Wednesday means Mailbag Day on IB Nation Sports Talk. Sean Stires and Vince DeDario answer listener questions about Notre Dame football and more on today's show. Some of today's questions include:
* Are we surprised Notre Dame isn't considering other left tackle options besides Anthonie Knapp?
* What's the biggest things we need to see from the Irish offensive and defensive lines this weekend against Louisville?
* How much did Riley Leonard's lack of availability in the spring impact his play this season?
* Is it too optimistic to think Leonard will be the first Irish player to rush and pass for 200 yards in the same game?
* Thoughts on Tyler Buchner as a quarterback.
* What should Notre Dame's top-3 bye week priorities be?
* Has James "Thor" Rendell found his hammer?
* Who are Notre Dame's biggest offensive and defensive surprises?
* Will the Irish get a cornerback from the transfer portal next year after losing Jaden Mickey?
* Thoughts on Aneyas Williams and Devyn Ford seeing so much time on 3rd down instead of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price.
* More!
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So starting to feel a little crisp fall action outside, man. Starting to feel like football weather finally. I know I was outside today and I was doing my walk there's I don't go there to the same place every day but there's a little kind of a trail that I go to and when I went out there there was like a light sprinkle kind of going on because it was raining this morning and I was like well you know it's just and then by the time I got fortunately I was about two thirds of the way done but it started pouring and I was just drenched. Yeah. And then when I got home there was I was like is my phone going to work now? You know those kinds of. Oh yeah. Well they're not waterproof these days but they're extremely water resistant like I wouldn't jump in the pool with it but supposedly you know supposedly these things can handle weather supposedly. Supposedly. I don't know that I'm running to test the test it out but supposedly I you know the funny thing is I'm just now looking and it looks like it's supposed to potentially rain on Saturday actually. I saw somebody said that today so I don't know exactly what that'll mean I guess you and I will be inside that'll be that'll make for an interesting afternoon. I wonder anyway who that they excuse me who that favors who doesn't favor you know all that nonsense but I don't think it makes that much of a difference of I'm being honest. So I don't either I don't think Louisville is going to be like an air raid air it out type of team so you know you know according to the fan base right Leonard sucks at throwing anyway so it doesn't really matter oh boy this is coming in hot right away I was like I was going back and forth you know like after Monday's show we had someone post on the boards that we were talking down to Notre Dame fans for for a good deal of the show and I just wanted to say that it was not my intention you know to talk down to anyone. Vince on the other hand I mean I think you fully intended just to talk down to everybody all night long. That's probably accurate because I'm just so sick of it and to be honest with you one of the administrators that at the in the school district we had a meeting this morning he watches the show and you know he we you know he enjoys talking Notre Dame and everything and we're in the middle of it like an administrative like meeting and he leans over to me and he's like they should start in jelly and I just look at him he just starts laughing like because he just he knew what to say to get my goat yeah basically it's all it took it's it it's all it took ruined the rest of my day now I'm scared now father David says Vince talking down to the audience comfortic makes the world feel normal I mean there you have it oh yeah it was I probably was probably I don't know if it was intentional talking down but it was definitely intentional trying to get my point across for the one millionth time yeah and that's a thing I'll say you know like that I'm not like saying this as an excuse but you know like I was pretty worn out on Monday and yeah the the you know the the conversation just with Riley Leonard just seemed like it didn't want to end it feels like it's kind of run its course a little bit you know yes I guess we'll find out exactly you know to what extent its run its course this weekend if it's just going to pick back up again or if there's going to be some people who are at least placated for a little while I guess I think yeah depending on the outcome of the game on Saturday and and to be honest with you Sean I don't even know if the outcome matters it's like the manner in which the outcome comes across right because apparently the outcome of the last game didn't matter that they won by twenty five so I'm curious there you go vids you're just talking down again you're just talking down on people I mean Notre Dame is favored by six and a half in this game the last thing I saw I don't know if it's changed since the other day but they're favored by six and a half so if Notre Dame wins by seven or more are we having that discussion still are you know are people happy at that point are they not happy at that point I'm very interested to see the mood of the people and it's all going to be based on two factors and two factors only did they win the game what how did Riley Leonard play those are the only two factors people care about yeah and for whatever reason those two factors are pretty even one should be much more important than the other but it's not I would agree I mean now you don't want to quarterback who's throwing a million in her interception when in spite of that oh right thing but obviously the only time I was gonna say the only time he's turned the ball over but the only time he's turned in her you know thrown interceptions they did end up losing that game you know the second one was very crucial fortunately they overcame his fumble last Saturday and they were still able to win in large part because of a lot of the things that he was able to do whether it was passing running or sure whatever else so but no I completely agree with what you're saying like winning and Riley Leonard those are going to be the two things did you win a quarterback play yep no doubt about it that's going to be it and then we go into a bye week and we'll get to ride that for two weeks that's why that's why I hope against hope that there's positive vibes coming out of that game man ult against hope because rub that red for two weeks on two weeks don't know if I can do it I might have to take a mental leave of absence we will talk about the UNOV quarterback and his uh NIL situation situation yeah I was trying to figure out the best way to put it we'll talk about that in rapid fire that is going to come up John just brought that up let's just go ahead and jump right in it is mailbag day and the questions are starting to flow in I saw Salty got us stocked up let's start with of course Mark's question does it surprise you the coaches seem locked in on Anthony nap and won't let any other tackle have a try well we don't know what they're doing in practice there may be plenty of guys trying in practice and maybe it's not good enough I mean I I don't know that that means that they're locked in you don't have to try out a guy in a game to know whether or not they can do job and if they're not like you've got starters you've got second team you've got third team right and if and I think Sean you said this in the past and we were talking about who was going to replace jag saw and all that right they're going to have