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what is the talent level like coming out of chicago? i guess i would rather the talent from louisiana/florida/california... but i don't know anything about this stuff. |
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If he can get our DB's skills like Walton & Duff got in 1 offseason, I don't care if he's from the moon. |
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It varies from year to year. Some years there are a lot of talented guys. Some years there isn't much. But nearly every year there are at least one or two kids that ND will recruit. |
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Chicago has great HS talent, like Michigan, Ohio and Penn. This year, Ron Zook has made it a priority for Illinois, and with success. |
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Hughes is going to announce later tonight between ND and Illinois. I suspect neither school will stop recruiting him until Signing Day, but my guess is whatever school he picks tonight will be his final choice. |
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Pat, |
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House for rent for ND Home games: |
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Hughes to ND, bank it. Brown is having an immediate impact. |
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Thundershaker, is that simply wishful thinking or do you have an inside source? |
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somebody get rid of these spam house renting messages. They are not from an individual. The email is 'NDACCT99' and these users should be blocked. |
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Indy, |
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Interesting Link on Hughes going to ND |
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There are other ND forums that exist specifically for selling those types of things. Go find one, because this board is for football news and opinions. |
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If the News Gazette is right about Hughes, then it is possible that Corwin Brown has already had a positive recruiting effect, albeit with an Offensive Recruit. It should be interesting to see if Hughes makes a comment about Brown's impact, if any. |
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If Brown is already having that kind of impact, let's get him to work on some of the defensive guys who had ND on their list but decided to go elsewhere. |
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Agreed. With Brown at DC, ND is clearly offering recruits something different than they had been offering even two weeks ago. I think that's justification to re-contact those guys. |
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While I'd love to see Corwin go after some of those 5 star Chicago guys who already committed elsewhere, I'd have to say I'm against it. |
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F Urban Meyer. BLue and GOld is reporting that (one of our best D recruits) Justin Trattou is making an unofficial visit to ND this wknd to decide on whether or not he will remain committed to the Irish. Trattou took a visit to UF last wknd. |
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Mike, I'm not going to erase the ads for the house rental, but please try to keep them very limited in the future. I do realize that you have been pretty good in terms of not spamming the comments with them thus far. |
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Corwin will talk him out of it. And if he doesn't, and the kid really just doesn't want to play at ND, then that's fine. I mean, I'd love to have him, cause he'd probably be starting sooner rather than latter. At UF he's gonna ride the pine for a couple years before getting on the field. At ND, he'd get serious playing time right off the bat. |
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with the recent committment of five star Dunlap a day or two ago to Florida you've gotta think that we're in a pretty good position with Trattou (he would be the FIFTH DE in that recruiting class)...but hopefully his visit and Brown can convince him to stay... |
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Great points. The kid has been committed since June so maybe it is just a case of him needing to feel a little more love from ND. These kids are high school kids and we all remember how much we liked attention back then |
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Anybody else catch the interview Shark did on Dan Patrick's show? Great shot at the Yankees. |
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Missed that interview JohnWA, any chance of a link? By the way, wanted to add, I always enjoy your posts, always well thought out and to the point. |
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ndfan - |
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Brad, generally I agree that committed recruits should be left alone. I'm not saying he should pressure them, harrass them or anything, just a talk. "Hi, I'm Corwin Brown and, just in case you didn't commit to ND because you were worried about the defensive coaching, I'm here to tell you that there's a new sherrif in town." |
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Nothing is final until NLID. I agree with Joh, call the kid and tell him that there is a new sheriff in town and if he didnt commit because he was worried about the defense, then go for it. You have kids who commit and de-commit all the time. A lot of kids will commit to see if anyone else is really interested. Nothing is binding until that Weds in February. Do you think that any coach in the country would have turned say, Jimmy Clausen down if he wanted to take a visit in December? Or if he would have said he was having second thoughts, Trattou doesnt want to be Blue and Gold that is his problem, and that is usually what happens when a kid commits so early, they miss out on the real pressure and the need to be wanted by other teams. |
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ANy word on Hughes? |
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While I don't think Corwin will be able to dissuade committed players this year, even though it would be awesome, this guy Stephen Filer - http://notredame.rivals.com/view...sp?
