Last week, Steve Elmer announced he was leaving the football program to take a job in Washington, D.C. after his graduation in May. Elmer’s statement, as released through the University the day of the announcement, was wonderfully put. I could try to re-state the gist, but quite frankly, Elmer did it better:

I have no problems with the coaching staff, no academic issues, and no violations of team rules that normally come along with a statement like this. My reasons for cutting my playing career short have nothing to do with any negative experiences at Notre Dame; in fact, I would consider my commitment to this exceptional University the best decision I have ever made. Playing football here was a huge challenge, but I wouldn’t trade the experience of doing battle out there on that field with my brothers for anything.

While playing football for Notre Dame has been nothing short of an honor, I have been presented with an incredible opportunity to pursue a career doing something in which I have great interest, and at a great company to boot. The experience of balancing Notre Dame’s academic rigors with my football commitments has given me a great foundation for my next endeavor. I will graduate from Notre Dame this May and start my professional journey this summer in the Washington, D.C. area.

I could try to explain why I think this is great, but HLS commenter TERRY said it as good as anyone could:

In the dictionary under the definition of ‘student-athlete’ there should be 2 pictures – Corey Robinson and Steve Elmer.

While (theoretically) a blow to the on-field product for the 2016 Irish, Elmer’s announcement should be applauded. Here is a young man who embraced the challenges of academics and football at Notre Dame and not only survived but excelled. The University’s greatest sales pitch in recent years has been that it’s “not a four year decision, it’s a forty year decision.” Elmer embraced that mantra. Elmer will graduate…early…and immediately further a passion that will last more than a year or even a decade. This was a joyous announcement.

So what am I to be angry or miffed about? It’s the growing niche of sports journalism that has become rumor and innuendo peddling. For over a week before Elmer’s announcement, certain individuals and sites* (*that I will not mention by name because this is hardly an isolated event and this is an industry problem, not a specific actor problem) toyed with its Internet audience and either hinted at “major” news to come or outright reported that this announcement was on the horizon. Much of this information was collected, traded, and leered at behind the confines of paywalls to extract membership fees.

The problem has become that too many sites now deal solely in “breaking” these rumors earlier than their competitors. As the Columbia Journalism Review’s tremendous article points out – this fetishization of anonymously sourced rumors does not amount to actual journalism. These stories would break and become public knowledge the moment that they became factual occurrences, but in the current sports journalism landscape the brokering and “breaking” of rumor has become the profit margin for far too many sites. It’s the monetization of “I know something you don’t know.”

The CJR refers to these types of stories as “ego scoops.” I can think of no better way to describe what these sites are doing. The definition goes:

The ego scoop [is] a story that “would have come out anyway—typically because it was announced or would have been announced—but some reporter managed to get ahead of the field and break it before anyone else. From the user’s point of view, there is zero significance to who got it first. This kind of scoop is essentially meaningless, but try telling that to the reporter who feels he or she has one.”

And that’s just it – Elmer’s announcement, assuming it was real and concrete, would have become actual news at the exact same point it otherwise did. People would have been able to digest, break down, and interpret the story just as they are now. Yet, for far too long ahead of Elmer’s announcement, these rumor mongers sucked up the attention and puffed their chests about a very important and meaningful decision for Elmer.

I’m going to get on a soap box here, and I know there’s a degree of irony in me doing so since I write for a blog that primarily focuses its attention on ND football. However, I seriously question why adults continue to so callously spread gossip about 17-22 year old guys’ futures when they could simply wait for news to become actual news. Let me mea culpa….I know that I’ve on occasion been guilty of this. For that, I can only apologize and be grateful that my Internet reach is fairly limited. For larger and more prominent media outlets, this should be a greater concern.

Suppose Elmer had weighed this decision and eventually elected to stay. We heard Corey Robinson address somewhat similar concerns just before Elmer made his announcement. Suppose this same rumor whore-ing went on for weeks prior to a non-announcement. Do the passing thoughts of a young adult really amount to news? Sadly, I know the answer to this at least as it relates to the sports world is “yes.” The recruiting sites basically make a living off of making “predictions” based on their “sources” and “information” about where recruits will go months and years before the teenager ever must make a decision. Yes, this constitutes “news.”

It shouldn’t.

The amount of time and attention that is spent on events that never occur in the modern sports culture is amazing…in a bad way. That we as a public sports devouring culture view this type of whisper swapping to be worth our money says more about us than about those that it impacts. The problem is, the impact on these individuals is disproportionate. If you take the time to read the CJR article, you’ll notice the primary focus is on the NBA. While I still think the “sourcing” of articles the Chris Broussard way is irresponsible, I don’t care all that much about the business dealings of very rich men.

However, when it comes to the coverage of college sports, the math changes. The decision to take (or be considered for) an athletic scholarship should *not* amount to an open invitation for grown adults to benefit on every detail of your life. That it’s a blurry line is understood. The line between journalism, blogging, and straight up note passing is not always easy to discern. That said, common sense can take you a very long way. In the weeks the led up to the Elmer announcement, I saw not one story, not one blog post, not one tweet, not one message board announcement that needed to be released ahead of Elmer’s decision. Steve Elmer should have gotten to make his announcement on his terms and without the pressure and whispering that preceded his day. He should have gotten to make his announcement without the stigma that a “major blow” was coming to the school or that there would be anything to explain. Simply put – he should have had a chance to live his life without his decisions being sold like a street taco.

I suppose at the end of the day what I’m asking us to consider is being more civil and sensitive to those we “cover.” Whether professional, bloggers, or the common fan, I can ‘t help but think we can still choose to remember that the players we analyze on the field are humans with futures and feelings both on and off of it. I would guess we’ve all had important decisions that we timed the disclosure of carefully. Maybe, just maybe, we should extend that same courtesy to 17-22 year olds we don’t know.

The post SOURCES: And the Limits of Respectability appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

ELMER BIG KEY TO IRISH DEPTH

Elmer joins center Nick Martin (exhausted eligibility) and left tackle Ronnie Stanley (NFL Draft) as the third starter to depart from last year’s starting offensive line. In total, they accounted for 57.5 percent of the team’s snaps in 2015.