to prove something in practice before you're just going to throw them into a game situation right like correct so if that's not happening in practice then I don't anticipate that it's going to happen in a game prize 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 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takes the crispy and spicy nugs that you love and turn them up to eleven choose between flavors like buffalo honey barbecue garlic parm or if you're a real heat seeker try spicy ghost pepper only on when these signature spicy nugs i dare you that's seven delicious ways to try the nugs you already love pick a flavor grab some extra napkins and prepare to nug like you've never nugged before for a whole new way to nug it's got to be wendy's at participating u.s. wendy's looking anthony nap is the starting left tackle and on the depth chart tosh baker who's now healthy again is listed as the number two so maybe that answers your question right there because no one was happy with the prospect of tosh baker before anthony nap over took you at the end of training camp right no one was was excited about that prospect so if that tells you anything because absure was over there for a little bit he's obviously young too there just aren't that many viable options and if there is as you just said if they're not able to demonstrate in practice that they can at least be as good as nap right now you're not just gonna throw them out there in a game and right say hey see how you can protect right especially considering you the the teams that you played the last couple of weeks like you know like two weeks ago against perdue the reserves at least got in so guys had a chance to at least put something on tape on game day and show what they can do and that kind of stuff so i just it's not an optimal situation to have a true freshman as you're starting left tackle but again charles jagasau was supposed to be the starter and he got hurt and it's there's there's just not much you can do at this point tosh baker is still here and he you know like the more of it that you look at his situation it's obvious that you know he's around for depth and that's all that he is right now yeah at the moment i mean that's you know unless he like i said unless he does something to practice that makes the coaches say oh well maybe we'd be better off if tosh was in there then he's not going to be in there you know what i mean and that's just that's just where we're at right and look you know like the difference again like napkin at least move his feet bet you know like nap's gonna nap's gonna get out there and move his feet and give you pretty good effort whether he consistently makes the blocks that he needs to to make you know you've seen what the results of that is on saturday's so far baker has a much harder time moving yeah i mean and to be honest with you for me shawn here's what it is for me so you've got run blocking for nap is pretty much up here past blocking is is down in this range okay with the middle being like even so we're kind of like right here i think tosh kind of brings it a little bit closer i think it i think it's a little bit more even steven with tosh and so at that point then it's a judgment call by the coaches do you want something that's really really good and then something that's not great right or do you want something that's you know average across the board they have decided at least up to this point that they want a guy because they are a run first team they want a guy who's going to be really good at run blocking is at least going to be an above average run blocking and and they'll figure it out from a past you know situation so that that's kind of where again it's a judgment call by the coaching staff and i do think tosh baker would be better in past blocking but i don't think he's as good you know run blocking and coaches and made that decision speaking of which from andre biggest questions on the offense and defensive line and how they play this weekend i mean again the biggest question about the offensive line is can they pass protect particularly on the left hand side i mean that's that's the biggest question mark right now right of the letter is not comfortable with his left side no matter what he says verbally we can watch how he plays he's not comfortable when he drops back to pass with the left side of the line so that's my biggest concern can they incrementally get that side of the football or that side of the line better they need to get it better right and so that's that's by far the biggest question defensively it's the interior of the defensive line can those guys be more consistent slash dominant i think you're getting pretty good play from the outside on both ends but i don't think you're getting consistent play on the inside so biggest concern defensive line is the middle yeah those specific things i agree with everything that you said specific to luaville like if you look at last year's game on both sides of the ball they just need to play with more fire and more physicality than what they played last year against luaville luaville just whipped him up front and Notre Dame has got to be the one delivering blows in this game i mean they have at the very least shown so far this year that they can get up for bigger games and that's what they need to do now because they obviously consider this a big game and they they've got to they've got to show up and just be physical on both sides you know we were we were talking a little bit about riley lennard yesterday and specific to that interior defensive line both those guys need to be more physical like they haven't hit them but they've got to show it and luavilles luavilles defense has 26 tackles for loss now i still it's hard for me to to fully gauge this luaville team because they played an fcs team they played a lower level a group of five team and then of course they played george attack last week and even though they beat george attack in terms of you know numbers and all that kind of stuff the way you know it was a lot closer game they had to score a defensive touchdown they had to score special teams touchdown last year yeah you know to beat george attack so i think that if if Notre Dame can sort of be the instigator and just take it to luaville on both sides of the line of scrimmage and not let them be disruptors with those 26 tackles for loss that they've got like Notre Dame is going to be in pretty good shape saturday yeah no i agree completely and i think that last year we had a lot of question marks about the drive and the the want to of the offensive line this year i don't have those concerns you know when i watch it back on film it's not a matter of not trying hard and not firing off the football and and not being aggressive as far as being an offensive line right it's it's assignment and it's moving your feet and it's you know some things like that in the past game and so i do think that they're going to come and attempt to bring the fight to luaville i do think that it's just can they limit the mistakes you know that that's going to be the biggest thing because miami was doing a pretty good job of doing some twists and doing some different things defensively that were confusing the crap out of the left side of the line especially when it came to pass drops and so they're going to have to get that fixed up because the guys are going to be doing these line games for luaville are better than the guys doing the line games for miami and so they're going to have to get that stuff figured out i think that they're going to come out and they're going to fire off the football in the run game and they're going to be