Notre Dame was back on the practice field on Saturday for Faculty and staff appreciation day with the Irish doing some live 11 on 11 full contact scrimmaging. Notes with video below.
- Tommy Rees definitely is showing better velocity on his short and intermediate throws. As we’ve said all summer, he still isn’t going to launch 50+ yard bombs on a rope, but improved velocity on shorter throws should allow for him to fit passes in windows he couldn’t previously.
- It looks like Rees can still use work on his form when throwing on the run though. A couple of the passes we’ve seen from him this summer while on the run appear to be sailing on him.
- Corey Robinson is going to be a star at some point in his career. He might not be fully ready to do so this year, but all he does is catch everything thrown his way. More importantly, he is a huge receiver that is already using his body really well to position defenders away from the ball while it’s in the air. It took Maurice Stovall a couple years to learn how to use his body in that way and we all saw what happened once he started doing that.
- Not so coincidentally, DaVaris Daniels has looked really good in the limited practice video too. That’s what happens when you start to build depth – you’re veterans feel the pressure from the younger players. Daniels had a nice catch in the corner of the endzone.
- Eliar Hardy made a nice play at the end of the clip and was getting a lot of props from Bob Diaco. His name hasn’t gotten mentioned much this summer on the boards, but he was at one time turning some heads before his injury a couple years ago.
- By the way, how in the heck did Corey Robinson get so few offers from big time programs? Great job by the Notre Dame coaching staff recruiting based on what they saw and their own evaluations.
Just opens up a spot for someone else. Like I said, win and we’ll get our share of top recruits. But we need to win. ND seems like it can’t afford to lose and keep its top recruits. Even winning it’s hard to get the kind of athlete needed to compete for it all to come to and stay at ND. Regardless, we’re set at RB for a while. So use that scholarship on a kid that combines talent and the desire to compete for a job and win at ND.
Go Irish!
Update: Elijah Hood just decommitted from ND. What an offseason! We need to win big to get Hood back and reel in some top prospects left on the board. Winning cures all kinds of ills, as the saying goes.
Steelfan,
The rumor is he sees a log jam at running back and was looking to start right away.
Maybe an 8 – 4 record with Rees at the helm. Why not get Zaire into the mix rather than redshirt him. Other big programs will start a good true freshman QB. Hendrix not the answer either. Get Zaire in there now. Of course there will be growing and learning pains but will pay big dividends in the end. It will cause Golson to transfer.
Sounds like you prefer someone other than Rees. However, that’s what we have right now so let’s hope he improves his accuracy and sheds his nickname this year
On Rees. I don’t think I’d mind his noodle tosses if he also had some the ability to throw touch passes. Most claim his arm is terrible when it comes to velocity on his throws but I say, he’s more inaccurate than he is a soft thrower. Sure many of his passes are caught but look where the ball is caught. The receiver has to stop his forward route and reach behind or down at his feet or twist around to make catches that had Rees been accurate, the receiver would be in stride for more yards.
I saw a vid where all claimed Eifert was receiving a fade route pass at the 20 when he had beaten the defender and had the pass been in stride it was six the easy way. No, it wasn’t a fade route pass, it was an inaccurate pass. T. Jones reception for a TD (I think BYU game) was a great reception of another terrible pass by Rees – it was behind him and almost skimming the turf. Yet Rees gets positive Stats for that reception.
My point is, I’d rather see an accurate Rees who can put touch on his passes that help the receivers gain more yards and scores than see a Rees who has discovered velocity on his short passes (Where they are likely to be deflected by our receivers reaching for the pass, into the waiting hands of defenders).
Impressive, excellent hustle, good things soon come.