Elmer was given the starting nod for the first time as a freshman, when he replaced the injured Christian Lombard at right guard. The 6-foot-6 inch, 315 pound lineman then proved versatile in his three seasons with the Irish, having opened the 2014 season by playing three games at right tackle.

Elmer’s backup at right guard – at least according to the depth chart – is rising senior John Montelus, who only had 10 snaps last year. Montelus, who was born in Haiti, has two years of eligibility remaining after redshirting the 2013 season.

Rising junior Sam Mustipher and redshirt freshman Tristen Hoge are expected to compete for the vacated center spot. Both are unproven commodities. Mustipher logged just 40 snaps last year; Hoge took a redshirt this year.

Rising senior Hunter Bivin and rising junior Alex Bars will fight for the right to replace Stanley. Bivin played sparingly – just 45 snaps – while Bars saw more time (135 snaps) at left tackle in pinch-hit duty for the injured Quenton Nelson. However, Bars broke his ankle during the USC game. Bivin has two years of eligibility remaining, while Bars has three.

Mike McGlinchey, whose 837 snaps was second only to Elmer’s 842 snaps, is expected to start again at right tackle. Expect Nelson (724 snaps) to be tapped as starting left guard.

JOB MARKET

Courtesy: Rep. John Moolenaar / Facebook

Elmer did a month-long internship with Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, in Washington, D.C. Elmer’s primary responsibility included attending committee meetings, hearings and composing reports, according to a UND.com profile.

“I didn’t really know what to expect. It ended up being really, really great, and blew away my expectations,” he told Curt Rallo.

The Michigan resident told Rallo he was intrigued by a life in public service, but was unsure about becoming a politician.

In his statement today, Elmer said: “While playing football for Notre Dame has been nothing short of an honor, I have been presented with an incredible opportunity to pursue a career doing something in which I have great interest, and at a great company to boot. The experience of balancing Notre Dame’s academic rigors with my football commitments has given me a great foundation for my next endeavor.”

Elmer did not specify which company or individual he would be working for.

He added: “The question that inevitably comes up is: why don’t you just wait until next year? My answer is pretty simple; the excitement I feel about the professional opportunity in front of me has helped me to realize that I’m just ready to be done with football. I’ve been playing this game for many years, and quite honestly my heart is no longer in it. I realize that this may be considered sacrilege to some, but it’s truth.”

BEFORE IRISH

Elmer, whose mother was a Michigan State alumna and his father rooted for Michigan, was four-star recruit out of Midland (MI) High School. The talented lineman held offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Stanford, Wisconsin, Mississippi State and Syracuse. The life-long Notre Dame fan was the first commit in the Class of 2013 and one of five early enrollees, along with then-WR James Onwualu, QB Malik Zaire, WR Corey Robinson (now student body president!) and TE Mike Heuerman (who has since left the program due to medical issues).

Here’s Steve talking to Notre Dame Fighting Irish Media’s Jack Nolan about his recruitment – including his rejection of his home-state school – and his obsession with “Seinfeld.”

Statement from Brian Kelly:

Notre Dame OL Steve Elmer will forgo final year of athletic eligibility. Irish head coach Brian Kelly confirms… pic.twitter.com/zRfqTXyjeM

— Michael Bertsch (@NDsidBertschy) February 16, 2016

The post Steve Elmer Leaving Football Program appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

PODCAST

• Irish Illustrated (F): Irish hit spring stride (50:55)
• ND Insider: Podcast: ND Insider recruiting update 4-2 (10:42)

RECRUITING – OFFERED

• Bruin Report Online ($): Video: Lucas at The Opening ( AZ RB Chase Lucas)
• Dawg Post (F): Big get for Dawgs – Price commits ( GA OT E.J. Price)
• Irish247 (F): Robinson, family excited about Notre Dame offer ( KY CB Davonte Robinson)
• Irish Turning Point: The buzz buzz
• Scout (F): Offers coming in for Ulmer, Robinson ( KY CB Davonte Robinson)
• Scout ($): 4-star TE Angeline planning Penn State return (PA Cary Angeline)
• Scout ($): 4-star TE Angeline gets Michigan fill (PA Cary Angeline)
• Scout ($): ND history on, off field impresses 4-star TE (PA Cary Angeline)
• Scout ($): Fulton likes LSU’s DB track record ( LA CB Kristian Fulton)
• Slap the Sign: Notre Dame offers ’17 Florida offensive lineman Dillan Gibbons
• USC Football.com: Trevon Sidney steals the show ( CA CB, also CA WRs Tyler Vaughns and Dylan Crawford)

RECRUITING – ND INTERESTED, NO OFFER

• Big Red Report (F): Brendan Scales talks about Nebraska offer ( MO TE)
• Big Red Report (F): D.J. Morgan adds Nebraska offer ( CA S)
• Irish Illustrated ($): LaBruna visits dream school (CA QB Andrew LaBruna, no rating yet)
• Scout ($): Alloway has two on top ( CA WR Damian Alloway)
• Show Me Mizzou ($): Mizzou offer for Scales ( MO TE Brendan Scales)

CURRENT TEAM

• CSN Sportsnet Chicago: Notre Dame won’t be surprised by Will Fuller’s growth
• Inside the Irish: Opportunities await Notre Dame’s running backs
• Inside the Irish: Spring practice breakdown: A look inside (finally!)
• Irish247 ($): Irish staff navigating through quarterback competition
• Irish247 (F): Denbrock: ‘(QB) is going to be a hard decision to make’
• Irish247 (F): Smythe leads the way for Irish at tight end
• Irish Illustrated (F): From a one in a thousand chance to…
• One Foot Down: Notre Dame football – Spring practice recap for April 1
• Rant Sports: 5 questions for Notre Dame football during 2015 spring practice

COACHING

• CBS Sports: Power Five college football coach rankings: The top 25 (Brian Kelly is #13)
• Irish Illustrated (F): The village voice(s)
• Irish Illustrated (F): Sanford scouting style, substance

IRISH IN THE NFL

• Bleacher Report (Monaco): Notre Dame football: DaVaris Daniels, Kendall Moore eye NFL careers
• ESPN: Atlanta Falcons waive safety Zeke Motta
• Irish247 (F): Daniels ready for next step
• Irish247 (F): Boosting draft stock was Koyack’s Pro Day focus
• Irish Turning Point: Pro Day results
• State of the Texans (F): Vince Wilfork is “here for Houston” (Louis Nix)

MISC.

