Logan Weeks

Coming off the strongest defensive recruiting class in recent memory and an overall stellar recruiting class for Brian Kelly’s first off-season in blue and gold, I feel the depth chart could be shaken up this upcoming season. Here is my projections for starters and back-ups for the offense for the 2011-12 season.

QB- Dayne Crist
Tommy Rees
Everett Golson-Fr.
Andrew Hendryx
Nate Montana

Photo of Everett Golson Courtesy of UHND.COM

For the Quarterbacks: I feel Tommy Rees did enough to be named the starter for the upcoming season in the last four games of the season. Rees showed a lot of maturity in every start he made, but I think the abiliy/upside of Crist will be enough in the end to get the starting nod, but Rees is no joke for a backup and should Crist go down no Irish fan will have to worry. As far as 3rd, 4th and 5th string. Golson is an unbelieveable prospect. He is an athlete that fits in perfectly in Brian Kelly’s style of offense. Project him to be the future starter down the road. As for Hendryx and Montana, we didn’t get to see Hendryx play last season and when we did see Montana he didn’t WOW anyone although his time was limited.

RB- Cierre Wood
Jonas Gray
Cam Roberson
Cam McDaniel-Fr.

For the Running Backs: Not the strongest suit of the team and only signed on running back in this class after having a few de-commitments from Amir Carlisle (USC) and Justice Hayes (Michigan). It also hurt not being able to sign Savon Huggins (Rutgers), but look for Cierre Wood to get a bulk of the carries. I’m excited to see what Roberson and McDaniel can do, Roberson gained a lot of praise on the scout teams. As for McDaniel, although he wasn’t a highly sought after recruit he could be the hidden gem in this class.

WR- 1. Michael Floyd
2. Theo Riddick
3. TJ Jones

Reserves:
Davaris Daniels-Fr.
John Goodman
Robbie Toma

The Wide Receivers: Having Floyd come back for his senior season can help all Irish fans rest easy. He gives so much to this receiving core and should help guys like Jones and Riddick find open space in the secondary. The coaching staff has pondered with the idea of moving Riddick back to running back, but I feel he could be somewhat of a utility man and waver back and forth between the two. Jones wasn’t spectacular, but very solid in his Freshman season. Expect Davaris Daniels to see significant playing time in his freshman season. The recruit from Illinois was a highly touted prospect and should provide nice depth to an already solid group of receivers.

Photo Courtesy of midwestsportsfans.com

TE- Tyler Eifert
Ben Koyak-Fr.
Mike Ragone

The Tight Ends: It hurts to see Kyle Rudolph leave, but Eifert was sensational when he was thrust into the starting role. Koyak is a nice prospect that should see significant playing time especially if Mike Ragone isn’t able to come back for another season. Even if Ragone does come back I have as the third tight end on the depth chart because of what I have seen on Koyak’s game film.

The Offensive Line: Returning will be the whole group, except Chris Stewart. This may be the strongest group on the offense. No major weaknesses and having Taylor Dever get a 5th year is huge. Look for a few freshman to provide solid depth and possibly make the two deep for next season. One guy who sticks out the most is Matthew Hegarty from Aztec, New Mexico. He is a great athlete and will be starting for the Irish soon.

With signing day approaching (February 3rd) and still a few players in the sights of the Irish, the recruiting class has the ability to move up from their current ranking of 19th in the nation, according to espn.com. With a stellar recruit in Seantrel Henderson, a five-star recruit and ranked the 8th overall prospect in the nation, who is still undecided, will play a large part in how their class ranking will fare after signing day. Recent commitments from, Louis Nix and Tai-ler Jones have helped round out a solid recruiting class as it stands so far, and helped address a couple of important team needs.

Jones, the 68th ranked recruit in the nation, will have the tough task of filling the shoes of the big play maker Golden Tate who won the Biletnikoff trophy that goes to the nation’s most outstanding wide receiver. The underclassman, Tate (junior), declared that he will enter the 2010 NFL draft.

Nix the 64th ranked recruit in the nation will have to help a defensive line that struggled more than any position on offense in the 2009 season.

Both of these recruits will be large parts of the offense and defense in future years for the Irish, so look for these two to have an impact soon.

Notre Dame has been mentioned among the schools to join the Big Ten as a possible 12th team.

Although in the ESPN article athletic director Jeff Swarbrick said “Our strong preference is to remain the way we are,” Swarbrick said, according to the report. “Independence is a big part of the tradition of the program and our identity. We’d sure like to try to maintain it.”

According to the ESPN article, “Big Ten schools receive about $20 million a year in TV and radio rights fees, according to the report.” Even though Notre Dame makes only 9 million in their contract with NBC, other reasons stop Notre Dame from joining a conference.

Notre Dame has a tradition of great rivalries including USC, Boston College and Michigan. Although some of the teams they play are already in the Big Ten, it wouldn’t allow the Irish to wiggle around and play different teams every year.

Many Irish fans would like to see them stick with the usual set of teams they play from various conferences and have the ability to add different teams on to their schedule. Overall, a move to the Big Ten would not sit well with much of the Irish faithful.

The Irish will lose quarterback Jimmy Clausen and wide receiver Golden Tate to the NFL Draft, they will lose 4 of their 5 starters on their O-Line, and their defense struggled mightily this season. In that case, what position will be the most crucial for the incoming recruiting class?

Golden Tate was the 2009 winner of the Fred Bilitnikoff trophy that goes to the best wide receiver in college football. Tate beat out Freddie Barnes of Bowling Green and Jordan Shipley of Texas to win the award.

