Our Monday Notre Dame Football Mailbag was jam-packed with a ton of great questions about the Fighting Irish! We had to break it into four shows! Here is part one.
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You're in good hands with Allstate. Everything's very, terms apply Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. Okay, time for our mailbag. We are going to have our season kickoff mailbag. I'm very excited about this. I'm very curious to dive into all of y'all's questions. We've got some super chats we're going to dive into first. But again, throw an MB or a mailbag in there and we'll dive into that. People ask if a Ryan's predictions do not ask Ryan's predictions in the show. Ryan will have a chance to give his prediction later in the week. So calm down. It's Monday folks. We're not diving into predictions yet. We'll do that on Thursday. So let's pump the brakes a little bit on that and we'll focus on kind of what we're talking about here, which is diving into match ups or what other questions that you want to dive into. So you will see Ryan very soon and promise you. So just relax. We'll get Ryan's opinion. Right as I told you guys before, Ryan's got a great opportunity that he's diving into, but he is not separating from Irish breakdown as you guys see. He's in the chat almost every day and we're going to have him on the show as well during the season. So we'll get there. Ryan gave us prediction anyway. I dig it. I see this. It's in the Mr. T voice. So if you're not reading that in the proper Mr. T voice, then you're just not doing it right. So let's dive into some questions and we have a super chat from AST 12321. Thank you for your super chat very much. Question is, is there any significance to the order in which players are listed for or listing in the depth chart specifically phase on or Mitchell? I don't know that there's any significance other than the, the fact like at first when I saw the depth chart and I saw phase on listed for Mitchell, I was like, well, they're probably just listing because I saw that one. And then I saw Great House or Harrison, I thought, well, they're probably just listing the returners ahead of the newcomers. And then I saw the boundary one where they had actually both Collins listed ahead of Jade Thomas. So there's two things that could could be there. One is they just, that's the order they decided to go at it with or number two in the last couple of weeks, Jordan phase on has kind of earned the nod to start. And so that could be the case and we'll see. Maybe perhaps there's some packages they want to do early. They, you know, they, they want to, there's a lot of things you could get into. It could just simply be that Jordan phase on is earned a starting job. It could be simple as that. At the end of the day, I don't think there's a whole lot of significance to it because you're going to, they're going to all play. We're going to see the three phase on. We're going to see Great House. We're going to see both Collins. We're going to see Chris Mitchell. We're going to see Jane Harrison. We're going to see Jade Thomas. We're going to see KK Smith. I imagine we'll see some of the freshmen at some point in time, whether this game or in the near future. It really doesn't matter who starts. There's going to be packages and things that they like for each receiver. There's going to be concepts and met and things that they want to do match up wise with each receiver that are going to allow them to all have a chance to impact the game. And then the other part of it too is you're going to see in games where guys hot and, you know, Jordan phase on just dominating this matchup say we're going to ride Jordan phase on a little bit. There are times, you know, looking at it from the coaches standpoint, where Chris Mitchell saw it. So you got to say to yourself, hey, we're going to ride Chris Mitchell. There may be games or Jayden Greathouses or Jayden Thomas is just ripping somebody up. So it's like, hey, look, both are starter, but man, Jayden is just dominating this matchup. So let's go with him. There may be times, you know, when you're looking at from a coaching standpoint and say, hey, look, we think this game that that you can we can have some success with this screen game or some jets or some different things like that where you can just really outrun this team to the perimeter, that may be a game where we see a lot more Jayden Greathouse or excuse me, Jayden Harrison in that game. So a lot of it's just going to depend on what packages you're looking for, who fits those packages, who do you think gives you the best matchups and who's hot is going to determine a lot of that stuff. But the reality is they're all going to play. And that's why I say I don't know that there's a lot of significance. So just like I wouldn't have put a lot of significance if it was reversed and it was Mitchell over phase on I'd have said, okay, great, Mitchell's the starter. And phase on is going to play a bunch. And I think we're going to see guys moving around to different positions as well. And that's going to be a big part of what Mike Dembrock has done in the past. And so I anticipate again, this is a prediction, not a, not a saying this is what I've been told or what I've seen because we really haven't seen a whole lot. It's just going off of what what he's done in the past, which is moving guys around a lot at the receiver position. This picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members. Prize 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 player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in. Get in on the daily action with your friends and become part of the prize picks community today. 