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Just go to indeed.com/bluewire right now and support our show by saying that you heard about Indeed on this podcast, that's indeed.com/bluewire, terms and conditions apply. Indeed to hire, you need Indeed. What's good, Ivy Nation? Welcome to another edition of the Irish Breakdown podcast. I'm Vince Diderio, that's Brian Driscoll and we are primed to talk some Notre Dame football with you today. Hey, no breaking news, it's a good day. Yeah. Well, and you know we're getting closer to the season, Vince, because my request to come on shows always grows. I got a text in a little rebuild like last night, a former Auburn offensive lineman used to work at ESPN. So I want to hit show this morning, going to be on Bill King tomorrow, so you know you're getting close to football season when that's our tab in the two man. So I went on with Mark Rogers, the voice of college football, went on his show the other night. So yeah, man, it's that time of year, dude. So you know, it's a it's an interesting time of year. You've got a lot of prognosticators out there, you know, shooting their shot and trying to figure out if they know what's going on and and it's just it's comical to find out how little some people know about certain things I digress. But I say this, there's a lot of there's a lot more external excitement about Notre Dame this year than I've seen in a long time. As well, this team's going to be really good. Yeah. Again, you got a lot to prove, which we've talked about and we'll continue to talk about. But I have no there's a lot of people trying to jump on the bandwagon a little bit when it comes to this Notre Dame team. We'll see if that continues right and week one's going to tell us a whole lot. Yes, sir. Yeah, this team has got a lot of grown to do and a lot of growth that needs to happen and certain positions need to step up linebackers got to play well this year. We're going to talk about them in part two, three and four of today's show. Part one, you know, offensive tackle is a big question mark now. We're going to talk about that and our practice report was going to be part one. But mentioned at that time of year events where it's out there today, it's just like, man, I his football season, dude, like we're out here. It's football season. Price picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members. Price picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps on prize picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six players stat projections and watch the winnings roll in, baby. Get in on the daily action with your friends and become part of the prize picks community today. Get in on all the excitement and win up to a hundred times your cash with the summer games on prize picks. 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That's code Irish on prize picks for a deposit match of up to a hundred dollars. Pick more, pick less, it's that easy. This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place every game every Sunday and you can even watch up to four different games at once with multi-view, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sunday's more magical and also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year. It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com/bsdevice and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV and a fell Sunday Ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. We're out there dodging rain, having a good time, out of practice and trying to glean as much as we possibly can from the five periods that we had access to and so that's kind of where we're going to start things off, Brian. Again, we had access this morning to the first part of practice and, of course, the majority of the eyes were on the offensive line and what that looked like today and this is probably what day two of the post-injury to Charles B. Agnes. Day three. Day three. Okay. On Sundays. Okay. Day three is the third practice and so we, I don't know, got an idea of what they're attempting to do at least off the bat. We want to talk about that and then we've also got some observations from quarterback and some, some, you know, running back stuff and I want to get, let's talk about the defense first. Brian is kind of getting that kind of, not out of the way but there wasn't a whole lot to see defensively today. Brian, they were doing a lot of recognition. I call it just play wreck, but play recognition. So what that means is it's funny. I looked over at one point and I saw Marcus Freeman with like some of the specialists. I'm like, wow, what's he doing with the specialists? That's kind of cool. And then I realized they were just like dummy O for the defense and they were basically lining up in various formations and doing shifts and some motions and things like that. And the defense was just reacting to what they were seeing. So working on eye discipline, working on coming downhill. If you're a safety, working on shifting over, if they shift their formation, you know, things like that. And it was at best at like quarter speed. I mean, it was a mental five periods for the defense as we were there. I'm sure they ramped it up after we left. But while we were there, it was more of mental, mental reps for the defense. They've done a lot of that the last two years under our golden. Yeah. They do a lot of let's talk through it, walk through it, show it. And then we'll speed it up when we get to seven on seven and team and things like that. So that's not a, my understanding is that's not, they just do that when we're there. Although our golden is one of those real paranoid coaches where