDonald, Adrian Peterson.

What’s even more disturbing is that the NFL and their respective teams have given no consistency despite all of them being in essentially the same hot water. Rice was suspended for two games, then indefinitely, then cut from the Ravens; Hardy wasn’t suspended at all until the Rice situation blew up, then was deactivated for last week’s game and is currently active for his next game; McDonald is being investigated but has not been formally charged yet, and has played in both games so far this year; Peterson has had two stories of child abuse surface and was deactivated last weekend, he was reinstated this weekend but has since been placed on the exempt list after sponsors began pulling their money.

And that last bit there…that’s where things began changing in the NFL — money. When fans and players speak out against these players, the NFL responded with silence and goose chases. When sponsors began speaking out and ending deals, players became suspended.

This is where Notre Dame stands out from the crowd. Notre Dame didn’t give Everett Golson special treatment because he was a star quarterback. He got the same treatment that Will Mahone got: fix your issues, then reapply. Golson did both, and now he’s back on the team and playing some of the best football in the nation. Mahone dealt with his legal issues (it is unclear if his anger and/or substance abuse issues have been addressed) but never reapplied to the University.

For these four players involved in the current academic fraud case, they need only know one thing: Notre Dame stands by you. They may punish you, they may take football away from you — but they stand by you. They give you every resource possible to help you in school, and they give you everything you need to regain your enrollment.

Notre Dame does not put the success of its football team first; Golson was dismissed for a year while other schools may have given only a one or two game suspension for a similar charge.

While we sit back and wait for a decision on these players involved in the fraud case, let us take a moment to remember what that Notre Dame is doing what is best for each individual student. They didn’t wait for the NCAA to force them to punish the kids. They didn’t wait for Gatorade to pull its water coolers from the sidelines.

Remember this the next time a school suspends a kid for just a half of football after being arrested over the weekend. Remember the this the next time you feel like complaining about the school taking too long to decide the fate of the foursome.

Notre Dame does Notre Dame things and at a Notre Dame pace, we all know this. I trust that the students’ well-beings will be put first in their hearings. That’s what this school does. It won’t put the football team first, it won’t cut out cancerous players for no reason.

It is a special place and I’m proud to have an association with the University and the great fans that support it.

The post Notre Dame Unmatched On and Off the Field appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

With eight players selected in the draft, this was Notre Dame’s best class since 1994, when 10 players were selected and one better than 2007’s previous “modern era” record haul of seven. In fact, Notre Dame’s eight tied Alabama for second-most draftees, one behind LSU. That’s pretty strong company for an independent school, and puts us ahead of our peers, as it were. Stanford had 6 players drafted, FSU had seven, Boston College had four, North Carolina had three, Michigan had three, and USC had three. Rice had one player selected. USC’s relatively poor draft performance, interestingly, eroded its historic lead over the Irish at the head of the “Most Players in the NFL” list to a very narrow two: USC has 487 players selected to the NFL over the years. Notre Dame now has 485. In third place, OSU has 413 players in history.

Kelly saw 6 players drafted in 2013, 4 in 2012, and 1 in 2011. This class, 2014’s, was the first class recruited one hundred percent by Coach Kelly, if you include Louis Nix, III, who committed to Notre Dame when it was without a head coach.

If Notre Dame takes the lead over the Trojans, though, it’s not going to be because players are leaving early. GAIII, Troy Niklas, and Stephon Tuitt all left early for the 2014 draft, much to Coach Kelly’s chagrin. Eric Hansen at the South Bend Tribune hit this issue out of the park ten days ago and his article is well-worth a read, if only to see in black-and-white that recruits who talk about leaving early for the NFL will talk themselves out of Notre Dame’s consideration.

But for a player like Tuitt, who left early, his slip from the first round to the second round, the Steelers took him with the forty-sixth overall pick, cost him about $3.4 million. If Stephon, or Troy Niklas, also a second-rounder, comes back to get his degree, good for him. But what about GAIII, who had to settle for an undrafted free agent contract with the Raiders? For him, his ND experience resulted in no degree and a long-shot to make a 53-man roster.

