Spring Practice Update II

First off I’d like to start by saying that it was great to be back on campus. After being away for the better part of a year and a half it was nice to see the place I called home for six years. The campus is expanding like crazy and some parts of it I didn’t even recognize. Construction is everywhere both in the form of buildings and roads.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the tailgate. We were lucky to have such great weather for the tailgating and game. I think a good time was had by all. There was some PS2 NCAA College Football 2007 on hand and plenty of trash talking ensued. We also had some cornhole which invited more than a few neighbors to participate in the activity. Finally, thanks to Vinnie and his father’s restaurant Da Vinci’s for supplying the food. If you are in the Elkhart area, it’s worth the stop. I recommend the baked mostaccioli. It’s breathtaking, I assure you.

I want to talk about several things, the Blue & Gold game, Corwin Brown, and recruiting …in that order. But before I get to the Blue & Gold game I’d like to say a few things about the game itself. The Blue & Gold game counts as a practice and since there are only fifteen in the Spring coaches typically use it, at least to some extent, to that end. As such, you really can’t get a whole lot out of watching a game like this as far as a status check of the team goes. This is evident by a plethora of people out there on message boards, as well as “sports journalists” (I put those words in quotes because everyone by now knows my opinion of them), talking about the game citing a multitude of different opinions. Some people criticize this and glorify that, but for others it is the other way around. Most of the things I will say here are barely observations. Nothing I speak of is likely as good or as bad as I might state.

To give an example I’ll take one particular match-up of the game. Both Ara and Lou said that they were particularly impressed with the secondary. And I’ll admit, they looked good. But you have to take that performance in context as there were essentially no deep balls thrown, the offenses ran nearly 75% of the time, and our receivers looked terrible. It is far more likely that the secondary is somewhat improved, that the play-calling and rules of the game were to their benefit, and that our receivers aren’t as bad as I fear.

On a side note, it has been well documented that Holtz was right back where he used to be as coach of ND. He paced up and down the sideline, picked grass, and chewed out players. If you looked closely you could see the student manager following him up and down the sideline with the cord to his headset....

Offense

Well let’s get it out of the way. In my opinion, Clausen had the best day of the four quarterbacks. Everyone is talking about his 3 of 7 day but at least 3 of those incompletions were to avoid a sack. I don’t call that a poor throw, I call it good awareness. And given our status next year, unproven QB and receivers, young offensive line, etc. throwing the ball away and living to fight another down without the long yardage situations is key for the success of our offense. He was accurate on most of his throws intended for a receiver with the exception of one and he had, by far, the most competent throw of the day on a bench route to his left. The throw was in the air, waiting for the receiver, before he made his cut. It really was pretty.

Clausen is beginning to win over his teammates as well. Comments by both Travis Thomas and Maurice Crum were positive in that respect. That said, I still think he is slightly behind Sharpley with respect to being the starting QB at ND. He doesn’t quite understand the offense as well as he needs to (it was evident by a miscommunication that forced him to call a timeout) and I was very surprised at his lack of mobility on Saturday. For someone who is supposed to run a 4.7 40 he didn’t look too fleet of foot. Just remember folks, there’s a lot of time between now and Georgia Tech and I’d be hard pressed to think that Charlie would leave him out of the “top 2” going into the Fall. This means he will have many reps and begin to learn more.

Sharpley had the second best performance, in my opinion, and it was a close second as well. He ran the offense efficiently, he looks comfortable under center, and he has sufficient accuracy and arm strength. I stick by my former statement and say if we had to play tomorrow he is our guy (link here). But I also still believe he isn’t the long-term solution. I can see him and Clausen battling it out in the fall.

Jones looked decent at times and poor at others. It’s difficult not to get excited about his 31 yard run, especially when you watch it on the highlights and see him separating from the linebackers. But his pick was a terrible throw into coverage and behind the receiver and his touchdown pass was a good adjustment on the ball by Parris on a deflected throw. He doesn’t look comfortable dropping back. The bottom line on Jones is that he is too volatile. While it’s exciting that he might be able to bail us out of some third down situations with his legs, if he isn’t accurate defenses will commit to stopping him via a spy and he won’t be able to make them pay for losing a pass defender. His throwing motion is still awful.

Frazer, in my mind, has to be completely out of the race. He didn’t have a single completion on Saturday and what’s worse, he didn’t have a decent throw. I can’t see him making the “top 2” cut.

While we are talking about quarterbacks I think it’s hilarious that the popular trend in writing among the “sports journalists” is that it is going to be impossible to replace such a great player like Quinn and his 30+ ND passing records. Never mind the fact that these are the same writers who were trashing his play all last season and tearing his draft status apart. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, sports journalists are simply story spinning, story-line creating, fickle writers just trying to sell their product.

Without a doubt the most positive thing on the offensive side of the ball had to be the running game. And make no mistake about it, it is nothing like it has been since Weis arrived. We may have run four or five zone plays all day long. Most of the running was off tackle, much of it in the form of isolation plays, treys and counter treys, and some trapping. All four of the tailbacks looked good when given a bit of room. Travis Thomas had one of the best moves of the day when he juked an un-touched defender just after taking the handoff. You can see the speed in Armando Allen, but he did look timid like Munir Prince at times. At one point Aldridge made such a great cut and I thought it was Allen until they called his name. And Jabbie made the most out of every opportunity he had. The media is in love with Jabbie now but if you really look at the game he had more opportunities than the other backs. For the most part, there were more holes and more space for him on his carries. If he is currently behind Aldridge and Thomas it says to me that we can expect very good things from them given the same opportunity.

On top of the tailbacks playing well both Schwaap and Schmidt played well. Schmidt has improved his blocking tremendously, mostly by keeping his feet wider and breaking down before taking on the defender. Schwaap is just a beast and showed his knee is back to healthy. He was running over people and will be a nice compliment to the tailbacks mentioned above in our ground game. You heard it hear first, at one point during the season we will line up in a two tight end, I backfield formation, motion both tight ends out as well as the tailback, and give it to Schwaap right up the middle on a short yardage situation. The moral of the story is that we are talented and deep in the backfield.