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I'm watching the Virginia Tech Hokies take on the Ohio State Buckeyes and took them to behind the woods yet 35 21 14 point win Ohio State was just not good that game and you're thinking, well, Buckeyes aren't going to be in the first ever playoff. That's for sure. A lot of takes about that. And then of course Ohio State the next week comes out in the blast Penn Kent State. They blow out Cincinnati block Maryland block Rutgers. When a tough hard fought road game at Penn State, blood Illinois beat number five Michigan State on the road by 12 in a game they controlled going the road beat Minnesota beat Indiana beat Michigan 42 to 28 and then blow out Wisconsin in the big 10 title game 59 nothing lo and behold the Ohio State Buckeyes are the four seed in the college football playoff and they're playing the Alabama Crimson Tide beat them in the first round and then they go out and beat Oregon in the national championship game and their national champs. So I can assure you of this as bad as Florida State looked and that game on Saturday and they look bad I mean and I'll answer I'll specifically answer your question but I want to just kind of feel like I have to throw this premise out there. Let's not make sweeping conclusions about what Georgia Tech is going to look like when Notre Dame goes down there in October and what Florida State is going to look like because teams change and I'll also point out that the year that Clemson won their Nash first national title they lost at home to pit an eight five pit team in November. So one game does not determine who you are but I will say this there were some things from that game that have me very concerned if I'm Florida State and there were people all summer talking about you know do you think Georgia Tech can pull off the upset and I said no I don't I don't think they can pull off the upset I like I like Georgia Tech a lot I've talked a lot about how much I like their offense and in what Brent Key is doing but I thought there's no way they're going to be able to stop Florida State for four quarters. My final prediction was I think 30 to 20 Florida State winning because I thought it'd be a close game for a while it's like the first half kind of went how I thought it was going to go Florida State runs it on Georgia Tech they can't stop the run based on the first series they couldn't but Georgia Tech as athletes they're going to answer it's going to be a close game for a while but then Florida State would pull away in the second half it's not what happened it was Georgia Tech that really outplayed them in the second half as well and just really controlled the action and so the thing that concerned me if I'm Florida State is I was surprised at how little physicality we saw from them after that first series I mean you watch the first years of that game and you're thinking this is going to be a route I mean they were opening up big holes for the running backs pushing Georgia Tech off the line and just went right down the field I don't know that they threw a single pass beyond the line of scrimmage on that first drive like maybe like a little slide route a couple yards down the line that's really it and you're thinking okay Georgia Tech's defense is going to have a problem today against this really big veteran offensive line from Florida State and then Georgia Tech answers they hit a little now screen for a big gain and go right down the field and score on Florida State and that was kind of my first sign of even though I'm not surprised that Georgia Tech was able to use their speed and they do a great job with like motions they use different types of motions and speed and then what they do off motions post snap you know sometimes they're going with the motion sometimes they're using motion as a misdirection sometimes they're you know using motion to set up something on the second level in the in the throwing game and they do a great job with that stuff and really impressed by the Georgia Tech offensive coordinator but I wasn't surprised that they went down and scored I wasn't surprised to hit a big play we've talked about the kind of weapons they have what I was surprised by was how honestly soft the Florida State defensive line looked I really thought this was going to be a really good defensive line and it's still very well maybe again this is one game but they got pushed around by that Georgia Tech offensive line and it's not a huge offensive line they're like 305 to 315 across the board it's good size but not elite size for say like three guys that are starting in like 230 and above on the offensive line and their D tackles are big guys you know Josh farmers 310 the the nose tackle is a 330 some pound kid and I just thought that they were going to come out and kind of bully Georgia Tech as the game went on and that's not at all what happened and I I was not expecting to see that the defensive ends had a couple nice pass rushes but they were just being athletes and not really playing physical football and on the other side of the ball you saw a defense from Georgia Tech that doesn't have anywhere close to the talent that Florida State has but they played hard and Florida State was not prepared for all the different pressures that Tyler Santucci was bringing from the second and third level I mean they were bringing a corner fire safety blitzes linebacker pressures running stunts and Florida State did not have to handle it and they're getting all these run throughs and tackles for loss and pressures on the quarterback DJ DJ along the leg was not very good in the game did have a lot of chances to be very good you know in that one fourth quarter drive he got a little bit of time made two huge fourth fourth down throws outside of that he wasn't that great had some misses he shouldn't have missed didn't have a lot of time though the football they just got controlled by the Georgia Tech front seven now future opponents are going to have some film of what Tyler Santucci's doing that's an advantage that they'll have that Florida State did not have but still it's just the the what Georgia Tech was doing on both sides of the ball from a movement standpoint had Florida State completely unprepared on how to handle it and what we saw I think also is the I'm very curious to kind of find out how much not having Alex Atkins at that game truly impacted that team because he's not only your offensive coordinator but he's also your offensive line coach and last year Michigan was able to win some games with Jim Harbaugh gone but Sharon Moore still the old line coach and still the OC so you had to you could kind of keep your game day operation from a play calling you know line standpoint the same this team was not able to do that because Alex Atkins wasn't at the game so like how much preparation did he help put into the game plan and how did that impact that first drive where they went right down the field scored but then once they got off script it was kind of like they didn't seem like