JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat Nov. 30, 2022

Notre Dame Football Live Chat Nov. 30, 2022

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Eric Hansen

1:29

Hey Tony, off the top of my head and assuming everyone stays in the class: 1. S Peyton Bowen, 2. WR Jaden Greathouse, 3. RB Jeremiyah Love, 4. LB Drayk Bowen, 5. DE Brenan Vernon. Sometimes it's about the quality of player. Sometimes it's about opportunity. And sometimes it's both.

Terry, Downers Grove IL

1:23

Hi Eric, if you had to make a prediction now, which 5 incoming freshmen do you envision having the most immediate impact on next year's team?

Eric Hansen

1:23

Thanks, Jack. I think if Tommy Rees left after this season, it would be for an NFL job, but I don't think this season positioned him well for the kind of NFL job he would desire. Maybe after 2023. I think this season defined Rees as an offensive coordinator who had some really good moments and also showed his inexperience. Certainly total offense isn't the only measure of an OC, but when you're 75th nationally in it with the players you recruited, I think it's fair to say production hasn't yet caught up to his potential.

Jack Strongsville, Ohio

1:14

Hi Eric. I believe you wrote that this would be a defining season for Tommy Reese. How would you evaluate his performance this year. Do you believe he wants and will return as OC in 2023? Thanks for the great work.

Eric Hansen

1:14

The two turnovers and the turnover are downs (and the correct replay reversal of a potential USC turnover) all kept the game from turning into a whoever-has-the-ball-last affair. ND's defense -- both in its execution and allowing USC to hog the ball -- was problematic. Thanks, Shane.

Shane from White Deer, Texas

1:08

Hey Eric - hope you are well post 2022 season. Can’t believe it’s already over. So, do you think we were really ever in this ballgame? Maybe I am just being a homer, but it seems without the two turnovers and the 4th down tight end sneak (ugh), the Irish had a good chance of winning. Caleb Williams is a dynamic QB and makes flashy plays, but through all his heroics, I refuse to believe there was not a path to victory in the second half, unless you say - Shane, take off your rose colored glasses and come back to reality. If that’s the case , I will let it go and get ready for the bowl game. Thanks for the season and answering my questions. Go Irish!!

Eric Hansen

1:00

Jim Leonhard is elite, and ND kicked the tires on him in the last DC search, but he wasn't interested. But here are two things to consider when asking about a coaching change at DC: The ND defense regressed in some areas, but in total defense, the Irish improved from 43rd nationally to 23rd this year. And is a fourth scheme/coordinator/linebackers coach in four years going to be good for the players? Now Saturday night was a bad night at the office against a very good offense. ND spend a lot of time in a 3-3-5 look, which didn't work well at all. Perhaps the sloppy tackling was due in part because of that alignment, with different pursuit angles, different responsibilities.

Guest

12:46

Joe H Williams Bay Wi Hey Eric Another regular season in the books and thanks for all your great analysis.Very frustrated and disappointed with our defensive performance Saturday night Missed tackles aside it looked to my as if we were completely disorganized and out of position most of the time Marist Liufau in particular looked misaligned and out of position Thought the players played hard and showed a lot of fight but thought the coaches let them down with a very poor defensive scheme Not sure if Al Golden is the right guy to lead the defense and I for one would like to see us take a serious run at Jim Leonhard for our DC going forward

Eric Hansen

12:46

Tom, thank you. The failed fourth down was a huge moment in this game. But fourth downs were problematic all season. Maybe the answer is better fourth-down plays? The two teams at the top of the CFP rankings, Georgia and Michigan, converted fourth downs at a rate of 85% and 88% respectively. That's the top two percentages in the country. Notre Dame was at 40 percent (6 of 15), which is tied for 105th nationally. They didn't go for it an inordinate amount of times. Fifteen attempts is tied for the 13th lowest. Texas Tech led the nation with 47 attempts BUT they converted 62 percent of the time. In this particular game, ND was already down 10-0. I probably would have gone for it myself. I think the bigger problem was 3rd-and-2, which turned out to be a Drew Pyne 1-yard run.

Tom from Toronto

12:33

Thank you again for your great work on the chats and your and Tyler James excellent articles each week. Southern Cal had a very good game plan on both sides of the ball and executed it well. Unlike a number of times in prior years, ND was not out of any of their games this year, which says good things about Marcus Freeman and his staff. While I thought that Coach Freeman had learned from the Stanford game to take the points, he seemed to forget that against SC. Missing the fourth and one changed the complexion of the game. Do you agree? Should he have the words "take the points" sewn into all of his shirts? Or would you suggest another piece of advice? Looking forward to the chats once the bowl game is sorted.

Eric Hansen

12:31

Hi Jaime. If everyone stays, that'll be eight scholarship running backs on the roster and a lot of really good ones. I think the first move would be to see if Chris Tyree is open to moving to slot receiver. That solves two problems. I also think Jeremiyah Love will be used part-time as a receiver, which he embraces. Maybe you redshirt Edwards and Limar. Then you'd have Estimé, Diggs and Price as your rotation. I guess Payne would be insurance and special teams. But that, to me, is the most likely scenario, barring another position change.

