The best few days of the spring at Notre Dame, Blue and Gold weekend, has wrapped up, and the game and the ’09 recruits have come and gone. The only thing that remains are numerous writers putting in their two cents on what they thought and felt about the ’08 Irish squad. After a long month of spring practice, here are twenty-five of my thoughts on what I saw from the Irish this past Saturday:
1. Don’t judge sophomore QB Jimmy Clausen by his 10-27 performance on Saturday. There were numerous dropped balls by receivers all over the field. Clausen looked like a much better quarterback: poised in the pocket, confident in his throws, and able to recognize pressure and open receivers. The “two hand touch” rule on quarterbacks made it hard to get a full read on just how much he has grown, but I would expect a much improved season from the former number one overall recruit in the country.
2. Sophomore LB/S Harrison Smith is going to be very good. He turned Clausen’s only big mistake of the day into a pick six and was solid in run defense the whole afternoon as well. He has to see the field, and soon.
3. Equally impressive on the defensive side of the ball was junior CB Raeshon McNeil, especially while blitzing. McNeil seems to have improved to the level necessary to see major time at a program like Notre Dame.
4. Speaking of blitzing, new linebackers coach Jon Tenuta has already made his mark on this Irish team. The blitzing of the Irish was fast and furious all day and whether it's up the middle, from the corner, or from the safety position, the pass rush certainly will improve for Notre Dame this coming season.
5. The player who impressed me the most on the offensive side of the ball was the game’s Offensive MVP, sophomore RB Robert Hughes, who rushed for one hundred yards. Hughes, who ended last season with two great rushing performances, would get my nod to start at RB if the first game were today, with sophomore Armando Allen also seeing large amounts of carries.
6. The right side of the offensive line, with junior Chris Stewart at guard and junior Sam Young at tackle seems like the kind of bruising force that Robert Hughes is going to be able to run behind all season long.
7. Sophomore WR Duval Kamara has everything needed to become an All American at Notre Dame. He just needs to spend the summer in front of a Juggs football machine working on his hands.
8. One of the pleasant surprises on the afternoon was junior LB/DE Morrice Richardson, who, despite being just 6’2” and 244 lbs, seemed to be as strong and quick as any defender out there for the Irish.
9. The Irish would have really benefited from having junior TE Will Yeatman in camp this spring. While sophomore Mike Ragone looked solid on Saturday, the Irish will go into camp over summer still with questions about the depth at the position.
10. Senior WR David Grimes seemed to be getting the separation from defensive backs that he was lacking last season.
11. A duo of sophomore defenders who I believe are going to play a big role on the line this upcoming season are DT Ian Williams and DE Emeka Nwankwo. Williams, a freshman All American last season, should be called on to plug the middle, while Nwankwo looked as if he can turn out to be quite a player coming off the edge.
12. Though he missed a forty-six yard field goal off the uprights, sophomore Brandon Walker proved he had plenty of leg on the kick (would have been good from around fifty if straight) and should have a much improved season this year.
13. I know it’s just the Spring Game, but there were still way too many false starts from the Irish offense. Senior tackle Paul Duncan, Sam Young, and Mike Ragone were all offenders.
14. Was sophomore WR Golden Tate’s big catch to set up the game winning TD a great offensive move or just bad defense by sophomore CB Gary Gray and the safeties? Either way, it was a perfect pass by Clausen.
15. The tandem of sophomore SAM LB Brian Smith and sophomore WILL LB Kerry Neal will be very fun to watch over the next three years. The explosion in Neal’s first step was apparent, especially when going against Sam Young.
16. Freshman Trevor Robinson, a 6’5” 304 lb spring early enrollee, seemed to work himself well into the rotation of the offensive line. While senior Mike Turkovich, junior Eric Olsen, and Stewart seem to have the offensive guard spots held down, if anyone can challenge them it will be Robinson.
17. Two players who were injured that most Irish fans wanted to see on Saturday were junior WR Robby Parris and junior DE/LB John Ryan. Both are expected to be ready for the start of summer practice.
18. I still think that a major cause for concern is that, as of March 26th, the heaviest player on the starting Irish front seven other than Williams is 261-pound senior DE Justin Brown. I’m already getting bad visions of Michigan and Michigan State’s ground games.
19. Position changes of note: junior Barry Gallup from WR to RB, junior Luke Schmidt from FB to TE, and sophomore Steve Paskorz from LB to FB.
20. A nice showing from the crowd on Saturday. The weather ended up holding out very well, but it was still a minor surprise to see over 30,000 in Notre Dame Stadium.
21. Clausen was the only scholarship QB on hand Saturday as senior Evan Sharpley was on the road with the now-ranked Notre Dame baseball team. It was a good chance for the walk-ons to see some time and establish themselves for summer camp.
22. I was a skeptic of the new “Offense vs. Defense” spring game format Notre Dame chose to run this year, but it ended up working perfectly. The crowd was definitely quite excited for the final plays of the game, and burst out cheering when Kamara brought in the winning score for the offense as if the Irish had just won a real game.
23. I’m a fan of this year’s ‘The Shirt.’ Simple. Effective. Good color. It’s everything you really need in a good ‘The Shirt.’
24. The last few days of recruiting for the Irish have been big... but there will be more to come on this later.
25. While I still think it’s too early to make a prediction of wins and losses for the season, I know I saw an improved team from last year’s debacle. I’d be surprised if this team doesn't make a bowl game and feel that seven to eight wins with this schedule is certainly in reach.
Go Irish, Beat Aztecs!