The opposite example, from a pure football perspective, is found in Prince Shembo. He played, stayed, got his degree, and his impressive fourth round selection puts some major coin in his pocket, when you consider that he was projected to go in the sixth round. Niklas may have improved his draft position by coming out, given the relatively weak offerings, but who is to say he couldn’t have improved his stock with a strong showing in 2014 and who’s to say he wouldn’t be better situated with another season at the position and a diploma on his wall?

Looking at graduation rates overall, Notre Dame’s football Graduation Success Rate of 94 is right there with the best. Rice’s 96 is better, sure, but Stanford is 93, Boston College is 94, Michigan is 66, and Florida State is a 58. The NCAA’s other graduation metric, which somehow uses math to account for players who go pro but come back to get their degree but not if they wear blue shoes or whatever, APR, is another strong stat for the Irish. Notre Dame’s APR is 973. Stanford’s is 978. Boston College’s is 982. Michigan’s is 951. Florida State’s is 954.

So, I think it’s fair to say that the BK years have been a success. Starting with the 2011 draft, Notre Dame has seen twenty-three players drafted into the NFL, a GSR that has dominated the charts like Michael Jackson in the 1980’s, and one appearance in the National Championship. In fact, it can be argued that Everett Golson’s academic gaffe took away ND’s chances of making back-to-back appearances. Whether his return in 2014 brings the boys back to the big game remains to be seen, but clearly, Notre Dame is succeeding on the field, in the classroom, and in the draft.

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Coach Hiestand joined Coach Kelly’s staff in 2012, after remarkable a 2011 season in which his young charges at Tennessee (2010-2011) put up a season in which they went from 116th, nationally, in sacks-allowed, to 34th. What’s really impressive is that Tennessee ran over 400 passing plays that season. Before Tennessee, Hiestand coached the O-line at Chicago (2005-2009), where his 2005 and 2006 teams were division champs.

While the 2012 season at Notre Dame was one of superlatives for all the position-groups and many players, and while it would unfair to send all the credit his way for the performance of players he neither recruited nor developed, it nevertheless bears noting that 2012 was ND’s best rushing year since 1996 in terms of yards per carry (4.9) and number of 200+ rushing games (7). While those stats took a hit last season, Coach Hiestand’s men notched what may in fact be a more impressive statistic as they allowed only eight sacks over twelve games. Again, credit to Tommy Rees for getting rid of the ball and to Coach Martin for calling the right plays, but eight sacks of a QB as (im-)mobile as Tommy against the competition they faced is nothing short of terrific.

It’s on the recruiting trail, though, that Coach Hiestand is having a perhaps even greater impact, demonstrating as he has an ability to attract top-level talent. In the 2014 cycle, Hiestand netted four players (Bars, Mustipher, Nelson, Byrne) from four different states, to include Quenton Nelson, the 29th-ranked player by Rivals.com. In 2013, Hiestand again brought in four players (Montelus, McGlinchy, Fuller, Elmer) who have already made or will make out-sized contributions along the line.

While the chances of any one player making it to the NFL are rather small, Coach Hiestand has enjoyed considerable success in getting his guys to the next level, too. In this year’s draft, alone, Coach Hiestand has six (!) former players. Along with four Tennessee players, Coach Hiestand’s men going into the draft include Chris Watt and Zack Martin, arguably ND’s best O-lineman in the last several years. Watt calls Coach Hiestand “the best thing ever to happen” to the position-group.

Clearly, Coach Hiestand brings a lot to the table and Irish fans have every reason to expect continued excellence along the line. Last season’s mediocre rushing numbers, in fact, may turn out to have been an anomalous down-tick, so long as Harry’s at the helm.

The post Harry Hiestand: Leaving a Mark on ND and the NFL appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

For George Atkinson, Bennett Jackson, Prince Shembo, T.J. Jones, Troy Niklas, Louis Nix, III, Chris Watt, Zack Martin, and Stephon Tuitt, the NFL Combine, which runs from this past Saturday through Tuesday, is their first opportunity to address their future employers’ questions about their bodies and minds. Prince Shembo addressed, publicly, his role in Lizzy Seeburg’s suicide. Big Lou spoke of his repaired knee and his disappearing stomach, proclaiming that he felt “sexier.”