Speaking of tight ends they got a lot of action on Saturday. Carlson looked decent but I think he may have lost a little speed. It’s possible that he added the weight via strength to help with blocking but he may have sacrificed some of his speed and agility in the process. Reuland looked decent but bobbled most of the passes thrown his way. Catching those clean can help with the RAC (run after catch) yards. Yeatman looked rusty, probably the effects of not practicing every day.

The offensive line played well at times and poorly at others. If I had to grade the run blocking I would probably give it a B+. If I had to grade the pass blocking I’d probably give it a C-. The run blocking grade would have been even better had it been more consistent. Most of our success came via traps and isolation plays utilizing a pulling guard. We used a lot of motion with a fullback or tight end coming behind the QB and kicking the outside defender. It was fairly successful. The pass blocking was less impressive but the fact that only two hands were needed for a sack doesn’t help the cause. Still, I don’t believe I saw one time where our QB dropped back and was able to cleanly deliver the ball free from pressure. Sam Young looked pretty good. He held his own with Maurice Richardson who abused the other tackles all day long.

I would have to say our receiving corps looked terrible on Saturday. I saw some decent blocking from some of them but overall we weren’t able to gain separation from defenders and lack any real down-field threat. This may, however, be an overstatement as there weren’t many deep routes. West is out and Kumara isn’t on campus yet but it seems like we don’t have someone who’s going to get us that jump ball like Samardzija or Stovall. Richard Jackson was my hope in this area but he couldn’t catch a cold on Saturday. I’d have to give Parris the best grade of them all but he lacks true speed and doesn’t catch the ball with his hands (he really does look like a Samardzija clone though). This is a problem area for our offense that needs to be addressed soon. Not being able to get open killed us in both the USC and LSU games last year and it will only be more detrimental to our success this season.

Overall I’d say it was difficult to glean anything substantial about the offense. Weis said he wanted to have the day focused on the run and getting back to a more physical, tough approach to the game that we had “gotten away from.” This is good news if he sticks with it because we shouldn’t have to throw it on third and short and I want to see the “nasty” football team he promised us. The bad news may be that a consistent, good running game means eight in the box from opposing defenses. If we can’t develop a legitimate down-field threat and/or a QB to get that threat the ball play action is our only weapon against other teams selling out against the run. However, if we can consistently move the ball on the ground it will help us control the clock, take pressure off the QB, and rest the defense. With four running backs legitimately pushing for playing time and multiple offensive lineman fighting for each position, we should be able to keep our players fresh during games. This may prove helpful but we have to develop in our receiver corps to have a legitimate shot at winning some of our tougher games. Additionally, long, ground-based drives require elimination of mistakes such that we will really need to play disciplined football to be successful.

Defense

Defensively, as I stated above, I think our secondary looks much better. That said, it could be that the receivers played that poorly. Both McNeil and Walls looked a stop quicker and much more physical than last year. This was especially true at the line of scrimmage playing bump-and-run coverage. Wooden’s play was very encouraging both in run support and against the pass. Lambert looks to be faster and in better shape than last year. Both Bruton and Herring looked very rangy when on the field. At 6’3” Bruton may turn out to be the true center fielder we’ve been looking for. Last, but not least, Zibi had a quiet, but good day. He was tough against the run but looked much better against the pass, particularly blanketing Carlson down the field.

The one thing that stood out to me about the defense more than anything else was the ability to get pressure from the outside. Richardson was responsible for this more often than anyone else but in general we were able to get good pressure from the outside. As stated above, this could be the result of poor offensive line play. Hopefully, however, it is an indication of good things for our pass rush on defense. If this is an area of improvement expect the secondary to benefit.

Our linebacker play was improved in most areas. The pursuit was good and we were aggressive. We still, however, have too difficult of a time on the inside shedding blocks from offensive lineman at the next level. I think the defensive line is partially to blame for this as the inside linebackers in the 3-4 scheme are supposed to be able to run and make the tackles but we were still guilty of it. Vernaglia had a solid game. Even though he over-pursued at times, he wasn’t out of position often, was physical, and really played well against the run in many cases. Toryan Smith was lighting people up, but you can tell he is still young and plays too much on reaction rather than instinct. A little more time and I think he will really be a force in the middle for us.

It was difficult for me to tell if the defensive line played well or not. In this type of defense they really aren’t the “playmakers” and didn’t show up much on the stat line. I did note that Justin Brown played well. He seemed to be very quick off the ball and really blew up a few plays. Chris Stewart is really tough to move on the inside but he must play lower and maintain leverage. Being tough to move and being able to control the A-gaps are two different things.

That’s about all I have on defense. To be honest, I really didn’t play as close of attention to them as I should have. Overall I think they were more physical than they had been in the past. I saw some pretty big hits out there, some being given, others taken, but the pursuit, speed, and physical play did seem to be elevated from last year.

Corwin Brown

I’m not going to lie, I’m falling in love with Corwin Brown. I read this excerpt on Blue Gray Sky (link here) that is excellent. It is some comments written by a coach that attended the coaching clinic at ND and listened in on Brown’s session. Brown talks about his philosophy, “first the players, then the plays,” like he extracted it from the Belichick Football Bible. He gets it, you cater your defense to the personell you have. Weis knows it on offense, that’s why we ran 75% of the time on Saturday and threw to the tight end a lot. That’s why our running game this year will look nothing like it has in the past under him. The players seem to love him (Brown), they respect him, they want to play hard for him. He is making waves on the recruiting trail. And on top of all that, he is imparting to all of those defenders who are playing for him the very simple philosophy that they must run and hit, attack the football, and go hard. When he was with the Jets his secondaries always forced tons of turnovers. It was those three things that did it. You have to like it.

But the thing that impresses me the most about him is that he gets football. For the first three spring practices he practiced one defensive front and two coverages. If all else fails, he can come back to that. He can get it done with that. It isn’t that he doesn’t know more complicated and intricate defenses, it is that football isn’t about doing a lot of things. Football is about doing a few things well, and making it look like a lot of things. With twenty hours of practice a week you don’t have the time to practice a lot of things. And Corwin gets this. At this point it is still just talking as I said before (link here), but I really, really like the stuff he is saying.