aggressive and they're going to do all of those things because i don't think that they're going to let what happened last year happen this year it's that you can give me all the effort that you want but if you make mistakes on a consistent basis you're still going to lose so they need to clean up those mistakes but i i agree with everything that you said sure that they need to show that on a consistent basis and and i think they will uh just can't make those mistakes man yeah going back to anthony nap joe was asking i just saw it kind of at the top of the comments if nap is made any improvement any progress and on you know like i test i think says no and then like when you look at the pro football focus grades he's actually gotten a little bit worse since the season started he had a grade of 25.3 past blocking in the opener it went up to 59.9 against northern illinois but then 33.1 against perdue and 22 last week against miami ohio so even play well upgrades and play well last week i mean there's no you can't even really sugar code it there there were obviously some some run plays where he dominated and things like that but in play well and you know sometimes guys don't play well and the problem was penelton played worse uh and so they can't both play poorly in the same day because that really hamstrings you and makes you one-handed and that's not good yeah from salty how much of a negative effect is Leonard's unavailability for spring and summer workouts had the had on the irish passing offense more than i anticipated to be perfectly honest with you i mean he was around for summer uh it's really the spring that he missed out on he was pretty much back in the summer time i mean that's when he was going to the manning camp and he was doing you know all these different things so he was around in the summer but spring obviously he was definitely unavailable for live reps and it was all mental reps and i didn't think that it would affect him as much as it has i didn't either but it definitely has i mean it it it's had it it's had a major negative effect you know whether it's getting used to his receivers whether it's getting used to being behind the offensive line or whatever the case may be it's had a much bigger negative effect than i thought it was going to yeah me too and just being in a new offense i think in in all the familiarity you know with with the new receivers and all those different things like you said some of that was taken care of in the summer but there's still a difference between doing that that in the summer and actually being out there you know with with den brock and and you know like having it going over film all those different things that you do it's it's one thing to look at a playbook and just know the exes and o's and watch film with everybody else it's another thing to have film of yourself and to have that have everything that you do good and bad critique after every practice which they do over the course of the spring and i just all those all those factors i think have added up you know the only the only kind of positive is his play did improve last week so can he keep it improving now because it's like he's kind of got his sort of catch-up phase now he's got four games agreed under his belt like is that is that are we going to see a more consistent Riley Leonard now going forward or is it going to be you know peaks and valleys and stuff like that hopefully not i like this one i'll just i'll just throw this in there well john ever buy that damped insurance and get an office back if you've seen that commercial no it's on the NFL net i think it's on NFL network that's why all the time it's the it's the wife nagging john about you know like this guy just had a heart attack do we have you know life insurance john you got to get that life insurance oh man it's an instant they don't play it as much as they used to but it's an instant mute button for me as soon as that commercial that's hilarious on yeah well that's quite the demographic because that's what a man wants when he's watching tv is to hear a wife nagging at another man you know that'll get the job done i noticed this is completely quiet on that mark wants to know if there was only one transfer portal window would it be better after the spring to allow um position post okay position it was kind of broken up position battles to be more known better in the winter better in the spring i mean if you're not ready to say who your starter is in the spring then you're not ready to say who your starter is in the spring i mean you can't operate as a coach in a manner that allows the kids to have the advantage how about that i i don't as much as possible right yeah i mean as much as possible yeah look you got the unlv situation you got the jade micky situation you know this is going to become more and more common as we move forward because of the way you know football is going and sports in general but you can't completely change you know position battles and things like that because the spring is different than the fall with what you're doing and how you're doing it and and things like that i don't i wouldn't even feel comfortable having my all 22 set in stone leaving the spring i mean that's that's just not realistic because you've got some early enrollee freshman that still you know could have the summer to improve with their strength and their conditioning and things like that you know you've got guys that aren't even going to be here into the fall there's just too many scenarios and there's just too many unknowns in the spring to start putting you know guys names in cement i'm i don't think that that would be the case yeah i there are pros and cons to both honestly i like having both i don't know if coaches like having both a winter window and a spring window but i think if you're going to eliminate the spring window you're just going to see more guys enter the portal in december you know now do they find homes and stuff like that like the benefit of the winter portal for the player is you can make your decision you can find your new school and you can go join up with that new school in the middle of january and be there for spring practice and go through spring practice with your team just like riley leonard intended to do last year you know but if it weren't for the injuries at the same time there's there's another benefit to the player after having gone through you know some of those position battles like well if things don't work out i can still transfer at the end of the spring so that's why i just think you're going to see even more guys enter the portal in december oh yeah for sure yeah and it's honestly i feel like you still need the two windows but i guess you know you got to do what you got to do and they're going to they're going to narrow it to one because there's going to be plenty of guys out there that if you do narrow down your depth chart in the spring there's going to be guys that want to get the heck out of there you know what i mean and so you're going to see less battles you know figured out in the spring now that there's no portal in the spring right isn't that when they're going to do it they're going to have the the portal in december only and they're going to have it in the spring right so right it's going to be even more wide open i think in the spring than it ever has been because they don't have to you're here you're stuck yeah and i think from again like from the coaching standpoint i don't think that they're necessarily going to mind that it's just especially if you're in the play in the playoffs in december and you're dealing with you know portal guys and and everything you're both