he doesn't want to give you anything. Right. And I don't say that as an insult. I mean, I get it. It's what it is. You know, he even said in the press conference the other day, he was in, you know, they asked him about some of his, you know, I don't really want to give you guys a lot. I'm like, what do you think you could possibly give us? That's going to make Texas A&M like, now we know how to go at Notre Dame, like, right. You really think anyone in this room is asking you that in depth of a question that you can't, you know, but that's how coaches are, man, it's funny and it's not an insult. I actually do find it funny, you know, it's just a very paranoid group of people. You and I know that I was probably more paranoid when I was a coach than I am now. But you know, they've always done that when we're there at least. And I don't think it's just when we're there. He wants, because it's one thing to do it on a board. It's another thing to get out there and see it. And he doesn't want their first time to go through something to be a live rep. It's like, let's get that work in now. Let's get the technical work in now. And then you'd be ready for it. So, you know, I actually have a really funny story that I want to tell about being paranoid as a coach, okay? So my father-in-law used to be, he worked the headsets on game day. So I was like his, that was like his, not side gig, but he worked at Notre Dame. And that was one of the things that he did. So he would travel with the team, he would do all these things. And the various head coaching changes were very interesting as to his access in the coaches booth, because he would have to be up there in case something went wrong or whatever. And forever, he was in the booth. I mean, listening to the coaches doing the whole thing, and he was on a headset, you know, the whole deal. And there was one particular head coach/defensive coordinator when they would leave the booth at the end of games. He would make like the graduate assistants and stuff, take the trash with them. Like they would take the entire trash thing, you know, take it out and take all the paper. And every, I mean, they were super, and these were home games, Brian. Home games in the home coaches booth, like they were taking the trash with them that had like pizza and stuff, I mean, super duper paranoid. And then of course there were coaches where he wasn't even allowed in the booth and had that, you know, so it's just, to your point, coaches are very, very paranoid to the fact that they take their trash with them when they leave a room, which I think is hilarious. And that's what we saw from the defense today. So there's not a lot to say. There were a couple of players we'll just talk about that we did watch during some of the drills when they were going through, right? My eye on Rod Hurd and Jordan Clark today, I know you had your eye on Jordan Clark as well. Yeah. I really like how they move. It's obvious that it's obvious that Jordan Clark doesn't have the speed that Thomas Harper had. He doesn't. He doesn't have like that long speed. But his short area of quickness and his and how well he just flips his hips and things like that is he's very smooth. And when you combine that with how smart he is, it makes a lot of sense for him to be able to play the way he does, even though he doesn't have great size and he's not an elite speed guy. I mean, I'm close. He's above average long speed wise, but I love his foot quickness and he's a very efficient mover. Like you notice that going through drills, Vince, like he does not waste that motion at all. It's like if it if you need him to take three steps to get somewhere, he's taken three steps. If you need him to take five steps to get somewhere, he's taken five steps. Now you may say, well, duh, that's not often true. You know, there's a lot of false stuff, a lot of false stuff. Exactly. Right. And he's a very efficient mover and you definitely like to hear that. So I was good to see him. And Rod Hurd really impressed me again today. This is the second time I've watched him. This is the most I've watched him today. And I really like how well he moves. He's not a very big guy, like he's, you know, built well, but he's not, he's smaller than both DJ brand and RJ Henderson height wise and length wise, but man, he's a really easy mover. Like he, you can also tell like two things you notice when you watch around her compared to the safety from last year, a not nearly as long as the two guys they have last year, B. He's far more athletic than those guys are, at least from a smooth and same point. Yeah. He does not have the, the downhill speed that remote Henderson had, but remote never played that fast because he didn't know where he was going. Right. And DJ always knew where he was going. He just couldn't always get there the way he needed to, right? They were very, like if you could have put remote Henderson and DJ Brown into like one player, that had been a heck of a player. Right. They're remote speed and athleticism and DJs, you know, mine for the game and smarts and football IQ had been a heck of a player. Well, Rod, her kind of has some of that. He's, he's a more athletic player than DJ Brown, but he's very smart. I mean, just kind of watching him and Xavier Watts during some of those read and react periods where they're just communicating. I mean, they're, they look like they've been playing together for a couple of years. Absolutely. Xavier Watts looks like he, I mean, he's on a different level. I mean, as far as from a mentality standpoint, he just looks, you know, you watch him move around and practice and how he communicates with people. And