Recruiting

Well, many people know that recruiting is going well thus far this Spring. Weis has grabbed two top tight end prospects in Rudolph and Fauria and what many regard as the top QB in California and top passing QB in the nation in Crist. These recruits are coming to ND despite a ton of talent and depth at their positions. This is huge for our recruiting. You don’t build a dynasty by taking years off recruiting players. You do it by bringing in top players over and over again. Look at the backfield at USC. They have 5-7 running backs that would probably start anywhere in the country. You can never predict injuries or transfers so it’s great to see us stocking up. We have also really addressed our need at linebacker by getting three commitments thus far. I really like this McDonald kid. He can run for his size, his coach says he can’t get him out of the film room, and he wants to destroy people when he tackles them. The future looks bright and it’s only April.

Spring Practice Update I

I just wanted to write a few things regarding spring practice this year. I've watched several days of practice video. Much of it is just the first twenty minutes of practice consisting of stretching and drills. However, last Saturday the entire practice was open to the media. Much of what I write here will be based on what I saw in those bits of video in addition to what I've read on the Internet and Weis' comments from his press conferences.

Let me state up front that I by no means assume this to be an accurate account of the state of ND football. It is difficult to sufficiently glean nearly anything substantial from what is out there. Weis runs a pretty tight ship in terms of what he lets get to the media and I don't blame him. I'll discuss a bit about Weis (and Bill Lewis), the offense, and the defense. This will be mostly a stream of consciousness type of thing. Finally, let's remember that we are nearly five months away from our first game.

Weis

It seems that Weis is too comfortable. I previously wrote that I believed we were nasty and intelligent the first year of Weis' tenure but not as much last year. It seems like we don't have that any more. I'm all about having fun at practice (which is what seems to be going on), but where is the business-like attitude? We don't have the athletes (yet) to have much room for error and we certainly don't have the experience. I feel like Weis isn't imposing a sense of urgency like he should. On top of that, he has made comments about using different quarterbacks in different situations. To me, that is a terrible idea. I know, I know, look at how well it worked for Florida last year. But show me that one time it was successful and I'll show you a dozen when it wasn't. I like his general approach to the quarterback selection process: see who can run the offense, then make the reads, then get the accuracy of the throws, but I think not having one guy, one leader, is divisive for the team.

Bill Lewis

I have to give Bill Lewis a shout here because the guy never shuts up during practice. From the moment the players arrive until they leave he is constantly coaching. Even during stretching he is going to players to work with them on certain things. We are fortunate to have him.

Offense

Quarterbacks

If we had a game tomorrow I believe Sharpley would start. He knows the offense, has command of the huddle, and is proficient enough throwing the ball that we could be successful provided we had a decent running game to take pressure off the passing game, help keep the defense off the field, and slow the game down. The place where we would hurt would be in third and long situations. However, I have a feeling that is going to be problematic for us all year.

Clausen, I believe, is right behind him. His release is super quick, his accuracy (at least on the short and intermediate throws which is all I have see him make) is dead on, and his polish is superb. If he had more time in the offense I believe he would be the hands down winner. The problem is that he doesn't know the reads, the checks, etc. and doesn't have the trust of the other players (or Weis). Between now and next fall that may change.

Frazer looks the part but he seems to have problems with leading receivers on his throws. He has a cannon for an arm and has the strength to make all the throws but the physical tools seem to be where the positives stop. In another system where a coach paid more attention to a backup quarterback and their development he might have a shot at becoming a good quarterback but I don't see it happening here.

Jones, to me, looks the worst of all four quarterbacks. I was rooting for him as the starter because I like his ability to create with his athleticism. However, his throwing motion is terrible, he is frequently grossly inaccurate, and he doesn't seem to have particular control of the team. This doesn't seem to be the general indication of his performance from the media and Weis so it could be that I just caught some bad clips.

One final note about the quarterback situation. If one quarterback is able to separate themselves from the rest of the pack I would expect (at least) one of the others to transfer (or go to another sport in the case of Sharpley). Weis is a one quarterback type of guy and with the limited time and practice constraints he doesn't seem to be too keen on working much with the number two and three guys. If one of the younger guys gets the nod and plays well or even sufficient, I would expect him to be the starter for a while to come (barring injury of course).

Carlson

I didn't give any other individual their own category but Carlson deserves it. He looks to be 20-25 pounds bigger than last year and he hasn't lost a step. In fact, he may be slightly faster. He looks much stronger on his blocking and I think we will see him be a receiver like he was last year and a blocker like Fasano was the year before.

Offensive Line

I have to admit I haven't seen much to form an opinion on the offensive line. The word on the street is that they are playing well and that there is a lot to be happy about. I will say this, Sam Young isn't human. I've never seen someone so large have so much agility and quickness.

Running Backs

Travis Thomas and James Aldridge look very similar running the ball. Thomas seems to have a little better acceleration while Aldridge seems to have a little better "top speed." Both look very physical and you can tell the difference between Aldridge now and a year ago. He looks much stronger in the lower body and much less timid. I can't see Weis not playing them both a significant portion.

This just in, Armando Allen is fast, and quick, and fast. During the running back drills he makes the other backs look slow when they are cutting. And the great thing about him is that he doesn't seem to need to gain size or strength like most freshmen playing a skill position. Luke Schmidt had a nice off-season adding quite a bit of weight (~20-25 lbs) and improving his upper body strength. He doesn't seem to have slowed down much either. Schwaap is getting back into a rhythm coming back from his injury. The bottom line is that we look very deep at running back and we should be productive if for nothing else but having fresh legs throughout the game.

Recievers

Weis has said that Grimes is the clear number one while George West has established himself as the number two guy. I believe we need someone else to step up. It isn't that I don't like short receivers but having two guys that are less than 5"10' doesn't help the vertical passing game. Carlson will alleviate some of that but we need someone on the outside for the jump balls a la Samardzija and Stovall. Small receivers like Grimes and West also typically have problems with beating press coverage. Rhema and Samardzija had issues with this last year and the results were catastrophic for our offense. Their problems, however, were in gaining separation from the defensive backs after the initial push at the line of scrimmage. West and Grimes problem will likely be more related to the physical play at the line inherent when facing bump-and-run coverage.

Having a consistent running game will help take the pressure off the passing game and alleviate some of the need to go downfield as much but I still believe we need a third receiver with some size. That said, I'm not sure there are many defensive backs out there that can cover West one-on-one provided he can get off the line. He is lightning quick. The one disappointment thus far of the spring practice (as far as I am concerned) has been D. J. Hord. Hord has the tools to be a very good receiver but he seems to be quite slow coming back from the Achilles tendon injury of last year.