they had much of a plan and they weren't able to make any adjustments to the pressures well does that change next time that Alex Atkins is there I don't know or is it simply that they just aren't tough I mean it could or maybe a combination of both so it's going to be very fascinating to see how that goes but the reality is is Georgia Tech just whooped them I mean they just they played harder they were coached better they made plays when they needed to make plays it was a heck of a performance by Brent Key and his team like so I'm not taking anything away from what Georgia Tech did they were the better team I mean Florida State had that first series and you're like this is not going to be close after that it was all it was all Georgia Tech I mean just out coached them outplayed them it was an impressive performance I want to see Georgia Tech repeat that but what we had said this summer was Georgia Tech to be a better team than they were last year but not have a better record because of how hard their schedule is if they play like this against some of those teams they can end up not only being better than last year team wise which we expected but now they can also still be better record wise and I'm very curious to see how that plays out because I was very impressed by them and you know the thing I like to is Florida State did not handle circumstance as well like it rained in the first half that hurt them they weren't able to counter that Georgia Tech was when Georgia Tech counter punched Georgia Florida State would kind of not handle it very well and that's why Georgia Tech took a lead every time Florida State answered Georgia Tech answered right back and so you saw a team that was far more poised and a team that was tougher beat the team that has more physical talent there's going to be a lot more high draft picks on that side than the other side the one thing that I will say that I kind of got right about this game I told you all Jamal Haynes is really good I'm running back we told you guys that and he's a really good really good little back and his best play I mean but there was there was the one run they ran an inside zone and he cuts back and they show they show if you watch it from the tight copy like there's no Florida State guys on the screen the hole was that big there's nobody on the screen it was it was it that wasn't about dominance alone that was also about just undisciplined from the Florida State defense and and you can blame the offensive woes on not having Alex Atkins but there were there were a lot of mistakes made by the four state defense and that staff is back and and they just they just weren't prepared to play this game the way it needed to be played and I don't know how you aren't prepared to play a physical Georgia Tech team that I mean a I mean that's what Georgia Tech does they run the ball on you that and they play hard on defense that's what they do they're not very talented on defense but they play hard the floor state wasn't prepared for that and I was I was surprised it was very surprised to see that so that was my takeaway Tyler from that game and it was very fascinating watching knowing that you're gonna have to play both of these teams if you're Notre Dame made that very interesting to watch got a super chat from Anthony Solomon thank you Anthony thank you for the show today you are welcome I'm looking forward to your game prediction I get it but you're gonna have to wait till Thursday for that man if I give it to you today what's the point of listening to everything else man so we'll get to that I promise Matt Huffman with a super chat thank you Matt hey Brian live live from Fayetteville North Carolina back on here rejoined today thank you for that Matt we're glad to have you on board man very very much and of course Fayetteville North Carolina a place that I spent a year of my life Fayettenam when I was a freshman at Methodist College so I'm familiar some well maybe not as much anymore because it's a long time ago but used to be quite familiar with with Fayetteville North Carolina so thank you for being back with this man gonna get back to the top of the questions we have something here from Nate M who do you think will be the one player everybody loves after episode one of the hard knocks show airs I am gonna go with I'm trying to think of what I expect the first show to center around and I would imagine there's gonna be a lot about the quarterback and Riley Leonard has a very fun personality very light-hearted personality doesn't take himself super seriously very well liked by his teammates I imagine that they're gonna have a lot of Riley Leonard on the first one so my guess would be Riley Leonard for that for that reason but I am actually I usually don't like watch stuff like that like I didn't watch the Showtime series until somebody told me that my voice was on it and then I only watched like those parts because I thought that was pretty cool but I'll probably watch this that actually look you know I'm actually looking forward to kind of seeing this more so than maybe I did the Showtime series back back in 2015 but yeah it's gonna be interesting Nate M also asks what are the minimum amount of wins each of the third-year coaches would need to keep their job it's a good question um Marcus Freeman six wins Napier set I think that's Marcus Freeman Napier seven wins and Christoball five wins if Napier wins seven games I would imagine he'll have a shot to keep his job but it'll still be tough I just think they kind of want him out if Christoball only wins five games and I know these are examples he's done look I think Mario I don't I don't see a scenario where Mario Freeman Christoball gets fired unless he has a losing record if he has a losing record all bets are off but to keep himself off the hot seat I think he's got to win nine if he goes nine in three this year I think he's safe for next season anything worse than nine in three is gonna be a problem where he won't get fired but he's gonna be on a really really hot seat next season so to keep his job I would imagine seven wins for Christoball to keep his job maybe eight to I mean keep his job I probably err on the side of seven and that's regular season wins for Marcus Freeman he's not getting fired unless they have a losing record this year and he does something wrong he won't get fired after this year nor