Here are tonight's Lucky Charms...

*** By getting Philip Riley back in the fold officially earlier this week, the Irish are back at four defensive back commits in the 2021 class. A source on the Irish side of things tells me that getting at least one more defensive back in this class is a must for Notre Dame. If Los Angeles Loyola's Ceyair Wright joins the fold, then he's likely the final DB recruit of the class. However, I'm told that Notre Dame is evaluating a few other prospects -- don't be surprised to see more defensive back offers in the next week or two.

*** If Notre Dame is able to land Wright, he's basically an added bonus to the class. I'd say the case is the same for Caleb Johnson and the offensive line. Getting a fifth O-lineman in the class isn't a need, but Johnson is too good to pass up. But again, I expect the Irish to offer a couple new defensive back recruits in the 2021 class. If they land one and Wright still wants in, then the Irish staff will happily take six defensive backs.

*** Notre Dame's pursuit of Oklahoma defensive tackle commit Kelvin Gilliam continues to heat up. My sources aren't sure where Gilliam is leaning at this point, but I'm told he and defensive line coach Mike Elston had a very productive call last night talking some X's and O's. He had an in-depth presentation last week with the Notre Dame staff and will have an academic meeting soon as well. Notre Dame is in the process of presenting everything to Gilliam, and we'll see where it goes from there.

*** Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees reached out to Lawrence (Kan.) High 2021 running back Devin Neal to inquire if he'd be interested in the Irish recruiting him. I'm told that Neal shot it down pretty much right away. Neal is a local kid and wants to help build the Jayhawks' football program.

Brian Kelly thinks this 2020 team is his deepest and his best, but has admitted the top-of-the-line star power tilts toward 2012 and 2018. Todd Burlage considered that went back and stacked it up position-by-position. Here's his story:

Saw this in the local news and made me wonder if we’d be seeing something similar with ND. Don’t think UC has the stock options that ND has, so I’d imagine our deal is a little more complicated, but do we end the agreement early like UC and UCLA?

UC Under Armour Buyout

@MikeSinger just cause we are always curious what would you say our best case scenario for the 2021 recruiting class and then on the other side what the worse case might look like. And with the best case what do you think the recruiting class will finish in the country?

Already referred to as "Baby Gronk" even by the fifth-year seniors, the freshman tight end is physically and mentally advanced beyond his years.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/michael-mayer-notre-dame-s-rookie-rampage

Story below


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Awesome for Daelin. Ian Book, Robert Hainsey and Ade Ogundeji have since joined him.
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will be gone after Ohio St crushes Michigan next month.

Robinson Cano tests positive again for PED. Out for 2021 and forfeits his 24 million salary for 2021. Wow. Reported by ESPN.

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The team had one positive test out of 232 administered from Nov. 10 through Sunday, it announced Tuesday morning. That player is in isolation and did not travel to Saturday's 45-31 win over Boston College. There were no close contacts identified through contact tracing.

As of Nov. 16, there is one player in isolation and two others in quarantine who were previously identified as a close contact.

Notre Dame has 195 active cases on campus as of Nov. 16 and reported 17 positive test results Monday. The fall semester ends Friday.

8-0 Notre Dame already has played a full Big 10 schedule and surpassed any kind of Pac-12 schedule as it enters first-semester final exams week from Nov. 16-20 before the Nov. 21 bye and the Nov. 27 game at North Carolina.

Stats, links, bios and highlights for all of the 2021 commits.

A fun SI article about the revival of college football this year in the Midwest. Worth a read!

Given: ND loses in ACC cg to Clemson by 10 points, and finishes with 1 loss.
Given: Clemson finishes with 1 loss.
Given: Alabama finishes with 1 loss losing to 1 loss Florida in SEC cg by 10 points.

Case 1: Wisky finishes 8-0 beating an undefeated OSU by 12 points in the Big10 cg leaving OSU with 1 loss.
Question 1: Does Wisky get into the Final Four, and if so, which of ND, Clemson, Alabama, or Florida is out?

Case 2: OSU finishes 8-0 beating an undefeated Wisky by 1 point in the Big10 cg leaving Wisky with 1 loss.
Question 2: Does OSU get into the Final Four, and if so, which of ND, Clemson, Alabama, or Florida is out?

Notre Dame commits who are ranked outside the Rivals250 had some movement in their rankings and Rivals ratings:

-Linebacker commit Price Kollie is up from a 5.6 to a 5.7 three-star and the No. 22 OLB
-Cornerback commit Chance Tucker is up from a 5.6 to a 5.7 three-star and the No. 37 CB
-Tight end commit Cane Berrong dropped from a 5.8 four-star to a 5.7 three-star and the No. 30 TE.

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I've been an Irish fan for many years, graduating in '74 when we beat Bama for the National Championship. Many years there may be a player or two (other than offensive linemen whose only role is to block), who become fan favorites for their blocking. However I don't recall any year when we've had so many players who seem to love and excel blocking. They are our heroes. Each week announcers rave about Tommy Tremble. Who would have known? When he arrived my anticipation was that he was going to be a wide receiver playing tight end, a guy who would destroy teams downfield, not on the line of scrimmage. There's more. Never have I seen an Irish running back pick up blitzers better than Kyren. He does just shield them away, he destroys them. He too gets National raves not only for being the runner he is but for his unreal pass protection. The Irish receivers all block well. I am sure they know their time will increase if they can block ( a reason Johnson's not yet ready). And they do. But of all our receivers, I am dismayed that Javon McKinley does not get more accolades. He is a terrific blocker. It goes on and on. We gotta give shouts out to the coaches. They are doing something right. Anyone remember a better year for blocking?

4th star per TOS. He moves up to the number 91 overall spot, and the number six outside linebacker in America and the number two overall talent in the state of Tennessee. In addition, he is one of three finalists for Mr Football award in Tennessee, Class 5A

Not under : Football or More Podcasts

From this summer. I think this kid is really underrated at 125. To me he's a 6' 7 version of Cormac Ryan. Not the passer, but great handle for his size and can really shoot it. He's gotten more athletic too. This kid is going to score a lot of points for us.

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Lou and I go back and forth on an important development of the last few weeks:

As a part of our live show on Monday, we spoke about Notre Dame's options at center. I cut that portion of the video up for those who don't have time to watch the entire show.

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In case you don't have time to watch the entire recruiting show from last night, here's a segment I think you guys will be interested in watching. Mason and I discuss Caleb Johnson, Kelvin Gilliam and Donovan Edwards.

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Notre Dame 2021 tight end commit Mitchell Evans was one of a handful of Irish commits on campus nearly two weeks ago for the Clemson game. Read his thoughts on the campus atmosphere and his reaction to the win, here:


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