The Combine is organized by position. Tight Ends, Offensive Linemen and Special Teams players got us started on Saturday. Sunday saw QB’s, Running Backs, and Wide Receivers go. Monday will see D-Linemen and Linebackers get their turn. Defensive Backs finish the show on Tuesday. The players will go through “workout drills,” e.g. the 40 yard dash or bench press, and “position drills,” such as the “off-tackle reaction drill.” Click here and Mike Mayock will explain everything to you, or you can read it for yourself. If you’re a stat junkie, the NFL’s Combine page will keep you dateless for many weekends to come.

(AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

So how did our boys fare thus far? I’d say pretty well. Two Irish, T.J. Jones and GAIII, are listed as Top Performers as of Sunday evening, with each turning in a brisk 4.48 in the 40. GAIII jumped 38″ in the vertical. T.J. cranked out the 60 yard shuttle in 11.45 seconds. According to Eric Hansen (@hansenNDInsider), five of the six Irish to have completed the bench press “exceeded the 5-year average position group.” Looks like Coach Longo‘s work is paying dividends, as Tuitt, for example, put 225 pounds up 31 times while South Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney only managed 21 reps. To put this in perspective, I was able to put 31 pounds up 225 times over the course of the weekend.

MONDAY UPDATE: According to sources, e.g. the aforementioned Eric Hansen, Stephon Tuitt will not compete today due to a Jones fracture in his left foot. He will undergo surgery and expects a complete recovery. Whether he will put together a modified “pro day” at ND or elsewhere before or after that is anyone’s guess. Also, ICYMI, Clowney DESTROYED the 40 today, running it in 4.47. That’s the fastest time EVER for someone weighing more than 260, which he does. In related news, he’ll be starring in Jurrasic Park III: T-Rex Ain’t Nuthin’ out this summer.

The League’s analysis of the Irish hopefuls is pretty accurate, if tough. To wit, GAIII is described as having “underachiever traits.” Big Lou “spends too much time on the ground.” Chris Watt “has a desirable temperament for the position and is a projectable, low-risk prospect.” Troy Niklas “boasts an intriguing combination of size, athleticism, receiving ability and blocking ability to develop into a bona fide, balanced, No. 1 tight end.” T.J. Jones is “smooth-moving.” Tuitt “can play with more violence.” Zack Martin is “[o]ne of the cleanest prospects in this year’s draft.” Shembo is a “see-and-go reactor” but also “highly competitive.”

Big stories from the weekend that don’t involve Notre Dame include Johnny Football’s fast forty time (4.68), Tajh Boyd dissing Teddy Bridgewater, and Cyrus Kouandjio auditioning himself right out of the first round.

So, in all, it was a solid performance by the Irish. Good luck, guys, and we’ll have a complete wrap when it’s all done.

Have a great week, everybody. Go Irish.

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Saturday saw Coach Mike Brey’s Irish host Duke, Coach Krezyzewwksxyi and All World freak Jabari Parker in Notre Dame’s first ACC conference game. Despite the winter break, Purcell was rocking as CBS brought the circus to town. Things did not go according to script, though, as Coach Brey became the first former Duke assistant to defeat the old master, 79-77. It was an impressive performance for an Irish squad that had been painted as rudderless in the wake of losing Jerian Grant to academic issues.

The Irish triumphed on the strength of a late 20-6 run, dominating inside play from Garrick Sherman, who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, and just a lights out performance from Eric Atkins, who ended the day with 11 assists and 19 points. Pat Connaughton rocked the iron twice, late, with poster-izing dunks that harkened back to the days of John Starks. The Irish even shut down Duke’s Parker, who was ultimately benched.

Sunday, amid swirling snow, rumors of Stephon Tuitt’s jump to the NFL began to crystalize and were ultimately confirmed on Twitter and online. Despite a pre-Pinstripe Bowl second round draft evaluation, Tuitt joined Louis Nix, III, in moving on to the next level. Welcome to South Bend, Defensive Coordinator Van Gorder!

