Linebackers 2024
- Thread starter NCDomer1
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Tosh is what he is. Not bad but hasn't stepped up and has lapses.
Wagner simply isn't big enough right now and hasn't even pushed tosh for a role this spring so it's unlikely he will be an answer in the fall.
There was talk on the ib podcast that if they just do their jobs we will be fine but not a strength at rt. Also mentioned that it's possible that absher or Lambert would be possibilities if the right side was a problem.
A very good point was made that if you have a choice between a steady player with lapses vs a young player that is steady but has flashes of excellence along with the lapses, it might make sense to look at the young guy for those moments of excellence.
Ehhh. That's a stretch. Potential yes, but proven depth is very light.
We will have a big question at the safety spot beside X. Depth is also a problem at safety.
Cornerback...it's a projection but our top three should be top notch nationally. Depth beyond that though ..eh. but it's gotta be looked at as the strength of the d.
Linebacker. Deep with athletes and highly ranked players...very short on experience, which is why Kaiser is important especially early on to help make sure players are in right spots.
Dline... Inside is elite with unproven depth behind it. If we get Rubio back I'll fell awesome about the middle of the line.
Vyper is a mystery. We think bububacar will be a great addition to boteho. But we have to see it on the field.
All in all the line should be good to go. Especially if we get Rubio back for the more run oriented teams...dude is a space eater.
What lol.....Espn ranked our defense 7th in the country and they never think much Of Notre Dame
What team doesnt have questions? Every team does
Cross - All American
Watts - All American
Bmo - Frish AA and one of best cbs in cfb
Mills, Botelho, Kiser started on our top 10 defense last year.
6 returning starters from a top 10 defense and you add a 5th year proven DE. 2 5th year proven guys in the secondary in Clark and Heard. Add in a ton of talent at LB. Depth almost everywhere except a couple spots
This is easily a top 10 talented defense. Should be better than last year. Not even a question we are right up there
ESPN sells clicks.
Your giving the glass half full take.
Who's the cb 3 if Morrison misses time and grey pulls a hammy... Starters are elite depth is a large drop off
Who's the safety 3 if watt or schuler go down. Moreover schuler for as good as reports have him looking has never played meaningful time for ND.
What if the lbs take time to catch up on the defense and miss assignments...projections based on three new starters all playing at an elite level right away with extremely limited playing time.
Transfers could be great...or could be Antonio Carter.
Potential to be top 10 sure.
Potential to be around 20-25. Yup.
Nothing stated here is inaccurate, spot on but this is the beauty of college football - which players will be duds and which will emerge to be elite. Depth is a concern at all levels of the defense besides LB which we have a ton of unproven highly ranked dudes..somebody should emerge. I have a hunch Sneed isn’t there yet as an every down guy and will get passed up.
Espn has sold clicks and 99% of the time they are down on us
Name 10 schools that would be okay going to their 4th cornerback? I'll wait because you cant
Shuler is safety 3. Because Watts and Heard are our top 2 safeties. So problem solved for you there
We dont need the LBs to be elite to be very good. They weren't elite last year and we finished a top 10 defense. Another problem solved
No chance this defense is 20 to 25. Way too much talent and depth and good coaching
Botelho
Mills
Cross
Oben
Bowen
Kiser
Sneed
Morrison
Gray
Watts
Heard
Way too much talent there to be that low on defense
DT absolutely is. We have different takes on Hinish and Onye as quality 2s, significant drop off.
I expect Onye to be a really good rotational player for us. Agree re Hinish.
Last year we had a top 10 defense
Our 5 DTs we played in meaningful minutes were:
Cross
Mills
Onye
Rubio
Hinish
All 5 DTs are back in 24 and are a year older
DT is zero concern
Then you can say that about every single position.
So yes you are right, when you lose your best player at a position, that position is a concern
Even if we lost one, we'd still have a good rotation but not elite like it is now
But as of now, DT is zero concern. We are very good at that position
The elite teams don’t have a massive drop off like Cross to Onye, sorry UGA, Bama and Oh St beg to differ. That’s huge. We’re going to need Onye and Hinish a ton since that’s the nature of the position, and not one of those guys was a 4 star. I’m not a star guy but saying the position is fine behind our starters is Luda- what have you seen from Onye and Hinish to think otherwise?
I won’t be losing sleep if one of our RBs, QBs, WRs, LBs go down. Safety, DT, CB- absolutely.
Onye Rubio Hinish were all solid last year and are a year older. Yes elite teams have drop offs.
Our DT situation is very good and 99% of the country wishes they had our 5 guys
We'll be fine. They are all good players
I looked at Ohio States depth chart and their 2 backup DTs are Hero Kanu and Kayden McDonald.
In their careers they have combined for 11 tackles and 1.5 sack. Talk about a major dropoff, eh?
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If Riley Leonard goes down we arent winning meaningful Playoff games. That would be the much bigger loss. So no way there
What has our LBs shown that Rubio, Hinish and Onye hasnt?
Onye? Really? What, based on last season, had you questioning him?