• USA Today: College football playoff will keep weekly rankings

The post Morning Roundup: April 3, 2015 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Deeyung Entertainment concept helmet

Good morning! Here are your headlines:

FROM OUR SITE

• Two Notre Dame sons return home

VIDEO

• Scout: Williams bringing a lot to South Bend (Dexter Williams) (5:46)
• Eastbay: Kyle Brindza – Notre Dame (0:15)
• MGoDrone: College stadiums of the midwest! (2:14)

PODCAST

• Irish Sports Daily: 2-23-2015 Power Hour (1:08:52)

RECRUITING

• Scout: Mitchell updates recruitment (Shon Mitchell)
• Scout: Core 6 unites top recruits (Hunter Johnson, Jared Mayden, Byron Murphy and Julian Love)
• Irish Sports Daily: 2016 CA WR hoping to hear more (Grant Porter)
• One Foot Down: 2016 Notre Dame recruiting big board: Wide receiver & athlete (Ervin Barrett, Marquez Calloway, Jordan Fuller, Ahmir Mitchell, Julian Love, Donnie Corley, Dylan Crawford, Divine Deablo, Devin Duvernay, Josh Hammond, Brad Hawkins, Justin Layne, Austin Mack, Javon McKinley, Tre Nixon, Darian Owens, Darnell Salomon, Trevon Sidney, Dredrick Snelson, Eli Stove, Tyler Vaughns, Benjimen Victor, Cameron Chambers and Dillon Mitchell)
• Bleacher Report (Monaco): Notre Dame football recruiting offers of the week (Daniel Bituli and Julian Okwara)
• Slap the Sign: Notre Dame Junior Day visitors (Tommy Kraemer, Brad Hawkins, Josh King, Ron Johnson, Michael Jordan, Brandon Peters)
• MLive: Could Lansing Catholic QB Tony Poljan be the next Ben Roethlisberger? Some MAC schools think so

CURRENT TEAM

• Irish Illustrated: Spring questions: Offensive line (Nick Martin, Matt Hegarty, Quenton Nelson, Mike McGlinchey, Alex Bars, Steve Elmer, Hunter Bivin, Colin McGovern, John Montelus, Sam Mustipher, Mark Harrell, Jimmy Byrne, Jerry Tillery, Tristen Hoge, Trevor Ruhland)
• Inside the Irish: Spring solutions: Offensive line
• Bleacher Report (Arnold): How Brian Kelly and Notre Dame distracted attention from the QB battle
• Bleacher Report: 10 college football programs with the most compelling QB controversies (#8 Notre Dame)

IRISH IN THE NFL

• One Foot Down: A recap of the 2015 NFL Combine (DaVaris Daniels, Ben Koyack, Kyle Brindza)
• ND Insider: NFL Combine results for former Notre Dame players
• The Landry Hat: Dallas Cowboys: Zack Martin provides valuable draft lesson

COACHING

• Tampa Bay Times: USF Bulls start spring football drills (Autry Denson)
• KWCH: Wichita Sports HOF announces 2015 inductees (Kirk Doll)
• 247 Sports: Gilmore expected to leave UNC (Keith Gilmore)
• Go UTSA: UTSA hires Mike Markuson as assistant coach
• Irish Turning Point: Fresh in the Gug: Todd Lyght

SCHEDULING

• Bleacher Report: 25 biggest trap games for 2015 college football season (12. Notre Dame at Pitt)
• Inside the ACC: Top 10 non-conference games for the ACC in 2015 (Notre Dame at Clemson is #7; Notre Dame/BC at Fenway is #2)

MISC.

• ND Insider: Megan Whitt leaving Notre Dame recruiting operations
• 247 Sports: Megan Whitt leaving Notre Dame for job in the NFL
• AL.com: Notre Dame apparently sent recruiting letter to current Rutgers football player
• Yahoo Sports: Rutgers lineman receives recruiting letter from Notre Dame
• UHND: Do Notre Dame’s football facilities measure up to competition?
• Fox Sports: Photos: Awesome helmet designs for UF, Ohio State, LSU & more
• ESPN: The 2015 ACC Oscars (Best picture: The fourth down play(s) in Notre Dame at Florida State)

The post Morning Roundup: Feb. 24, 2015 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

An academic committee has finally been formed. Should everything proceed according to plan, from what Kelly has been told, all hearings could conclude by next week. Of course, at the glacial pace this thing has progressed, “by next week” could just as easily transform into “by next month”.

You could read the frustration on Brian Kelly’s face every time a question was asked about the investigation. At one point, it forced him to make it quite clear where he stood in the grand scheme of things:

I’m not here to be the sound piece for our administration.

Kelly, however, understands that he’s also the only public figure answering questions about this topic at all. He knows part of the Notre Dame job means having to take these bullets even if it might piss him off deep down.

The frustration probably hit its peak when Pete Sampson of Irish Illustrated (aka the ND Rivals site) asked Kelly for his opinion on the process in general. You could see Kelly gather himself in restraint to let the crowd know he certainly had an opinion on the matter, but he wasn’t going to speak about it. He knows better than the try and kick that hornet’s nest.

Sampson still tried, as any good reporter should, with a followup on whether or not the length of the process, and continued suspension of his players, made him believe they were guilty. As Kelly has stated in the past, he repeated that he did not have nearly enough information to make any kind of judgement on the matter.

The entire exchange with Sampson ended with Kelly quipping with a curt “yeah, my pleasure”, indicating that he might just be more relieved than his players once this is all said and done.

Of course, immediately after those questions, Kelly found himself faced with yet another one on the same subject, this time regarding why the parents of the players were kept in the dark. This lead Kelly to go into a long, sweeping answer of every question he could think regarding the matter in hopes to kill the line of questioning for the day.

