"You wait all year long for football season, and then it comes and it just flies by."

--Dayne Crist

Five days! Or four, or three, or whenever the hell you read this--it's almost here. It's so scintillating I had to write another preseason football rant.

Crist -- the second coming! (Oh wait. Too irreverent?)

So most of us ("us" being crazy rabid Irish fans) were not overly shocked by the announcement that Dayne Crist would be the starter for this year. Although as this article in the Observer points out, it wasn't necessarily a foregone conclusion that Crist would be named the starter.

"Call it whatever you want," Coach Kelly said. "I've got two really good quarterbacks who are ready to play championship football."

Crist and Rees are so statistically even that it became "very cloudy" trying to determine the #1 and #2 QB based on numbers. This is a good problem to have. Kind of like waking up in the morning and asking yourself, "Which car do I want to drive today? The Ferrari, or the Lamborghini?"

Not such a hard choice when you know you can switch off at your leisure. Much harder when you've got to make a commitment.

But we've made the choice, and now we've got the Ferrari. Or the Lamborghini. Whichever. You decide.

High-Octane overdrive

After naming Crist as the starter, Coach Kelly noted, "He overcame a knee injury to start the [2010] season, then underwent another knee injury and infection for the spring. He didn't have a great spring, but fought through it and had the kind of summer and preseason camp you want your players to have. He's a much better football player, a much better quarterback. He's the kind of guy I wanna coach. He's tough mentally. He handles himself in that leadership position the way I want our quarterbacks to handle themselves. I didn't know Dayne very well last year. But I do now."

Crist has plenty of tenacity, but he owes a lot of his improvement in the off-season to Rees. Both quarterbacks would have worked hard in any case, I'm sure--that's just the kind of strapping, stalwart youths they are--but nothing makes you run fast like the knowledge that you're being chased. They were both forced to play smarter, work harder, and get better faster. They couldn't have done it on their own, and the best part is they know it. Crist himself said after winning the starting job: "I told Tommy--you gotta keep pushing me."

Just as long as you don't bust your knee again, Dayne, I think we'll all be happy.

Goooooooooooo--oooooooooooo--ooooooooo--ooooooooooOOOO! Irish!

So I've been neglecting the special teams, but the good news is Coach Kelly hasn't. In fact, he's talked a lot about them during fall camp, particularly in terms of player development and the overall direction of the program.

First things first, in case you were wondering who's going to be in the backfield waiting to receive punts and kickoffs this year, the answer is "Theo Riddick, Theo Riddick, Theo Riddick." (Yes, that is a direct quote.)

Second, freshman kicker Kyle Brindza will be handling kickoffs. (Possibly also punts.) I think Ruffer's still getting the nod for field goals and extra points, but it's definitely Brindza on kickoffs. I'm quite enthused to hear this, considering Kyle is the first great kicker we've actually recruited in, oh, I don't know, FOREVER.

Of course, it's difficult to determine whether a kicker will remain consistent (and who can tell whether they'll be "great"), because the quality of their game is mostly in their head and their playing time largely consists of nothing...nothing...nothing... OMG SO MUCH PRESSURE DON'T SCREW UP ...nothing...nothing...nothing.

However, if you take a look at the first three lines of Brindza's player bio, you will likely feel reassured:

Set Michigan state high school record with 19 made field goals as a senior in 2010, including six of nine from 50 yards or more ... averaged 43.2 yards per punt and 60 of 63 kickoffs resulted in touchbacks in 2010 while handling kicking and punting duties for Plymouth High School in Canton, Mich. ... rated ninth-best player in Michigan by Detroit Free Press

Ninth-best player. A kicker. Ninth-best. In the state.

I love our recruiting staff.

Thirdly (or is it sixth and lastly?), Coach Kelly noted that he's been utilizing special teams to help younger players gain valuable game-time experience. Both Bennett Jackson and Lo Wood played on special teams last year, and this year they're expected to aid Gary Gray and Robert Blanton at cornerback. This year, freshmen running backs Cam McDaniel and George Atkinson III are slated to play on special teams so they'll be ready to contribute next season--or even this season, if need be.

This is a common enough strategy--widely used to break in NFL rookies everywhere--but things are different when your players have limited eligibility. Although this system works for now, Kelly would eventually like to abandon it. "I'd prefer that we have enough strength and depth in our program that we didn't have to play guys in special teams roles to get them game-time experience. Down the road, we won't have to do this, because freshmen won't be expected to play as second-year starters."

Whoa, guys.

Whoa.