I'm not saying that he didn't do this last year, but it just seems more effortless this year. I mean, he just seems more in control, more of a leadership position. I mean, you could just see how a guy carries himself, right? I mean, he didn't get more athletic from last year to this year. He just looks more relaxed and just more smooth, I guess is the best way to put it. You know, and that comes with being comfortable and it comes with knowing what you're supposed to be doing on a rep to rep basis, whether it's a drill or whether it's team or whether it's whatever, he just looks that much smoother to me this year and more. Nothing looks forced. How about that? Nothing looks forced this year with Xavier Watts and again, he looked good last year. We had a great year, but this year he just, it just looks like, Hey man, this is my team now. Like I'm, I'm in control. This is my side of the ball. And you know, if you want to know what's going on, come to me, I got you, but he's just directing traffic and he just, he just looks smoother to me. So that that's twice. That's the only takeaways that I really had from the defense today, other than just stuff we've already said, a Bryce Young looks like a million bucks and John Burnham look great. I mean, stuff like that. There's nothing new there that we haven't already talked about. So when people say, why don't you talk more about the defense? That's honestly, that's a big reason why we don't often talk about the defense and practices because there's not a whole lot to report. Once you get past the, this is how everybody looks, you know, physically looks in the shape they're in. I don't know what else you want me to tell you. Yes. Great bone and King civilian masa. Look really good going through half speed drills. Right. I don't know. That's what you're telling me. Right. Oh yeah. So, but a lot of the other stuff, man, you know, again, is, is the only offensive side of the ball. And that's where we kind of, we can kind of focus next. So obviously, you know, the focus and attention by most people today was the offensive line and kind of how they are responding to the news that we got about 24 hours ago that Charles Jagger saw is going to be out for the season, you know, with that torn pectoral muscle and all of that. And so, you know, how is Notre Dame going to respond at least early on and what was that going to look like? Well, Brian, we got our answer at least early on again. This is day three, I think, overall of them knowing what was going on and having to adapt and adjust. But it was one of the scenarios that we laid out, right? They left Emil Wagner on the right side and they had Tash Baker run them with the ones on the left side. And that was that was primarily what we saw. We did see for a couple of reps. They had Taichan in at left tackle as well with the ones. And then I believe I saw Anthony Knapp. He was running primarily with the twos at left tackle. So and then for those that are curious, Gerby Lambert was running with the threes at right tackle. So yeah, make too much of it. It's only a couple of days after this whole thing has exactly and and we only saw the certain drills like we saw like the way it works is again, you know, like day one, we saw a pack who can get all the first team reps of left guard. That's a problem. Well, then day two, Rocco Spindler got all the first team reps of left guard. So like people shouldn't overreact to what we're reporting what we saw today because we don't know what we saw yesterday. We don't know what they're going to do tomorrow and we don't even know what they did in team for all we know they may flip it and they may say, hey, look, we don't want to show these people that Emil is going to be left tackle. I mean, they point, you know, we're trying to, you know, we were just, that's how again, we just got done talking about how how coaches want to keep things close to the best because they don't want to get in after their opponents. But from what I was told yesterday from from a good source about this situation is they're going to be trying a lot of different things. You can't try them all in one day. Exactly. Go out and up practice and today you're going to work Tosh and, you know, and tie for a couple days and then maybe later in the week Emil gets some opportunities, I don't know. But you know, we mentioned this yesterday, there was an option that they could say, hey, look, we're only going to mess up one position and move Tosh over there. Now as opposed to handle left tackle, it's a legitimate question. If he can play that position and play it well enough for this offensive line to be good enough for this team to win a bunch of games this year. So it's a, it's a question mark at this point time, but I think that there's an overreaction to it in the chat and on the message boards. I'm sure they would be foolish not to at least see how chant out Tosh does and see how high chant does because here's the deal again. The thought process behind giving this a shot first and there's a reason that we mentioned it is if we can maybe tie chance a much more comfortable playing left handed than he is right handed or maybe Tosh Baker is more comfortable playing left. I didn't need to say tight. I'm going to say Tosh Baker because I've never never seen anything from Tai Chan that makes me think he could be a guy for this position. That one I just didn't understand at all. Great. But with Tosh Baker, maybe he plays better left handed. Maybe he's quicker out of a left handed stance than his right handed stance. I mean, there's a lot of things that you could talk about. Tosh Baker's also not as bad as some of the people in