trying to prepare for a game and you're still finalizing your your early signing period recruiting and you're going through you know like some guys are going through coaching staff change and all that different kind of stuff and you're preparing for games and just a lot there's so much and that's why i'm a little surprised they you know like if they were going to pick one or the other they didn't just move the portal to the spring yeah but go that's not the way they have to do it again i feel like there needs to be two because you're going to have guys that know that they're going to leave after you know they know they're going to leave their team why are you forcing them to stay for spring right you know what i mean so having one at the end of spring doesn't make a whole lot of sense yeah you know it's yeah because now like if you come out of spring practice and you decide man i'm third on the depth chart what's what's the point in staying here you can't there's nowhere to go nothing like you could leave the team if you wanted to but you can't you can't go join another team because of the way the portal is set up you can't join the portal you know go to the portal again until the following december yeah that's wild that's wild i don't understand why they're doing that to be on it i don't know why they're trying to pack everything into december because there is so much going on you're going to have 12 teams in a freaking playoff you know and you're going to have i don't it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me i concur. Andre wants to know if it's too optimistic to say Riley Leonard will be the first Notre Dame player to rush for 200 yards and pass for 200 yards in the same game is that too positive man that's really positive because that's just that's just a lot of possession to be honest with you you know to have that much yardage it's just a lot yes i think it's it is being a little bit too positive i mean he's been close i guess he's had what over 150 yards rushing in like 125 or so passing but i still think you're possessing the ball an awful lot and i don't know that there's anybody left on the on the schedule that you're going to be able to do that to maybe the service academies but your possessions are limited against those guys so i don't know if you're going to even have the opportunity to do that and let's not brush the service academies aside because between the two of them they're undefeated so none of them have a loss and navy actually dominated Memphis who beat four to state so i at this rate man they're going to come out and they're going to beat the crap out of Louisville and lose to navy like that's that's where i'm at with this team right now yeah this is not the year to be overlooking service academies no for sure but you know the question i just think that it's going to be too tough for Leonard to hit both of those marks in the same game like the 143 yards that he had last week is his career high you know like that is the most that he's ever had now you know he pops another run here or there and you know he's got you know a 200 yard game potentially in him but it's what complicates it is you've got two great running backs as well right like i just i don't see him being the guy who's going to hit 200 like i could see him around where you know where he's been and also have 200 passing yards sure if that you know if the game turns offense you know and that's the other part of it as well you still have to remember that other side of the ball and like Notre Dame's defense and how much that dictates you need to have Riley Leonard in there aren't going to be a whole lot of shoot outs you know you anticipate and that kind of thing so i think it's just going to be a little too hard for him to get both over 200 in both in the same game yeah and you know it's not going to be a secret that Riley Leonard wants to run the football and that they want Riley Leonard to run the football so you know what are you going to do if you're a defense you're going to it's going to be the Ian book defensive mentality hey we got to pack the box make sure that they don't run the ball and then Riley Leonard is going to have to prove that he can consistently throw the ball down the field and throw the ball to the outside and do all of the different things to unpack the box right and we feel like there's been bits and pieces of that that that force defenses to get outside the box but it needs to be more consistent and until that happens it's really hard for Riley Leonard to get 200 yards that's a lot of yardage on the ground you got this fly buzzing around in my oh boy it's a lot of fun Robert wants to know our thoughts on Tyler Buckner he says I know he transferred twice so trusting him long term has become difficult setting that aside Buckner seemed a talented quarterback thoughts there's a lot to unpack here on this one so number one yes he transferred twice but one of those times was back to Notre Dame so he left once I mean he left once and came out as a lacrosse player too yeah well I guess technically he did transfer twice he transferred when he left he transferred right no it's absolutely correct I mean he did transfer twice but one of those transfers was back to the original spot you know what I mean so it's like you've only been to two schools um I don't think trust is an issue at all I think he knows he made a mistake by leaving I think he made that very clear to Marcus Freeman and Marcus Freeman wouldn't have brought him back if he didn't trust him you don't bring you don't voluntarily bring people on your team that you don't trust yeah and so and on top of that and somebody had mentioned it in the chat he's giving signals on the sideline you don't give that kind of responsibility to somebody that you don't trust so that part of the question there's no trust issues between Tyler Buckner the staff team all of that from what I can tell he was welcome back with open arms he's part of the team he's just here to help out in whatever way he can as far as him as a quarterback I was very high on Tyler Buckner when he came in to Notre Dame there's no doubt about it I think there are multiple factors that came into play as to why he probably didn't pan out one of which was he didn't get a senior season you know because he's cool yeah in high school correct I think that really hampered him because he was playing a lower level competition you know up through junior year plus he'd only played one full year of football in high school at that time he transfers up to a more competitive situation and then covid hits and he gets no senior year and so I think that definitely hampered his development for sure and then he went to that quarterback coach and they changed his motion and all of that and that certainly did not help the situation either so those two things did not help and then just the the jockeying of position and things like that at Notre Dame and and kind of the back and forth and spotty coaching and it was just a combination of a lot of different things and he was kind of a ruined quarterback at that point I think he had a lot of talent I think he had arm talent I think he had leg talent I think he could have been good but like I said covid the quarterback coach the some of the coaching at Notre Dame all of that you throw that into a pot and it just it wasn't going to happen for him yeah all of that I will stamp it I will stamp that it will sign off on that and I would just say that his chance to ever be the starting quarterback at Notre Dame left when he decided to transfer to Alabama at the end of last spring and he was sold a bill of goods from what we can tell yeah I mean