I've grown so accustomed to witnessing the career arc of players like Brady Quinn, Golden Tate, and Manti Te'o from freshman year onward that the concept of an all-upperclassman team now seems strange. No more four-year starters? Really? That's kind of...sad.

Except that it's not.

If you're starting freshmen, that means you haven't got any upperclassmen who can play the position better. And that doesn't mean your freshmen are so spectacular--that just means you've got some serious holes in your depth chart. Very rarely do you get a player like Julius Jones or Denard Robinson (try not to gak on the maize-and-blue here), who are so straight-up good you'd be crazy to keep them off the field. (Although between you and me, I think Coach Kelly's trying to build the kind of team where you could keep those players off the field for a year. If you wanted to.)

I'm sure it's agonizing for players who were brilliant in high school to come to college and have to wait years before they can start. But if you've got the right system in place, it's much better to give players time to redshirt than it is to just throw them in and let them learn as they go. Game-time experience is valuable, but you shouldn't be getting playing time as a starter when you're still trying to learn the plays. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but the end goal is to build a team where freshmen don't have to start. Not unless you want them to.

Looks like that's the road we're headed down once more.

Let's hope so.

Tidbits

Right. I've waffled on longer than I intended to (everybody's shocked), so in closing I'm going to provide you with some favorite quotes and tidbits I've picked up from interviews, articles, and und.com videos in the last week or so:

Movin' on up. The Irish were ranked #18 in the USA Today preseason poll, #16 in the AP preseason poll, and #14 in Sports Illustrated's college football preview. These are the highest preseason rankings since 2006, when the Irish opened at #2 in the AP poll. (Wow, that seems like a zillion years ago.)

Great Expectations. Most pundits' predictions have the Irish headed to a BCS Bowl game with a nine-win season. My favorite matchup so far has the Irish playing Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl--although actually I'd love to see us play in the Sugar Bowl again. (Any excuse to go back to New Orleans, really.)

We're number...4? Sports Illustrated is fond of rankings. In this year's college football preview, they ranked the best gameday traditions, best overall gameday experience, and best coaches in college football. Notre Dame appeared on all three of these lists, coming it at #10 on the coach rankings with Brian Kelly; #9 on the best game day traditions with the postgame alma mater; and #4 on the best overall Game Day experience, behind Texas A&M, Wisconsin (really? Wisconsin?) and LSU.

Coach Kelly on accountability and the 'Canes: (if you haven't heard about the NCAA's investigation of Miami this might not make sense to you) "That's not to say that the guys at Miami didn't want to go to school--but they had other things in mind, too. As a coach, as a program, you recruit guys who understand that they're coming to a university to get a degree--and understand the value of that degree and what it costs--and play football. The rest of the stuff--we're gonna have to be more vigilant, everybody. Everybody says, 'well, that's just the NCAA.' I think it's a cop-out. I think it's the NCAA, the institution, the coach. I think it's everybody."

Manti Te'o, man-beast. Junior linebacker and All-American candidate Manti Te'o is currently listed on four presason watchlists for awards (Lombardi, Butkus, Bednarik, Nagurski), following a sophomore season in which he recorded 133 tackles--the most since Notre Dame's single-season record of 147 was set in 1983. (Better go ahead and gird your fibers for the season, kids. There's gonna be grass stains.)

ND's version of the Gameday Bus. Apparently this year, the football team is changing up its pre-game traditions. They'll attend mass in the Basilica as usual, but instead of walking to the stadium afterwards, they'll walk back to the buses, which will then drive pretty much all the way around campus before ending up in the tailgating lots south of the stadium and heading back to the Gug. There, the team will have a final pre-game meeting to go over the game plan. After the meeting (a little over 2 hours prior to kickoff), they'll walk from the Gug to the library, swing by the statue of Fr. Hesburgh and Fr. Joyce, admire their reflections in the reflecting pool (this part optional), and then walk down stadium quad to the stadium. Lest we forget, stadium quad is where Cartier Field used to stand--home to Knute Rockne, the Gipper, the Four Horsemen, and the first fabled notions of that blue-gray sky. This is also the part of campus where the Navy trained when they came and saved our school from closure. Fans are encouraged to line the route and cheer.

Season Opener Stats. (courtesy of und.com)

Notre Dame and USF will meet on the gridiron for the first time in the 123-year history of Irish football. The Bulls are the 140th different opponent in Notre Dame football history. The Irish own an all-time record of 117-19-3 (.853) when facing an opponent for the first time.

The Irish are 102-15-5 (.857) in season openers and have taken 20 of the last 24.