Yes, he knows the parents are in the dark. It’s consistent with any other honor code violation at Notre Dame. The privacy laws demand it. Again, he isn’t a spokesperson for the administration. He doesn’t know what’s going on either. No, he isn’t aware of any vacated wins or any kind of NCAA sanctions. Read between the lines and you’ll see that he’s just as frustrated as you are that he doesn’t have the answers, but there isn’t anything he can do about and you are getting every last piece of information possible that he has.

That answer, of course, led to yet another followup question on the investigation and I wanted to hand BK a bottle of whiskey because I felt so bad for him. I know this all comes with the territory, but Kelly certainly took a full load of bullets at this presser, more so than usual on this matter. In a week in which there were major injuries and position changes to discuss, it was incredible so see just how much this topic managed to dominate the consciousness of the entire event.

I can only hope this finally concludes last week as Kelly (now) expects. It will keep us all far saner.

Position Changes/Injuries

As mentioned above, there was quite a bit of shakeup in the depth chart this week. While, Kelly said what was handed out to the press is probably a bit “premature” in its finality, it’s clear that there is a very serious desire to change things up along the offensive line.

As of now, the new starting O-line is as follows:

• LT Ronnie Stanley
• LG Nick Martin
• C Matt Hegarty
• RG Steve Elmer
• RT Christian Lombard

Lombard slides out to tackle and Elmer replaces him on the interior while Martin takes over the other guard position and Hegarty takes over the center job. The interior guard positions in particular appeared to be the major focus for Kelly. He mentioned on multiple occasions that he wanted the interior of the line to be far bigger and more physical, implying that he is quite unsatisfied with what the line has shown up the gut in the past few weeks.

Luckily for the Irish, of all these swaps, only Nick Martin has to learn a new position. According to Kelly, everyone else has the experience needed to take over their new roles.

Personally, I’m happy with this change because something had to be done about the poor performance of the running game. I’m hopeful that we will start seeing a bigger push up front against Syracuse.

In other depth chart news, Amir Carlisle is still out for next week which has bumped Torii Hunter Jr. up the depth chart as the backup slot WR. Hunter, who is recovering from a broken leg, will likely see his first action of his career this weekend.

Fun with 140 Character Limits

I love Twitter. It’s an amazing medium, especially for sports. It is also worse than a soundbyte as far as quotes are concerned.

While the press live-tweeted Kelly’s thoughts on night games and the unique challenges it poses to Notre Dame considering how many they have to play, his thought got broken up into the 140 character or less chunks. That lead to the national media, following only via Twitter to be quite confused and even scoff at the fact Kelly wasn’t fond of playing “nationally televised” games considering ND’s NBC contract.

Because context is important, here’s the quote in full (h/t to @anderwinn for saving me from the transcription process):

The biggest challenges for us are, quite frankly, playing on national television. Our kids get back at 3:30. I’ll just give you Purdue. Our kids get back at 3:30, got to be at study table at, you know, 4 o’clock in the afternoon and it’s, it’s a lot. We’ll have the same thing. We’re on national television. It’s wearing. You know, it gets to the point where you wonder: Maybe we shouldn’t play all these nationally televised games because it really puts a lot on these kids. We ask them to do a lot. It’s a very challenging academic environment. The ACC doesn’t do that to us. Notre Dame, by the virtue of its brand recognition, puts us in that position. The ACC has been great in terms of the scheduling because, you know, we’re not out on the west coast. The travel is pretty good for us. So I don’t think it puts any added stress on us from that perspective.

Now, if Kelly’s talking about getting back at 3:30, especially after Purdue, you know he’s talking about 3:30 AM which means he’s talking about the nationally televised night games. Should he have specified a bit better there? Probably, but anyone actually listening to Kelly’s full train of thought knew he was referencing the fact that ND has been playing an abnormally large amount of night games especially in comparison to other teams in the nation.

We are about to hit game four and three of those games have been in the primetime hour and only one of those games has been a true home game. Notre Dame will once again have another primetime affair with Florida State in a couple of weeks as well unless ESPN decides they hate ratings. That game will be followed by another primetime game against Navy. The game after that is at Arizona State and I’m sure that west coast affair will also fetch a primetime slot as will the Southern Cal game to close the season.

That means ND is looking at a potential 7 out of 12 games played in primetime. When looking at that kind of a schedule, and considering that academic issues are front of mind right now at ND, Kelly’s statement makes nothing but sense.

Context matters.

The post Questions on the Academic Investigation Dominate the Brian Kelly Presser appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

1. Which Tommy Rees will show up?

So far, we’ve seen good Tommy Rees, Touchdown Tommy, Reesus, whatever you want to call the opposite of Turnover Tommy.

Thus far, Rees is 65/107 (60.7%) for 969 yards (323 yards/game), 7 TDs, and, most importantly only 2 INTs. Further, only one of those INTs was really a bad mistake by Rees when he completely lost sight of a CB in zone coverage against Michigan. His second INT that night was a tip drill while trying to lead the Irish to a comeback that same night.

This is exactly what I wanted to see from Tommy and to be honest, I’m getting a bit more than I expected. He is doing a lot more than just managing the game, he is one brightest spots of the whole team.

Sadly, when things turn sour, he seems to be the one still catching much of the blame, even when he has nothing to do with it. The fact of the matter is that Tommy isn’t hurting the team at all. Would it be better if he was more mobile and we could throw in a read option wrinkle? Sure, but it isn’t like defenses can now rush 3, drop 8 and expect Rees to eventually fold anymore.

We’ll get some of the reasons why the offense is stagnant a little later, but, needless to say, Tommy isn’t one of them.

2. Will ND return punts for positive yardage?

Short answer: yes.

Longer answer: the punt return still needs a lot of work.

The Irish have still stumbled on special teams which was illustrated best this past week by T.J. Jones inexplicably fair catching a ball inside the five yard line.

The Irish still have some work to do here, but it is still encouraging to see an actual effort to return punts and end the fair catch parade. If they can clean up the sloppy play we’ve seen the past few games, we may finally stop having a headache about this every weekend.

3. Who will step up into Te’o’s leadership role?

On the offense, Tommy Rees has definitely stepped up the leadership aspect. The cameras caught him rallying his offensive troops on multiple occasions which is encouraging.