Guy made tackles in 5 games (11 total)…the average margin of victory in those games 36+ points. Perplexed by the confidence here
We have no idea if Riley can win big games, let alone playoff games. Rivals average ranking for KVA, Ausberry, Sneed, Bowen is the 79th best player in the class (3 in the top 50 overall, 2 five stars). When’s the last time ND had 3 LBs ranked inside the Top 50, 2 5 stars?
Onye, Hinish…NA
Size. He looks small. Same with Hinish. They’re one year older so that should help.
Lol.
1. Heard hasn't stepped on campus. He could be solid or he could be another transfer miss. Regardless depth at safety is a massive concern.
2. CBS many teams have three top CBS...and then young depth behind, but ND it's a pretty steep cliff. Consider Clarence Lewis would have been the #4. We are likely looking at either a freshman or transfer rotating in.
3. Stop with the rhetoric of we don't need lbs and ol to be very good. Yeah you do. You seem content to be #10 in the country. If you want to move up to the top tier of college football YES the lbs and the oline have to be better than pretty good.
Could they be top 10 sure, could also be 25-30.
We have much more of an idea he can win big games than we do any other QB on our roster. And it's not even close.
When players arrive on campus, your recruiting ranking goes out the window. The 3 dts have done more than any of those LBs
1. Heard is a 5th year sr and is a proven player against p5 competition. You act like he's coming from d2 and he's never played against competition we are going against. You do realize hes played against Osu, Michigan and PSU, right? You can watch his film. There's no reason to think he can't be better than his replacement, DJ Brown. No reason at all. He's not replacing Kyle Hamilton
2. Not many teams have as good of a top 3 as us. And yes, there's always a drop off after that unless you are maybe 3 or 4 teams. Yes, we may be looking at a transfer as our number 4 corner.... which you will see across the country. Clarence was a huge drop-off from our top 2 as well
3. No we don't need them to be very good. Our DL and secondary are elite. Last year we had a top 10 defense and our LBs were not elite. We need them to be good. If they can be better than that, we can have a top 3 defense in the country. They have the potential to be elite but I cannot say how they will play. If they are just good, we still will have a top 10 defense like we did last year (which was good enough to win it all)
This is becoming a joke. Your opinion isn't fact.
Just piece this out...
You don't need the linebackers to play good..
Hmm youre trying to replace 65 solo tackles from the lb position..and then you need kiser to keep pace with another 45 tackles. yeah the new guys have to match a ton of productivity and need to play really good. If the secondary starts having to make those tackles it's a massive problem. And the fact is the dl isn't increasing their solo tack production to cover that production. It's a massive concern.
Heard is proven...
Uh huh. Brandon Joseph was an all American. He sucked once he hit the field. He went from 54 tackles to 15. Oh and he was actually a safety. Heard is a nickel back that is converting and he doesn't get spring ball. He also had 54 tackles. Sounds great...but Notre dame is batting about 60% overall on transfers, but about 20% on DB transfers. This is more a question than an answer.
Top 3 corners are elite no doubt but we are basically in a Jordan love goes out against Clemson and clemson scores on next two possession situation..
Just pump the breaks man
Love this, and it's spot-on.
Fine, great.....we all love rankings. We talk about them constantly. But when you arrive on campus and you're in the facility or on the practice field, it's time to ball out. You gotta perform. To hell with rankings at that point. You perform, or you get passed up. No one cares if you're a highly ranked player who can't make an impact.
Onye was a 3rd year player last year. Some of the plays he made were him coming free on stunts or the offense not blocking the play correctly.
I didnt say you dont need linebackers to pkay good. Where did you come up with that one? Talk about a joke right..... I said they don't have to be very good for this defense to be top 10. And they dont. They have to be good. So you wrote a lot of things for no reason. You read what you wanted to read.
And Brandon Joseph had 30 tackles, not 15. Come on man. Stop lying. And he didnt suck. He was average. Just like DJ Brown was. If Heard is just average we will be right where we were last year having the number 1 pass efficiency defense in thw country. Are you saying he can't be DJ Brown? Then yes we completely disagree
If 99% of the country has to go to their number 4 corner against an offense like Clemson, guess what, they will all struggle. And so will we.
Maybe 5 to 8 programs wouldnt trade places for our "problems"
We were very good on defense last year. And we have a ton returning with experience brought in through transfers, a lot of young talent, and a very good recruiting class
Yeah, the defense is going to be damn good
Spot o
Spot on, should have recruited the LB position like our DTs, would feel much more confident about depth at LB with guys ranked outside the Top 500 in their class.
And Hinish and Onye have made an impact? We’re talking about guys with relatively little experience, and thus we project by rankings. Onyr is in year 3 or 4 now- looks like those recruiting rankings were spot on. 11 tackles last year, all in games where NDs average win was 36 points.
Yes theyve made an impact.
Onye Rubio and Hinish were in the rotation last year of a top 10 defense. They all have experience now. And a year older
17 tackles, not 11
6’5” 294…similar to Mills at 6’5” 305. Really prefer our DTs above 300, but power, strength, hand strength, quickness, technique and instincts all more than compensate for size. Cross is the epitome of this. Thought Onye was really solid last year, and expect he’ll make the case this year that he is more than ready to be a starter next year.
Good grief I’ve lost track of time regarding him 😂. I honestly thought he was a TrueFR. Either way, he showed great promise in limited time last year IMO