The 102 seasons Notre Dame has won its opener, the Irish went on to post winning records 93 times (91.2%), with four losing seasons and five .500 records

Revenge of the Skip? (okay, I don't think Skip Holtz wants revenge, but I'm tired, so just go with it - these are more tidbits from und.com)

Skip Holtz, a former member of the Irish football team and assistant coach and son of former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz, returns to Notre Dame Stadium as he leads USF Bulls into Saturday's season opener for both teams.

Holtz's playing career at Notre Dame lasted one season, 1986, where he predominantly saw action with the special teams unit. Following graduation, he worked as a graduate assistant under Bobby Bowden at Florida State and a wide receivers coach at Colorado before returning to Notre Dame as an assistant coach under his father, Lou (1990-1993).

During Skip's two seasons as offensive coordinator (1992-1993), the Irish posted a 21-2-1 record and averaged 37 points per game, good enough to earn them a top-10 ranking nationally in total offense.

Last one -- a quote from the golden boy...

Crist, on confidence: "If you're not confident, it's because you're not prepared. I think we're gonna prepare better than anybody in the country."

Damn skippy.

GO IRISH BEAT BULLS!

Irish Football is BACK

....for spring practice, I mean.

I can't say anything about how the team will actually perform this fall. But I can say that I like how they're performing at this exact moment, based on the approximately five minutes of actual practice footage I've seen. Which clearly makes me an expert on the subject and entitles me to extrapolate on it at length, with the aid of key quotes, press conference clips, clever inferences, and the possibility of over-exaggerated extended metaphors which, if nothing else, seemed like a good idea at the time.


Take her to warp speed, captain!

So the main reaction to the first spring practice of 2010 (which took place yesterday, for those of you who haven't been paying attention) seems to be that it was fast. Really fast. Fast like a cheetah. Fast like a viper. Fast like Golden Tate on a straight route up the sideline past the Purdue secondary. (Sorry. Was that too much 2007 too soon?) Fast like the USS Enterprise or...whatever.

The point is, X out of X football journalists recently polled state that yesterday's spring practice was the "fastest" and the most "up-tempo" of any Irish spring practice they've ever seen, stretching back to at least the Devine era. No-huddle offense. Helmets on at all times. No standing still.

...you know, except for the necessary amount of standing still required to wait for instructions / water / the players' bodies to cool down enough so they don't vomit / pass out / begin imagining that the faces of people who mocked them in the past have suddenly been transposed onto the faces of the players on the other side of the ball.

This may or may not be an accurate assessment of the actual amount of hustle involved in practice, considering, you know, I wasn't there.

So anyway. This tempo of this practice seems promising, if you believe in the whole "you play like you practice" mantra. It seems to suggest a higher level of conditioning necessary to survive the practices, let alone the games.

Thinking optimistically...this may make it easier for the team to adjust to game speed in the fall, and might possibly improve the players' overall stamina enough for them to actually play all four quarters of football. And at this point, that would be something of a feat, considering how effing long all our home games have become (thanks NBC). On the flip side, too much intensity during practice could leave the players without their legs under them when game day actually does roll around.

But Brian Kelly has been a head coach for 19 years now (this season will be his 20th, I believe), so I'm going to have to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.


Beam me up, Scotty

It's only one day of practice so far, so it's impossible to say we've really arrived anywhere. It's impossible to draw any real, concrete conclusions. But here's a chunk of the WNDU article on yesterday's practice, complete with some optimistic quotes from Kelly's pre-practice presser:

"I think probably the thing that is absolutely non-negotiable is the intensity through repetition," Kelly told the media before practice.

Kelly said he doesn't want to hear any talking, complaining or see any fights at practice. But he does want to see some fight.

"If we can get the fight back in the Fightin' Irish, that's what I'm looking for," Kelly said. "I want to compete our butts off for four quarters.

"I want our guys to go to practice and compete, compete and compete."

For the most part, this is the sort of pre-season stuff you'd expect any new coach to be saying. I mean, you'd certainly hope that any new coach coming to Notre Dame would want to say something corny like he wants to put the "fight back in the Fightin' Irish." And any coach worth his cleats should be promising that his team's going to play for four quarters.

But it's one thing to claim "intensity through repetition," one thing to say that you want your guys to "compete, compete, compete." It's entirely another to go out on the first day of practice and prove it.

So... what do we got so far?

High-tempo practice. Lots of focus, lots of action. Lots of work toward getting the players to “think on their feet.” As previously mentioned, these practice sessions have been like nothing we’ve seen from ND spring ball for the last, oh, thirty years or so (at least), but as Kelly himself remarked after today’s practice, “It doesn’t mean it’s better, it’s just different for ‘em.” It’s intriguing, but we’ll just have to wait and see whether this approach pays dividends in the fall.