How big a hole Tuitt’s absence will create remains to be seen, though it’s somewhere between yawning, cavernous, and 6′ 6″ and 312 pounds. Despite overcoming a sports hernia this season, Tuitt managed 7.5 sacks, 13 hurries, 49 tackles, and a sick interception for touchdown against Michigan. Last year, well, forget about it. Tuitt joined the pantheon of Irish defensive greats with 46 tackles, 11 sacks, 9 QB hurries, 1 blocked punt and the greatest fumble recovery and run for touchdown ever.

We couldn’t be happier for Stephon and wish him all the best on Sundays. Forever Irish, baby.

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Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly addresses the media prior to Monday night’s national title game. Photo: Alan Diaz/AP

Head Coach Brian Kelly returns to Notre Dame! Are we happy? Maybe, maybe not. Grantland X and I seem to have differing views on the topic. Here is my two cents worth on the return of Brian Kelly, and Grantland X will present his rebuttal on Monday. Here we go …

It’s o-dark-thirty in the college football recruiting world and Notre Dame is hovering with a top five recruiting class.

In the days leading up to the national title game head coach Brian Kelly gushes that coaching at Notre Dame is his dream job.

Kelly told reporters in Florida before the game that Notre Dame was his dream job, but said while he was coaching at Cincinnati he was focused on that. He then added: “I think that’s the same thing with the NFL.”

“I think from my perspective I’ve got the best job in the country, NFL, college, high school, whatever. I just look at the place that I’m at and thankful for the opportunity that I have,” he said.

“It’s flattering if there is interest, which I don’t know that there is. But again, that is such a secondary topic for me right now. It’s all about this game.”

On Monday evening the Fighting Irish football team, coming off an undefeated regular season, play Alabama in the national title game (and lose).

Tuesday morning (reported late on Wednesday) head Coach Brian Kelly goes out and interviews for another head coaching job (NFL) in Philadelphia and disappears vacationing. Really?

If timing is everything, his timing lacks a great deal in my opinion.

I realize that coaching is a job just like any other job. And if a great opportunity comes across your path that you’d be foolish to not at least entertain it. But at the same time, there is one thing about coaching that is different from most other “jobs.” Coaching requires one to deal with young men, helping to mold them and grow them, and such dealings require a certain level of trust. What Kelly did this week, just mere moments following their appearance on the national stage, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I guess I should not be surprised though. This is not the first time that Coach Kelly has disappointed me. From the word go I was not impressed with the way he left Cincinnati. He left those young men at Cincinnati in such a hurry that he did not even stay long enough to coach them in their bowl game. I know that the adoring Notre Dame nation was impressed with his instant loyalty and commitment to recruiting, but that’s not what I saw. I saw a coach who did not give his former team the courtesy of at least finishing what he had started.

The other significant Coach Kelly disappointing moment that sticks out in my mind is the differentiation that he made in 2011 between HIS players and CHARLIE’S players. Why on earth would you do something like that? It is very poor coaching form to divide your own house like that. I admire the players for being able to look past his poor choice of words. Even if they weren’t playing for him, they were at least able to rally together and play for each other. Coach Kelly apologized to his squad, but after an incident like that, the damage is already done.
How much further damage has this interviewing episode done to the team?

And let’s face it; there must have been a part of Brian Kelly that, if the offer was absolutely perfect, would have taken the job, right? Otherwise, why else even entertain it. I can think of much better ways to go about contract negotiations than this. There had to have been some part of him that was ready to throw caution to the wind, walk out the door, and never look back.

Regardless of whether or not I like Kelly’s actions this week, I cannot discount all that he has done in the last three years. I am so tremendously proud of how far he was able to take our young men this year. That cannot be overlooked. But, in the back of my mind, I will always have these Kelly disappointments. Yes, I can welcome him back with open arms, as the hero who has returned to save us … but there will always be that nagging doubt in the back of the mind. And nothing can undo that.

Well, all we can do now is look forward to signing day, and next season. GO IRISH!