Tate had an incredible season catching 93 balls for 1,395 yards and 15 touchdowns and took over as the main offensive weapon when sophomore Michael Floyd went down with an injury.

Although winning the award was bittersweet for Irish fans because Tate and Jimmy Clausen will be going to the NFL next year. Look for receivers like Michael Floyd and Duvall Kamara to step in next season in the absence of Tate.

According to ESPN’s article, Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly will be the next coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Despite Kelly’s numerous denies that he will take the job, he has accepted and will be in South Bend next year.

In Kelly’s three seasons at Cincinnati he went 34-6, back to back Big East titles, two straight BCS bowl berths. Before Kelly arrived in Cincinnati, they were not know as much of a football program, but Kelly turned that program around and his undefeated record this season almost got him a shot to play in the national championship.

Kelly runs the same sort of spread offense that Notre Dame ran this year. Cincinnati as a bit more pass heavy, but that came with the outstanding play of their quarterback Tony Pike and receiver Mardy Gilyard.

Notre Dame fans should be excited because they got a good one in Kelly!

Photo courtesy of LA Times

With rumors stemming from Bob Stoops, Jon Gruden, Brian Billick and the list goes on, the Irish seemed to have one guy in their sights and haven’t wanted to let go and that is head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats, Brian Kelly. Although Brian Kelly has been back and forth on what he will do next year, it just seems like he is trying to go about everything the right way, and rightfully so.

Kelly has had an extraordinary season coaching the Bearcats to an undefeated season and a BCS bowl berth against defending national champion in Florida in the Sugar Bowl.

Kelly has a team banquet tonight and much of the media believes he will address everyone there if he will be leaving to coach for the Irish next season. With all of the coaches available, Brian Kelly seems to be the best overall fit for the Irish, and me personally would like to see him in South Bend next season. But another coach has emerged in the discussion.

Randy Edsell, head coach at UCONN, has also been included in rumors for the head coaching job at Notre Dame. Edsell has built the football team at UCONN from the bottom up and as many Irish fans may know, they were defeated by UCONN this season as well.

Despite all the rumors swirling, I think Kelly will be the end up being the head coach next season for the Irish, and that could be determined tonight or early tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Notre Dame lost two underclassmen to the NFL draft next season, wide receiver Golden Tate and quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

You would have to think that the decisions by both Tate and Clausen played largely into the departure of head coach Charlie Weis. Even with Weis’s firing, Clausen and Tate had extraordinary seasons. Tate hauled in 93 catches for 1,495 yards and 15 touchdowns and is a finalist for the Biletnikoff award that goes to the most outstanding receiver in college football. Clausen had his most impressive season yet, throwing for over 3,700 yards, 28 touchdowns and only getting picked off four times. Both guys are NFL ready in my opinion, it is just a shame they both couldn’t stick around for one more season.

Next year will be interesting with backup quarterback Dayne Crist taking over, but will have to overcome surgery that he had on his knee. Crist was heavily recruited out of high school, but has never got a chance to start because of Clausen. Look for Crist to miss some of spring practice, but make his debut at the start of the season.

Tate will be missed as a big play guy in the passing game and running game. He has truly been a jack of all trades showing some skill returning punts as well. Tate is one of those guys that is almost impossible to game plan for because of his speed and deceptive strength. Although Tate will be gone, look for sophomore Michael Floyd to step up after being injured for a few games during the season with a collar bone injury, but the Irish have a slew of receivers to try and take over the role of Tate. Junior Duvall Kamara brings a large target (6 foot 5), fresman Shaquelle Evans, freshman Robbie Toma, sophomore tight end Kyle Rudolph, will all have to step up next season with the loss of Tate.

Though the Irish lose two great players, they have some pretty solid backups behind them.

Photo courtesy of NBC Sports

Despite the Charlie Weis departure, outside linebacker Kendall Moore said he will still stick with Notre Dame.(article)

Rivals.com has Moore listed as a four-star recruit, while ESPN’s recruiting website has him listed as a three-star. Either way, the Irish cannot loose any more defensive commits, especially with all of these recruits wavering back and forth since the new head coach is up in the air. Moore said that he will open up his options again, but will still remain a commitment.

Notre Dame needs to sign a quality coach as soon as possible to ease these recruits who are thinking about possibly leaving if there is a glaring hole at the coaching spot for some time. So far, the Irish haven’t done too bad of a job keeping around their big dogs, besides Martin of course.

Stay tuned for more!

Photo courtesy of wralsportsfan.com

With the firing of Charlie Weis, most would think recruiting could go two ways, up or down. So far, it has stayed the same.

Defensive end Chris Martin from Aurora, Colorado de-committed from Notre Dame today. Martin was Notre Dame’s only five-star recruit. Martin is the 16th rated prospect in the nation on Rivals.com, but he is ranked 111th on ESPN’s recruiting site.

Although losing Martin is a huge disappointment, the Irish gained a recruit today that is ranked higher than Martin on ESPN’s recruiting site, but lower on Rivals.com. Defensive tackle Louis Nix from Jacksonville, Florida just committed to the Irish.

Nix is a big guy at 6 foot 2, 320 pounds and looks like a good prospect at Defensive tackle. With the coaching job still open in South Bend, look for some commits to decommit, but also look for what happened today, and there should be some more big commits in the future.

Keep checking in and I will stay on top of this hectic time for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team!!!!

Photo courtesy of gatorsports.com