However, I don’t think he’s stepped in to the Te’o role of the team’s emotional leader.

The defense quite frankly plays completely flat at times. While you might see an individual step it up on occasion, there isn’t that one guy that lights a fire under everyone else’s ass so all eleven men on the field run through walls on the next play.

The defense is still searching for their identity and because the defense was such a large part of who the 2012 Irish were, I think the entire team is looking for their identity.

All is not lost here, but someone needs to step into this role and make this their team. Perhaps Tommy will continue to grow and do this or someone else will take the reigns. Either way, I hope it happens fast because we desperately need it.

4. Which freshmen will make an immediate impact?

Jaylon Smith has to be the leader in the clubhouse for this. Yes, it is mostly by default since he is the only freshman getting any real playing time, but that doesn’t detract from what he’s doing on the field. He is playing some solid football and making very few mistakes as a true freshman. I expect his level of play to only improve as the season moves on.

However, I do wonder why most of the highly touted freshmen are riding the pine most of the game. Perhaps Kelly’s tendency as a coach is to hold them back for a few games to ease into the situation before he lets them loose (think Tuitt a couple of years ago). It’s hard to say this isn’t the case because as of now, Jaylon is playing out of need, Elmer got more playing time only when Watt went down, Cole Luke, Bryant, and Folston have seen limited action, and I’m not sure Redfield has been involved in a snap yet (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on that).

I’m hoping Kelly takes the training wheels off because this team has needed a spark on multiple occasions and freshmen going all out can be a great way to do that. Sure, it’s a risk considering they are more prone to mistakes, but I think it’s a calculated one that can pay huge dividends.

5. First Tate, then Floyd, then Eifert, then…?

Both T.J. Jones and DaVaris Daniels are stepping up in a big way for the Irish. Daniels has been on the end of the more explosive plays, but Jones has been the security blanket for Rees to this point in the season. Both are poised to continue to have big seasons for the Irish and will cause defenses fits in coverage schemes as focusing on one will open up the other and focusing on both let’s someone like Chris Brown burn everyone.

The receiving corps is in great shape and definitely exceeding my initial expectations to say the least.

6. Which running back will rise to the top?

Will the real RB1 please stand up, please stand up?

The real answer to this question is that no one has. Sure, Cam busted out some tough yards while wearing a crimson mask, but he simply lacks the impact that someone like Amir Carlisle or GA3 can provide. The problem is that both backs, especially GA3, are making awful cuts and reads on their runs. Amir Carlisle coughing up the football against Purdue wasn’t exactly encouraging either.

As of now, I’d say Amir might have a slight edge, but no one has separated themselves from the pack yet. This needs to change immediately as the stagnant rushing attack is causing most of the offensive woes. If you wondered why we don’t run the ball more often, the failures of Purdue might just be an example of why. Luckily, the Irish remained in striking distance during that game and weren’t forced into an air raid mode, but if we go down two-plus possessions, I would expect to see everything on Tommy Rees’ shoulders until the running game shapes up.

7. Will ND finally beat Southern Cal at home?

As of now, the answer appears to be yes. Despite ND’s frustrating showings, they would look like All American performances compared to the dumpster fire that is the Trojans.

Their first win was against Hawaii and was only due to Hawaii’s QB being so much worse than the entire Trojan offense was that evening. They followed this performance up by losing to Washington State at home by a score of 10-7 — yes, 10 points beat the Trojan offense. Last week the offense “exploded” for 35 points against a BC team that would have a hard time beating anyone with a pulse.

This is a bad football team; however, they have a lot of talent despite their awful start. They could still figure it out by the time they get to South Bend, but as of now, it’s looking all-Irish for that game.

8. Will ND finally win a BCS Bowl before they’re put out to pasture?

I think we should forget about winning a BCS game at this point and focus more on actually getting there first because that alone will be an achievement at this point.

Things need to improve and fast as a 9 or 8 win season seem like more realistic possibilities than a 10 win season.

BONUS: Will HLS crash during the season?

Thus far, the HLS hamsters have been the only reliable thing about this season. The answer remains: no, we aren’t crashing.

The post 8 Big Questions: Where Do the Irish Stand? appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

While we don’t have some of the major burning questions that we did last year (who will be the starting QB?), there are still some unanswered questions coming into season.

Here are the eight questions that I came up with as I pondered the upcoming season in glorious non-slideshow form:

1. Which Tommy Rees will show up?

Yeah, let’s just get the obvious out of the way first.

Rees has given us some wonderful memories such as his winning streak in 2010 and his “closer” moments in 2012. He has also given us all nightmares from his 2011 performances and, unfortunately for him, that is what sticks out most in our minds. And because we can’t shake those memories, every mistake he made, minor or otherwise, during what was otherwise a good 2012 campaign was ridiculously magnified.

Will we get the Rees that can manage a game or will we get the Rees that locks in to his receivers, telegraphs his throws, and becomes a turnover machine?

Right now, I’m leaning towards the one that can put a decent game together. Even though he threw some crazy jump balls in 2012, he put them, in most cases, in spots only his receivers could get them. Here’s hoping I’m right because if not…this season will be quite rough.

2. Will ND return punts for positive yardage?

If there was one major and consistent complaint about last year’s season, it was the fair catch parade from our punt return unit.

While Jack Nolan promised that the plan is to actually return punts, I really want to see it and see it work most importantly. While Jack mentioned a buzz with possible return men in Greg Bryant and Amir Carlisle, it will take a lot more than that to fix the problem. Blocking, and blocking effectively will be key.

Kelly has spoken a lot about depth and I think the depth issues really showed on special teams. Even though Kelly espouses “next man in”, he isn’t going to throw bodies into a higher potential for injury. This means you see a lot of second and third string on the punt return unit and they simply can’t block as effectively, especially against the new shield punting scheme that teams employ.

One Foot Down has an excellent breakdown that I highly suggest you read. A dynamic return man will help a lot, but the Irish will need to see some better blocking to get this unit into shape.

3. Who will step up into Te’o’s leadership role?

I would put my money on Louis Nix III personally; however, I’ll admit that is simply because he is my favorite player on this roster right now.

