Mike Elko is officially Irish! Biggest recruit of the year. Trust me and wait on it. Elko gets turnovers, sacks and everything you want out of a D. Also, everybody saying things about people leaving the program, really? What have we lost. Sanford I guess you could say, but other than that Hunter, Holmes, Kizer, Butler. Nobody expected these guys to come back. If those are that major of an impact to you then you don't follow much of ND football. Wimbush is the FUTURE and he had been hungry and waiting. Not to mention all these young recievers and DB's who gained so much experience last year. Claypool, EQ, Sanders, Boykin, Finke, Alize, McKinley who didn't even play, Vaughn, Love, Pride, studstill, fertitta, Watkins and Crawford off of injury. People don't actually realize how much young talent is returning on this team.
Got our guy!
- Thread starter Dropkickirish
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You know what's going to happen when the people who want Kelly - gone - now start posting? This guy built a darn good defense with two and low three star players at WF. It's speculated that he'll bring one of his current position coaches with him. It should make a very interesting spring game. He also has a grinder reputation on the recruiting trail.
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It's not what or who we lost... but the one thing we absolutely did not want to keep...Brian Kelly...unfortunately he's the one who is back that ruins everything good potentially happening recruit assistant or otherwise.
He's terrible.
You have to know that it's impossible to have a positive topic going anywhere around here because of all the sad faces roaming around. Lots of egos have taken a hit and there is no turning back.
SO TRUE! Not sure I would personally like to be around some of these people and their constant negativity.
But last year -- people were praising him for his coaching job of going 10-2 in the regular season, losing by a total 4 points (against 2 teams that finished in the top 5), with all the injuries that happened -- so, what gives???
"The o-line will handle business as usual with Heistand at the helm"
The O-Line needs to become more G-DAMN physical at the point of attack -- when they cannot get a 3rd and 2, 4th and 1 against a team like Navy (or anyone else they should be able to power against), something is amiss.
Excellent hire and pleasantly surprised we didn't blow it by taking several weeks on the background check. Many stats to use to compare his defense performance at WF versus ND, but Kelso points out two that jump off the page: sacks and turnovers. His defenses are known for playing hard and with physical aggression, characteristics that have been lacking at ND for the past four years. Now, let's hope he brings recruit Allen with him!
Good coach and the defensive staff will undoubtedly be better next year...
With that said, this is still a Brian Kelly coached team, which means the offense 8 going to have to score points. While most are focused on the defense, I think Elko will have the group in the middle of the pack next year with a young defensive line. I could see a defense ranked somewhere in the high 30's or low 40's in scoring defense.
The better question is this... What is ND going to get out of....
QB: Brandon Wimbush
RB: Josh Adams and Dexter Williams
WR: EQ St. Brown
WR: Kevin Stepherson and Chase Claypool
WR: CJ Sanders and Chris Finke
TE: Aliz'e Jones and Durham Smythe
LT: Mike McGlinchey
LG: Quenton Nelson
C: Sam Mustipher
RG: Alex Bars
RT: Tommy Kraemer
Those 14 guys are going to play an enormous role in whether or not ND rebounds and is a 9 or 10 win team, or if it's a 7-5 type of season.
It will be interesting to see if ND actually plays a 4-2-5 under Elko. I don't love ND's line personnell in that system, but I do like the back 7...
SDE: Jay Hayes / Khalid Kareem
NG: Daniel Cage / Darnell Ewell
DT: Jerry Tillery / Jonathan Bonner
WDE: Daelin Hayes / Julian Okwara
LB: Nyles Morgan / Te'Von Coney
LB: Greer Martini / Asmar Bilal
Rover: Drue Tranquil / Spencer Perry?
FS: Devin Studstill / Isaiah Robertson or Paulson Adebo
SS: Jalen Elliot / Nico Fertitta
CB: Nick Watkins / Donte Vaughn
CB: Julian Love / Troy Pride
NB: Shaun Craword / Julian Love
It will be really interesting to see how Elko uses ND's back 7 personnel and also if the scheme and coaching change helps out a guy such as Andrew Trumbetti.
With that said, this is still a Brian Kelly coached team, which means the offense 8 going to have to score points. While most are focused on the defense, I think Elko will have the group in the middle of the pack next year with a young defensive line. I could see a defense ranked somewhere in the high 30's or low 40's in scoring defense.
The better question is this... What is ND going to get out of....
QB: Brandon Wimbush
RB: Josh Adams and Dexter Williams
WR: EQ St. Brown
WR: Kevin Stepherson and Chase Claypool
WR: CJ Sanders and Chris Finke
TE: Aliz'e Jones and Durham Smythe
LT: Mike McGlinchey
LG: Quenton Nelson
C: Sam Mustipher
RG: Alex Bars
RT: Tommy Kraemer
Those 14 guys are going to play an enormous role in whether or not ND rebounds and is a 9 or 10 win team, or if it's a 7-5 type of season.
It will be interesting to see if ND actually plays a 4-2-5 under Elko. I don't love ND's line personnell in that system, but I do like the back 7...
SDE: Jay Hayes / Khalid Kareem
NG: Daniel Cage / Darnell Ewell
DT: Jerry Tillery / Jonathan Bonner
WDE: Daelin Hayes / Julian Okwara
LB: Nyles Morgan / Te'Von Coney
LB: Greer Martini / Asmar Bilal
Rover: Drue Tranquil / Spencer Perry?
FS: Devin Studstill / Isaiah Robertson or Paulson Adebo
SS: Jalen Elliot / Nico Fertitta
CB: Nick Watkins / Donte Vaughn
CB: Julian Love / Troy Pride
NB: Shaun Craword / Julian Love
It will be really interesting to see how Elko uses ND's back 7 personnel and also if the scheme and coaching change helps out a guy such as Andrew Trumbetti.
Love Martini's and Tranquil's toughness and intangibles - but neither of these guys are going to win any foot races anytime soon. Speed kills and these two have been exposed in the past for having none.
You make a good point about the offense and the "enormous role in whether or not ND rebounds and is a 9 or 10 win team, or if it's a 7-5 type of season." Also, what will be a BIG key in this as well is the play calling and the identity of this offense. IN 2016, I think it would be fair to say that this offense had no identity, nothing to hang its hat on (i.e. power running game, the deep shots to open up a running game). When an offense has 2nd, 3rd and goal from the 2 and in, and is spreading everyone out, that shows lack of confidence in your O-Line. Plus, there were many times ND could not simply get a yard or 2 on D-Lines much smaller than us. A perfect opportunity for ND to exert its will at NC State in the monsoon went by the wayside as Kelly thought it would be best to toss the ball around 50+ times.
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One could argue that by having a coach with a simplified approach and teachable system. Many of the deficiencies that a player such as Tranquill or others show will be masked by proper scheme, technique. By putting our players in better football position ie. proper depth while dropping in to zone coverage etc..
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