BTC4

I don’t know if he’ll turn into Kyle Hamilton but he certainly looks like Hamilton when he committed as a junior. They have the same long lanky frame, no pun intended. Even when you see Hamilton in the NFL he looks extremely long compared to most of the league.

Baldy only one I’ll disagree on is the safety spot. I feel that spot has been an enormous wildcard since Hamilton has left. And I think it many problems were covered up by his greatness while he was here. I thought DJ Brown was a prime example for Notre Dame of the gap between being elite and being in the next tier. On elite teams he is a backup and rotation player, not someone starting. If you look at big plays over the course of his career, he always seemed to be on the wrong side of them. The drop int at the end of the OSU game. I can’t remember how many times he took the wrong angle and gave up a huge run when he was the last line of defense. Hopefully Watts returns and the recruits will turn the corner. O’Leary seems to be well liked and thought of so hopefully it he turns a corner.

We will see on this hire, I’m not educated enough to offer an opinion. Although the timing sure makes it seem like this has been in the works. Especially considering how quickly Stuckey was fired and then replaced. I have a hard time believing this all happened this week.

At the end of the day losing any of these players, although significant in terms of depth, doesn’t feel the same as losing a Chase Claypool or Will Fuller type player. Doesn’t mean one of them won’t develop into that type of player, but in the state of college football right now going through the development process is not seen in a good light. I think the late bloomers like Miles Boykin at Notre Dame will be fewer and further between especially at the skill positions. I also think Tyree is in a much different positions than the other 3. He has a degree and played two positions without really excelling for a significant period of time. Almost like an eclipse for Notre Dame in terms of a couple of great moments and totally forgotten in others. Very mind boggling career considering his lofty recruiting status coming in. ND never found the best way to use him. He has to be one of the rare players in ND history that has a kick return, punt return, a rushing, and a receiving td. Always thought he had way more to offer. Really hope wherever he ends up it works out and he has a successful year!

I believe this is a great time to look at Marcus Freeman’s coaching hires. This is a pivotal year for Freeman and nothing is going to determine his fate coaching at Notre Dame more than the people he surrounds himself with. By all accounts Freeman is a great person and mentor of young men. However, being a leader of an organization is a different ball game. Part of the reason the administration used for hiring him was keeping things the same and moving forward in the right direction. Well I think it is safe to say now that isn’t the case any longer. There has been a ton of turnover in the past year with more likely to come. So let’s evaluate who he has surrounded himself to this point. OC Rees he inherited and stayed for a year. People can have their opinions, but Rees is going to be a head coach at a power 5 school and has Alabama playing pretty well at the moment. In replacing him he choose Parker which is likely going to ultimately determine his fate. I know what happened with Ludwig but at the end of the day he is the head coach and hired who he hired. Parker has a lot left to be desired right now. DC Golden has been very good for the most part. Some questionable play calls against Ohio St keep him from being a homerun hire. ST Mason was a home run hire, I don’t even think that is debatable. Biagi the jury is still out, but the special teams seemed to improve over the course of the year. They had some huge moments throughout the year which is very encouraging. Qb Guidugli the jury is still out, but you have to question the regression from Hartman. With reports of not letting him check at the line seems to be odd considering he was a 6th year qb. Guidugli is well regarded within the industry it seems and he has some great prospects coming in that could really show his worth. RB Deland is a home run hire without debate. If he leaves it will be a big hole to fill by all accounts. WR In hindsight hiring Stuckey over the current Washington coach was a major whiff. Getting rid of Alexander was a good choice by all accounts, but it seems to be looking like one step forward and two steps back. If he deferred to Rees on that decision, it was a major mistake and shows his inexperience/vision on offense. TE Parker was solid at that time, but he arguably walked into one of the most talented rooms in the country when he was hired. The fact that was parlayed into the OC job is highly questionable. OL Harry was a home run hire at the time and now they have moved on to Rudolph which the industry believed was a good hire. Rudolph seemed to have a good year and is moving in the right direction. DL Washington has taken a major step forward this year and seems to be a solid hire. But he still needs to land that major recruit or develop that major player to be a home run hire. DB Freeman inherited Mickens, but they played together I believe in high school so I have a hard time believing he wouldn’t have ended up at ND anyways. Mickens has been a home run, look at what they did to Marvin Harrison Jr compared to the rest of the year. S O’Leary has been solid especially considering Watts’ development. Losing Bowen and Hillman in recruiting have left a huge hole moving forward. You can’t continue to recruit cornerbacks and move them to safety or wide receivers. Sooner or later without safety recruits you will be exposed. Overall, it seems he has done a solid job surrounding himself with qualified people. But there has been a lot of turnover in 2 years which is concerning. Defensively seems much better than offensively which isn’t surprising considering his background. But in the game today you can’t win without a high octane offense. His decisions on offense have been head scratching the last year. It seems to me they were unprepared for Tommy to leave and then did not have a solid plan moving forward or even a backup for that matter. I’d be interested to hear other thoughts on the matter.