Yeah, I know, solid analysis.

I want to see who is walking up and down the sidelines getting the team ready to go and who the team rallies around in crunch time. Sure, this probably has very little to do with overall team performance, but it is something that intrigues me purely from a fan perspective.

4. Which freshmen will make an immediate impact?

Simply put, this is one of the most talented classes that we’ve seen come into South Bend in quite some time. In most years, we’d probably see many of them starting right away, but the Irish return eight starters on defense and and the offense, while only returning four starters (I’m assuming 1 RB, 3 WR [counting T.J., Goodman, and Toma as the starters in 2012], 1 TE, QB, and 5 linemen here), have loads of players that have already seen significant playing time.

This will be a hard lineup to crack, but if some of the freshmen do, and I fully expect it to happen, they will be quite special to watch on the field.

As discussed before, Greg Bryant has turned some heads as well as Steve Elmer. I wouldn’t discount Jaylon Smith and Max Redfield to find some playing time before the season is over as well.

With this kind of talent hungry to make an impact, I’m very excited to see what will shake out.

5. First Tate, then Floyd, then Eifert, then…?

Who is next in the line of dynamic playmakers for Notre Dame?

While I previously pointed out that T.J. Jones had similar production to Eifert, I’m not completely sold that the major impact will come from a receiver. There is loads of talent in the Irish backfield and I wouldn’t sleep on either GA3, Amir Carlisle, or Greg Bryant making a huge splash. Speaking off…

6. Which running back will rise to the top?

As I mentioned before, GA3, Amir Carlisle, and Greg Bryant all have great potential, but don’t count out Tarean Folston or Cam McDaniel. I’m not sure if the later two will see a lot of carries, but might see roles in the slot or as long distance third down backs.

There is an embarrassment of riches in the backfield and I can’t wait to see how they are used.

7. Will ND finally beat Southern Cal at home?

The last time this happened was 2001. It’s been far too long and I’m tired of seeing the Trojans celebrate a victory on our home turf.

8. Will ND finally win a BCS Bowl before they’re put out to pasture?

Since the BCS started in the 1998 season, the Irish have appeared in four BCS bowl games and lost all of them. The last time the Irish won one of the bowls now was in 1991 when they won the Sugar Bowl.

I won’t lie, I really, really want a BCS win. The last thing I want to hear for years to come was how the Irish never won anything of worth in the BCS era.

BONUS: Will HLS crash during the season?

Because I know someone is going to ask it to troll me. And the answer is: NO.

…or at least it better be or HLS will kill me well before ND Football ever does.

———————

Those are my biggest questions for the 2013 season. What are yours? Let me know in the comments.

The post 8 Big Questions for the 2013 Season appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Thankfully, I don’t have to justify ranking a kicker #1 (NEVER FORGET) or leaving our starting QB off the top 25 list (NEVER FORGET THIS AS WELL).

So without further ado, let’s get to the rankings.

#25 – #21

I’m splitting these into sections of five, not just because that’s how Keith did it, but because that’s how I tend to form the rankings in my head.

For the bottom five, I usually rank on pure potential. You’ll usually see most of the incoming freshmen around this area, but every now and then you’ll see a veteran in there as well. This year, that definitely happened.

#25 Chris Brown (Sophomore, WR) – Chris rounded off my top 25, mostly because I just couldn’t shake the long bombs he pulled down last year out of my head. The one against OU was one of the top plays of the entire season. The kid has some serious breakout speed and I’m hoping he can parlay this into a Golden Tate-type breakout year in 2013.

#24 Ishaq Williams (Junior, “Cat” LB) – Ishaq is one of those guys that we have also seen flashes of brilliance from. He has yet to record a sack, but did manage to rack up 3.5 TFL in 2012. I’m hoping that his junior campaign is when we see it all put together.

#23 Jaylon Smith (Freshman, “Dog” LB) – I am really excited to see Jaylon play this season. I have him slotted in the “dog” LB position, spelling Spond. He definitely has the raw talent to succeed at the coverage LB position, so I’m looking for him to make an immediate impact.

#22 Steve Elmer (Freshman, T) – The 6’5″, 300 lbs., top-rated tackle will likely see quite a bit of playing time this year on the line. Thankfully, he early-enrolled giving him a much needed jump start in experience and conditioning. Usually, I want all linemen to redshirt since it is such a physically demanding position, but with the Irish needing immediate, talented depth, a spring head-start definitely works. I think he has all the physical tools to succeed (notice a pattern yet?), so I’m looking for another immediate impact from the young lineman.

#21 Max Redfield (Freshman, S) – I can’t even remember the last time I was this excited about a safety recruit. I doubt he will start at the beginning of the season, but I could definitely see him winning a spot before the 2013 campaign comes to a close. The Irish secondary has needed a big-time recruit for quite a while. With Redfield coming into the fold, I feel he has the best chance out of this group to make an impact in 2013.

#20 – #16

This group tends to actually have some proven success. If I rate someone purely on potential here, I’m definitely high on them.

#20 Malik Zaire (Freshman, QB) – While he will likely see a redshirt this season (unless everything goes to hell like it did in my NCAA sim), Zaire is by far my favorite recruit in the 2013 class. Like Golson, he has a big arm and great mobility. There’s a reason Gunner Kiel jumped ship and my gut tells me he felt Zaire seriously breathing down his neck. It’ll be hard to project his impact, but I have no problem sticking my neck out for this kid, even with Golson’s return in 2014.

#19 Greg Bryant (Freshman, RB) – I don’t think I’ve ever considered putting this many true freshmen in the top 25 ranking, but I can’t help it. 5-star RB recruit that will have the chance to take on a backfield that has some huge holes with the departure of Cierre Wood and Theo Riddick just has to make a huge impact, right?

#18 Ronnie Stanley (Sophomore, T) – Yep, that’s two young tackles in the top 25. Much like Elmer, Stanley will be needed to fill some depth on the Irish line. He’s had a full season under his belt, so he gets a bump into this group of five.