Defense

Defensive Line

Like the offensive line, I haven't been able to get much from what I've seen on the defensive line. It does, however, appear that Kuntz is the leading candidate for the nose tackle position. This could be problematic as he doesn't have superior size or quickness to be a dominant force in the inside. Playing on the inside of a 3-4 (which I think is really a 5-2 with stand-up ends) you want a nose tackle who is big and strong or small and quick. Either way they need to be able to play both A-gaps and stuff the inside run while simultaneously providing sufficient pass rush up the middle. One bright spot has been Kallen Wade. He has put on about 40 lbs since arriving on campus. He really looks completely transformed. Weis mentioned he will get even bigger and I think once he gets to the right size and gets some explosiveness and speed he could be a dandy.

Secondary

Ambrose Wooden simply amazes me. The guy has all of the natural athletic ability in the world. He just can't get the mental part of playing corner down. He has the quickness and the speed. He just doesn't play fundamentally sound enough to be a dominant defensive back. And it isn't because of a lack of effort either. Lambert looks like he may have gotten a little bigger but he hasn't lost any speed and he is just as physical. Bruton can cover a lot of ground and at 6"2' he has the size to be a good center fielder. All in all I would say the secondary look good in practice but I can't tell if they really look good or if our receivers look bad. With history as hindsight I'm leaning towards the latter.

Linebackers

Our linebacker play looks to have improved...some. Both Toryan Smith and Maurice Richardson look much better than last year. Richardson is un-blockable when he's coming off the edge. He has too much speed for a guy his size. Opposing quarterbacks better learn to step up into the pocket or they are in trouble because there aren't many offensive tackles that will be able to block him. Smith looks like he wants to kill someone every time he hits them. I said when we signed him that he hits like Zach Thomas and so far he hasn't disappointed. He plays with tremendous leverage. The one guy who has disappointed me somewhat is John Ryan. He doesn't play with much speed or intensity and often times looks out of position, lost, or not knowing what he is supposed to be doing.

Things I'd Like To See Next Year

Call it an early Christmas wish list. With so many people out there talking about what they would like to see from the Irish next year I thought I'd like to take a stab. From what I've read out there the wish lists are mostly on the surface of the program. People are talking about getting a kickoff return for a touchdown, not moving Zibi to linebacker, etc. I want to delve a little more deeply into it. I'm going to break it down into offense, then defense, and then I'll have a little grab bag section with some venting. There won't be a lot of writing on here until Spring practice starts. As such, feel free to get some dialogue going relative to what I have written here.

First I would just like to say that I think the offense and defense we run this year will look nothing like the past two seasons. I say that for several reasons. On the offensive side of the ball Weis' playbook is so expansive that you can see, from game to game, the different looks we employ. He has everything you could want in this offense but he only uses the parts of it he believes are appropriate for the personnel he currently has. He also scales it to the ability of the QB to handle it. Next year we will have no proven receiver, a completely different set of running backs (in terms of style) from Darius, and a QB as green as you get in college football. Weis will do whatever he needs to cater our offense to get the best from his personnel. Next season we will have a ton of talent at running back and tight end. As such, expect to see multiple tight end sets and for him to use a running back by committee system even though he says he doesn't believe in it. On defense we will be different not only in scheme but also in the way we play. Brown has a fiery personality and he believes in playing hard and aggressively. I expect to see players like Neal, Richardson, Smith, etc. paying off on blitzes or I expect to see us not blitz at all. I don't think he is the type that will stick with something that isn't working. And I do think he is the type that will get to the QB with his blitz packages. If I have to see another DB coming off the outside and leaving our secondary in one-on-one coverage without getting to the opposing QB I might puke.

Offense

1. The first thing I would like to see more of next year is a consistent running game. I'm not talking about any of our backs in particular getting more carries, I just want our running game to be consistently good. And that goes for all types of runs: zone stretch plays, isolation plays, draws, and downhill off-tackle plays. I think it will be critical for us to be able to convert short yardage situations via the run to take some pressure off our QB's. And with backs like Thomas, Hughes, and Aldridge we have the horses to do it.

2. Point two goes hand-in-hand with point 1. Last season I wrote an article about the offensive line play (link here) and all of the ways it contributed to poor overall team performance. Weis has been high on the young guys on the line in recent press conferences so it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I think consistent, more physical offensive line play will be essential to our success. Weis said in a recent press conference that physical play will be the emphasis of the spring. I hope this manifests itself primarily on the offensive line and defensive front seven.

3. Space, I want to see it. Weis' offensive philosophy is heavily predicated on stretching the field, spreading the ball around, and making the defense defend everyone on every play. I love it, it's great. But I would like to see all of these playmakers get the ball out in some space. Let's get these guys with speed (West, Allen, Prince, et. al.) out in the open field with the ball and see if they can make someone miss and take it to the house. Last year it really chapped me when Weis said that wasn't really what the offense was geared towards (link here)

4. With the lack of receiver production returning it will be imperative that more than a single receiver step up. That goes without saying. What is (perhaps) more important in my eyes will be for someone to step up as a downfield threat. Obviously the lack of experience at this position will show in terms of route running, knowing the offense, and catching the ball. However, Brady missed Stovall last season and whoever starts at QB for us in the Fall will miss all of the downfield threat(s) we have had over the past two seasons. Having Carlson back is good, but tight end play action routes down the middle of the field don't do much if you don't have someone on the outside the defense is worried about. I look for Richard Jackson to provide this as he loves to go up after the ball when it is in the air and has good size and speed.

Defense

1. First and foremost better secondary play is essential to more success on defense. I believe the improvements need to occur in two primary phases. First, we need to be better on third down so we can get off the field. And second, we need to minimize the number of deep balls we give up. For the former point 2. below will come into play. The latter can be improved with simplified schemes, more conservative playcalling, and better coaching. I was very high on Bill Lewis when he came in but we haven't improved much in the secondary beyond making Lambert a decent player. It is possible that Minter left us out to dry too often by having us cover one-on-one out on an island. I don't think I see Brown doing that quite so often but I hope he and Lewis work better than Minter and Lewis did. We need more cohesiveness on the field in our secondary. We also need far fewer mental mistakes.

