JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat July 17, 2024

Notre Dame Football Live Chat July 17, 2024

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Eric Hansen

12:41

To your WR question. I did a really in-depth story on that yesterday that is premium for our subscribers:

Taking stock of Notre Dame's wide receiver recruiting and where it's headed

But let me at least give you a summary answer to your question that is popular in the queue today. For those not following recruiting closely, ND has two WRs committed in the class and would like to take four. Jerome Bettis Jr. and Elijah Burress are in. Tanook Hines, who chose USC on Monday is out. Dylan Robinson announces his choice on Thursday, and Derek Meadows on Saturday. And there's a chance ND might not get either one. But even if they don't, I think ND is still trending well for the long term, and for some of the reasons you listed in framing your question. And the transfer portal sure makes those kind of losses -- if that indeed happen -- sting a lot less.

12:35

The three that excite me the most include two where I think the No. 2 player in the spring will overtake the No. 1. That is Aamil Wagner beating out Tosh Baker at RT, and Rocco Spindler overtaking Pat Coogan at LG. And for my third is one where they will be a rotation anyways, but I am curious to see how much Boubacar Traore can push for a larger share/role at vyper. (more)

12:31

Hi Kagan. Doing great here, and I am excited about covering the team this season. ... Let's start with your position battles question. Some that might look like position battles are really time shares -- Jordan Faison and Jaden Greathouse at slot receiver, and Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price at running back are examples. Some of the position battles will turn into playing-time rotations that aren't as equitable. Some won't be rotations at all. Having said that, I see six true battles ... Right tackle, left guard, boundary receiver, vyper end, middle linebacker and the cornerback position you reference opposite Ben Morrison. (more)

Kagan From Angola IN

12:24

Hello Eric, Hope all is well and you are getting excited as I am with Notre Dame football right around the corner! I believe fall camp starts July 31st, I was just wondering how much media access you will have and maybe you could give us 3 of the most exciting position battles to watch this fall? My three are the RT spot the Receivers with Faison being a full participant and Beaux Collins enrolled will we see some movement there, and I think an underrated spot could be CB2 between Gray and Mickens. Finally, I want to ask about WR recruiting we seem to be missing out on a lot of guys this cycle. How much of that is to do with Mike Brown, and how much can it be attributed to past Notre Dame offenses not featuring WR's? I think if Denbrock can improve our passing game this season to feature the WR more and maybe more big plays then Mike Brown could really take off next year with recruits, he seems to be a very good teacher but without any proof in pudding so to speak.

Eric Hansen

12:24

First, Marcus Freeman wants to continue to have high school recruiting be the primary building blocks of team-building. And the hope/aim is for ND to get out of the annual transfer QB business. Some positions do lend themselves to the portal in ND's eyes, though. I would say Kicker and nickel. Beyond that, it's really based on need. If you look ahead to next year already, wide receiver may be a position where ND goes back to the portal. But ND director of scouting Matt Jansen has already started the process that will have the Irish well-positioned to know who and what they'll need in December.

12:20

Thanks, Sean. I did a two-part series on how Notre Dame scouts and prepares for the entire transfer portal process. It's very thorough. Part II is premium, so if you're a subscriber, you can read them both. I've included the links to both. Let me post this and give you an answer more specific to your question.

Inside the Notre Dame football program’s seismic off-the-field evolution

Delving into the process that goes into Notre Dame's roster-building

Sean in DC

12:13

Hi Eric! These chats are great, especially in the run-up to training camp. The Irish have done a nice job of augmenting their QB stable, receiver corps and defensive line via the transfer portal. Is there a generally accepted view that the transfer portal is more likely to work for certain positions than others, if a school is looking for an immediate contributor? Or does it depend more on the athlete's ability or system of the target school?

Eric Hansen

12:12

They're also getting outstanding coaching from Max Bullough, Al Golden and Marcus Freeman. And not having to learn a new system is huge. They've been able to retain what they've learned and can build on that and play fast. And when you look at how recruiting is going in the 2025 cycle in addition to the young LBs on the roster, this may be the start of a trend of outstanding Irish linebackers, not just individually, but in waves. I'm really bullish on this position group.

12:10

Hey Jonathan, thanks for being part of the chats ... and for the compliment and even for the Chatty Cathy reference, which I am unfortunately old enough to get. ... So your concern is linebackers, and on paper I can understand why. But in reality, having seen them in action in the spring and knowing the wave of elite athletes and camera-ready young prospects ND is getting at that position these days, I think the position group will be a strength. Part of that is Kiser's presence. He's going to be a force himself, but he's accelerated the learning curve for these young guys. (more)

Jonathan in Hideaway, TX

12:07

Hi, Eric. Glad to see you back to hosting these excellent chats. Chatty Cathy ain’t got nothin on you. My question is about the linebackers. Lost a lot of tackles to the NFL draft. The returning cast lacks significant experience beyond grizzled vet Jack Kiser. They also tip the scales a few pounds lighter than Bertrand and Liafau, as I recall. Isn’t this position group nearly as worrisome as offensive tackle moving into fall and the opener at Kyle Field? Can you speak to why you do or do not have anxiety about the group’s role this season?

Eric Hansen

12:06

OK off we go.

I'm in such a good mood today that I'm not going to be a stickler on the no bare feet, no drinking or no gambling rules this week.

12:05

Here are the rules:

Please include your name and hometown along with your question(s).

12:04

As far as this week's chat ...

► Finally, we’re spinning forward into summer workouts for the Notre Dame football team as the entire roster is back on campus taking classes and working out. And Darin Pritchett and I are together this week on Wednesday and Thursday on Weekday SportsBeat (960 AM, live streaming at wsbtradio.com). The weekday shows run from 5-6 p.m. ET. You can download episodes as podcasts.

► No Inside ND Sports Podcast this week, with Tyler James on vacation. On the most recent Inside ND Sports Podcast, Notre Dame women’s basketball star guard Olivia Miles joined us. The 2023 All-American missed last season as she recovered from a knee injury, but she’s getting back in gear for a comeback year. She discussed the timeline of her recovery from the ACL injury, what she learned about herself while sitting out, scouting reports on newcomers Liatu King, Liza Karlen and Kate Koval, if she ever considered transferring, the keys to success in sharing a backcourt with Hannah Hidalgo, how head coach Niele Ivey helped her through this process, her confidence in her knee, how she's expanded her game and more. The podcast can be listened to via SoundCloud or on your preferred podcast platform including: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podbean and Pocket Casts.

12:03

► If you missed the last episode of our aspiring-to-be-viral Notre Dame Football YouTube show, Football Never Sleeps, it keeps its shelf life long after the live presentation. We are in a bit of an irregular pattern there until July 29, when we’ll move back into our normal Monday at 7 ET time slot. Right now we’re working around vacation time and guest co-host availability. The latest edition was Tuesday night with former Notre Dame O-lineman Bob Morton as my guest co-host. We’ll do another one together next week, likely Tuesday or Wednesday night, before Tyler rejoins me the last week of July. Remember, if you miss the live show, you can catch up anytime on YouTube.

► The chat will move back into weekly mode once training camp starts on July 31. It may not always be on Wednesday through training camp, due to practice/interview conflicts, but it will be weekly. In fact, the first week, we’ll probably do it on Saturday after three practices are in the books. I’ll definitely settle into a Wednesday routine in late August. If there’s a demand to do another chat next week, I’m willing to do one. Just let me know if you’re interested.

12:02

Some quick programming notes:

12:01

Welcome to a mid-July version of Notre Dame Football Live Chat.

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