#17 Carlo Calabrese (5th year, ILB)

#16 Dan Fox (5th year, ILB) – I’m combining the reasoning for Calabrese and Fox into one because honestly, I see them as damn near equivalent in the ranking. They have loads of experience and you know what kind of play you will get from each.

#15 – #11

This is the group that starts separating talent and potential on the roster to moving towards the elite. To put it another way, this is the true middle-ground. Players here could end up being the true difference makers or the people that I will later be embarrassed to have ranked so high.

#15 DaVaris Daniels (Junior [RS], WR) – I can’t help but feel like I’m waiting for Daniels to just break out. We’ve seen some signs of the potential before, with the huge reception on Golson’s 45 yard bomb to help send the game into OT. He was also one of the few bright spots of the Irish offense against Alabama notching a career high 115 yards on six receptions, one of which was another long strike of 31 yards. I think he should be able to nail down a starting spot so hopefully we start to see him break out in a huge way.

#14 Sheldon Day (Sophomore, DE) – We all know that Tuitt and Shembo are the two big pass rushing threats, but don’t sleep on Day. In his freshman campaign, Day notched two sacks, 3.5 TFL, and 23 tackles. With the departure of Kapron Lewis-Moore, Day will likely see quite a bit more playing time and he is my personal favorite to start along with Nix, Tuitt, and Shembo. In completely unrelated things tainting my objectivity, Day destroyed opposing offenses in my NCAA ’14 sim and seemingly had at least one sack a game. Here’s hoping reality mimics video game success.

#13 Matthias Farley (Junior [RS], S) – When Slaughter went down for the season, I was definitely terrified that the Irish secondary was beyond screwed. But then Farley stepped in and made an impact that I’m sure very few people saw coming and I don’t see that stopping this season. Fear the beard.

#12 KeiVarae Russell (Sophomore, CB) – Because of a thin secondary, Kelly was forced to move Russell from RB to CB…and did that ever work out. Now, Russell is a returning All American and looks to continue the fantastic job that he began last season. The only reason I don’t have Russell ranked higher is my fear of a sophomore slump and the overwhelming fear that gambles like this just don’t work at Notre Dame so I’m awaiting the other shoe to drop somehow.

#11 Tommy Rees (Senior, QB) – Here are the facts about Tommy Rees:

• He had an incredible run to close out his freshman year in 2010
• His 2011 was completely awful and I want to forget it forever
• He came up clutch in several situations during 2012
• With that said, his start against BYU left a lot to be desired

There is definitely potential there for greatness, but there is also the potential for great disaster because none of us are really ever going to be able to shake 2011. Rees still appears to have issues with locking-in on receivers (see: Floyd in 2011 and Eifert in 2012), but if he can kick that habit, that alone will allow him to progress by leaps and bounds in 2013.

Here’s hoping.

#10 – #6

Now we start moving into the elite parts of the roster. These are the guys I expect to be no-doubt playmakers during the season.

#10 T.J. Jones (Senior, WR) – T.J. made some great strides in 2012 and I still don’t think he’s found his ceiling yet. The WR corps needs a leader and a playmaker and I expect T.J. to fill this role.

#9 Chris Watt (5th year, G) – Watt has been one of the veteran anchors in the interior of the line and will enter his third year as a starter. With the departure of Braxon Cave, I’m looking to Watt to be the glue that holds the middle of the line together.

#8 Troy Niklas (Junior, TE) – Niklas is just a beast at 6’7″ 260 lbs. He made his biggest impact blocking in two TE sets, but with Eifert gone, it will be Niklas job to continue the amazing string of badass TEs from ND. At 6’7″, I am fully expecting Niklas to be a bit of a security blanket for a Tommy Rees jump ball and will soon be one of his favorite targets all season.

#7 George Atkinson III (Junior, RB) – GA3 still has some fundamentals to get down to truly be the best RB possible (One Foot Down has a great breakdown of this), but the bottom line is that GA3 is a straight-up playmaker. His speed on the team might just be unmatched and you can’t help but expect something special to happen when he’s in the open field. With two years under his belt, and the backfield begging for a breakout star, I’m expecting GA3 to take control.

#6 Bennett Jackson (Senior, CB) – Sure, Russell had an amazing, breakout year and Manti Te’o seemingly got all the INTs, but Jackson had a hell of a year himself. In 2012, he had 4 INTs (second only to Te’o) and broke up 4 passes (second to Nix, he led all DBs in this stat). I expect Jackson have yet another great season. With Te’o gone, the only people that can steal the spotlight from Jackson are on the defensive line — the rest of the show is all his to steal.

#5 – #1

The absolute elite on the roster and by far the easiest for me to rank.

#5 Danny Spond (Senior, “Dog” LB) – Spond was one of the best surprises for the 2012 defense and was a solid presence all year at the “dog” linebacker. He had one INT and broke up three passes, which was only second among LBs with Te’o taking top honors. I expect the arrival of Jaylon Smith to only further push Spond’s performance this season. He might not light up the stat sheet, but his presence on the defense cannot be overstated.

#4 Zack Martin (5th year, T) – Martin was my top-rated lineman last season and I see no reason to change that. Martin helped anchor a line that gave up only 13 sacks last season (T-28th in NCAA). Sack numbers (most often) speak to the strength of the exterior linemen and considering where this line used to be just a few years ago, I can’t help but give Martin all the credit in the world for that success.

#3 Prince Shembo (Senior, “Cat” LB) – Shembo was one of the people that helped us say “Aaron, who?” With 7.5 sacks and 10.5 TFL, Shembo was just an absolute beast on the line. To further blow your mind, consider that Shembo also led the team in QB hurries with 12. So that’s at least 30 plays that Shembo hung around in the opposing backfield which is just incredible. But as impressive as he was…

#2 Stephon Tuitt (Junior, DE) – 11 sacks, 11 TFL, 9 QB hurried, a blocked kick, a forced fumble, and an incredible fumble return for a TD — there’s no wonder why Bayou picked him as the Irish D-linemen to watch. Tuitt is simply incredible and the best pass rushing threat that we’ve seen in quite a long time. The only downside to Tuitt? He’s excellent play will likely make this his last year with Notre Dame. Enjoy this while it lasts.