2. We have to be able to get after the QB on obvious passing downs. I don't care how we do it, whether it be with outside linebacker pressure, Zibi, coming off the corner, it doesn't matter to me. I just want it to happen. As stated above, we blitzed too many times and too ineffectively last year. Many times it resulted in big plays for the opposition.

3. I want to see one of these talented corners pay off. Let's see Walls, McNeil, or Grey line up opposite Lambert and shut people down. Teams that are effective blitzing have lockdown corners that can play press-man coverage. All three of these guys are supposed to be able to do that so hopefully at least one will pay off. I know they are young and mistakes will be made but let's see some evidence of talent out there.

4. Even though I've listed it as number four, I think this is more important than anything save the last point on defense noted below. We need more physical play from our linebackers. And that physical play should be evident in three primary areas: stuffing the run, shedding blocks, and aggressive pursuit to the outside. I want to see a linebacker stand a running back up in a hole a la Stonebreaker. I want to see a linebacker pursuing a running back to the sideline and destroy him when he cuts back because a corner turned him inside. And I want to see us get off blocks from offensive lineman and fullbacks to get to the ball carrier. It really isn't asking that much, it's pretty standard linebacker play, but it will only come with a combination of talent and attitude...

5. ...leading me to my final point. I want us to have eleven hats on every ball. Doing that makes good things happen. No one wants to carry the ball or catch a pass if they have eleven gold helmets coming right for their chest. There is nothing more demoralizing to a ball carrier than a defense that stops at nothing to get to you. And I'm not saying we didn't play hard last year. To the contrary, I think we certainly did. But this is in addition to playing hard. This is an attitude. And trust me, it works. On top of demoralizing the offensive players it also allows for more attempts at stripping the ball and forcing turnovers. Defenders can play the ball more aggressively when they know there are ten other defensive players around the ball to make the tackle if they miss.

Grab Bag

Since the end of the season I got used to not hearing about how great Troy Smith was. He was never on any teams draft boards due to his size and perceived inability to effectively read defenses. Some NFL scouts didn't even have him ranked in the top ten QB's available in the draft. Others looked at him as a wide receiver a la Randle El. I still don't understand how someone can be the most outstanding player in college football and not even get drafted in the top five at his position. I guess, given the recent performance of Calvin Johnson at the NFL combine, I was wrong about him being the best player in the country last year. Be that as it may, some people like Stewart Mandel (link here) are still on their knees about Smith. Like I said, it's ok to be convicted of assault, accept money from a booster, and get expelled from high school if you become a good college football player and win the Heisman.

On top of that, I'm so sick of hearing about Russell vs. Quinn. Russell is a very talented athlete that is a good QB at best. He is overweight and the perception that he is a tremendously accurate passer is an overstatement. Yes, he can throw the ball a million yards. So can Michael Vick. Yes, he had quite a large yard per pass average. He had three receivers with exceptional speed. He had tons of talent around him and, despite what people would have you think, played against relatively poor competition. In the big games against big teams this past season (Auburn, Florida, et. al.) he was very mediocre. Brady Quinn's stats are very good against top 35 defenses over the past two seasons including ~60% completion percentage, and a 3 to 1 TD to interception ratio. That isn't to say that Quinn isn't flawed, but putting up 24 reps off 225 on the bench press is unheard of for a QB. Now who wants it more?

Notre Dame Football Recruiting

Well, today is national signing day. While we thought we were going to get 21 in this class, losing three players (Greg and Chris Little and Justin Trattou) in the last month left us with 18. It hurt to lose those three, particularly Greg Little and Justin Trattou, but it is still a solid class. On the offensive side of the ball, it is pretty dang stellar, on the defensive side of the ball, it leaves a lot to be desired. Some will point to the fact that we only got one five star player but I don't buy into those rankings as much as looking at which schools recruited the kids we inked. The fact that we lost three players is indication enough to me that they were all very coveted and that other schools wouldn't stop recruiting them.

To be honest I thought we needed more like 23-25 kids in this class. We lack bodies and depth, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and that will show in the next couple of years (Weis addressed this in his press conference but he also said that he thought we were very close to being where we should be in terms of scholarships and numbers. Perhaps he is more optimistic than I, perhaps he is presenting a unified front of confidence as he always does, or perhaps I am just plain wrong.). That said, if a kid wavers or decommits I don't want him. That is especially true of Greg and Chris Little who essentially changed their minds at the last minute. At a place like ND I feel that they have to be completely on board, totally committed, and really want to be a part of the excellent football and academic tradition we offer. Someone who can't keep their word doesn't fall into that category in my book. Weis even said it in his press conference: "But when it's all said and done, at the end of the day, you want guys that want to be here. You don't want guys that don't want to be here. You want guys that want to be part of Notre Dame. I'd rather have 18 guys that want to be members of the Fighting Irish than 20 of them that two are walking in the door saying, I don't know if I made the right decision or not." Seems like a direct reference to the Little's.

One thing that really stuck out to me reading Weis' press conference was how many coaches he seems to know and how many of his former players he uses as connections. Weis' seems to really be trying to get through to these young players via their coaches and using his extensive network and coaching links to not only learn about players who are legitimately good but to also get them interested in ND football and his program. He repeatedly thanked the high school coaches in helping get the players to come to us. I'm quite impressed by his effort in this area.

I'll talk about the offense in general, address each player, the defense in general, address each player, and then have some general comments below.

Offense

On offense we really racked up some good prospects. Losing Greg Little hurt because he had the potential to be a game changer but we have quite a few bodies at wide receiver and I have to think he noticed that and it played into his decision. We, for the most part, filled our needs. We let two very good wide receivers get away (Little and Benn) but that is about the only place we came up short. Here is what I think about each of the recruits.

Armando Allen
This kid is a game changer. He can flat out fly. Weis said it in his press conference and mentioned possibly using him as a receiver. At the Army All-American Combine he made the other premier offensive and defensive skill players in the country look slow by torching everyone's 40 time. He is legitimately fast, he has surprising strength for his size, he is shifty, and he seems to be genuinely interested in helping bring ND back to the elite in football. Go search on his name at YouTube and you can spend an entire afternoon watching his highlight real. Bottom line is that he is a gamebreaker. He didn't play last year due to a broken fibula but all reports are that he is progressing well in his rehab and will be available for spring practice.

