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Where does ND need to get better

DL will be a battle to replace Cross/Mills. LB should be exciting. TE, WR need to get better.
 
This offseason where is the most improvement needed? OL / DL ?
Need one of the two injured vypers to be themselves, need young at are to take step forward but biggest need is interior DL and Christian gray confidence and ability. He can’t play like he did last 2 months of the year. He’s getting picked on week one
 
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OL IMO. The OL will need to do some heavy lifting to support a lack of any quality starts at QB.
For me
First it would be addressing the injury issues especially ACL injuries.
Then stock the interior DL. Bring in better , let a transfer out . DE. I feel we are pretty good.
3rd. Figure out the QB situation.
Everything else I think we got covered pretty well. Even the wide receivers.
 
Need one of the two injured voters to be themselves, need young at are to take step forward but biggest need is interior DL and Christian gray confidence and ability. He can’t play like he did last 2 months of the year. He’s getting picked on week one
Would love to see Onye return and contribute day one. Read lots of positives about Mukam’s development this past Fall, and he would be my pick for earning some meaningful snaps. Really big Spring/summer for Young to add good weight and strength, as he got pushed around a lot in the NC game. And yes, we desperately need one of Traore or Botelho to be fully recovered and picking up where they left off…maybe asking too much for this to start the season.
 
Would love to see Onye return and contribute day one. Read lots of positives about Mukam’s development this past Fall, and he would be my pick for earning some meaningful snaps. Really big Spring/summer for Young to add good weight and strength, as he got pushed around a lot in the NC game. And yes, we desperately need one of Traore or Botelho to be fully recovered and picking up where they left off…maybe asking too much for this to start the season.
I didn’t see the movement you’d want in Mukam with his limited reps… I fear Dixon will be our first good interior dline recruit Washington has landed out of hs. Meaning portal again next year
 
How long has AL Washington been out DL coach ?
He is not recruiting the DT position good enough in my opinion. I didn’t think he was that great a coach either but he has shown to be good enough.
I feel he needs to land at least 1 top 100 /150 player at DT every year.
Thoughts ?
 
How long has AL Washington been out DL coach ?
He is not recruiting the DT position good enough in my opinion. I didn’t think he was that great a coach either but he has shown to be good enough.
I feel he needs to land at least 1 top 100 /150 player at DT every year.
Thoughts ?
If you did not have to attend class and works towards an undergraduate degree once you are on the campus at Notre Dame, Al Washington would recruit the DL//DT positions better.

DL//DT and OL recruiting at a university such as Notre Dame are inherently different. That's not the case at places like Ohio St., Georgia, etc.
 
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If you did not have to attend class and works towards an undergraduate degree once you are on the campus at Notre Dame, Al Washington would recruit the DL//DT positions better.

DL//DT and OL recruiting at a university such as Notre Dame are inherently different. That's not the case at places like Ohio St., Georgia, etc.
I heard this from you multiple times now.
Basically what you’re saying is DT can’t make it academically to thrive at ND. But if you’re a DE you can.
I don’t agree with your take on this.
 
The problem to me is our D line recruiter is not doing a good enough job of convincing the talent to come here. Jmo
 
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What does recruiting at CB have to do with recruiting on the DL?

Answer. Nothing.
I”ll tell you since your memory is either short or your being dishonest to fit your narrrative.

Just a few short years ago we were not able to land any top Defensive backs.
You said the same things , defensive backs can’t handle the academics , they want to play at easier academic schools basically saying they are not smart enough to succeed at Notre Dame just as you indicated with D Line.
Then we hire Marcus Freeman and Mike Mickens.
All of a sudden we have top guys showing up and committing at defensive back.
Now our defensive backs are stacked 3 deep with talent you once said we would never get.
I compare Al Washington to Kerry Cooks.
Decent coach , not an elite recruiter.
Get it now ?
 
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I”ll tell you since your memory is either short or your being dishonest to fit your narrrative.

Just a few short years ago we were not able to land any top Defensive backs.
You said the same things , defensive backs can’t handle the academics , they want to play at easier academic schools basically saying they are not smart enough to succeed at Notre Dame just as you indicated with D Line.
Then we hire Marcus Freeman and Mike Mickens.
All of a sudden we have top guys showing up and committing at defensive back.
Now our defensive backs are stacked 3 deep with talent you once said we would never get.
I compare Al Washington to Kerry Cooks.
Decent coach , not an elite recruiter.
Get it now ?
Like I said earlier, pointing to Al Washington as the sole reason Notre Dame does not recruit the DT or DL position better is misguided and wrong, IMO.
 