Jaime, Naperville IL

12:27

Hello Eric, happy chat day. Looking forward a bit to next season's RB room with Tyree, Diggs, Estime, and a (fingers crossed) healthy and talented Jadarian Price. How do you see carries being distributed among this stable of dynamic players on top of a group of highly talented incoming freshmen in Love, Edwards, & Limar. Kind of a log jam, which is a great problem to have! Curious to get your predictive analysis on how you think that likely shakes out.

Eric Hansen

12:27

There are some fans that think if you're confrontational with the coaches, they'll say, "Gee whiz, I never thought of that. Let me change my ways." it doesn't work like that. ... Now that I got that off my chest. Yes the linebacker play needs ti improve. Part of it this season was playing so much nickel and having only two of them on the field. Part of it was three scheme changes in three years. But there's plenty of talent on this roster with more coming. The competition in the spring at that position group will be one of the key areas to watch.

12:23

Scott, forgive me but when someone asks me if the media asks tough questions, I think you know that we do if you watch or listen to any of the press conferences. If you want them to be asked in a confrontational/disrespectful manner, that's not going to happen. If your aim is to get information, there's an art to asking tough questions that get you that information. Being an ass isn't the way to do it. If you want to check our website, we have all the Al Golden Tuesday night interviews saved from this season. And if you sift through, you can see questions about linebacker play -- and specific linebackers -- was a common theme. I asked many of those myself. (nore)

Scott-Sacramento

12:15

Eric, Tough loss to USC, Notre Dame was beaten at their own game. USC ran the ball down our throat at will. USC backup TB runs for over 140 yards. Notre Dame blitzing their LBs every play is getting old, no pressure on throws and not stopping the run game. LB play is horrible!! Liufau in 12 games this season is averaging 4 tackles per game, Bertrand 7 tackles per game, Kiser 5 tackles per game, HORRIBLE. The DC was a LB coach last year, Freeman played LB, Laurinatis played LB, yet our LB play is lacking at best. Lincoln Riley out schemed Golden at will. Two of USC TD's that went wide were untouched, on one play Williams and the WR both walked into the end zone, the other Williams just taunted Kiser who had no clue about outside containment. Do any of the press ask Golden any hard questions?

Eric Hansen

12:13

Bobby, whether Marcus Freeman would want to hire a full-time QBs coach, it's logistically challenging for now. The NCAA is pondering both taking the cap off what grad assistants can earn as well as deregulating the size of paid assistants on coaching staffs. If/when that happens, your scenario could easily take place if that's the direction Freeman wanted to go. As things stand now, Rees would either have to coach another position while being the OC or someone else on the offense would have to coach two positions. In the first scenario, you'd have to let someone go. Who would that be? You could also hire an experienced analyst. While he couldn't coach on the field in practices or games. there's still quite a bit of potential value in such a move. If I'm Freeman, that's an offseason move that I'd strongly consider.

Bobby from Cleveland

12:07

Do you think it's time for Notre Dame to hire a full-time quarterback coach? The progress and development of the quarterbacks under Tommy Rees has been less than awe inspiring (2017 Avery Davis: switched positions, 2018 Phil Jurkovec: transferred to find success, 2019 Brendon Clark: transferred, 2020 Drew Pyne: an average game manager, 2021 Tyler Buchner: wasn't setting the world on fire before getting injured). Can Rees properly develop a quarterback while also running the offense? And do you think this lack of quarterback success plays a part in ND's inability to get that 5-star super recruit at that position?

Eric Hansen

Let's get started.

12:04

Here are the rules:

12:03

As for the chat, PLEASE INCLUDE your name and hometown along with your question(s). You're also free to confess whether you've been naughty or nice this year if you think it will help.

12:02

Tyler James and I were back with our YouTube show, Monday Night Live, this week. Beyond breaking down Notre Dame’s 38-27 loss to USC, we discussed the coming transfer portal tsunami, ND’s bowl options, the future of QB at Notre Dame, bowl priorities, and a recruiting reset. The show continues its run next Monday night at 7 ET. If you can’t catch us live, you can watch anytime during the week, as the show keeps its shelf life going through the entire week.
Finally, recruiting writer Kyle Kelly will host a subscribers-only recruiting chat in the Insider Lounge on Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST.

Some quick programming notes:
Our Inside ND Sports podcast presented by Dead Soxy this week has been pushed back to Thursday, so keep an eye out for it. We’ll spend a considerable amount of time on the show talking about the transfer portal and who and what might make sense for Notre Dame in this cycle. In the meantime, check out Rivals new Transfer Tracker and Portal ratings. They’ll be updated daily until the first portal window closes on Jan. 18.

12:01

Welcome to Notre Dame Football Live Chat, Back to Frozen Tundra Edition.

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