should he get fired after this year so I don't know that you know five six for Freeman but I think Christoball seats a little bit hotter than Freeman's is and Napier's a scalding hot at this point in time so I'm gonna go with that one. Hey Irish breakdown listeners it's Urban Meyer this fall the game changes join me Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and broadcaster Rob Stone as we bring you a new perspective on football and culture every week we will be joined by the biggest name in sports and talk about everything inside and outside of the lines let us guide you through a new era of college football watch triple option on YouTube or listen on Apple podcast Spotify or wherever you get podcasts the holidays are here and the Home Depot has everything you need to stay connected with smart home upgrades whether you're keeping an eye out for the big guy or keeping an eye on your family the Home Depot has you covered with great tech like the ring indoor camera two pack with advanced motion detection two-way talk and color night vision plus get your smart home devices the smart way with free delivery get holiday ready with seasonal savings happening now at the Home Depot subject to availability see Home Depot dot com slash delivery for details John A1 with a question John asked the Andy slogans to describe its identity and scheme have been we are a run play action team we're gonna run the ball and run play I don't okay I'm John I don't think that you meant to say PlayStation there but I'm not quite sure what word you meant but we're gonna run the ball and stop the run is this year the first year where India has a passing ID uh no I don't I don't think so number one they say that but we've also heard Al Gold and say that being a dominant run team is not his top priority I mean Notre Dame's defense last year if we're gonna talk about this Notre Dame's defense last year was one of the the very best in the country it was his Notre Dame and Michigan were the two best past defenses in the country last year Notre Dame and Ohio State's in their top five group as well but Notre Dame ranked third last year and yards allowed per game they led the nation with the lowest passer rating they were the number two team Ohio State was closer to the number three team Michigan than they were to number one Notre Dame they tied for the fewest touchdowns allowed last season they ranked third and fewest yards allowed per attempt they ranked second and low in lowest completion percentage allowed so they were in a dominant past defense last year and I you know I I expect that to continue and I think that's something that Al Goldin has focused on a lot in in in uh you know building this defense because that's kind of where you need to be you know offensively you know again I John I guess I don't really view identity as we're gonna run more or throw more identity is more about how you play you know identity is more about are you physical are you disciplined are you aggressive are you a counter puncher do you take punches you know those are all things to me that figure more into what your identity is as opposed to your your run pass emphasis but to stick to a run pass emphasis like I think Notre Dame tried to implement a passing identity last year I just don't I mean when you look at early in the season they were pretty good throwing a football early in the season I mean Sam Hartman to start the season off last year you know went out there and averaged 10.1 11.2 11.9 and 12.2 yards per pass attempt in the first four games he had 15 touchdown passes actually he didn't have 15 touchdown passes the offense had 15 touchdown passes Sam Hartman had 13 touchdown passes in the first four games to no interceptions I mean he didn't though his first interception still a little lovable game and he had 14 touchdowns and no interceptions at that point in time and then the rest of the way he threw 10 touchdown passes and eight interceptions in the last six games of the year for him so I think Notre Dame tried to establish that last year I think this year might be the first year where it's a little bit more effective and because you have you know there's a host of reasons why but I'll say this if your focus is on scheme Jared Parker had stuff he liked Mike Denbrock's has stuff he liked the question is going to be who's better implementing it and that's where a lot of my my focus on why I think Mike Denbrock is an upgrade over Jared Parker not just from you know I mean track records part of it but the other part of it is it comes down to he knows what he likes and he's really good at getting what he likes to work it's not just as simple as okay we love throwing slot faith all right cool but what looks are you going to throw it against what situations does it work best what are the formations this week where you got to use it best is this a three by one week is it a two by two week is it a is it an empty week where you got to run it is it is using motion more effective in getting it working this week or is the other team going to react to who we have lined up where so like this week you know having jaden great house be that slot fade guy is going to work because the way they're going to play that but in other weeks they're going to overplay great house they're going to underplay this so maybe you you know line up in a certain look and you motion jaden great house away and then you bang the slot fade back to it because of the way that they react to motion you know away from the guy that they perceive to be something different there's all types of different things to go into yeah this is the identity we have this is the stuff we like these are the schemes that we're going to work but if you don't know how to use it when to use it and to put the right people in position to be successful with it then it's not going to work and I think that's where you're going to see a bit of a difference in my opinion from from mike denbrach is there's going to be a greater emphasis on this plus one of the issues they had last year was the receivers coach today and i was told about this all year did a very poor job of making sure that the right guys were in the game when they had certain calls they wanted to go with mike brown will not have that same problem a different guy b he's more experienced and c he's coach with mike denbrach before they were together