The 2023 Football team is exactly what the university has paid for. The entire coaching staff makes less together than the average SEC head coach. The program has some great position coaches, but in terms of coordinators they are not elite since the university will not commit money to pay the elite. If you go cheap on a head coach, you need to pay top end coordinators to make up for it. Right now that isn’t the case which is very unfortunate for Freeman. Hopefully Freeman turns into Dabo, but right now it looks more like Will Muschamp. Dabo surrounded himself with elite coaches, Muschamp did not. Look at Oklahoma in year 2 with Venables with who he is surrounded by including Bob Stoops being right there. Not only do they not pay coaches elite money, but they will not pay to get end players. Look at the 3 guys everyone knows they missed out on because of NIL - Bowen, Moore, and Keeley. I would argue if Bowen is on this team Notre Dame would be undefeated. Just watch the Oklahoma-Texas and you can see the difference. I know it is an ethical decision in regards to NIL, but that is what college football is today. You can blame Freeman all you want and he definitely deserves a lot of blame. But the structure is more of the problem and going to become even more of an issue if it is not corrected.

Has Notre Dame changed its stance on undergraduate transfers? I know we have speculated a lot here about it, but I still haven’t seen ND get many undergrad transfers. Obviously it is a case by case basis, are Lucas and Williams fitting for those cases?

He should have called that the time before instead of that fake screen pop pass.

There offense has like 100 yards in the second half, if you go up two scores you basically break their spirit. Who runs a fake wr screen with a pump and go from the 5 yard line.

That is why Tommy Rees should be coaching with Sean McVay. Want to get cute when you have no reason too

Buchner doesn’t have it, just not a good throwing qb. Late on reads, inaccurate, and poor pocket awareness. Sure he’s a nice kid, but if he starts next year you are looking at the same type of record as this year. The running game actually looks worse with him in there which makes no sense to me.

I am sure Bowen is going to be a great player, but if he doesn’t come it is what it is. The last big time 5 star safety ND signed (I think Hamilton was more of a late bloomer recruiting) was Max Redfield and I feel like it was the same situation with USC. He didn’t pan out so all the worrying was for nothing. With Bowen even if he comes he could leave in a year if something doesn’t work out.

Faith, I hear ya but I won’t believe it until I see it consistently. Coan wasn’t a stud until after the Va Tech 2nd half which was deep in the season. The lack of development has gone on for some time at Qb so I just don’t understand the draw. I would love it to change, just don’t have high hopes considering the current make up of the offense and offensive staff.

Am I missing something? Why would a qb come to ND for development? ND hasn’t shown anything to help a qb become a pro. I just do not understand the draw to Notre Dame for a qb. ND is a ball control, run first team, that has numerous top 300 qbs who haven’t developed or lived up to their potential. If you only get 1 free 2nd chance why would you use it on ND?

I don’t disagree that ND has to be a part of it to be successful. I don’t fault the players because they should have been making legit money decades ago. The player movement I have an issue with, because it is worse than professional. No contracts, nothing to honor. Leave whenever you feel like it. ND couple pay Maye from UNC 10 mil to play and they could win it all, but are you going to get the same satisfaction? I like to see the growth over the years and the development of the program, because that is much different than the pros. This isn’t ‘college’ sports in any way shape or form anymore which is fine. Just not my cup of tea until we can play fantasy football with it lol.