The post DEBATE THIS! The Heroic? Return of Brian Kelly appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Having Zack Martin at left tackle is a little like having Cal Ripken, Jr. at shortstop, given his 36 consecutive starts. That consistency is a big reason why the 2012 Fighting Irish kept the quarterback pretty clean, giving up 16 sacks all season. That consistency is a big reason, too, why the Irish were able to run the ball rather effectively, putting up 2,430 rushing yards. Simply put, having a bookend with so much experience is going to put the Irish in a very good place in 2013. As I wrote, some would say prophetically, back in August, a top flight O-line is the sina qua non of a top flight program. With Martin coming back, ND’s chances of getting back to the ‘ship just got a whole bunch better.

In LNIII, the Irish return an athlete who could be the telegenic face of the “new” Fighting Irish. Where Zack Martin, along with Tyler Eiffert and Manti Te’o, represent the best of what Charlie Weis was able to achieve, Louis Nix, a Weis-recruit, has literally taken shape under Brian Kelly as one of the game’s best point men. A behemoth from Florida, Nix had offers from LSU and the Gators when he chose Notre Dame, largely on the efforts of Coach Tony Alford. See what I did there? I gratuitously took a shot at ESSEESEE fan, who thinks ND can only recruit the cornfields. In Nix, the Irish have a beast who draws the double-team, consumes space and loves him some cereal.

RiverParkSeer must be very, very happy.

The post Martin, Irish Chocolate and Lagniappe appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

According to those very numbers, which, like Shakira’s hips, don’t lie, Notre Dame is the only program ranked in the Top 26 by AP, USA Today, ESPN.com and by the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate. Pedestal, please, Mr. Reilly. We deserve it. We’ll perch upon it as you watch us on television thanks to our gaudy contract with NBC or perhaps we’ll scoot it up to the BCS table while we plot another cycle of bowls and conference alignment.

You see, the NCAA tracks academic metrics on every school. One of those metrics is the Graduation Success Rate (GSR), a number that “takes first time full-time freshmen in a given cohort and only counts them as academic successes if they graduate from their institutions within a six year period.” The cohort (whatever the hell that means in this context) (again, Arts & Letters, here) as per the NCAA’s tables, comprises the years 2001-2004. With that out of the way, may I please present you Notre Dame’s 2012 schedule as arranged by opponent and their GSR:

Holy shattered academic illusions, Bat Man! Navy only graduates 91% of its football players in six years?!?! Actually, the percentages that surprised me were BYU at 59% (maybe it’s something to do with their mission year?) and Oklahoma at 48%. That’s a joke, right, Coach Stoops? You’re taking a page out of the ol’ Bearcats playbook, aren’t ye boy-o? Attention parents of recruits! YOU HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF GUESSING A COIN TOSS THAN YOU DO OF GRADUATING FROM OKLAHOMA. LSU, by the way, rates a respectable 77% – a percentage only made respectable by Oklahoma, Purdon’t’s 59% and Pitt’s 65%. Michigan’s in at 71%. Tee hee.

I may have been unfair to Oklahoma in comparing it to Cincinnati’s basketball program of old, which graduated 0% of its players at one point. But 48% is pretty poor. And since the 50-50 coin toss analogy above may have been perhaps too facile such that it lost its resonance, here’s one that you history buffs out there can explain to the masses: you stood a better chance of landing at Omaha Beach on D-Day and coming out unscathed (41% casualty rate) than you do of getting a degree from Oklahoma as a football player.

So, ND runs the table against its schedule, as far as GSR. But Ooooooh! Oooooooh! Bayou Irish! So what? Big deal! Open it up! Take it national! Where does ND stand against everyone else? Peep this, Loyal Readers:

Kudos to BC and the Middies for showing up, but, really? Until I started this project, I thought Furman was a muppet and I still don’t know what a “Wofford” is. Possibly where they did the Olympic cycling? Fr. Sorin, I am sure, is tickled (and possibly thereby making bagpipe sounds) at having TWO teams on the list, in a manner of speaking. But our football program is eighth out of 235 and has a higher GSR than Yale and Harvard. Think about that.

So, to return to Messrs. Reilly and Cowherd, ESPN ranks ND at 25. ESPN, for those of you living in compounds protected only by high walls and a complicit national intelligence service, pays Reilly and Cowherd, so there’s a no small amount of irony in that juxtaposition as they pocket their pieces of silver. USA Today ranks ND at 24 and AP has us just outside the top 25 with 83 votes.