for i think for three years at Cincinnati so he knows what coach denbrach likes and there's a much better line of communication there than there was with gird parker and chancy stocky so i think the receivers coach is going to help out with that a lot as well so i think those are going to be things that we see but look notar dame still has to find it has to be a team that's going to go out there and run to football the one thing that nerdame always has to be is a line driven team that's something the mark is freeman says that i wholeheartedly agree with and believe in i just don't think that you can be a great team and get dominated on the run but you don't have to be a top five run defense like you used to be to really win a championship and you know unless you have an elite offense i think you have to be good against the run and no name was good against the run on last year on defense they got to get better but offensively i have a hard time seeing notar dame being a team that's going to go out there and throw the ball around all over the yard every day all day and not run the football and be a champion i just don't think that's who nerdame is going to be so i think balance is going to be an important piece of it but i do think you're going to see more and more intentionality and purpose to the past game this year than what we what we saw really in the last couple years where it was just about this is a great play call but it didn't really fit there was no rhyme i talked about this last year there was no rhymer reason to a lot of the stuff they did in the past game it's just making calls make calls this year you're going to see a lot more of that even stuff where hey we're calling this to kind of set something else up and that's something i definitely think we're going to see a lot more of this season with mike den brock running the show somebody said andrew goomer so brine i hope our offensive identity is opportunistic when then in the red zone we are getting six not three again i i don't view that as an identity that's more about do you execute right like like there's not a team in the country that goes into games it says we definitely want to make sure we get field goals when we get in the red zone not touchdowns everybody desires to do that the question is is what is your plan to get there and your identity could then factor into your success there so you know we have as an offense looking at you know put myself in Notre Dame's coach's shoes okay do we have winners in the red zone meaning do we have guys that we can go to and say we're going to get more one-on-ones in the red zone you can win you can beat this guy or that guy and then what do i got to do to get you in those matchups do you have schemes that you really like that are effective in this zone do you have an offensive line that can just say hey we need four let's go get four those are more things that play into your identity in regard to your physical we're disciplined we're a team that i one thing i do think can be identity in regard to you know schematic is do you move a lot like like Georgia Tech Georgia Tech running the football is and being physical in the trenches is part of their identity it doesn't mean they're going to run the ball every week it's just it's part of their identity something they believe in establishing every week the specific schemes that they use each week are not necessarily their identity what they do pre snap how they use motions and shifts and things like that and the the tempo with which they move that's part of their identity because their identity is to we're going to attack you we're going to be aggressive we're going to an aggression isn't always what you do post-nap sometimes aggression is what you do pre snap that has more to do with identity as opposed to okay we're going to run this scheme or we're going to run this many run plays compared to that many past plays there's going to be times this year where teams are going to just load the box against Georgia Tech and they're going to say hey we're gonna have to have you you're gonna have to beat us with Hanes King and there's going to be times when maybe Hanes King can't get that done but other times when Hanes King does get that done so even though the play calling may be geared more towards throwing the football it doesn't change their identity of being aggressive having a lot of movement pushing you with tempo and being really good in the trenches and then you take finding different ways to get all your playmakers the football I think that can be part of it as well beyond just okay what's our red zone scheme what's our run scheme what are the past concepts we like things along those lines it's going to vary from game to game opponent to opponent and you know like if your goal is to go into Georgia to Texas A&M it's okay we're we're gonna run about least 40 times against Texas A&M why but but what if you're not able to dominate them there then you have this identity that is kind of like you're running your running your head against a brick wall if you have matchups on the perimeter that favor you better than what you have in the trenches why do you have to just beat your head against a wall to say hey but we're a running football team no we're an aggressive football team that's going to do this that's going to do that it's going to put you in binds and those are things that have a lot more to with identity than what percentage of past plays you run to run plays and things along those lines it just it just it just it's just about being aggressive being physical being you know someone who cares about attention to detail like doing things a certain way and and I had a friend of mine who's a high school football coach did it has done a really nice job as high school team and he was asking me like you know what what do you do to create competition as a coach and I said look there's some drills that you can do and some things that you do and I gave him some ideas you know I really like you know one-on-ones and situational football and I like things where you competition I you know me and the DB coaches a lot of times to kind of talk trash to each other just to kind of get guys fired up make a competition like let's get at it but I said but look at the end of the day competition is not a drill you do it's a mindset it's a mentality and that's a coach