inconsistent and mediocre.
Looking at the non-freshman recruiting classes for kids recruited at WR over the last 4 years:
2019: Kendull Rahman and Cam Hart. Neither guy is currently playing receiver.
2018: Kevin Austin, Braden Lenzy, Lawrence Keys, Micah Jones. The two more highly recruited guys pursued by other big programs were out last week.
2017: Jafar Armstrong, Michael Young. One has been moved to rb and the other transferred.
Yes, there are guys like Wilkins and Davis who were moved from other positions to wide receiver, but there just isn't much talent here. Even Austin and Lenzy have a combined 16 career receptions and people are acting like them returning will fix everything.
I heard Sampson mention somewhere that he talked to Clark Lea this offseason. Lea noted he had a conversation with Tony Alford; Lea asked Alford what the biggest difference was between ND and OSU. Alford didn't hesitate and said that the priority given to recruiting was night and day. Meyer was very hands on and would be in his office almost daily asking about prospects, communication, etc.
Mckinley is never going to be wide open. That doesn't mean you shouldn't throw it to him. Book checks down immediately and Duke took those throws away. Good on them. Book will need to take some chances to loosen up these defenses. Related to the discussion, why is Notre Dame the only school that can't figure out how to get 4 and 5 star wide receivers on the field as freshman?
blaming Book or the receivers is off the mark.
Rees needed to cut ties to Kelly and learn genuine, modern football concepts, probably in the NFL but perhaps at a program that ran a better system than ND.. there are about 50.
There were several passes that were off by 5 yards or so with no one there to catch or defend.
If the WRs could just magically make up that 5 yard difference we would have been dynamite.
On your other point ... did you see what Louisiana Lafayette (RAGING CAJUNS) did to Iowa State? I can't believe I'm now jealous of Louisiana's ability to weaponize speed.
Why is it that Kelly cannot figure out how to get 4 and 5 star QBs and RBs on the field as well (regardless of their year in school)
He's a just a limited player in my opinion.
that a back had 90+ yards rushing and receiving? A friend sent me that trivia. Maybe Pinkett last did it?
courtesy of Lou Somogyi with BGI
Armando Allen had exactly 71-70 against MSU in 2010.
Darius Walker had 146-73 against Purdue in 2006.
I don't see game logs for Rocket (sports-reference appears to only start tracking those in 2000), but he had enough yards in both categories in 89 and 90 that he may have had a good combo one of those games.
I can't imagine anyone in the Kevin Rogers offenses achieved this. And I can't think of receivers who were used enough in end arounds to break off a big one. Golden Tate had 61-80 against Washington State in 2009 and had 55-57 against Purdue the same year. But other return guys didn't get many rushing opportunities. Getherall maxed out on 8 attempts for 78 rushing yards in his senior season.
What about Ricky Watters? Maybe the Rocket? Just speculating.
And had limited spring practice and less than typical fall practice. Not to mention our best returning WR in Lenzy was not available. Our transfer WR, who has more career catches than our entire team combine, went out with a hammy early. Our true frosh tight end had some nice catches, and Kyren had an excellent game both rushing and receiving. I didn’t realize passing yards only counted when they were caught by WRs. And Joe Wilkins Jr, who I just had to Google and didn’t know he was even on the team, emerged as a nice possession receiver. Give it some time, with the backdrop it should be expected that game one would not be flawless from a QB to WR standpoint, but there were some nice positives from new players.
Or you can be angry about it and use it as another reason to hate Brian Kelly. You’re choice.
games when we were playing their.
And may be the reason for my less than lofty expectations.
just giving you a hard time.
Qb’s poor footwork and fundamentals that caused under thrown and over thrown passes to wide open receivers. The question “why do our Qb’s regress under this coach“ has nothing to do with hate or anger.
Transcends love or hate.....
That has been a fact his entire career, which means we are unlikely to have a ton of WR yards because there are a lot of screens and short passes built into the system intentionally to play to his strengths. I was concerned about his lack of touch on many short passes, which may in fact be regression but let’s give it a few games before we declare it. He didn’t have a great game, but he played well enough, it was the first game of a strange season with less prep time than normal, and we stuck with the run even when it wasn’t going great, which all of you want.
Mayer and Kyren looked great, Wilkins came out of nowhere, and Book is who we thought he is. Can someone not point out the positives and accept the known short comings, without being called a Kelly-excuses?
And the OP took the legitimate question and turned it into a why-Kelly-and-Jack-are-awful post. Legitimate questions are fine, but when they’re posed simply to give another reason to bash the ND football administration, it just sucks all the joy out of it.
“Joe Wilkins came out of nowhere.”
If catching 4 passes against Duke for 44 yards (3 of which were against a prevent D in the last minute of the first half) by the WR who did not beat out McKinley and Skowronek, is something that should excite people...
Why do so many people act like Brian Kelly is trying to coach a team Yahoo autodrafted for him?
when they transferred. Why? Because he believes that Book is better than those quarterbacks.
It's just that Kelly has so much of his precious system drilled into Book's head that he wouldn't want to start all over again with somebody else, even those with superior talent like the three you mention.
but a lot of this is on the QB who doesn't seem to be improving.
As a program, we should not be relying on these two guys to stay healthy throughout a year to have any chance of competing with the elite. Clemson, OSU, Bama, Georgia, have six to seven Kevin Austins on their rosters.
from within to perpetuate this goddamned program. It hovers between mediocre and putrid, feasting and padding its record on ACC dregs and also rans and buy games and rivals on the down swing.
The idea that "starting all over" would be riskier than perpetuating this clown show is such a transparent disguise for "I really need to validate my enmity for people who think Kelly and Swarbrick suck and I will go down with this ship for another 6 or 8 years. Y'all.
Pass the chitterlings. "