Kelly Gruene

I think Buchner starts next year and for two years after that. If ND lands one of the high level QB recruits they’re after for the 2023 class, Pyne and Clark will be signaling in plays from the sidelines on game days I think.

My biggest question is : Who transfers first, Pyne or Clark? If they’re both satisfied to be the forever backup QB, maybe neither leaves?

Jackie Young, who won a championship with the 2018 team, just won the first-ever Olympics 3x3 women’s basketball gold medal.

Honestly I’m terribly embarrassed. I had no idea that Williams was the coach of the Suns until today. I don’t follow the NBA closely. All I had seen was Connaughton’s name in box scores as a player coming off the bench for the Bucks and thought that’s pretty cool. Just today I found out that Monty Williams is the Suns’ head coach. Would absolutely be amazing for him to win too.

One more win for the Bucks and Pat Connaughton will be an NBA champion. Cool for him.

Mississippi State wins the championship. If ND had to lose in a super regional, maybe there’s some solace that the team they lost to won the whole thing(?).

Love to see that kind of offer list.

I think the ND staff has access information that we, the fans, don’t have. We, as fans, of course have hot sports opinions about just about everything. The coaches certainly have information about how players they want are leaning. I’m sure the coaches apply pressure to highly ranked recruits to commit. When there are two recruits they like for a position, but might only have room for one, I suspect they let both know and then take the first to commit. I highly suspect that happened here. You have great thoughts and present them well. As a parent of young men who strive to achieve great things in life, I’m just going to be happy for this soon-to-be senior in high school and his family. I’m going to trust the ND coaching staff. We are all free to choose to believe in the staff or not. Based on the last three years of results, I choose to believe. And, separately, I have been President of multiple organizations. Not the country, but other enterprises.

As a parent of college-age boys, it’s exciting to see young men have the opportunity to play football on scholarship anywhere, even more so at a place like ND. The effort of the kid and his family to get to this point has been enormous. I can’t evaluate talent, heart, and mind. I think ND has people who do that much better than me. Congratulations and good luck to Ashton and his family.

Alabama already has two stud running backs committed, so they're probably out. Penn State hasn't had a stud running back in a few cycles, including this one. Texas A&M similarly isn't overly stocked at RB. I wonder how much Singleton is considering those two. Would absolutely love to see Price and Singleton in this class. ND would be stacked at RB.

Thank you for the post. I'm hoping Link Jarrett sticks around South Bend several years and develops this program into a consistent post-season presence.

Being from the south, I'm not quite sure how to take that comment. Would you call a bunch of poorly-acting Ohio State fans or Boston College fans 'northern idiots', or just idiots? Maybe leave the geographical modifiers off the term 'idiots', unless there really is a difference between idiots who live in the north versus those who live in the south, west, or east? I didn't watch the game but followed the score through the night. That stadium holds about 15,000 people. ND's Eck Stadium holds 2,500. A raucous crowd like that would be amazing to see at ND. I'm hoping Link sticks around a while and can get ND back to super regional after super regional, if not the CWS.

If ND were to be ranked 5-8 they would have an additional home game. Big bucks, good television exposure. If they win, then it’s on to a neutral site game. It seems in a way that the most highly rated conference champion teams (the 1-4 seeds) are penalized because they would only play neutral site games, no home games. I think this system will ultimately dilute the talent pool a bit, taking a few players away from the usual 3-4 teams that dominate recruiting. Of course only time will tell, and this is probably at least a few years from happening.

This MSU board sounds a lot like this board sometimes sounds, especially after a bad loss: https://forums.sixpackspeak.com/showthread.php?226697-We-just-got-our-asses-kicked

ND wins 9-1. The winner of tomorrow’s game goes to the College World Series. Go Irish!!!

Pretty great stuff. Of the final 16 teams there are 6 from the SEC, 3 from the ACC, and 2 each from the Big 12 and PAC 12. Here's a link to the bracket. If you ever have a chance to go to a college baseball playoff game, it's definitely worth it. Division I Baseball Bracket

With offers from Princeton, Yale, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth, and Cal Berkeley, it appears that Ayomanor is a very good student. The only other 'major' offers seem to be Penn State, Tennessee, and Ole Miss. He appears to be unranked. Is this due to his level of competition?

This linebacker class could be ridiculously good...

Really looking forward to see this guy play. Looks like a bruiser with speed.

Nice article. Thanks for the link. It notes that only ND and Maryland have made the tournament each of the last 15 seasons.

Over the weekend, for the first time this year, they lost a series. #13 Florida State took 2 out of 3.

His offer list was a who’s who list of elite programs. I love it when ND lands a kid with that kind of list.

Just amazing. Love it!!

And, just as I type the above, he enters the transfer portal. Go earn your 1st round draft status with another team, Jordan. Prove to us all that Kelly is wrong.

I hope that Jordan Johnson gets a ton of playing time and becomes everything we all hoped he would be when he signed his LOI. However, I have no idea what the 'issues' are that keep him from playing more. Kelly has a team to run. He has a culture he has curated. He has been to the playoffs two times in three years because of the things he has been doing. If Johnson is doing something off the field that counters the culture, if he has been having academic issues or recreational herbal issues or something else, Kelly has to impart discipline to Johnson just as he would to anyone else. If Johnson is not performing during practice at the level of the other receivers, I'm all for Kelly playing the other receivers. Johnson has to earn it, like everyone else. Again, I have no idea what the issues are. I don't think Kelly is an idiot. I believe Kelly can identify talent better than I can. Kelly wants to win. I want Johnson to be a first round pick on draft day some day, having demonstrated his immense talents on the field while a member of the Fighting Irish. Earn it, Jordan.