Freeman when you talk about why does he say you challenge everything it's a mindset it's a mentality it's everything you do is built around making it competitive whether it's who gets into the film room first who's first at the meeting who asked the best question of the day like you know you've created the right mindset in your players like I'll give you an example so I had when I was at Duquesne in '03 had really talented passcatchers and they knew they were talented but they were just kind of primarily passcatchers and so we had to instill some toughness because we thought we could be a really good running team as well that year and so I was really on them a lot about you know how they handle run it you know run blocking and of course being more precise with your route running some guys bought into it some guys didn't but my best receiver that year is a kid named Michael Warfield only I like 12 career catches coming into the year he ends up going out that year has over 50 catches over a thousand yards like 14 touchdowns big time year but we're sitting there in a game late in a year and he had 100 yards in the game and we're going through our the film and the only time Michael ever spoke up in the meeting was when he had a great block he's like coach why not back why not back look at that I drove that dude in the sideline because we had created a mindset every day that we're going to compete we're going to get after it in that particular area and it got to the point where he didn't care if he had six catches for 150 yards the only place he wanted to wind back in the film room where watch me not drive that corner into the sideline watch me plant that guy on the ground watch me get after that guy in the run game because it was about competing every day and I'd you know he had bought into the notion that if you're just fashion that guy in a better route runner you're going to beat that guy but I want to see if you're man enough to go toe to toe with that guy in the perimeter and kick his butt and and you just do it every day and so that stuff's more important to me than okay what play call are you going with here that stuff's important but that's not an identity that's just a scheme and it may not be what you run in the red zone next week it may not be what you run in the red zone two weeks from now but the emphasis on competing for the football playing hard attention to detail using tempo using motions using isolations all those type of things fit more into what your identity is than specific scheme and so that's kind of how I would address that one that's a good question john and good follow-up by Andrew john also asks how do all the offensive new offensive line personnel changes affect the running backs hypothetically if the o-line block the play is designed but an o-line gets his assignment faster than the previous guy does it mess up the timing or can it be distrusted the practice or can it can it I would say throw off the practice track of the backs it can but it's it's not so much john it's a very good question it's not so much about are they faster as more of a are they sticking with the block on the proper time I'm more concerned with the timing in which a alignment gets off of his double team then I am how fast he is to get to his block because as a running back you don't you don't necessarily read the okay well I'm reading you know you're reading a block but your aiming points differ your track as you mentioned your track is is different so like when I'm running stretch say I'm out of piss I'm running stretch my aiming point is going to be either the outside butt of the tackle or the inside hip of the tight end depending on how you're running how you're teaching it so like my guy's getting it he knows this footwork he knows the tempo and he's got his eyes on that track and he follows that track with as until his read tells him to bounce or cut vertically I mean that's what you do in if you have a guy that does that slow and a guy that does that fast can that impact the back to a degree but it's really just about when is the when is the color flash right so if I'm running inside zone and my backside center and guard just quickly blow that guy up then I see that I see green I'm hitting it if if I see a guy I'm making my read and I see that color flash backside doesn't matter how quickly it happens I see color I'm staying frontside on this run and so what what matters is the timing is important but it's not so much about the speed it's just about you know the block how quickly to happen because sometimes the defense can dictate how quickly something happens to you and you've got to be ready to handle it a little bit quicker what I would say what really can impact it is what kind of movement do they get that to me could be a little bit more of an impact on the timing for a back than speed and what I mean by that John is if you have a couple big offensive linemen and they're slow but they get a push they move that guy off the ball as a back I know I'm staying on my track I'm getting downhill and I'm staying on that track till I am ready to cut that sucker because you I talked about this on the ball what I always say when I'm talking about run game is of you want to force that back to cut as far back as possible so as I'm a back I want to stay on my track and I want to get downhill as long as I can and then cut off of that but if I got two really athletic guys who are fast and they're just kind of stalemating at the line then they're forcing me to make a decision sooner than I want to that's really when the problem comes so it's more about the movement that they get or lack of than necessarily a speed in which they get to that that would be kind of how I view that one it's really good question so far guys love the detail got one from Stonador what is the lowest seat in Undefeated Notre Dame team can get I could see a situation with a 12-in-one SEC and big 10 runner-ups barely dropping and rankings leaving Notre Dame at seven highly unlikely but still a possibility that's possibility I would say it is unlikely it's unlikely to happen if Notre Dame is undefeated I have a hard time seeing them below five or six is there a scenario where 12 and 0 Georgia place 12 and 0 Alabama or 12 and 0 Texas or 12 and 0 Oklahoma or 12 and 0 Texas A&M some year and they play a down-to-the-wire game and you know