I mean it's not all on him but it still it was his decision oh absolutely ultimately because we've talked about this before had he stayed he was gonna he would have been the number two he would have gotten number two reps all of last training camp all of last season ahead of Steve and jelly and you know like that was his real like last chance at being a developmental guy I don't know what kind of reps he got at Alabama with three quarterbacks down last year and obviously you know ended up sticking with the guy they I mean obviously from a team standpoint it somehow it ended up working out for Alabama because maybe one of Nick Saban's like what second or third worst team ended up making the playoff still yeah at the end of the day but you know for for Tyler Buckner that was that was his chance last last year was going to be it where he could have stayed behind Hartman and then as they got through last season then they've got to make a decision sure is Buckner going to be the guy next year you know next year being this year yeah and if not then they probably you know if if so then they they don't go out and get Riley Leonard and Tyler Buckner is the starting quarterback right now but he transferred and and everything else and now the quarterback room is just in such a different place yeah then when Tyler Buckner left just a little bit more than a year ago and so the ship has just sailed yeah is what it ended up being but you know again like his chance for for being for forgetting the finishing touches development was last year as the number two behind Sam Hartman but that's not what it ended up being and I would have loved to see you know a year under Geno Gudule you know in what he might have been able to do with Tyler Buckner and maybe adjusting some of that arm stuff and you know getting him because look I mean yeah he made some massive mistakes in the bowl game that he played in there's no doubt about that but he was also dynamic as well I mean it is very Riley Leonard Esk right I mean let's be honest it's very Riley Leonard Esk and I think that if he would have stuck around there's a good chance he's the starting quarterback this year yeah and you know whether that's good bad or indifferent I think that's a definite possibility and so him leaving brought Riley Leonard here I mean there's no doubt about that so I mean he there's a he he could have gone someplace else and probably been the quarterback for somebody else this year but he wanted to come back right another thing yeah you know he obviously came back as a lacrosse player first and now he's a walk-on football player so uh yeah so I mean if he really wanted to be a quarterback he could have gone someplace else most likely when you kidding me and I'm a quarterback if I'm a coach at a bit just a bit of a lower level I'm and and he said in his letter that he wrote is that he had opportunities to go elsewhere to be a quarterback I mean there's plenty of places that would have taken him as a quarterback there's just just the fact that he came he was a quarterback at Notre Dame and Alabama yeah that's going to open doors for you everywhere oh my gosh just right there alone hundred percent yes salty wants to know top three priorities for the Irish during the bye week I guess you obviously you want to recover any kind of bumps bruises injuries things like that you know you want to hope that gave her a rubio maybe you can come back after the bye you want to hope that maybe Billy Trout can come back after the bye you know you want to rest those guys and get them as much rehab as you possibly can get those guys back I mean honestly that's always the number one priority of a bye week is getting everybody healthy for me number two is going to be making sure you have the best options on the offensive line whatever that means you know what whether that means okay Billy is coming back is he going to come back as the right guard and then is Rocco is there a chance that he moves to left guard you know is this where you know you you hypothetically give tosh Baker a chance at left tackle like you have an opportunity now over a two-week period where you can maybe experiment just a little bit and see if there's some changes that you want to make you know things like that and then the third one obviously is continued to work on the confidence of your quarterback can continue to make sure that Ryan Leonard is locked in you know whatever that means to you locked in as in comfortable with the game plan comfortable with the play calling comfortable with his wide receivers comfortable behind the offensive line you know you continue to work on that so those would be my three yeah I like this from N.D. sailor get the layup passes working and I mean you touch on it like you've got the extra time you've got a time you've basically got a week with no opponent to plan for you know do they give them I suppose how much time they end up getting off next week probably depends on how this Saturday goes right like but fine tuning of the quarterback I think is very important an extra time that Mike Denbrock and Gino Gadouli can spend with with Riley Leonard to work on some of those things whatever they think is the biggest priority that they're not able to get to when you're on that hamster wheel and you're you know opponent on Saturday and then you're you know right into game prep for the next week's team you know all those little things health you know you touched on and I would say yeah like I think most teams will say that they're continuously doing self scouting but I feel like that that is something that you can also kind of make sure that you're on top of if they don't already feel like they're on top of that to make sure like from a tendency standpoint yeah in those kind of things and that's what all those analysts should be doing on a regular basis but you're absolutely right I mean that's what the bye week is for as well to kind of take a step back you know and make sure you're you're not predictable and you're play calling and you know all of those different things there's no doubt about that and and and look Riley Leonard hit the layups against Purdue but he wasn't throwing the ball down the field and the next week he's not hitting the labs but he's throwing the ball down the field so he just has to put it together I mean that that's really all that we need to see and we need to see it in what three days four days whatever it is that's when we need to see it and Jay makes a very good point in the chat he says this is assuming that they win if they lose the bye week is definitely different for sure you are absolutely correct it is definitely because then if they lose then you're you're having to as as Marcus from would say challenge everything you're gonna have to go back to the drawing board on a lot of different things stupid flies are just as Thor found his hammer I think I'm gonna go with yes I was actually very impressed with the way he punted the football on Saturday if they can continue doing that he's going to be an asset not a detriment the way he was in the first three games whatever they did last week just keep doing that yep because it looked good it looked like he wasn't thinking you know like he wasn't trying to be you know too exact you know it was almost like paint by numbers punting at times out there it's like one two you know like just just let him punt he let it rip you know there was one where I don't think it I think it ended up it was 40 some yards he was punting from his own end zone yeah he you know he he got it what back to around the 40 35 I think on the other side of the field so just just some basic simple stuff like maybe a little