Interesting news that I never saw coming…

rover, specifically 

Edited September 9, 20213 yr by mcgov12

Also, Kelly said he will play this weekend. 

I now that LB depth is hurting due to injuries and not recruiting any LBs two years ago. But can the WRs afford to lose another person?

4 minutes ago, jbrown_9999 said:

I now that LB depth is hurting due to injuries and not recruiting any LBs two years ago. But can the WRs afford to lose another person?

Agreed there. I hope they’re seeing incredible things from Styles, Colzie, Thomas

I assume that they're counting on him intercepting a lot and running it back?

He must have flashed something big in practice for the coaches to do this. I know he can flat out fly. Nebraska's Gatorade Player of the Year!

I can’t remember a season with this many injuries to key players and we are only 1 week in. Simon, Marist, Moala, Fisher, Batman, am I missing anyone? 
 

I hope I’m wrong but I think this may cost us a game. Why don’t we move Osita Ekwonu back to linebacker? 

I really understand the need, but really hate the move. He's 5-11.75 and 195lbs..... I thought he might be the guy to replace Keys at slot #2.

Smells of desperation. Like @ndomer4 said, why not look at Ekwonu. He's only 236, and won't sniff the DL for a while.

 

2 hours ago, ndomer4 said:

I can’t remember a season with this many injuries to key players and we are only 1 week in. Simon, Marist, Moala, Fisher, Batman, am I missing anyone? 
 

I hope I’m wrong but I think this may cost us a game. Why don’t we move Osita Ekwonu back to linebacker? 

I believe Ekwonu had some kind of leg/Achilles injury and has been out. Could be wrong on that one though. But yes, agreed on the injuries. It’s an issue when it affects one position group like it has ND’s linebackers. If they still compete at a high level this year that’s one hell of a testament to their recruiting and development

He was both a standout receiver and safety in high school. Here is an assessment of Xavier when he was recruited:

Tom Loy: We’ve been hyping up Xavier Watts at Irish Illustrated and 247Sports for a very long time. In fact, 247Sports ended up naming him a four-star prospect, while the 247Sports Composite Rankings have him pegged as a mid-range three-star recruit. Needless to say, I’m all-in on him being a Top150 talent nationally and to be completely honest, it wouldn’t matter if he decided to play receiver or safety. There’s so much to like about this young man. He’s polished on both sides of the ball, he has tremendous ball skills, speed, athleticism, and he’s just a really good football player. For me, I’d throw him in the secondary and let Clark Lea and Terry Joseph mold him into a special talent. Not many safeties can move around like him and have that nasty, aggressive ability that he does. He’s lean and needs to continue to put on weight, but in time, he’d be an elite safety prospect in my opinion. That said, I expect him to start on offense and he’s going to make some impressive plays early if given an opportunity.

2 hours ago, jimbo said:

He was both a standout receiver and safety in high school. Here is an assessment of Xavier when he was recruited:

Tom Loy: We’ve been hyping up Xavier Watts at Irish Illustrated and 247Sports for a very long time. In fact, 247Sports ended up naming him a four-star prospect, while the 247Sports Composite Rankings have him pegged as a mid-range three-star recruit. Needless to say, I’m all-in on him being a Top150 talent nationally and to be completely honest, it wouldn’t matter if he decided to play receiver or safety. There’s so much to like about this young man. He’s polished on both sides of the ball, he has tremendous ball skills, speed, athleticism, and he’s just a really good football player. For me, I’d throw him in the secondary and let Clark Lea and Terry Joseph mold him into a special talent. Not many safeties can move around like him and have that nasty, aggressive ability that he does. He’s lean and needs to continue to put on weight, but in time, he’d be an elite safety prospect in my opinion. That said, I expect him to start on offense and he’s going to make some impressive plays early if given an opportunity.

Good post and thanks for adding.

I've read a few things today, and I'm warming up more and more. Some are saying he's going to playing the "sniper", which would make sense (than simply Rover). Maybe he plays 4-3 Rover and 3-3-5 Sniper (sniper is a 3rd safety)

Here's a good article on Freeman's scheme for the scheme junkies.

https://www.18stripes.com/find-the-sniper-an-introduction-to-the-marcus-freeman-defensive/

They need serious work on the 3-3-5 because it DID NOT WORK against FSU. One of you football analysts may try to argue, but Ill just point to the scoreboard and say "it didn't work, not debatable." The 3-3-5 allowed them to score 18 points in a little over a qtr...

43 minutes ago, NDhoosier said:

They need serious work on the 3-3-5 because it DID NOT WORK against FSU. One of you football analysts may try to argue, but Ill just point to the scoreboard and say "it didn't work, not debatable." The 3-3-5 allowed them to score 18 points in a little over a qtr...

Honest question. Do you expect a new scheme from a new DC to function perfectly in the first game on the road? Not really trying to argue, just trying to understand your expectations. Is it just the primarily the 4Q?

Also to note, we gave up more first half points last year, than this year. So better 1st half this year, worse 2nd half.

2 hours ago, NDhoosier said:

They need serious work on the 3-3-5 because it DID NOT WORK against FSU. One of you football analysts may try to argue, but Ill just point to the scoreboard and say "it didn't work, not debatable." The 3-3-5 allowed them to score 18 points in a little over a qtr...

I don’t see how anyone could examine the tape and think the 3-3-5 was effective. 

1 hour ago, OKelleyIrish said:

Honest question. Do you expect a new scheme from a new DC to function perfectly in the first game on the road? Not really trying to argue, just trying to understand your expectations. Is it just the primarily the 4Q?

Also to note, we gave up more first half points last year, than this year. So better 1st half this year, worse 2nd half.

Yup, we just don’t have the personnel to run it effectively. Maybe in a few years but I’ve seen enough for now, unless we are playing the Graham Harrell Texas Tech teams. 

35 minutes ago, ndomer4 said:

Yup, we just don’t have the personnel to run it effectively. Maybe in a few years but I’ve seen enough for now, unless we are playing the Graham Harrell Texas Tech teams. 

Just my guess, but you're going to see things settle down the next two weeks, and look much better by the time with play Wiscy. Won't be perfect, but much much better than last week.