the you know one's ranked number one one's ranked number three and Notre Dame's ranked number four and the number three team wins on a last second field goal and the number one drops but still is ahead of Notre Dame sure sure so I could see that dropping Notre Dame to six but it's highly unlikely in my opinion that that's going to happen in both leagues in my view I just don't see that being something that we're going to see with any regularity but it's possible but to your point am I going to say that there's never a chance you get to seven no there's a chance but it's definitely something that I expect to be a very very very very very rare occasion and more often than not an Undefeated Notre Dame team is going to be a five-seat just because of the schedules they play good question stone-a-door it's getting on from John A1 do you get a sense that the players are as confident as the staff about their coaches a chance to be to anybody I don't I don't so my thing is when players show up at Notre Dame if I got to know players during their time recruits and stuff once they show up at Notre Dame I don't contact them I just don't think that's just it's not appropriate for me to do that in my opinion that's just my choice you know some of my recruiting guys do and and that's so that's different but it's it's like look it's if you want if you have a relationship with them and you want to hey how you doing that's fine you know but we're not hitting them up for information how you feel and that's just kind of just not something that I do that I believe in and that's more so from my coaching background as opposed to media background so it's not saying people that do that are wrong or it's not saying that at all just telling you it's my personal opinion now I'll talk to parents and things like that I think that's okay because it's it's just it's just more about keeping a relationship going as opposed to killing them for information all the time but a lot of times too as a coach your confidence partly comes from what your players the confidence your players have because if your players aren't confident then they're going to play it as such and if they play as such then your confidence as a coach is not going to be as high I would imagine so that it is John but that's a guess I don't know that for a fact but yeah I know I talked to some parents and I talked to some coaches and other staffers around the program and there's a lot of confidence and I have not heard anybody say yeah this group says and that group's that like we've seen in the past or if this if that it's like dude I think we're going to be really good and that's an encouraging thing now we just now they gotta go and prove it that that's going to be the key right is it's one thing to feel confident till the first time you get punched in the mouth and then you're like oh I'm not as confident as I was we're going to find out that part about this Notre Dame football team come I mean I'm sure I mean I've read stuff about floors all super confident floors 18 they're looking for payback for this and that and the other thing and and you know they believe this that and third all this I mean they're and then come game comes out and they get punched in the mouth and they don't respond well so you really don't know how you're going to be until the games are played you really don't and you can because you may say our offense is just rolling off well what if it just means your defense sucks right or may your defensive line can't stop the run they're just getting gashed every day in practice well then come to find out it's because your offensive line's the best in the country and I mean they're you really don't know until you play somebody else and so we're going to find that out this weekend. Iden Bonami thank you Iden for the question like Beatty always says if a player gets beat out for the most part he was the better player and let's ride him Pendleton and nap let's go so I will absolutely back this I mean it's kind of funny it's like Joe Rudolph is in kind of a darned if you do darned if you don't situation this off season where if he just trucks out the veteran players if he just says you know Pat Coogan and in Tash Baker are starting all of a sudden you've got a third or even Rocco you've got a 13 game starter at left tackle you got a four game starter at left guard you got three career starts at center three career at right guard so now of a sudden you're like you know hey we got over 20 career snaps and then worse than you're complaining about how he just kind of tried it at the veterans and there's more talented guys it wasn't a real competition I told you all this summer as long as it's a real competition I don't really care who starts just have it be a real competition so then he holds a real competition once Charles Jaggis all gets hurt at left tackle and then there was a real competition all summer I mean in fall camp at left guard obviously and Sam Pendleton wins the job and Anthony Knapp wins the job and now it's kind of like complaining about oh they're too young and it's like well yeah they are very young and it's never good I'm never a fan of only having six career starts in your offensive line it's not a good thing but at the same time you know assuming he made the right choice and honestly I don't think he is making this choice on his own if he made a bad choice I promise you Mike Dembrox you're like yeah that's not what we're doing we're gonna do this because again Mike Dembrox a former offensive line coach himself but Joe Rudolph and the staff said we're gonna go with our best players and I've said in the past if it's close you go with the more talented player and that's exactly what they did and so yes you're gonna have your most in it this is you can't get much in it less experience than what this group has but they also felt that this is their most talented group as far as guys that are ready to play now and I mean props to them for making that guys it is not an easy decision for a coaching staff to bench a 13 game starter for a red shirt freshman who's never played a meaningful snap in his college football life going into Kyle Field against Texas A&M that is not an easy decision to make it says two things number one it says San Pendleton must have played his flip and butt off the last few weeks and number two they're looking to get their