the chat making out to me. We did see him play a game last year and he played fine. But if you move him there and he can handle it and he can play well, then you, your left guard, your center, your right guard, your right tackle are all the same of what they've been all camped that that's the reason you give that a shot. And I can understand them making that that's the first shot that you take is that right there. That is, let's see what Tosh can do over at left tackle. Let's see if he can handle that because then if he can handle it, then we're only having to adjust at left tackle. Everything else is the same. If you have to move a meal over there, then now you're altering two positions from where they were the first day of fall camp. Now you don't have your number one right tackle. So clearly the guy you thought was better at right tackle is not there anymore. And so that position takes a step back and you're also taking a step back at left tackle because if they thought a meal Wagner was a better left tackle, then Charles Jagasalt data put a meal Wagner left tackle. Exactly. You know, and like, like if Notre Dame had, like let's just say hypothetically that that Joe Walton Blake Fisher both came back, Charles Jagas all would likely be playing left guard to battle with Pat Coogan and and Rocco Spiller, not because that he can't play left tackle. The point is they were going to find a home for Charles Jagasalt this off season. Like they were going to let him compete somewhere. Sure. And because they think he, they think the world of them. And if they thought that a meal Wagner was that guy and they didn't think Charles Jagasalt could play left tackle, they would have put a meal over at left tackle in the spring and they would let Charles Jagasalt battle for left guard job just like they're letting Sullivan Abscher do who the staff is also very high on. So again, for for this day, this is what we saw, we saw Tosh playing left tackle and we saw a meal staying a right tackle. So again, you're not going to move everybody over there the same day. You're just right. It's not. That's not how it works. That may make people in a in a podcast chat feel better or on a message board feel better, but as a football coach, that's not practical. Let's see what this guy can do for a couple of days. Let's give this guy some reps over there for a couple of days. And then we kind of cycle through it and that's how you figure it out. You don't just throw five guys over there in one day and say, okay, well, let's see who looks the best today. They're going to try different guys out. I would imagine it'll take him about a week or so before they really settle in on something. And then hopefully try to get that going. So what wins our next practice available bit of Saturday, right? Saturday, yeah. And is that the last one? There's one more and more. The next weekend, right? Or the next week? The next week? It's not on the weekend. I wish it was because anyway, I'm not going to get into it. We'll see. We'll see kind of what it looks like then, but that's at least what we saw today. And you know, a lot goes into these decisions as far as who's going to end up winning the job too, right? It's not only who is the best person for the position, but you know, and that's the be all end all, right? But it's also who plays the best with whoever wins the left guard spot too. I mean, that's part of it. You want continuity between those two guys, right? And so I'm not saying if one guy wins the left guard spot, then this specific guy wins the left tackle spot, but it's just another thing to kind of check off as you're going through and trying to figure out who's going to win that job. And so, you know, we don't know who has won the left guard job yet. We don't know the answer to that. And so that's a question mark that's in the air. And again, we're just reporting what we saw in the first five periods of practice. That's literally what 25 minutes of practice. They didn't do anything against the defense. They didn't do any, you know, straight up team stuff. And so who knows what changed when we walked out the door or if anything changed or what it's going to look like tomorrow, you know, for example, and like you said, there's going to be another probably three or four practices between now and the next time that we get to see this team. And so, you know, everybody needs to refrain from jumping off the ledge at this point. Let the coaches go through the process of figuring it out and whatever decision that they make. Once they make that decision, don't worry, we're going to have opinions about whatever decision that is. Yes. Right. But I'm not. Yeah. Vince, we're not ready to stand here. Exactly. So to speak, you know, people would like it, you know, people who think that's a horrible thing to put to Ash Baker. If we just came out here and like fed red meat to the rabbit dogs, I mean, right, but again, it may not end up being a good thing. Right. I don't know the answer to that right now and what I mean, and there's nothing we saw today that makes me think he is can do it or can't. I mean, that's the thing is like we can't evaluate that because of what we saw from them in practice. You know, I mean, there's some things I saw that I put in my practice sport. There's things that I wish Joe Rudolph would do a better job of focusing on and emphasizing in practice. And we'll see, you know, how that kind of goes. But, you know, I look at and say, Vince, we'll see if he can handle a job. I don't know if he can handle the job. He's going to get a shot to do it. I would imagine a meal will get a shot to do it. But, you know, again, do you, or