Like I said earlier, pointing to Al Washington as the sole reason Notre Dame does not recruit the DT or DL position better is misguided and wrong, IMO.
You are entitled to your opinion and I respect that.
But I disagree .
Stephon Tuitt , Louis Nix, Jerry Tillery plus a handful of others I can mention debunk your narrative.
We need to upgrade from Washington. Jmo.
 
What does recruiting at CB have to do with recruiting on the DL?

Answer. Nothing.
Umm it shows that the coach makes a big difference and we have an average at best one with Washington. We needed his and Freemans commits to step up the last 2 games in the playoffs and they were absolutely terrible.
 
You are entitled to your opinion and I respect that.
But I disagree .
Stephon Tuitt , Louis Nix, Jerry Tillery plus a handful of others I can mention debunk your narrative.
We need to upgrade from Washington. Jmo.
Rylie mills, ademilola, rubio, were other highly recruited players everyone projected as interior … it can be done

Washington keeps taking players that other schools project as sde and trying to move them to the interior
 
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Umm it shows that the coach makes a big difference and we have an average at best one with Washington. We needed his and Freemans commits to step up the last 2 games in the playoffs and they were absolutely terrible.
You should have applied to be the DC.

Take your know it all, know everything about coaching defense and make Notre Dame better.

Call Chris Ash to be a defensive consultant.
 
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If you did not have to attend class and works towards an undergraduate degree once you are on the campus at Notre Dame, Al Washington would recruit the DL//DT positions better.

DL//DT and OL recruiting at a university such as Notre Dame are inherently different. That's not the case at places like Ohio St., Georgia, etc.
ND has recruited every position well besides DT/WR- are these two positions exclusively vulnerable to the academic rigor?
 
Wide receivers and Edge. If we could get some pass rushers to develop and the wide receivers develop I don't see why we can't compete with anybody.
 
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Bothelo knee surgery, Traore torn acl both are might not be the same players plus it will take time for both to get back to full speed.
This… it’s been obvious our players coming off major surgery aren’t close to themselves their first year back. Maybe one of them will be different, but hard to count on. We need a pass rush week 1
 
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You are entitled to your opinion and I respect that.
But I disagree .
Stephon Tuitt , Louis Nix, Jerry Tillery plus a handful of others I can mention debunk your narrative.
We need to upgrade from Washington. Jmo.
The guy is dumb as a box of rocks and a troll. You can’t have any meaningful conversation with him.
 
Based on my limited understanding of what we have coming back, etc. I'd say we're going to be good to go on defense unless the D coordnator situation muddies the waters. I'm hoping for continuity in the play on that side of the ball.

We need a quality QB of course, but more importantly, we have to find an elite WR or two that can stretch the field or at the very least threaten to. That could make an enormous difference with Love and Price carrying the rock.
 
I think we only need look at our weaknesses in the title game for where we need to improve.

We didn't have a pass rush so Howard was able to run big when we went man/man on their receivers and they went deep. Similar issue with when they played zone and Howard had time to pick the open receiver(s).
 
I think we only need look at our weaknesses in the title game for where we need to improve.

We didn't have a pass rush so Howard was able to run big when we went man/man on their receivers and they went deep. Similar issue with when they played zone and Howard had time to pick the open receiver(s).
No pass rush or run stopping from dline

Dline is my biggest concern going into this season, and I don’t even know who the qb is, that’s saying something
 
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I heard this from you multiple times now.
Basically what you’re saying is DT can’t make it academically to thrive at ND. But if you’re a DE you can.
I don’t agree with your take on this.
I think the broader issue is simply the amount of elite DT’s available compared to DE’s. In the rivals 100, there are 6 DT’s and 11 DE’s. Nearly double DE prospects. It’s a scarce position in the first place so nabbing a top guy can be tough. If you add in academics for both positions, it’s even more scarce on the DT side of things.
 
If you did not have to attend class and works towards an undergraduate degree once you are on the campus at Notre Dame, Al Washington would recruit the DL//DT positions better.

DL//DT and OL recruiting at a university such as Notre Dame are inherently different. That's not the case at places like Ohio St., Georgia, etc.
We've had pretty good interior DL recruiting until the last few years. Jones, Tillery, Ademilola, cross, lacey, mills, rubio. Over the last 3 classes only Dixon is the recruit in the interior that other good teams wanted. Houstan had some good offers but they were NOT committable ones, and most realized he was pretty soft and had a long ways to go. Now we're left trying to convert SDEs to interior that aren't built to be that like Vernon and Mullins.

My understanding is we will be going after another Interior Dline player in the next portal window during the end of spring. That's telling. You're going to need to again next year.
 
QB / WR - I put them together as while I think the WR's need to get more separation we need a QB who can consistently make some throws. The other is obviously DL. Team is pretty strong everywhere else.
 
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