best players in the field and I do think this is gonna like from what I've been told Anthony Knapp's a better run blocker than Tosh Baker right now and then also you know San Pendleton is a good run blocker I mean we've we've seen that even in backup minutes and we saw that on his high school film so they're they're looking to get a physical group on the field and that's what they chose to go with a more talented more athletic physical group of guys it's just young and that's gonna be the thing that you know the talent's gonna be higher the inexperience is gonna be lower which one carries the day and college station that's gonna determine how good this group would be does the talent out shine the lack of experience or does the lack experience limit the talent I don't know the answer to that but it's gonna have a big say in the game there's no doubt super chat from AST one two three two one thank you for another super chat am I crazy for hammering the under eight and a half wins for Michigan I I'm not a better I don't think I've ever bet a football game in my life I don't know that I've ever bet a sporting event I think the only gambling that I can remember doing is laying down a 20 spot for a fantasy baseball team back when I was in my 20s and playing roulette at you know casinos when I was again in my 20s and much younger person so I'm not a better and so I can't tell you whether you're crazy or not all I can say is this I look at this Michigan football team they're gonna have a very very very good defense and you have to bet about whether or not that defense is going to be negated by the offense they've got two very tough three very tough games before Ohio State Texas USC in Oregon to me I think those are the three toughest games but they're all at home do you do we do we think Michigan's gonna win lose at least two of those and then they lose at Ohio State and then you got to think they're gonna drop a road game against Washington or Illinois maybe Indiana so if they go two and two or two and one against Texas USC and Oregon at home then the chances of them being worse than nine and three are slim if they go one and two in those two in those three games then there's a much greater chance that they're gonna be an eight four football team so I mean we're gonna know by the end of September but I I never have advised anyone to bet I have talked my dad off of betting the last two years just because I just it's my personal opinion and he's kind of ticked at me because he wanted to take the overall wins last year seven and I convinced him not to because I just yeah didn't win the bet but he's he still throws that in my face a little bit every now and then like yeah I could have won some money if you didn't convince me not to bet but I just I it's they're a tough team to evaluate because I think their old line is gonna be good I think their defense is still gonna be really good I got questions about the receivers I'm not a big Donovan Edwards fan is the guy and I don't none of the quarterbacks inspire a great deal of confidence for me so it and then of course there's all the other stuff completely overhauled coaching staff no Jim Harbaugh the the notice of allegation all that kind of stuff like does it kind of all come crashing down this season we're gonna find out I think it will but I also know some people who I know and respect who know football who think that Michigan's gonna be good and I just don't see it I just I don't see it because I think their schedule is too tough and I think there's weight like I could see how the Michigan losing games is your 13 to 10 or their defense plays really really well and they just but they can't score so I do think things fall off a little bit for them this year compared to last year because they're scheduled so much tougher than it was last year and then again I just again let's not discount how good of a football coach Jim Harbaugh is that cannot be discounted for who this football team is it's a good good question there let's get to some more here John A1 coach Freeman praised the strength conditioning staff for coming out of camp with less strains and one concussion going in the season is this a good sign towards November January success sure it is it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be good in November through January you know through January so November December January it could just mean that they're you know they're they're in a position where they're a loose team and they're not pulling a lot of muscles you know I think the concussion thing has a lot to do with the so many guys are wearing the padded helmets does that change when you get the games and they're not wearing padded helmets are there more like here's my fear and I have no scientific evidence of this but my fear is when guys have been wearing these padded helmets all summer and then they take those off and the game on Saturday when you're adrenaline is high and it's hot and and all these different things are kind of going to what make game the unique and this is the first time you've actually had a real helmet helmet collision and does that raise the number of concussions that happen on Saturdays that's a concern I have I hope it does become the case so there's just it's a good sign so far so like coach land out his staff have passed step one of the evaluation process for a strength coach now we need to find out if they can pass the others but it's not a bad sign I just don't know that it definitely means okay they're going to be good to go then because being loose and agile does not necessarily mean that you have great endurance or that you're going to be able to hold up over the course of the entire season it doesn't necessarily mean that hopefully it does but as I've said before I just want to see this whole season play out before I start making sweeping conclusions about the strength staff in either direction and that would be true if they had a large number of injuries in fall camp sometimes that happens it's just bad luck let me see how the season plays out now it's going to be the key so so so so a king supers pharmacy care is making it easy to get vaccinated care is helping you stay protected from flu covid and rsv seasonal vaccines are available seven days a week with evening hours care is giving you a shot at staying 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