Chips all in. Anyone who could walk was on the field yesterday, including Dayne Crist and Kyle Rudolph, both of whom underwent off-season surgery. Both are looking to be in pretty decent shape for the coming season (we hope). The reporters are saying Dayne Crist will probably be the starter at QB, which seems logical, but it's impossible to make any concrete statements at this point, considering Kelly is operating with

No depth chart. Kelly apparently prefers to practice with different “pods” or groups of players, rather than dividing them into first-string and second-string teams. All the players are out there competing for a starting spot; nothing's guaranteed. Which, theoretically, is the way it should always be in spring ball, and it's definitely nothing less than you'd expect from a brand-new head coach. But I really like that there's not even a hint at first-string or second-string yet, except from the reporters. The players (including Dayne Crist) all seem to be feeling the pressure to get out there and compete, to earn the spot they want. Like I said, nothing really unusual here, but it’s still nice to see.

The position shuffle. A number of players have shuffled position already – I’m just going to mention a couple.

Sophomore running back Theo Riddick has been moved to slot receiver. I have to say I like this move. By all reports, Theo is the fastest guy on the team. Which means he’s faster than Golden Tate. Last year, Theo picked up most of his playing time on kick returns for special teams, and a few really scrappy plays against Washington State that, were it not for a few well-placed shoestring tackles, might’ve turned themselves into scampers for the endzone. (Okay, he may have had a few more carries than that, but mostly I remember the WSU game, because that game was really fun to watch, because we were, you know, winning.) I’m very curious to see how his speed will transfer to a receiving position. If you will recall, Golden Tate played fullback in high school. One could surmise that this experience had an extremely positive effect on Golden’s ability to make plays after the catch. It’s possible that the same could be true for Theo Riddick. Possibly. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, it’s only spring practice.

There’s also been a lot of flip-flopping throughout the linebacker corps. Harrison Smith is switching from outside linebacker to safety, Steve Paskorz is moving from inside linebacker to fullback, Manti Te’o is switching from middle to inside linebacker, and inside linebacker Brian Smith is switching to outside. The reason for all the switching? Apparently Kelly likes his strong, physical players on the inside and his athletic, faster players on the outside. Which makes sense, really, doesn’t it? Giving the faster guys more of the field to cover? But again, we’ll have to see how this all shakes down in the fall. I certainly hope all the shuffling in the linebackers will prevent one of the safeties from becoming next year’s leader in tackles. Not that I didn’t love Kyle McCarthy, but come on – when a Safety is your leading tackler, you’ve got some serious defensive issues.



To infinity, and beyond!
(Oh wait, that was a Buzz Lightyear reference.)

So anyway. One month of spring practice before the Blue-Gold game, which, sadly, I will not be attending. (Sigh.) ND’s spring practices this year started later than…pretty much every other school’s…so let’s hope these up-tempo practices and some intense focus can get us where we need to be by the end of April.

Six months or less ‘til football season……

GO IRISH BEAT BOILERS!

National Signing Day and the Future of ND Football

Setting aside Super Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, the Chinese New Year, the happy re-activation of my credit card, and the two papers I've written in the past several days, let's talk about what's really important in the world this week: NATIONAL SIGNING DAY.

For those of you un-obsessed with the world of college football, National Signing Day is the day when high school football players all across the country officially commit to their chosen schools. Prior to National Signing Day, most players make verbal commitments, so schools have a pretty good idea of what their recruiting class is going to look like long before National Signing Day rolls around, but verbal commitments aren't permanent, so players can still change their minds at the last minute--which happened last year, with ND losing some of its promising recruits to schools like Florida (which, for some reason, thought that it was important last year, for some delusional reason like...I don't know, they won the national championship. Pfbt. Whatever).

This year, however, recruiting has been much more intense, with most of our recruits verbally committing before the start of this year's football season, and all the work seems to have paid off. Yesterday, ND signed 23 of the best high school football players in the country, hailing from 17 different states (that's right...17), and according to Coach Weis's presser, we have now signed: "five defensive linemen, four linebackers, three DBs, four offensive linemen, two tight ends, three wide receivers, a running back and a quarterback."

Excellent haul. But I have a question for you, Coach Weis: WHERE'S THE EFFING KICKER?????

Is it really THAT HARD to find a good--heck, I don't know, even halfway decent--kicker to come play for the Irish? Is there any reason that Notre Dame, with all its history, accolades, reputation, and scholarships, should continue to play WALK-ONs at the most crucial special teams position on the field? I mean, IS THERE?