are you willing to impact one position or two? Yeah. That's the question mark. And if you know that you've got a guy somewhere, okay, well, yeah, well, you know, maybe you can feel that you can protect Tosh Baker to the right as opposed to a meal to the left. Again, that's not always how it works. You know, you may say, hey, look, with how we like to set protections, we would like to slide more to the left. So putting our, you know, a toss to the left and there's a lot of different ways to look at it. I'm not saying this is a good decision, bad decision. And the only thing that I would say today, unless Tai Chan just completely changed who he is from the spring, I don't know how that's really worthy of time or reps, you know, unless he completely changes from who he was. Because when I watched Tai Chan, I didn't see a guy that moved anywhere close to good enough. Like Tosh Baker moves better than I think some people in this chat give him credit for. I don't, again, I think that we have people who only watch the bad plays of an offensive lineman and say, well, that's, you know, that's this. But like he's better than Tai Chan, a lot better than Tai Chan. Yeah, it's not. And we know a lot more about Tosh Baker than we know about Amia Wagner. That's the reality. Part of the reason that people are down on Tosh Baker is because he's been here so long and there's a lot more of a body of evidence where, where Amia was still a little bit of that unknown, you know, we haven't seen him start a game. We haven't seen him give up a sack in that type of situation. So I think people just need to take a deep breath. Let's let it play out a little bit. Exactly. And just evaluate it as we go through it. Yeah. You know, and all hope that, hey, we hope that they make the right decision. That's what we can all hope for. But I think the first practice that we got to see for five periods, not knowing at all what they did for the next hour after we left, it's just like, let's just see if it's if it's the same way that it is next Saturday and it's the same way that it is the week after that and Tosh doesn't look any better than then we'll have that conversation. We'll have that conversation. Yeah, 100%. But, you know, we've got to give, we've got to at least give these coaches an opportunity to make a decision because I mean, that's just how you can't just rush a decision like this. We're not we're not the people that say trust the coaches. That's not us. No. No, I'm saying simply you're going to need more than five periods of a practice to be able to say what they are doing is or is not right or wrong because again, it's it's a very early in the process and I fully expect multiple guys to get opportunities over there and they're going to see who's going to play and and it's not a deal where they're well, they're just going to play the veteran because they've already shown in this fall camp anyway that they're willing to put an unproven younger guy in over a veteran because that's what they did it right tackle with a meal wagner and that's why Tosh wasn't even with the first team and I saw somebody say, well, you know, Tosh Baker couldn't even beat out a meal wagner. Well, what is that supposed to mean? I mean, everybody keeps telling me all season how talented a meal wagner is how good a meal wagner like a meal wagner is a very talented player, God, that I gave a five-star upside grade two. We're acting like Tosh Baker couldn't even beat out Kane Madden. I mean, like, what are we doing here? Right? Right. They're all talented players and a meal is more talented than Tosh. I have some concerns about Tosh as a past blocker. I've expressed them, but like, let's just pump the brakes a little bit on the woe is us and this is what they're going to do and and go to the now if they make a decision that we don't like and what we see is not good, we'll say it. I'm simply saying today is not the day to be panicking about that. Let's let the process play itself out. This is, yeah, this isn't a thing where they were going to be like last year, you know, if or I'd say maybe next year, if when you're starting tackles goes down, you're going to feel a little bit better about I know what the next answer is because Gerby's got a year under his belt and so he's got Anthony Naps got it, you know, all those type of things. So, you know, that's kind of that's basically where we're at with that is just just relax, let it play out. Right. I say in the chest. So, so no opinions unless you agree with them. I'm not telling you that there's no there's no I've given you no opinion to agree or disagree with what I'm saying is having an emotional breakdown after one practice is not the answer to this right let I'm just saying relax, let's see how it plays out first then right we can talk about the rightness or wrongness of the decision. That's all I'm saying because there's people kind of losing it and it's like but you don't know what the decision is like if you didn't think that Tosh Baker is going to get at least get some practices that left tackle to see what he can do, you were you were mistaken. Right. There's going to be multiple guys are going to get that job let's see who wins the job let's see if that's the case now if we find out that they didn't actually try other people out then we can have some opinions on that and we will have some opinions on that because if they just kind of plug Tosh in there and don't do anything else I'm going to have a problem with that. Me too. If you're just going to do that and then just leave Gerby over there is the number three right tackle and just leave Sully is the number three left guard I'm going to have