pr_key=54883 - is the type of kid I think we can expect Corwin to bring to Notre Dame. Filer looks to be exactly what we need at LB, plus he's from Chicago. Hopefully our defensive recruiting explodes next year. I would not mind if ND looked for about about a 1:2 ratio next year in terms of offensive:defensive recruits. |
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Hughes is Irish |
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Nice. Now if we can get Trattou to remain Irish and get one or (please) both of the Malcom Smith and Major Wright combo, than I think this recruiting class will be a great success. GO IRISH! |
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I already see this recruiting class as a major success even if we don't get another committment at all. Honestly, we may not have gotten the big 5 star D players we all would have liked to see, but we bagged some major players who are going to be stars for years to come. |
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Scout says 15 of 19 so far are 4 star or better, how can we argue with that. |
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The class is great, and if the rumors of Corwin talking to Hughes and possibly helping tip the scales in our favor are remotely true, then I'm not worried that we will lose Trattou. I think the Minter firing/defensive changes kind of made him do a double take, and he really just needs to assure himself that he will flourish under our new DC. Some may call it a prima donna move--I call it rational. Come on, he's in high school and is smack dab in the middle of the most important decision of his life which will impact his foreseeable future. If you ask me, he probably committed a little too early. As much as we despise the wait for undecided recruits, they are essentailly playing it wisely, observing any changes in their schools of interest that could affect their careers at that school. However, this post is sounding too much like an acceptance that we lost him. I don't think we will lose him because I think our staff (new and old members) are very good at selling ND and relating to players. Remember, Urban tried this shit last year with McNeil and it didn't work. Hell, McNeil got a free trip to Florida out of it. Can't blame him for that. |
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I think we are OK with Trattou given what he said when he committed back in June. Back then he told The Record that, |
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I don't know what a recruiting visit to Florida is like, but after visiting a Gainesville as an undergrad I imagine they can make a young man feel real welcome, to say nothing of reducing the appeal of academic rigor and personal development. I don't think Justin will decommit after he gets a chance to think it over a bit removed from temptation, however. |
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I just watched those highlights of him... wow... granted against HS comp.. but some of the cuts he made for being 220+ are simply spectacular. So now we have hughes and aldridge as pounders and prince and allen as speed. Can luke schmidt play LB or is he going to just get lost in the shuffle when Schwapp comes back next year from knee injury? |
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I've been saying for sometime that I think Schmidt would make a fantastic LB. Not only is he big enough to be a force at the POA at 6'3-6'4, but at ~245 he has fantastic speed. This guy is a true athlete, and would love to see what he could do as a MLB. |
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Luke Schmidt may end up at LB. I just hope that these backs step up and become the type of receiver that DW was coming out of the backfield. |
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Welcome to ND Robert Hughes! Major Wright and Malcom Smith, we are still holding the door open for you guys... |
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One thing is certain, Brown will have the D playing with discipline. |
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JohnWA - |
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..or for that matter, the Yankees, either! |
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I think we can infer that Brown has already made an impact. A quote from Hughes saying "I took football out of the equation..." is almost verbatim what Brown said at the press conference. |
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Sorry Bill H, but I'm happy when ANYONE takes a shot at the Yankees. Plus, you have to love the way he did it. (Paraphrasing) "I think the Cubs have talent second-to-none, unless you spend, say, $200 million on your team or something." |
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Spare me with the Yankee-bashing. Everybody hates a winner, which I'm sure ND fans can appreciate (myself included). |
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Enough of the Yankees discussion. At least move it to the previous blog post which actually talks about the Shark's baseball decision. Let's stay on point with CB and recruiting, et. al. |
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Malcolm Smith is still on the board. So is Major Wright. CB has work to do. It will be interesting to see if Wilson does indeed "flip." Some have suggested that he is more likely to follow than lead (people saying this claim to have some knowledge, but I can't vet that assessment). Will he follow his friend to ND? Its possible. We still have the gap at DT, but I'm otherwise ecstatic about this class. We get Smith and Wright and we may have the #1 class on our hands. |
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brad - interesting observation. I've had the same feeling about some of Weis' comments this season in his pressers too - like referring to a TD as 'taking it to the house' which I had never heard on sports talk before (at least with any frequency) until then, and suddenly it was everywhere, or his observation that in the NFL people refer to cover 2 as '2 Tampa' or 'Tampa 2' which seemed to lead to extensive discussions about the prevalence of '2 Tampa' schemes by other commentators etc. |