Just asking.

Right, so, this year's recruiting class. There are too many to go through accurately (and let's face it, if you all really cared you'd be reading through Coach Weis's presser and surfing the real ND football blogs just like I did to hear about all the new recruits in detail), but there are a couple things I want to highlight.

First of all, we have a local kid signing up for the squad this year--Braxston Cave (good football name) from Penn (sssssssssssssssssss) is going to be joining the O-line (and, hopefully, improving it). Apparently his parents have been inviting all the new recruits over all season long for pasta nights or whatever, so there's been a lot of good ol' team bonding going on already (we can only hope).

Sean Cwynar, a defensive lineman from Illinois, has enrolled a semester early* (along with a couple other recruits, I think--but I can't remember which at the moment), so he's already on campus soaking up the ND lifestyle (quarter dogs at midnight!) and hopefully hitting the weight rooms in preparation for spring practices.

Favorite New Football Player Name This Year: Jamoris Slaughter. Defensive back, Georgia. Last year's fave was Golden Tate. We're racking up an excellent list of quality football player names.

Favorite new recruit overall: Mike Golic, Jr. He was the first player to commit to this year's recruiting class, and apparently he faxed in his signature to the Mike & Mike show yesterday morning announcing his commitment to ND (at least, this is what I hear...didn't actually tune in for the Mike & Mike show, but let's assume this happened, because it's nifty). Basically, Mike Golic rocks. He's on the O-Line as well, slated to compete for the position at center**. I get a good feeling from this kid. He reminds me of Bobby Morton, which is the highest compliment I can currently think of. Time will tell if he is as cool as Bob Morton, or as nice to the band.

And, most importantly: NEW QB ALERT!!!
I'm pretty sure you're all well-acquainted with my opinions on Jimmy Clausen (the little pustule). I could not be happier that we have a new excellent quarterback who will be competing (and actually competing, not just competing-because-he's-bee

n-around-Coach-Weis's-system-for-three-years competing) for the top spot at QB--especially by the time next year rolls around.

Dayne Crist hails from Notre Dame high school in Sherman Oaks, CA, and in his high school uniform bears a striking resemblance to my Favorite ND QB Of All Time (see inserted photo).

Yeah. No joke. Number 10.

So anyway, you can plainly see where my allegiance lies as far as the QB situation is concerned in the future. For this season, we have to assume that it will be Jimmy Clausen all the way, and though I still think he looks like an emu and has the charming personality of a narcissistic twat...if he's the guy who's going to lead us to a winning season this year (should I even dream of a bowl game?!), then so be it.

Last tidbit before I rush off to class: Aaron Taylor, former ND great, has been talking about this year's recruiting class on his blog. I'll leave you with his thoughts on what makes this year's recruiting class particularly intriguing and promising:


"...it’s hard to ignore the accolades that this Notre Dame recruiting class is piling up as Feb. 7, aka “National Signing Day”, fast approaches. In fact, we haven’t heard this much talk about an incoming Irish class since, well … since the class I was a part of back in 1990.

If you followed the site last year, you’ll remember the podcast of Kevin McDougal and I talking about how special our class was, (it’s still up under “Exclusive Interviews” if you want to check it out). The 1990 recruiting class consisted of eight High School All-Americans, and no fewer than a dozen of us made it to the NFL, including five in the first round of the 1993 and 1994 Drafts (a group that yours truly was fortunate and proud to be a part of). Two of those guys, B. Young and RB Jerome Bettis, are almost certain locks for the NFL Hall of Fame, and other guys like C Tim Ruddy, DL Jim Flanigan, S Jeff Burris, DL Oliver Gibson, WR Lake Dawson and LBs Pete Bercich and Anthony Peterson certainly had their moments in The League.


That class was truly special, and not just because we went 40-8, including Notre Dame’s last three bowl wins (I still can’t believe that when I write it). No, it was special because we all formed an instant, tightly knit bond ... a bond that has lasted to this day among many of us. And as talented as the incoming class is, it’s the bond between them that has me more excited than anything else."



*My friend Holly informs me that according to the Observer I am wrong, that only Trevor Robinson is on campus early, but I find this interesting considering I got the detail about Cwynar enrolling early from Coach Weis's presser...and let's hope for the sake of the team that Coach Weis knows which of his players are on campus and which aren't.
**Holly informs me that Braxston Cave is like the best center in the country, so who knows if Mike Golic, Jr. will ever see time at center? I maintain that he will have an impact, because he really seems to Get the whole ND thing. Not that I have any basis for an argument one way or another, I'm just throwing out nonsense like I always do.