Plenty for Notre Dame Football Fans to Be Thankful For

While this season may pale in comparison to the magical ride of last year’s 12-0 regular season and berth in the BCS National Championship, there is still plenty for Notre Dame fans to be thankful in 2013.

There have been some bumps in the road for Notre Dame this year both on and off the field.  Before the 2013 season even began, Notre Dame lost its starting quarterback, Everett Golson, for the season for “poor academic judgment”, the crown jewel of its highly rated recruiting class decided to transfer before ever enrolling, and a trio of once highly rated recruits – Gunner Kiel, Davonte Neal, and Justin Ferguson – all transferred before the start of their sophomore seasons.

On the field the Irish have faced adversity as well.  Injuries have ravaged the Fighting Irish defense – especially the defensive line to the point that the starting trio of Louis Nix, Stephon Tuitt, and Sheldon Day will have played a total of 23 snaps together all season now that Nix is out for the season.

In the scoreboard the Irish have come up short three times already this season after navigating through the 2012 regular season relatively unharmed injury wise and unscathed in the loss column.  In 2013 the Irish have lost to teams they should have never lost to.  The Michigan loss is looking worse and worse with each additional Wolverine meltdown and the Pitt loss is one that will gnaw at Notre Dame fans well past this season.

Despite the on and off the field turmoil the Irish have faced though, there is still very much to be thankful for this year as families around the country sit down and enjoy their Thanksgiving dinners together while the Irish prepare for their toughest opponent of the season – #8 ranked Stanford.

While your birds are in the oven roasting to a golden brown hue, here are just a few of the many reasons to be thankful this year.

• Notre Dame has several players from its freshman making huge impacts already in their young careers from Tarean Folston’s impressive running to Jaylon Smith’s jaw dropping athleticism at outside linebacker to Steve Elmer’s well beyond his years performance at guard.  Throw in contributions as well from Corey Robinson, Will Fuller, James Onwaulu, Max Redfield, Isaac Rochell, Cole Luke, and Devin Butler and it’s abundantly clear this is a very special class.
• Notre Dame won its 4^th straight senior day this past weekend with a 23-13 win over BYU marking this year’s senior class the first since the class of 2003 to win four straight senior day contests.
• Speaking of that senior class, with that same win, they also became the winningest senior class since the class of 1995.
• While we’re speaking of last week’s win, it gave Notre Dame 8 wins for the fourth straight season – something the Irish have not done since 1993-1996.  While an 8 win season shouldn’t be over celebrated at Notre Dame, it’s easy to forget that not too long ago 6 and few win seasons were not uncommon occurrences at Notre Dame.
• Those four straight 8 win seasons will also place Notre Dame in a bowl game for the fourth straight season.  That hasn’t occurred since 1992-1995 since in 1996 the Irish declined a bowl invitation following Lou Holtz’s retirement and a disappointing 8 win campaign.
• Notre Dame will return all of its top running backs in 2014 in what looks to be a loaded back field.  Folston looks like a potential stud running back, Cam McDaniel has showed in 2013 he is a very capable runner, George Atkinson is still the best threat to take one to the house, and the Irish will get the return of a healthy Greg Bryant.
• At wide receiver, the Irish are similarly stocked with young talent.  Corey Robinson and Will Fuller showed their promise in the Air Force game.  James Onwaulu had his moments against Pitt.  Torii Hunter will return from his broken leg next year.  And the Irish have an impressive group of incoming wide receivers headlined by James Brent and Corey Holmes.  In short, the Irish are stacked at the position.
• It looks like the injuries that have ravaged the defensive line have allowed for some younger players to begin to emerge.  Jarron Jones had his coming out party against BYU and the lack of bodies has given Isaac Rochell a baptism by fire this year that will come in handy next year when he will be asked to play a big role for the Irish defense.
• For the first time in a long time, there is stability in the coaching situation at Notre Dame.  By year four of the Weis Era Notre Dame fans were calling for his head.  Willingham never made it year four.  Bob Davie guided the Irish to a BCS Bowl in year four, but a losing record in year five had him out of a job.
• Speaking of coaching instability, Notre Dame fans should be thankful this year we aren’t USC who will be looking for a new head coach to replace Lane Kiffin – a coach that was hired the same year as Brian Kelly.  Michigan fans are getting restless with Brady Hoke – a coach hired a year after Brian Kelly was at Notre Dame.  Fans might be frustrated that Kelly throws too much (myself included) and that Notre Dame has lost to a couple teams they shouldn’t have this year, but very, very are calling for him to be replaced.
• On the recruiting front, Notre Dame landed an outstanding class last year (even with the defection of Eddie Vanderdoes) and this year the Irish have picked up 19 commitments already with the addition of Jhonny Williams yesterday.  Notre Dame has stock pilled talent in the front seven in this year’s class and has plenty of big names left on the board that could make for another special class.
• Speaking of special classes, Notre Dame’s class of 2015 is already off to an outstanding start with a top flight quarterback in Blake Barnett and a top notch OL in Jerry Tillery.  Remember the days when Notre Dame signed classes with top quarterbacks like David Wolke and had a total of two offensive linemen with the highest rated being recruits like Chauncey Incarnato?  Notre Dame is 15 plus months away from signing the class of 2015 and they already have top 100 talent on board at both positions.
• Notre Dame has talented players in the NFL further cementing the Notre Dame brand to high school recruits.  Michael Floyd is on pace for over 1,000 yards in just his second season in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals and Golden Tate has been making some highlight reel plays for the Seattle Seahawks.   Kyle Rudolph was the MVP of the Pro Bowl last year.  Notre Dame will likely have two first round picks in this year’s draft assuming Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix both leave for the NFL too.  Notre Dame is once again becoming a breeding ground for NFL talent and while many fans might not care about that because they don’t watch pro football., elite recruits pay attention to that and it just becomes another weapon for Brian Kelly and his staff to use to dispel the myths that get used against the Irish on the recruiting trail.

Above all right now, Notre Dame fans should be thankful that Notre Dame has been able to get back to where it is now by doing thing the way that Notre Dame always has.  The Irish are graduating players at an elite pace and producing well rounded, tough gentlemen as Brian Kelly explains.  There is still plenty of work for Brian Kelly and this staff to do to get the program winning at an elite pace as well, but there is much more to be thankful for this Thanksgiving as a Notre Dame fan than many fans will care to admit.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers on UHND.com.  We wish all of you and your families a very happy holiday.  GO IRISH !!!