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For the record, c-stone, I'm not a Cubs fan. I dislike baseball pretty much all the way around, only partially due to the fact that teams like the Yankees and Red Sox can spend outspend every other team with no consequences. |
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Yes....please. No more baseball. |
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Remind me to never put a house up for rent here... INSTANT DEATH FROM ALL POSTERS! Good luck with that, Mike. |
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Malcom Smith is listed as a WR/Ath on Rivals...anyone have any insight if the Irish plan to use him on Defense and where? |
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NDN has him listed as an LB. I think they also have him listed heavier than he actually weighs though...either way i'd love if he were irish. |
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The reason that Trattou is now looking at Florida is b/c Notre Dame may switch to a 3-4 defense under C. Brown. If that is the case, and I were a stud DE, i might not to go into that system either. Lets hope that Brown can convince him to stay. |
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I don't see why you wouldn't want to get experience in that type of a system. A few years ago, it was very rare for teams in the NFL to run a 3-4, but it is completely in vogue now. Few teams run a 3-4 in college, which makes it really hard to find guys through the draft who will fit. You usually have to kinda guess, and hope a draft pick learns to play in the system over the next year or two. I can't think of a SINGLE elite team in college football that runs a true 3-4. Penn St. and some others do it occasionally, but thats it. I think playing in a 3-4 would give a prospect a lot of experience and a big boost in his draft stock. Also, with his size, he could realistically play at a few different positions in a 3-4. Hell, it's possible he could even be placed at ILB to punish any running backs who come through the line. ILBs in the 3-4 need size and have to be able to shut down the run with less bodies in front of them. I'm not saying this would happen, but who knows. As far as whether his speed would allow him to do this, remember that guys like Teddy Bruschi and Levon Kirkland (excellent ILBs in 3-4's who were large, punishing run stoppers) were never exactly known for their quickness. |
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Smell the roses (quickly) time: we are finally back to being able to question whether our incoming class will fill all our needs, while it seems to be a Top5, Top-3 class. |
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..initially been slated.. |
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Am I the only one who is totally impressed that Chris Zorich -- a former professional athlete and current practicing attorney -- would spend a Tuesday afternoon at some Chicago high school to hear some high school kid announce that he plans to attend Zorich's alma mater? |
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Back on the 3-4 discussion. There's no way we have enough good LBs right now to play a solid 3-4. Unless we throw some true freshman out there, I think we have to stick to the 4-3 for at least one more season. Unless, of course, let's rehash the Zibby to LB discussion. Donnie Edwards plays ILB at 217 for the Chargers. |
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Size isn't the main issue in the Zibby to LB discussion. I think its too late in his career to change positions. LB is extremely difficult to learn and Zibby has shown that his defensive weakness seems to be reading plays consistently well, at least this year. |
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re: Defense |
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ATTENTION: |
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I have a couple of questions. One, what is a "cover 2" or "2 Tampa"? |
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A 2 Tampa or cover 2 is basically a 2 deep zone defense. The MLB covers the middle of the field while the OLBs have the flats the CBs have the deep sides with 2 safeties to help over the top. |
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This reminds me of something Tim Prister likes to point out: when has a new defensive coordinator at any program or any level ever promised to bring a more "passive" rather than a more "aggressive" scheme? |
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Paul P, |
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GB, the Tampa 2 is a variation on the Cover 2 scheme. As best I can gather from a quick read over the Wikipedia discussion on both, the main difference in the Tampa form of the scheme is how they use the middle linebacker to try to fill a particular seam in the traditional Cover 2. |
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GB, |
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In Tampa 2 the MLB covers the middle zone that is usually a seem between the safeties exploited by TEs, RBs and slot receivers. Watch Urlacher in coverage and you see the need for speed to play the Tampa 2. |
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Although it lacks the complexity of other defenses, it instead relies heavily on the attitudes of its players and tremendous team speed. |
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Current recruiting rankings for ND: |
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I think certain defensive coordinators can make a defense more "agressive" without blitzing all the time or putting themselves out of position. They can instill a certain "agressive" attitude that whips the D up into a frenzy where every single person plays with ferocity. That might be overstating it a bit, but I think the right coach can make a team more agressive without blitzing all the time. |
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Support Notre Dame hockey. Big games this weekend in South Bend vs. Miami. Go to hobeybaker.com to vote for our two fine young men up for the award. |
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Thanks for the info, Dan, Smitty and Mr. Wednesday. |
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So much for what I wrote about Trattou above. |
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