bit like Riley Leonard still want to see it again this week but as long as they don't overload him and and make him overthink something as simple as putting your foot to a ball I think he should probably end up being fine USMA 87 which player on offense and defense is the biggest surprise specifically the invisible men like mills so I guess what he's saying is like surprise either surprise good or bad yeah well I mean offensively my surprise is the left side of the offensive line I mean I didn't see those guys starting this season obviously and and that was a massive surprise so that that's actually pretty that that's an easy one I would say I would say I'm a little surprised that it's taken this long for Chris Mitchell to kind of get going a little bit and part part led that is the quarterback I understand that and he kind of had a little bit of a coming out party last week against Miami but I thought he was going to kind of be the number one guy and that's been Bo Collins and so I guess he would kind of be a surprise as well because of how well he has played and how aggressive he has been and I really enjoyed watching Bo Collins so those are my offensive ones off the top of my head defensively mills is a good one because he has been on a milk carton pretty much all season which is not a good place to be I have been it's very it's very distressing like I saw like he tweeted a video there was a specific play of Riley Mills and it's like what are you even doing like you're just letting yourself get pushed back yeah three to five yards off the ball like without any any real you know force like you were supposed to be like you you you can't just look like Tarzan and play like Jane you know like the old saying it's like you look like Tarzan play like Tarzan because there were times when he did play like Tarzan last year you can't be built like that and have that size and have any whole aspirations to be playing like Mills is playing right now I completely agree I will spin it positively and I will say that Christian Gray has been an absolute just so not surprised because we knew he was good but he has been better than good like he's been really really I mean look to be honest with you the biggest detriment to his game is you can't catch right now he should be leading the country in interceptions and he's been so good and you needed him to be good opposite Benjamin Morrison obviously but he's been so good that teams are throwing at Benjamin Morrison now so he has been an absolute pleasant surprise I agree um I thought we were going to see more from Jaden Gray House at this point it's been a little bit up and down again like to your point yeah the quarterback does have something to do with that because there have been plenty of times where where Gray House has been open but sure but Leonard hasn't pulled the trigger on him but you know like the Mitchell I was really wondering like what they were actually going to get from Mitchell just based on the fact that we really you know again like whatever we got to see in campus but like we just never saw a whole ton from Mitchell and that was one of the bigger questions for me is you know like is he just going to be a couple times a game go route type guy or how involved is he going to be we really started to see some promise from him though last week you know like that little you know like that diving low catch that he made from Riley Leonard that was a really good sign that he's not just a you know like that he can be reliable that he's got good hands that he can do some different things pubicar treori like even though I think you know we felt like he was a guy who could give him something he's he's really shown it the last couple of weeks and so that uh and even Jordan Batello even though unfortunately he's gone so I would say both of those vipers really Batello before he was injured and and pubicar you know really we've seen even like his best game since Batello has been out so both of those surprise dig it 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 hey Irish breakdown listeners it's Matt Liner I've got a podcast called throwbacks with actor J Ferrari we'll be talking all things sports but also so much more we'll give you the behind the scenes stories from my days as the quarterback on an iconic college football team to Jerry's days as a star on an iconic TV series so subscribe to throwbacks on youtube apple podcast spotify or wherever you get podcasts Josh with Mickey transferring and Morrison likely going to the NFL do you guys think they'll go to the portal for another cornerback possibly two of them well they're bringing in I think a couple in the in the freshman class right Sean I think it's two or is it three that's what I was just gonna look at okay because I can't remember off the top but right right now I believe they have four in house and if you're gonna subtract one that's now three but you're adding two that's five yeah you got Mark Zachary Dallas Golden Cree Thomas okay so they're bringing in three yep those three right okay and a couple safeties obviously as well but in terms of the corners you're okay three guys so you got full I believe they have four right now I guess I could probably go to the the roster just to double check that you know legit guys on the roster no no you've got more than that no that's last that's gonna say that's not the right one I'm still on last I changed the roster on my computer because I was looking for jade micky because they already took him off the roster yeah so I was like that doesn't look right I mean I won't be surprised if they go to the portal for at least one if not you know try to go get another guy who can play new hole yeah it would be a depth piece I mean they've got five corners on the roster right now you're going to lose one you're going to be down to four if Chance Tucker sticks around then you're going to add three that's seven so then you're going to have seven corners on scholarship on the roster that's a pretty good number to be honest with you and then if you bring in one for depth or as a nickel then you know you're sitting at eight and so I think that's you're in a pretty good position at that point I wouldn't bring in multiple I wouldn't bring in multiple yeah unless unless again one of them is like a Jordan Clark type guy who's main job would be nickel you know that kind of thing like so you've got him and then one additional guy as well uh Jay is asking concerns of someone throwing Jeremiah love a bag this offseason and losing him two different things one I think Notre Dame all signs are pointing to they're doing a good job with NIL and it doesn't seem like a big concern that said I think there's always a concern that sure because there's a there's a lot of poaching that goes on you know depending on the amount of money that someone throws I think that it's always going to be a concern for anybody that it can happen with anybody completely agree with you I would never put it at a hundred percent for a single guy on this team because you just never know with the transfer portal and everything else I mean I didn't see Jay and Mickey leaving after game four and so I'm not going to say never on any of this but somebody's going to try to throw him a bunch of money there's no doubt about it it that will absolutely happen just depends on whether he's going to take it or not and again it's not like he's crying poor right now either Notre Dame is taking care of him he will be just fine so are we talking you know what kind of money are we talking about here that's the difference they just started up another NIL initiative and the whole thing yes this time he says that love