a problem with that. Yeah. But we don't know that they're doing that that's all I'm saying. Just relax let's give it a week or so let's see what they kind of do in future practices and then we can evaluate and give criticism or praise or other case they may be and that's all I'm trying to say to you guys is because nothing that anyone in the media salt today is going to give anyone confidence or a lack of confidence in what the offensive lineman can do because there was nothing that they can that they can have that they can evaluate they literally just wear jewels and I'll say this like we got to see as we were walking out they were participating in a period that we're not allowed to report on. We only saw one play and that's a pretty good frickin play for the offense and I'll just leave it at that right. But that's one play I mean I could use that as like a seed one play and they went for a long touchdown like that would be that would be like dude you're basing out of one play how do you know that when you guys walked out the next three plays that you give up tackle exactly exactly because I only saw one play of that period as I was walking out and it was the exact opposite. It was a really good play for the defense so it's funny that you saw something different than I did too yeah so you know again you can't take it one played time like you can't make all these massive assumptions based on one thing and I also want to add if anybody has been with Irish breakdown for any extended period of time has anybody ever thought that Brian or I or Sean or anybody else like with holds our opinion like we're going to give you our opinion once there's an opinion to give don't worry like we're not shy about giving our opinion right we're just allowing the coaches to make a decision and then we'll say whether we agree or disagree with and we made that mistake not you but Sean and I especially me on the first practice because Pat Kooten got all the number one reps a left guard and they had Rockwell a right guard and I just I assumed battle over yeah right right mistake and I criticized them for it and then the very next practice we were at the next day it was completely flipped they had a plan I reacted to what I saw from one practice right and I you know you needed to cut it okay let's see how it plays out sure and and that's all I'm saying now that's a good point they may still end up making a decision that I don't like and I promise you we'll tell you about it don't worry I'm just simply saying like take a deep breath right then let's let this play a little bit and and so no we're not telling anyone that they can't have a certain opinion we've literally told no one you care not allowed to have that opinion we're simply saying it's probably not advised to be that strong and I would say that also to the people that are like no Tasha's going to be fine you don't know that either right you haven't seen him the last time we saw Tash Baker playing left tackle it did not go well that was back in 2021 so I'd say relax people and let's let it play out then we can when we know when we have more data and we have a better idea of what they're doing then we can have an opinion on it because it is an important decision for them to make men's they got to get this right no yeah because if they don't get this right the offensive line is going to have a hard time being what it needs to be this season that so there is a lot of stake I'll absolutely say that there's a lot of stake and I'm not saying they're going to make the right decision I'm just saying we don't know if they are are not today based on what we saw that's all I'm saying we need to let the process play out right but it does suck that we're even here you know having the conversation because I just would rather not I would rather not that's basically basically where I'm at so real quick couple things to quarterback Vince obviously we saw them working on some different route combinations today including a route that Notre Dame fans are going to see are going to see run a little hot this season and there's actually a breakdown of this particular play on the message board which which we're which we've talked a lot about but quarterbacks were fine you know they look good no CJ card today at practice by the way little throw away there CJ was sick he was he's got an illness he didn't practice kind of like what happens what's demon jelly in the spring when he missed a practice because of an illness there are a lot more you know stay at home than they used to be on that stuff which is I mean whatever it is what it is I don't have an opinion on it I mean it's like when when COVID hit my wife is like you know they're telling people that are that that have COVID not to go out I'm like shouldn't that always been the case though like whenever I was sick I wouldn't go to church or something you know and a lot to a restaurant if I had to flu or anything else but so that they're doing a lot more of that now because that's how you get stuff running through the locker room and you get your whole team sick for a week you know so they keep which again makes sense but he wasn't there today because of that no injury nothing else going on just just he's got an illness but so I you know I look at advanced and you know not a ton to gather from the quarterbacks today other than you know they're getting sharper I will say this I do I did notice today Riley Leonard's command is growing every day a little bit more vocal a little bit more confident and where he's supposed to be timing is better he throws he was missing by foot day two he hit today you know and there was a period two events where