Jimmy Clausen
Well, the Golden Boy lived up to the hype at the Army All-American game and practices. Many times I fear these kids aren't as good as advertised because of the talent they play with and the level of competition they play against. In Clausen's case that doesn't seem to be true. Even though his high school team is loaded with talent and he never lost a game, he is still the real deal. He has a super quick release, great accuracy, the ability to create, throws excellent on the run, is competitive as hell, and is a born leader. I'm not going to predict two Heisman's (Beano) but he is going to be good. I'd like to see Demetrius get the start over him this year just because of his athleticism but I have a feeling it is going to be difficult to keep Clausen off the field.

Taylor Dever
Even though he is rated as a three star offensive line prospect I think he will be better than advertised. This kid has a huge upside and the list of other schools recruiting him was a veritable who's who. He can play guard or tackle and I think he will be able to play early.

Robert Hughes
This may be my favorite recruit in this class. He has excellent hands receiving out of the backfield, is as strong as an ox, and loves to run over people. I think he is of the Ray Zellars mold. That doesn't mean he can't make people miss or get to the corner, but his specialty is just running over folks. Statements like "I take it personally when a single person brings me down." and "It's just my attitude, I don't like to get tackled, I punish people." is enough for me to love him. Watching film of this guy makes me want to go hit someone. I think he will be great near the goal line, be great in pass protection, and be a nice compliment to Allen. With Hughes and Allen in this class and Prince and Aldridge in last year's, we have hauled in two consecutive classes of running backs that have speed and power. That kind of depth development should not go unnoticed.

Duval Kamara
When you're compared to Dwayne Jarrett that can't be a bad thing. Kamara has the size to be a big time receiver. Combine that with surprising quickness and speed and it spells nightmares for defenses. He is definitely of the Stovall mold. I think Kamara can contribute immediately in our receiving corps.

Andrew Nuss and Emeka Nwankwo
I think both of these offensive lineman recruits are going to start on the defensive side of the ball. Both are big bodies, both played defense in high school, and we have a glaring need along our defensive line. To be honest, I really don't know that much about these two except that they are versatile and Weis targeted them both due to their versatility to play on both sides of the ball. Both also prefer to play defense first.

Mike Ragone
Ragone is John Carlson all over again...but with more speed. The kid can really run. His ability to stretch the field is perfect for Weis' offensive system. He is the second straight top TE recruit in the country we have nabbed due in no small part to Carlson and Fasano's success. In this offense having tight ends like Reuland and Ragone who can line up in the slot and spread the field are invaluable. I think he is going to be really, really good. There was even a rumor out there that he ran over one of the current USC safeties when they played in high school last year. When asked about it Ragone said he didn't run over him, he ran around him. He was recruited very hard by USC right up until the end but stayed loyal.

Matt Romine
Romine is going to be very, very good. He is a prototypical left tackle who can play opposite Young (although some have speculated Young will move to left tackle) and provide great protection to our QB's. He was consistently rated as the best offensive lineman at the Army All-American game practices all week this year and that speaks volumes. He was also selected as a captain by his teammates. He is a very solid addition to our offensive line class from last year and I think he has the ability to play early.

Golden Tate
I don't know much about Tate except that he is a great athlete. Weis even said he is as good of an athlete as he has seen. If anything is true in football it is that good coaches take great athletes and make them into good football players. Let's see if Weis and his staff can do this. I believe we will use him at wideout and his speed will be very valuable. He is a little on the small side but he makes up for it with his speed and quickness. The great thing about him that Weis noted was that he is the perfect complement to Kamara. Duval is more of the down the field, Maurice Stovall, possession receiver while Tate is more of the shifty, arrow route, get the ball in his hands in open field type.

Brandon Walker
I don't know all that much about Walker either. Weis said he wouldn't have brought him in if he didn't think he could compete immediately. He was committed to Louisville but opened up his search after Petrino left. Seems to have a lively leg (can we get some touchbacks please?) and should push Burkhart for playing time. It's astonishing to me that we can't get a good, consistent kicker to come to ND.

Defense

To be perfectly honest, I think our defensive recruiting class was a near disaster. While we got a handful of guys I think can contribute, we missed out on a lot of big time targets, didn't fill needs, and really didn't help ourselves in a lot of places. A Wilson, Austin, Barksdale, Blackwell, Donald, Edwards and/or Peters would have gone a long way to help us. (That said, I do think Weis and the staff have continued to bring in people that can get after the passer). I don't really understand why we can't get these top players to come to ND given the fact that most of them could play early. It isn't due to a lack of effort, Weis recruited them all hard and he's not afraid to try, I think they just want to go to a program with proven defensive success. While Weis can turn offensive players into first round draft picks we don't have a history of it on the other side of the ball.

All indications point to Corwin Brown really being able to address this in the future as he is a supposed to be a great recruiter. Hopefully he will be a great coach and address the disparity between our offensive and defensive draft success noted above. But the lack of defensive talent and depth will continue to show itself against top offensive teams. It is really a too little too late type of thing. This is the second most concerning thing to me about this recruiting class (the first will be discussed below).

Gary Gray
Perhaps the most impressive recruit on defense, Gray is of the McNeil and Walls mold. He is a lock-down corner with great coverage skills and excellent speed. The three of them should really, really help in our secondary in the coming years. Having a great man coverage corner is invaluable and all three fit the bill on paper.

Aaron Nagel
Nagel could be the second surprise of this defensive class (the first being Kerry Neal). He is a tough kid, loves to hit, and plays with a very high motor. He has the size and speed to really be effective on the inside of a 3-4 (Which, by the way, isn't really what Corwin is going to run. To set the record straight we are running a 4-3 under/over defense which is essentially a 4-3 with 3 lineman and 4 linebackers. This is an attempt to get more speed and athleticism on the field. Instead of having the smaller, quicker outside linebackers the outside linebackers are bigger and more able to create an outside pass rush. The inside linebackers become the ones that run to the ball as they are covered from the offensive line and fullback on isolation plays via the defensive down lineman. The downside is a lack of size that can show up against a more physical, power running game. The upside is that nearly no one these days runs a physical, power running game as the primary component of their offense.) and is also very intelligent. I see him being a blue-collar player for us and someone that could significantly contribute down the road.