is hidden on peacock he's not hidden on peacock anybody that wants to see love play one game relax nobody's hidden anywhere I mean even against two what should have been bad Mac teams he was on national TV on NBC like that was the first time Northern Illinois by the way has ever been on national broadcast television there you know against Notre Dame and there's plenty of other teams if you look at the teams in the SEC for example they have games where they're on like ESPN plus or the SEC network yeah exactly and you've got to have a subscription to watch SEC network so what's the difference between one subscription and another Brian not a question but a comment he says he's noticing he is Williams usually on the field on third down and medium slash no that's not true he's out there sometimes but most of the time actually it's Devin Ford who's out there in those situations so they're kind of splitting some of those reps I would say but Devin Ford is out there way more often than Aneas Williams those are the two main third down backs though yeah yeah agreed yeah and that we'll get to some of the Jeremiah love touches stuff in rapid fire by the way like how many times he touches the ball and stuff like that interesting comment from Mike Denmark I thought last night that uh that we will talk about I'm unstarring a couple of these that we've already perfect gotten to mark with the big increase in scholarships next year including beyond football have you heard how many Notre Dame will use for each sport it's Notre Dame they're going to use them all I mean that that's well I would say in the revenue sports anyway well fair that's fair what they end up using I think that will be a question in some of the non-revenue that's fair I you know in other conferences it's going to be a conference decision yeah as to how many scholarships are used in each sport obviously Notre Dame doesn't have to worry about that well they do in every other sport except for football and so the ACC may say hey we're only going to use 30 of the 35 scholarships in baseball and so five of those guys can be walk-ons just as an example right I don't know the answer it's not like they're going to come right out and tell us what that answer is football will use all 105 I can guarantee you that much because they will there's no reason not to there I mean there there's no reason not to there they're literally paying for guys to be on scholarship with NIL money at this point there's no reason that they can't all be on scholarship well yeah and I mean you've got to have extra bodies you're not going to have walk-ons anymore so you've got to have extra bodies around and everyone if you're going to have 105 guys on the roster each one of them has to be getting some scholarship money so and I don't think you can split up the scholarship money in football no you can you can yeah are you sure yeah after you get the extra 20 can be split up yeah that was part of this deal like the 85 are still full interesting but the I didn't realize that 86 to 105 can be partial scholarships so like you know again so like you could have guys who would have been preferred walk-ons this year for example and you know give essentially 20 guys a half scholarship if you wanted to yeah I don't know why they would do that they got plenty of money just give it to them all give it all to them oh the age old argument Vince they've got plenty of money they do spend it but they do man the rich man stays rich because he does not spend the money look I know they've got the money but they've got plenty of money to be to be scrolling away well look here's the other thing though you are now going to be competing with other power four teams who are going to give full scholarships for the 105 you got to give 105 full scholarships other sports is a different conversation but for football you got to give them the full boat that that's all I'm going to say because look if I that rare is the kid who's going to be like no I'm going to turn down a full scholarship to take a half scholarship like I don't know that that's going to be it's not realistic frankly there's some kids that will do that yeah I don't know oh be curious to see Brian if you could just resubmit the question because he's saying that that there was another question that went along with that that maybe he just put it in there right now okay well we'll get to this first Joe says does that hurt guys who are walk-ons right now yeah because they have they have including walk-ons I believe the fall training camp roster was 116 there's going to be a hard limit of 105 you can only have 105 guys so it sucks someone's not going to be on the team next year who would have been on the team who is going to be a walk-on yeah it's a crappy crappy situation because most teams carry 120 125 depending guys on the team and you can only have 105 so anybody 106 and on they're getting the old heave ho they're gone and I think they're going to be decisions to be made I personally think this is going to hurt teams people are like well you don't need 106 guys on a team you need depth I'm telling you right now to have practices the way you want to practice you'll be feeling it in November you'll be feeling it in November for sure because you need you need those scout team guys to be able to basically be the Rudy's out there and absorb hits who you know to be quite honest you don't care that they don't you know they don't have to go out there and actually play on Saturday so you don't mind them right and you know getting more bumped and bruised and look we saw it at practice right they did something this year that they've never done before they had two full yeah teams practicing you had the ones in the twos offensively and defensively and then everybody else over on the other side offensively and defensively you're not going to be able to do that if you cut down you're not going to be able to do that kind of stuff anymore it it will hurt them it will hurt teams in the long run that's just the way it's going to be so Brian's question why isn't love or price on the field on third down I get Williams your correct forward as a better blocker but why keep the talent love or price I'm think he's he's saying off the field I mean they've got this third down rotation I don't disagree with what you're saying like you're like the one that I looked at last week specifically was the third and fourth team third and 14 they're backed up inside their own 10 yard line and they have Devin Ford out there on the field and Ford runs off to the left and he gets a couple of yards and he gets tackled now if you're putting love or not not love if you're putting Ford on the field because he's those two guys are out there because of their past protection skills you know like Ford Ennanias Williams so if you're putting them out there and it is like you know it's going to be a run play then it should be either love or price out there on the field if all you're going to do is hand it off but if you're going to go to the line of scrimmage and let Riley Leonard look at the defense and then make a read or you know maybe even Mike Denbruck from the sideline is like okay we're going to run this pass instead of this run then you've got to have especially when you're backed up like that inside your own 10 yard line you've got to have the guys who you think are the best past protectors out there that's why those guys are on the field in those third down situations Agreed I could have said it better myself and look they're making the decision on who they like better in those situations and if they like the other guys those guys are the ones that would be out there I mean it's