you just kind of look at Riley and you're like this is a coachable kid too yes and I thought that was important to see well and that was you know something that we saw while we were wanting again it's routes versus air at RVA's and it was what they were accomplishing and he had you know I'll set it up for you had two quarterbacks throwing one to the right one to the left and you know they were throwing various routes and then then they would rotate from one spot to the other and then out and you know sometimes they would redo the rep right if necessary and there was one rep where Riley completed the pass you know again no defense he completed the pass that they were working on a certain kind of a pass and and Mike Denbrock was right in his ear he's like dude you got to get that higher like that you can't put it where you put it you got to get it higher very next throw was spot on perfect exactly where Denbrock wanted him to put it and so it's like oh okay I mean not that I didn't think Riley Leonard was coachable but not only is he coachable from a mental standpoint but he was coachable from a physical standpoint completed the pass exactly where Denbrock wanted it learning moment okay got it moving on and then he gave way to another rep to somebody else and so you know again little piece you know but something that I noticed as we were watching the quarterbacks and again they didn't do anyone on ones they didn't do anything against a defense it was just kind of drill work and repping out some certain things but it was passes that they're going to use a lot and so ball placement was extremely important it was a compressed area of the field it's an area where you need to put the ball in a certain spot timing is important to it was it basically was a lot of red zone stuff today it was all specific I was I'm okay saying that because we're not saying what they were throwing that's why I didn't say the particular route right not that it matters I mean if you watch any Mike Denbrock's film no what you're gonna do it doesn't matter what you're saying this is true but it was like red zone stuff and you all you'll have days where you're working on red zone run game red zone pass games like that red zone then coming out and so they were working on red zone throws and red zone throws even more so than field throws need to be good timing because the field everything is so much more condensed defense doesn't have to cover so much so they can kind of be on guys a little bit more especially the safety level so that's why you know timing and ball placement are super important in the red zone yes and and like there was a couple misses like Steve Angeli had two misses today one fell in complete one Eli I think it was Eli Reardon made like a crazy like one handed grab right but he missed long both times mm-hmm right and if you're gonna miss in the red zone you want to miss long the last thing you want to do is is throw a red zone throw behind a guy because that's how you get picked off so again even even when you miss you want to miss in a certain place and we saw that today with Steve and we saw that on one of Riley's misses as well you don't want to miss short you miss short balls get picked off and and that's definitely not what you want to be so I thought the quarterbacks were fine day receiver that I thought it really impressed me today a guy that I think highly of based on what I've seen on film but he's never really had that practice that really caught my eye although I'm talking about Chris Mitchell there was the clip that Notre Dame put out a couple days ago where he torched Jayden Mickey for a long touchdown I don't know if you saw that it was just a tweet of that play it was a great throw comfortable yeah today was a he was the most comfortable I've seen him in a practice he was quick through routes he was getting comfortable they were doing a lot of a lot of routes where he had to run further not just vertically but across and you saw him just really turn the speed up a little bit more today he looked comfortable on his breaking points today caught the ball really well today so this is one of the better practices I've seen from Chris Mitchell in the short period time we were there they actually got a lot of route work done today in the time we were there so that was actually good we could see them run around none of it was against a defense well it was against like other offensive players kind of standing around as a standing there yeah exactly wasn't against an actual defense but it he was comfortable today and this is the first time I've really seen Jayden Harrison get a lot of throws down the field he catches the ball he's really fast I think he's kind of a sleeping giant for what this offense can see like yeah I just feel like he's going to make some plays that people are going to get very excited he's got some juice and you wonder like there's got to be something there because he didn't why didn't they use him more a marshal like are they really that he's an all-American kick returner like yeah but good help get all on his route running is not super super sharp but he's fast and he catches the ball well like this is the most we've seen him catch the ball was today Jayden Gray House still looks great mm-hmm Jordan Faison looked really quick today I mean receivers look good I spent a lot of time to looking at the running backs today Vince okay just again I continue to be just blown away by how dynamic these guys are athletically Jarian Price looks phenomenal you know his foot quickness is exceptional just going through drills he was actually the guy leading him through drills today was Chidarion today