SO FIND ME ANOTHER TEAM RANKED IN THE TOP 26 ACROSS ALL THE POLLS! Unless and until everyone goes full North Carolina and just stops making football players go to class at all, let’s not so readily dismiss the “student-” part of “student-athlete.” It’s beyond grotesque to lump ND, or any school for that matter, in with Penn State, as Reilly did, and equate the covering up of child molestation with a mediocre run of football. Sticking to the football part of that effrontery, Biscuit dismantled the idea that a team cannot recover from a run like ours, for starters. So, there’s that.

And there’s also this: what I am going to call the NFL Success Rate (NSR). How many Irish players got drafted last year? Four. That’s right, four. In the middle (or maybe it’s the end?) of all this suck, we produced one more draft pick than U$C and Michigan and the same number as Stanford. And what school has had the most players picked overall? Not Notre Dame. Notre Dame is in second with 471, behind USC, with 480. In third place is Ohio State with 404. Not a bad NSR.

So after all these years of desert wandering, we’re still putting out draft picks with the best of them PLUS we’re graduating 97% of our players. I like that. I’ll like it more if we’re 4-0 after the Michigan game. And I’ll like it most if we’re playing for the MNC soon. What’ll RickCowherd say then?

The post Davidson College Ranks Ahead of The Irish: GSR or a Sick Rick Reilly Fantasy? appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

In 2012, his first full season as a starter for the Cubs, Samardjiza got off to a quick 4-1 start with a 2.89 ERA through mid-May (including two no-decisions when he gave up a total of 1 earned run). He was looking like he may have reached the potential the organization saw in him when signing him to a 5-year, $10 million deal after drafting him in the 5^th round of the 2007 draft. The Shark followed up by struggling mightily in June, going 0-4 with a 10.41 ERA. After an outstanding effort to beat the Braves on Monday, he now sits at 6-7 with a 4.77 ERA on the season.

What if Samardzija, who is bringing in a cool $2.64 million paycheck this year (I’m guessing that’s a little more than most 2007 ND grads are making), had chosen to play in the NFL instead? At the time he made his decision, he insisted that he picked baseball because of his love for the game and that the chance of injury and the lack of longevity in the NFL were not factors in his choice.

34 wide receivers were taken in the 2007 NFL draft. One of them (Calvin Johnson) is the best receiver in the league today, and 3 others (Dwayne Bowe, Steve Smith, and Sidney Rice) have played in Pro Bowls. Other notable names include Ted Ginn, Steve Breaston, Mike Sims-Walker, Anthony Gonzalez and Robert Meachem. There is no way for us to predict how Samardzija’s career would have turned out compared to his 2007 counterparts, but I’m going to guess it would be somewhere between David Clowney of “Hard Knocks” fame and Megatron of “I’m going to catch anything you throw my way and make a tubby frat boy from Georgia one of the top fantasy football quarterbacks” fame.

From an economic standpoint, Samardzija is unlikely to make the same $132 million that Calvin Johnson just signed for. He also probably won’t be matching Dwayne Bowe’s $9.5 million per season any time in the next few years. But, when you consider that only 10 wide receivers will be making over $5 million in 2012 and 85 pitchers are clearing the same amount (Samardzija is the 154th highest paid pitcher in the league), you start to see that the Shark has left himself much more room to grow financially with sustained success.

Do you think Samardzija made the right choice in sticking with the Cubs after college? Would you rather see him suited up for your hometown MLB team or your hometown NFL team?

*On a very slightly unrelated note, my good friend ‘Osty’ (a Michigan grad, sadly) reminded me about a hilariously awkward situation at the 2007 draft. When the Panthers selected Dwayne Jarrett in the 2nd round, Keyshawn Johnson (who was on the Panthers at the time and was a guest analyst for ESPN) gushed over his fellow USC wide receiver and discussed how excited he was to have the opportunity to work with him and teach him about playing the position at the highest level. Well, unfortunately for Keyshawn, drafting Jarrett meant that 3 days later Johnson was out of a job. Seriously, this is just too good not to watch:

The post What if Samardzija had chosen the NFL over MLB? appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.