Kerry Neal
The word on Neal is that he is a sleeper. The kid is being touted as the definitive answer to our outside pass rush need. He is quick as hell off the ball and has tons of upside. I look forward to seeing him play on the weak side of the line. He could also play in the linebacking corps although I don't see him being moved from the defensive line (even though Weis mentioned it) where we have so little depth. The great thing about Neal is that after we nabbed him people started taking a closer look and realizing how good he really could/will be. Then the other offers and continued recruiting from other schools started. According to Weis, he never wavered.

Steve Paskorz
Paskorz is another blue-collar kid of the Nagel mold. He doesn't have the speed of Nagel, or the size really, but he is definitely tough. I don't really know where he will line up for the Irish but his toughness will not go unnoticed.

Brian Smith
Smith is kind of a unique recruit. We stole him away from Iowa. I guess Minter didn't think he had it but Brown does. It is probably more accurate to say that Minter didn't feel he fit into the 4-3 while Brown feels he does fit into his system. He started out being a fairly low rated recruit but as this year progressed people got higher and higher on him. It isn't hard to see why watching film of him. The kid can run, especially for someone his size. And I think he is a great fit at outside linebacker for the 3-4-ish type system Brown is going to run. Even though we lost out on a lot of top defensive linebacker recruits, Smith is an admirable replacement. His father also played at ND.

Harrison Smith
I think Harrison Smith has the potential to be a gold mine. I wasn't that high on him initially but after watching film of him and reading some more the kid is a great center fielder for the defense. He has very good speed (in the 4.3-ish 40 range), very good instincts, and the height to be able to compete for the long ball against tall receivers. I think he is a great steal from the heart of Volunteer country.

Ian Williams
The fact that Florida wouldn't let Williams off their radar right up to the last minute tells me he can play. In fact, he may be able to play right away. He is the perfect NT for the 3-4, big, strong, explosive, and quick off the ball. I think he will surprise quite a few people with his pure athletic ability even though he wasn't rated extremely high by most recruiting services.

General Comments

I have to make some general comments because the state of college football recruiting really got to me this year. This is really my primary concern as stated above. Schools and coaches don't honor verbal commitments and keep going after kids right up until the last minute. And what is worse, they are applauded for it. I bet you can find ten articles saying how great Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer, Butch Davis, et. al. are as recruiters to one concerned about their ethics employed in the recruiting process. We are turning 17 and 18 year old kids into icons and adding to the confusion associated with this whole process. It's tough enough to make a decision about where to go to college without having the added pressure of these coaches calling and texting all the time. We fuel the egotistical nature of many of these recruits and then get upset when they change their minds on some nationally televised press-conference.

I'm not just saying this because it hurt us this year. And I think we are partially guilty of it too (in the case of Brian Smith and perhaps by Vaas link here). I just think that a little more moral culpability would go a long way. I don't want to be viewed as a school who goes behind peoples' backs to steal a kid away from them. I don't want a football player who was committed to another school to come to ND. Our students and athletes need to be on board 100% from the get-go. Weis even talked about this in his press conference. He said he is going to make a more concerted effort next year to let everyone involved understand much more what a "commitment" means: no talking to other schools, no taking more unofficial visits, no silent commits or soft verbals. In fact, what I want is summed up perfectly below in an excerpt from Rivals.

I've been reading a lot of the posts about commitments, visits, etc. I just wanted to share things from our experience and our perspective a bit. I personally think it's a shame that college coaches continue to go after kids once they've committed. If you send your sons to a program, you certainly hope that that program will instill character and values into your boy as much as they develop them as a football player. It may be the way most programs do things these days, but it's difficult for me to understand how you can respect the integrity of a program who from the beginning encourages, entices, and even pressures an 18-year old to violate his word.

With that said, XXX was recruited by a lot of schools and has been contacted by schools since committing to XXX. For example, just this past week, XXX offered him a scholarship and called me at home and came by the school the next day to try and get him to visit that weekend. His response to these programs has been, "I'm sorry, but I am committed to XXX and that is a commitment I intend to keep. No thanks!"

There were a lot of things that XXX and my wife and I liked about XXX, but the one thing that made them stand out above every other program was the staff's emphasis on character and integrity. It was very clearly at the forefront of every facet of the program. There was no pressure, no hard sell--everything was presented very straightforward--the good, the bad, and the ugly--with the attitude of, "These are the things that our program is all about. If you think this is what you're looking for, then we'd love to have you. If not, then we wish you the very best of luck wherever you go."

It took the first evening with the coaches and players for XXX to decide that he was going to commit to XXX and he didn't care what other programs offered. When we were in the office with Coach XXX one-on-one and XXX told him that if the offer was on the table, then he wanted was ready to commit.

Coach XXX responded, very patiently, that he should be absolutely certain that he was ready to commit before doing so because he was giving his word to the team and it had ramifications for a lot of other recruits, players, etc. He told him that a commitment meant that he was removing himself from the recruiting process--no more visits or shopping yourself around--and that his position was no longer available to other recruits. He told him that in exchange, XXX's commitment to him could be considered in stone; they did not pull the rug out from under committed recruits (like I know some other programs do). On the other hand, if he decided to make other visits after committing to XXX, then his scholarship would once again be available and they would look for a replacement.

My point here is that Coach XXX, a man who I only dealt with for three days but gained tremendous respect for, went out of his way to make sure that XXX was ready to commit before doing so. I'm sure that all recruits are treated similarly.

The exclamation point to all of this is that Coach XXX also pointed out that his program has not and never will go after committed players. I think, and so did XXX obviously, that this foundation of integrity is what will make XXX a (XXX Conference) champion soon. Coach XXX summarized it very well when he told us, "I'm here to build a program, not a team." I believe that he understands that a kid who is committed from the beginning will demonstrate that same commitment during his four or five years with that program. It may be painful to watch a talented kid move on to a more high-profile program or see him replaced by someone with "fewer stars," but in the end that approach is going to pay off for this program in the form of dedicated athletes who are committed to XXX and committed to winning.

These are just my thoughts on the whole issue I see coming up a lot on the boards about the recruiting/commitment.

That is how I want ND football to be characterized. Another good example is here.