makes sense I'm just crazy he's the second oldest guy in the group and the only guy older was playing safety in the spring Devon Ford yeah of the scholarship guys but you know Jadarion look great Jeremiah and in some of the run game stuff we saw the big takeaway here we've talked a ton about how athletic is today was the most patient I've seen him getting downhill on zone stuff okay like that was good to see from him is because normally Jeremiah gets the ball he's you know I'm going today I thought he he had a better understanding of hey dude timing kind of matters on these runs you can't get downhill too fast or too slow I thought that this was the most comfortable I've seen him in practice in regard to that the footwork the timing of runs and then of course once he does that like the aphidicism is just exceptional but this is also the closest I've been up to him in a practice this today and you see like the the filling out is really taken taken hold I mean he looks he looks great and he hasn't lost a step Gijon Young look great today he's deathly healthy his foot quickness for a 230 pound guy is very impressive and I'll say this Vince they're they got two of the most impressive looking walk on running backs I've seen like in a forever like Justin Fisher was playing tight end before and he does not look like a tight end he looks like a 6-2 running back and Jake Dafelsky is a really athletic kid who weighs almost 230 pounds like yeah they all look like scholarship athletes I mean it it is really impressive because I was thinking I'm I think you're gonna watch Justin Fisher and and Jake Dafelsky running next to Jadarion Price and Jeremiah left they're gonna look bad and you're like nope no they look like they belong they do yeah they do I mean we're not saying that they're at first or second string we're just talking athletic how they go through bad drills but they belong man like yeah yeah for sure for sure the and that's where's that gonna help their name is that gonna help them running back no is it gonna help them on special teams yeah yeah when you've got kids like that they're both over 220 pounds right and moving like that so you talk about being on the coverage teams and the return teams and things like that those are guys are gonna help you a lot in those areas yep so and I was worried that Justin Fisher is gonna have to lose a bunch of weight to go play running back he looks just a stick now I mean a little bit more streamlined but just I mean overall size wise he looks as big as he was when he was playing tight end yeah yeah I always thought tight end didn't really do much for his skill set and that's just me personally because I watched him all through high school you know carrying the football and playing quarterback his home is it running back and you can tell that I think he just fits in there a little bit better but again he he has streamlined his body a little bit he's not as he's not as thick in the waist as he was when he was playing tight end and you know he looks like he could take on some dudes you know they're coming after him and he's carrying the ball you know I mean so yeah but yeah good looking kid and you know things are things are good in the running back room there is no doubt about that anything else from practice you want to bring up I'm good man other than we got a little quick rainstorm right in the middle it was like huge drops dude like and it came out hard like that and then like andra grabs her camera I put the camera she gave me up under my shirt and then it was like that for like two solid minutes and then then stopped and then like went away and it was sunny again you're like alright I can live with this is weird but very humid out there today when we were walking we were leaving too so they're definitely going to be getting a lot of a lot of work and and some heat out there today but events I'll just say this walking up to the practice field today we had to walk past the indoor facility to the back grass field it is wild walking by there and just everything is gone yeah like the tennis courts are gone like all that stuff is gone it's just all very flat because they're getting ready to you know they're they're starting a construction for the the new facility but man that sucker is gonna be massive it's gonna be so big yeah it's gonna be so big they didn't end up knocking down at least not yet the indoor tennis facility but it's basically from that if anybody's been on campus it's from that indoor facility all the way over to the goog and I I don't know is it gonna be connected to the goog do you know I don't believe so I'm told that it's gonna be a standalone building gotcha but it's the only thing I've heard about it being connected is their potential for there be to a walkway from that building to the indoor facility but I don't think that's actually a thing that's something that somebody told me once but I don't think that's gonna be a thing gotcha makes sense alright well that's gonna do it before this portion of the podcast our practice support so make sure you stick around we've got much more to come but in the meantime make sure you hit the like button the subscribe button the notification bell share with your family and friends and of course get on the boards boards at Irish Breakdown.com if you're already a member then you got the practice support probably a few hours ago because that is when it was posted originally and when you're on the board you're in the know and that's really all I have to say about that so make sure you get on the boards boards dot Irish Breakdown dot com [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] (upbeat music)
