BVG Excuses...

[stu4don]

(BS)VG...

During Notre Dame’s Fiesta Bowl preparations in Arizona, VanGorder used the word “inconsistent” several times to discuss the 2015 defense.

“That’s really what the season shows,” he said. “For the most part they’ve been really good, but there’s four or five or six plays a game that are hard to explain. We don’t like that, and these are young players. They’re all developing. They’re all involved in a process of developing. The process is different for all of them. We’ve just had some inconsistencies. That’s player and that’s coach responsibility. We’ve got to coach it better. Players have got to play it better consistently.”

Really?

Sheldon Day (Senior)
Joe Schmidt (5th Year Senior)
Shumate (Senior)
K. Russel (Senior)
Jaylon Smith (Junior)
Romeo Okwara (Senior)
James Onwalu (Junior)
Cole Luke (Junior)
Max Redfield (Junior)

That is 5 seniors and 4 juniors (add two sops) -- young players??????!!! That is one of the more experienced defenses we have seen at ND recently. After Kelly's recent show of support for BVG I am not optimistic about ND's chances to win ten games next year. Our offense will be one of the best in the country. the Defense has a lot to prove. Yes, BVG, they are young, they are college kids!

I hope I'm wrong but staying with this system after the last two years seems to me a mistake.

 

[stu4don]

But, to be fair, Coach Kelly and Jack S. seem to have this one right. Finally! A la Stanford: bring in 35's hot yoga and pilates instructors!

The science of injury prevention.

Here’s what Kelly said about the efforts currently taking shape:

“I think the science piece is very important, because no longer is it just about strength and conditioning, it’s about durability. It’s the ability to continue to play at an optimal level but also with the rigors of a college schedule, and particularly here at Notre Dame, how do we maximize the time but maximizing getting the most out of our student-athletes and not lose them?

“As you know, we’ve had a couple years here in a rough stretch of injuries. And how do we have an injury prevention protocol that brings in the very best science? You’ve done a great job of reaching out in getting us those kind of resources. so I think tapping into that is probably the next piece. As well as providing the resources for our student-athletes. Continuing to look at facilities. Continuing to give our student-athletes maybe that little edge. Because everybody’s got 85 scholarships.”

It’s clear that the issue is one that’s on the radar for not just Kelly, but the athletic administration. So it’ll be interesting to see some of the steps taken as the program begins investing time and additional resources to an issue that’s really hit the Irish hard the past few seasons.