#1 Louis Nix III (Senior, NT) – With all respect to Bayou’s selection, and to Tuitt, my pick at #1 was not hard at all. The success of the 3-4 defense starts with the nose tackle and Nix is one of the best that I have ever seen. Ideally, you just need a guy that can command and handle a double team on every snap. Nix goes well beyond that. NTs aren’t supposed to light up the stat sheet, but Nix manages to do so: 50 total tackles (7th on team), 7.5 TFL (4th on team), 2 sacks (T-4th on team), 3 QB hurries (T-5th on team), and 5 passes defended (leads the Irish). Simply put, Nix causes all kinds of havoc and opposing offenses have no choice but to respect the damage that he can cause. That opens up opportunities for the rest of the Irish defense, leading to TFLs, sacks, and turnovers. Plus, how can we ever forget this:

The post Ranking the Irish Roster: Tex’s Top 25 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

All 18 unsigned verbal commits sent their national letters of intent to South Bend. There were no surprise defections; in fact, the only surprise of the day was a positive one as Eddie Vanderdoes became the 24th and final member of the recruiting class dubbed as the Irish Mob.

Just how great was this recruiting class? Let’s take a look:

And below is the full roster for the recruiting class of 2013 complete with links to their bios here at HLS:

Personally, I’m thrilled with this class. The only thing that would’ve possibly made this class better would have been if Alex Anzalone had stayed in the fold to bring the class to a full 25, but, honestly, at that point, I’m just being greedy.

With this class the Irish could almost field an entire team of just freshmen on both sides of the ball save for one linebacker. The Irish managed to snag four five-star players (according to Rivals) which is the most I can ever remember the Irish having in a single class.

Notre Dame also only trailed a single school in the Rivals average star ranking. That school is Southern Cal, who bested the Irish’s 3.92 average stars with 4.42 average stars — of course, USC only managed to sign 12 players, so that skews that average ever so slightly.

Oh, and right below the Irish in the same ranking: Alabama with 3.84 average stars.

I could go on and continuously gush about this class, but the bottom line is that Notre Dame finished yesterday with an elite recruiting class. It is incredibly well balanced, addresses areas of need, and stocks the depth chart in crucial areas like both the offensive and defensive line (and Brian Kelly said he still considers those areas of need for 2014 — this is a man after my own heart).

Be excited, be very excited about what Brian Kelly and his staff just pulled off. This future is beyond bright for this team.

Finally, the folks at IBN Sports have reached out to us to share their ND signing day segment, featuring Mike Frank of Irish Sports Daily. They have loads of other signing day segments over at their site as well so be sure to check them out if you are interested.

The post National Signing Day 2013 Recap appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Steve Elmer– 4 star OT- 6’6” 310 lbs 4.33 GPA

First member of what would become the “IrishMob13”, Mr. Elmer has been a member since 2011. Slated to play OT, but like most lineman will likely be moved around until the staff finds his strengths. A big, strong kid who could theoretically push for playing time.  Would be nice to “red shirt” him, but it is also good to have someone available to step in in and emergency, even as a freshman. With room to grow and an extra 1/2 year to get acquainted, hopefully he will be a big piece of the O-Line in the future.

James Onwualu – 4 star ATH- 6’2” 205 lbs 4.2 GPA

James joins a crowded depth chart as he is projected as a WR, but could slide into that hybrid RB position. Early on listed as a 3 star but caught the attention of all but one recruiting service and earned his 4th star. Apparently has been quoted saying he’s never lifted a weight a day in his life, so it will be interesting to see if he puts on some pounds after Longo gets to him. Really like this kid, seems to be a very balanced wide receiver. Looks like should be able to go deep and hurt you, or just burn you on a short pass. Reminds me of a cross between Floyd and Tate at the high school level.

Malik Zaire – 4 Star QB 6’1” 190 lbs 3.0 GPA

Coach Kelly said he’d take a QB every year, this year is no different. Zaire is an interesting prospect and part of the Elite 11. Seems almost to good to be true, a mobile QB that keeps his eyes down field and has all the throws. He’s entering what seems like a logjam at QB, but with Hendrix and Rees both going to be Seniors he’ll likely get his shot sooner or later. I expect him to redshirt considering Gunner Kiel enrolled early last year and will likely get the reps Malik would be after. It will be interesting to see if he gets his chance at the field, changes position, or transfers. I for one would like to see what he can do for us. Oh, and he’s a lefty.

Corey Robinson – 4 Star WR 6’4” 200 lbs 4.4 GPA

Son of the Admiral and not a bad athlete himself. A raw receiver, Robinson didn’t play football his whole life. We’ve got a lot of WRs on the roster right now, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he redshirted as well. However, he’s got the size, hands, speed, and athleticism to be a big time WR. He could easily bulk up to 225 in a few years. If he’s coached up well and works hard in the weight room we could have a steal at WR here. Him getting in early leads me to believe its only a matter of time. Another athlete that picked up a 4th star after he was committed just goes to show how well these coaches recruit. Also has shown time and again to be an excellent citizen.

Mike Heuerman – 4 Star TE 6’4” 220 lbs 3.3 GPA

Welcome to TE-U Mr. Heuerman. Another in what is becoming a long line of great TE’s we snagged from the south and the jaws of many other elite programs. Seems to be a very balanced TE, being adept at blocking and catching. Call me crazy, but I think the kid genuinely enjoys blocking. 4 stars across the board and top 10 at his position on every recruiting service as well. There is some depth at TE ahead of him, but Eifert is out the door. Koyack, Welsh, and Niklas are all ahead of him as of today. He will have to put on some lbs but I think his ability as a blocker will get him on the field sooner than we think. Could see special teams as a freshman but I wouldn’t be surprised to see another redshirt.

So, five 4 star young athletes and scholars are enrolled in classes. Hopefully, we’ll have enough depth to give them a full year and a half to adjust via a “red shirt”. However, they could contribute early if need be. Given their accolades, potential, and early start; I wouldn’t be surprised if we know these names very well by the time they get to be Seniors. With patience and hard work I’d say it’s likely we’ll be speaking quite highly of them by the time that rolls around.

The post Early Recruits Enrolled appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.