Make no mistake about it, I believe Weis genuinely cares about these kids, developing them as young men, and their ability to contribute to society when football is no longer there for them. I also think that he needs to learn from this recruiting season to stick with them until the very end to make sure we get them to sign on the dotted line. That, along with playing it smarter, are areas he needs to improve. And I think he will as it seems that he took what happened this time around personally. But I pray and hope that we don't follow in the footsteps of Carroll, Meyer, and (Butch) Davis. I would never want my son playing for someone who encouraged them to break their word to another school to come to theirs and I don't want ND to be mentioned in the same sentence as other schools and coaching staffs who have little or no moral compass. And the excuse that it is acceptable to do it since other schools are doesn't sit with me.

The No Huddle Spread

My father has coached football for 30+ years (obviously this is where I get my extensive football knowledge). When he became a head coach we both sort of brainstormed to come up with an offense. It is primarily a pro-I offense where the flanker is in motion nearly every play. The idea is to utilize the different placement positions of the flanker via motion to create a different formation from the same starting point. This results in an additional blocker in many cases and the flanker is also used as a decoy. The pro-I forms the base of the offense. However, it is always prudent to have a hurry-up or no-huddle offense. Recently my father asked me to take a pass at a no-huddle or hurry-up offense.

A little explanation of my philosophy behind a no huddle offense is necessary. First, it should be of the same vein as the base offense. Two, it should be fairly simple both in the number of plays and in the variety of routes. This set of plays only employs a handful of routes: the out, short post/slant, post, bench, seam, lasso, and hook. Third, it should be able to attack all of the defenses it will likely face. For high school that would primarily be man, cover two, and cover three. Fourth, it should have an element of the run. Five, it should have some form of a screen play. And finally, it should be able to get to the sideline to stop the clock.

Here is likely what I would run, at a first glance, as a no huddle spread offense. Everything (but the players themselves) is drawn to scale and I have used the following nomenclature:

X - SE or #1 receiver
Y - FL or #2 receiver (even though I refer to Z as the flanker in the play names it is just because he is off the line)
Z - TE
W - FL or #3 receiver

Red indicates motion, blue the place the ball is designed to go, and the vertical black dashed lines are the hash marks.



Obviously this is more geared towards a no-huddle offense than a hurry up. The abundance of motion would slow the play execution tremendously (although in hurry up you could just line the Z receiver wherever the motion leads him). Additionally, it is run heavy and only has one play (#8) that goes explicitly for the sideline.

It is, however, highly effective against man and zone, has enough similar looks to be effective at confusing defenses, is versatile, and has a significant run presence. It has an answer for just about anything a defense would dial up.

That said, you can't do any of it if you can't protect the QB with six (5 OL + HB).

Weis Press Conference: Powlus and Brown

Well, I read most of the press conference concerning the new changes to the coaching staff and would like to give my take on it.

Weis said Minter and Vaas didn't have their contracts renewed. To me, that says two things. First, it says that they were essentially fired. And second, it says that Weis isn't going to put up with poor performance. Having only a two year contract means that you can be terminated in a relatively short time frame without the lingering effects of said performance lasting too long. It's cut-throat, I know, but if you want to win you have to be the best. A two year contract basically means you are interviewing again for your job at the end of it.

Second, I agree with what David said when he commented on my last article (link here), Powlus is going to be a killer hire. The things he said in the press conference have already shown me that he understands Notre Dame, the program, the pressure surrounding it, the way to bring along a QB, etc. Plus, he knows how to handle the media. Weis said Powlus has already earned his trust and that he believes it will be a good fit going into next season since a lot of time will be spent bringing the QBs along.

I like Corwin Brown more now than I did prior to this press conference. Weis diffused much of my angst by saying that he went to Groh, Belichick, Parcells, and Crennel and they all came up with the same name: Corwin Brown. This is a good fit for the program. He will run the defense in a manner that Weis is familiar with causing less speculation, anxiety, and uncertainty during the flow of the game. On top of that, he spoke like Weis speaks in terms of his defensive philosophy: you prepare for the teams accordingly but not without being aggressive and dictating the game via your gameplan. If you have a team that runs the ball well, you prepare for the run, if they aren't good at handling pressure, get after the QB, if they can protect, sit back and play coverage, etc. But he also said "You have to get after it. I believe in being aggressive. You have to hit. You have to run. And you've got to play hard. And that's what I believe in. You have to hit and run and you gotta play hard and that's what we're going to do. We're going to be tough." only shortly after talking about how a good foundation of fundamentals is essential to sound defensive play. He's saying the right things, but talk is cheap, it's much more difficult to get the words to show up on the field.

A few quotes from the press conference (link here) that I thought were particularly interesting:

"We have a system in place and within that system we should be able to address different matters that will come up within a game and I feel personally that you have to, sometimes you have to dictate what the game is going to, how the game is going to unfold. Sometimes you have to be the aggressor."

"It's all about players. I've really not been here long enough to really comment on the players. But the one thing I know just by all these guys being here is that they welcome the pressure. These guys are going to be confident and they're going to be aggressive and they're Notre Dame. So that's what you know about our players right now. And believe me, it's all about our players."

"I coach like I played. It's fast and hard. I also believe that you have to know your players, and you gotta respond to them. So some players they need harder coaching. Some players they need more explanation. So that's what I do. I don't believe in just approaching everyone the same way. And that's how I do it."

"I think there is an adjustment, because they're younger and also these guys are students so you don't have them all day. But at the same time at the end of the day it's still football. And it comes down to two things. Blocking and tackling and how you play and getting after the guy with the ball."

It also appears that he is keeping the defensive staff that we have. He didn't say he would be working with the linebackers specifically, but with all of the skill position players (safeties, linebackers, corners) so it may be that some duties of the defensive coaching staff will change. The bottom line appears to me that Brown is a good fit for Weis because they have the same background and experience. They also seem to run the same types of systems and have the same attitude towards football in general. This will only help game planning as Weis often tries to gameplan with both offense and defense in mind.

I'm still skeptical about Brown's ability to call defenses and be the architect of a properly and effectively designed defensive gameplan but he'll have plenty of opportunities to prove himself in the near future, i.e. next season.

Finally, Samardzija isn't going to the NFL. He's going to stick to baseball. This may have been the been the plan all along and would explain the often-times lack of effort in his play this season.