irishtriplets

^^^^^^^^^^^ +1

Love the hire and the option-value of being able to run both 3-4 and 4-3 defense - especially given the talent pool currently on the roster. In the past, I've been more inclined to go with the "up-and-coming" coach, but love the fact that we're getting a coach with both experience in the NFL and college football. Should be great for recruiting, and god willing, provide a little bit of consistency at ND which has been sorely lacking these last couple of years... Let's hope the OC hire is just as promising.

Head to head, Tyler Eifert is looking pretty good so far in the major workouts for the day. You can track all H2H matchups here: http://www.nfl.com/combine/ Not saying one will get drafted over another just b/c of the workout results, but you have to feel pretty good about T.E. at TE right about now...

From my total uninformed opinion, this seems like a plausible destination versus say, BC. I think he was the DC there in '09 and has some familiarity (possibly good & bad) with the program. Not sure there have been any candidates announced now that Butch Jones is at Tenn, but I think this might be one to watch... Thoughts?

Congrats Manti - the first (ever) high school and college Butkus award winner! Well-deserved...

The loss to Kentucky was just another example of the sheer dominance of the SEC. I heard they played with only 10 guys on the field for the entire 4th quarter. As a former MAC guy myself (Miami University), I for one will be cheering for Kent State to crash this party in style. Would bookend this bowl season perfectly with a giant middle finger to those "big conference" types who argue against playoffs: Notre Dame (an independent) in the title game, and a MAC SCHOOL in the Orange Bowl. Priceless.

Yesterday he officially became Kyle Rudolph- uber-talented, but redundant with GA3 and Theo both looking great. Heck, I was even happy with how Cam was running the ball...

Have to admit, I was a little surprised to see Okwara on the field. While the reviews have been positive from the get go, I sure thought he was a redshirt/save-a-year candidate.

Big fan of the work Jonas put in this year, but unfortunately I think we'll never know how good Jonas could have been for us. I certainly think he had a great year, but I think it's way premature to call him the best since Julius Jones. Heck, I think Darius Walker was a more productive back over his career. Not taking away from Jonas' great year, but like Hawaii mentions beforme, I don't think there is enough volume of work to justify the lofty rating provided in the title of the thread. One only wonders where Jerome Bettis was two or three years ago to have the same "play like you are 235" talk with Jonas in his sophomore year - or to have that same discussion with Robert Hughes for that matter. In my opinion, this is why BK is our coach - to not only put the right X's and O's together, but to also coach-up and develop talent. I also believe this team to be missing the key element of leadership within the upper classman on the team. Having played college sports, when you are an underdeveloped 19/20 year old trying to compete against those that are signficantly bigger/stronger/faster than you, you look up to those guys ahead of you and don't want to let them down. You play for something more than just yourself, you play for THE TEAM, a concept that unfortunately I believe we are lacking in. This team has been missing senior class leadership since, dare I say it, Brady Quinn left town. Hopefully, someone has the "you should stay another year" talk with Manti Teo on why staying for his senior year is more about the legacy he we leave in favor of the dollars he will receive in declaring for the NFL draft. This is something I admire (and am envious of) from the Stanford team we're about to play tonight. Their Senior class joined following a 1-11 season and have delivered. And while we find ourselves on the verge of another season missing out on a BCS bowl, I can't help think of a "what could have been" had we been able to retain and develop our talent better of the last few years. Maybe then, we could confidently add Jonas into the mix of best RB; I certainly would have enjoyed watching more of him.

My opinion: he comes back. He is likely the third best ILB in college football (behind both Kuechly and the beast from ASU) and based on the last two drafts, I believe there have been very few ILB drafted in the first two rounds in favor of the pass rushing OLB to generate pressure in the pass-happy NFL. At this point, I see a late-second, early-third projection on him - which could improve with more focused attention on working in coverage. With that grade, I see him playing out his Senior year in an Irish uniform. I think the model for first-round MLB talent is in the form of Jerod Mayo of New England or Patrick Willis of SF - both of whom excel in the run game and in coverage. Manti has a ways to go to match the calibur of these guys.

Pretty stoked about this recruit... plays like he's 235lbs vs. 205lbs.. Also like the fact that he is actively recruiting Keith Marshall to complement his game - find that to be an RKG from the start. Will be interesting to see him compete for playing time early...

Three kids in 15 months and a long-time Irish fan.... (you guys are smart, there are twins included)...

My opinion: they will spread us out with a 4-wide / 1 RB reciever split - forcing us to bring in a 3rd corner and/or run nickel. Mobile quarterbacks (Cousins) may be able to escape pressure brought by the front 3 or 4 and very mobile quaterbacks (Daniels, Robinson) may find a seam as the recievers run the coverage deep. I hope our guys watch the tapes from the Michigan / Michigan State games again from last year - as they had the personnel to beat the inexperienced Irish defense leveraging a similar style. Army, Utah, USC, Miami didn't attack our team this way as they didn't have the personnel or scheme to beat us using this offensive style.

I find myself rooting for Tommy - nothing scientific, just purely for the fact that we all expected nothing from him last year, and he delivered four solid (and much needed) wins. While Dayne continues to show leadership (my opinion from listening to/watching Und.com videos), I was more impressed with how Tommy moved the offense during the spring game with "lesser" resources (Gray, Ragone & Deion Walker to name a few). Maybe I am just glad that we're all not shouting for Nate Montanna to make a return...

I for one am just excited to see us getting more speed on both sides of the ball. This seems to be a real strong focus this recruiting cycle and JF's combination of both size and speed will likely make him an asset wherever he ends up playing for us. Already looking forward to NCAA Football '14...