not a situation of where everybody gets a participation ribbon and they you know each kid has to be out there for X amount of snaps it's that they feel like those guys are the best option in those moments and in those situations right Do you want to talk about Deuce at all like I don't know much more than what everybody else knows I mean all I know is he's healthy wants to know if we think he's gonna remain in the class I don't care how about that I look I don't want I don't want to diminish he's a talented kid obviously and if he wants to go to Auburn and fail then he can go to Auburn and fail because they're going to expect him to start right away he will not be ready to start right away he's a good he's a good to great quarterback talent he's not ready to start and the game told him that if you heard the stuff with you freeze this week coming out of there like you freeze basically pointing the finger at players and then Bo Wallace his old quarterback went on social media and went on a rant about how you you know basically how you freeze is is you know like a me me me guy and you know he's pointing the fingers at the players all the time and look at look at how many times Deuce Knight has already been to Auburn and then you look at this situation that comes along with it it just it feels like the longer this draws on the the more it stays and Notre Dame's favor but at the same time it's like it's just I'm just I've just been kind of over it for a while because it it has just been so protracted it just keeps going and going and going and okay great if he's going to come visit during Stanford great but how many times were we told that that you know an announcement was imminent that he was going to flip and and he hasn't flipped if I was Deuce Knight though I wouldn't want any part of Auburn oh god no just based on everything that you see in here out of there no not at all I mean he we've got a listener Robby who's from here but he was a walk on down there at Auburn so maybe he can fill us in on you know even some more details it's um I think he usually listens after the fact so maybe Robby can can fill us in on on the uh Auburn scenario I I just think that Notre Dame has been very honest with Deuce from the beginning they were one of the first ones to be on him early on in the process and they told him look you're gonna be a project and we're going to develop you we can give you the tools to be developed and I think Auburn Auburn's pitch is different it's like you're amazing you're gonna start right away I just don't think that that's the case you know what I'm saying like I don't think he's gonna be successful in that regard and and just we'll see we shall see I think there's enough talent in the guys that are on the roster right now and the guys that are still committed in grubs where they'll be fine if Deuce decides not to come to Notre Dame that's what I'll say yeah I would agree with that just that you're going to have that gap oh for sure and you and you just never you just never know uh but what the future's going to hold as far as who's going to be where who's going to transfer who's not you know all of those different things they'll bring in a quarterback in this class and they've got other plans they're just not going to you know activate those plans unless Deuce says he's out you know or you could give Rizak a scholarship as well and he may be on a scholarship next year right still on the team so I mean that that I mean if he's still on the team he will be on some kind of scholarship but again you know like depending on how to transfer portal codes in that room like you know like you might have to bring in more than one guy and that's okay I mean if you bring in a developmental guy in that class in his place I mean you've got Kenny Menchie you've got CJ Carr you're gonna have no grubs like I think it's okay to bring in I can't say it bring in a guy who you don't necessarily think will be a starter for you in the future who is a depth piece who is a an arm you know whatever you want to call it it's okay to do that they've done that in the past I'll leave it at that yeah it's not it's not the route that they wanted to go at this point but where you are at this point if you're if you're forced into that situation it won't be the worst thing in the world especially with the other quarterbacks who they're gonna have in the room should the winner of the Bama Georgia game this weekend be the odds on favorite to win the college football championship no because I think Texas would have had something to say about that I mean that's the that's the short answer to this whole thing I think Texas is better than both of those teams so as of right now I agree like well I think they're at least better than Alabama I I have I think we're gonna find out a lot about Alabama this weekend oh I agree with that yeah I'm gonna find out much more about Alabama than what we're gonna find out about Georgia so yeah I don't think it's on I mean especially since Texas is part of the SEC now like I yeah I I agree I I think that the winner of this game is definitely gonna be in the playoff at the end of the season but I don't think that they're they're necessarily the front runner to win the national championship because you've got teams like Texas you've got teams like Tennessee that somebody just brought up there's stymie brought up Tennessee Tennessee's been pretty impressive so far in USMA 87's right Texas is is looking pretty tough as well one more from Andre game records offense defense that we're not talking about I hate when people ask questions about what we're not talking about I know talk about everybody I mean we have 11 shows a week we talk about everybody just saying yeah I don't know who we like okay maybe we don't talk about Xavier Watts enough so okay it'll be my defensive game record we don't talk about waiting on on the limb no I mean I know you're absolutely right we don't talk about Benjamin Morrison enough either so I'll say the heel he'll be a game record he'll have a pick in this game that will turn the tide okay about that okay that is a limb offense I mean you've got the big three the two running backs and the quarterback and then the quarterback how about I haven't really seen a go ahead I was gonna say how about Mitchell Evans they claim he's back to 100% we're talking about the layups I think they could be he could hit get hit with a few layups so I'm gonna go Mitch 11's game record he's someone I thought of but again we just haven't seen it so far Connor laws I like your vote Jordan Clark I like that one a lot okay there we go he might be right now the most underrated guy on the defense I think that's a really good one Connor Jordan Clark has played exceptionally well like every time you look up the guys just out there making place yeah you know like swatting balls away diving all over the place you know all that kind of stuff so I like I think Jordan Clark is a really good answer for the defense that's that's like that's is under the radar I think is you're going to get at this point because like you said Vince we talk about everybody so I don't know how anyone you know we could not be talking about other what it's right so so what's next at Moss Adams that question inspires us to help people and their businesses strategically define and claim their future as one of America's leading accounting consulting and wealth management firms our collaborative approach creates solutions for your unique business needs we leverage industry focus insights with the collective technical resources of our firm to elevate your performance uncover opportunity and move upward at Moss Adams dot com
