Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
Top News
Incoming Irish quarterback Riley Leonard had surgery on his ankle but is expected to be healthy for spring practice.
Either Drue Tranquill or Aaron Banks will earn a ring as the Chiefs and 49ers reach Las Vegas for the Super Bowl next Sunday.
Defensive analyst Casey McHugh is coming to Notre Dame from Oklahoma State.
Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley is leaving to become the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers.
Sherrone Moore has been promoted to Michigan head coach replacing the departed Jim Harbaugh. The Wolverines’ defensive coordinator Jesse Minter is also headed to the Chargers to join Harbaugh.
Auburn is hiring DJ Durkin as its new defensive coordinator.
Former Western Michigan head coach Tim Lester is the lucky new winner of the Iowa offensive coordinator position.
Tennessee football is under NCAA investigation for NIL issues. The attorney general of Tennessee is filing a lawsuit against the NCAA claiming their NIL rules violate federal antitrust laws.
The 2024 Big 12 football schedule is here:
Kansas has unveiled that they will play 4 home games at Arrowhead Stadium and 2 games at nearby Mercy Park in Kansas City as their Memorial Stadium finishes renovations this season.
Former Irish cornerback Cam Hart has been one of the most impressive standouts at this week’s Senior Bowl.
Georgia has announced that they will sell beer at home games this year.
Uniform of the Week
The 7th edition of the Polynesian Bowl happened a couple weeks ago with Team Makai defeating Team Mauka 28-17 in Hawaii. Afterward, Tennessee 5-star wideout Mike Matthews and Oklahoma 5-star defensive lineman David Stone were named the MVP’s of the game. 5-stars showing out, who would’ve guessed? Truthfully, very little people care about the performances in these games but this all-star game really grabbed my attention with their uniforms this year.
These games are always doing unusual things and last year the Polynesian Bowl went with a black/red/silver combo versus a white/gold/green combo. It wasn’t that great. This year, they brought away uniforms that made the players look like football lizards while the home team in blue looked like a living rainforest. Amazing, great work by everyone involved including Adidas.
Recruiting
Wisconsin offensive tackle Owen Strebig (0.9474) will be announcing his decision next Thursday with Notre Dame as the crystal ball favorite.
Clemson picked up commitments from defensive lineman Isaiah Campbell (0.9642) and offensive tackle Brayden Jacobs (0.9340).
Top safety prospect Deyjhon Pettaway (0.9418) is headed to Texas A&M.
Offensive tackle Carter Lowe (0.9614) committed to Ohio State.
LSU added one of Louisiana’s top prospects in corner Jaboree Antoine (0.9736). The Tigers also added interior offensive lineman Devin Harper (0.9470).
YouTube Channel
Netflix is trying its best to replicate the success of their F1 Drive to Survive annual documentary that boosted American interest in the sport. We now have Breaking Point (tennis), Unchained (cycling), Full Swing (golf), Full Speed (NASCAR) just dropped, as did Full Contact (rugby). The latter chronicles the fight for the Six Nations Championship in rugby between England, Ireland, Wales, France, Scotland, and Italy. I’ve watched a few episodes so far and last year’s dramatic Scotland vs. England game was one of the program’s first moments to tackle (pun intended).
I’m a bit of an outsider with rugby, like many Americans. In high school I received long-sleeve polo jerseys for Ireland, England, and France for a birthday–I must’ve told someone I liked the way they looked. That paler Kelly green for Irish rugby is amazing. Rugby actually seems pretty accessible via Peacock, although poking around it just doesn’t seem like there enough games played. The current England coach has been in charge for 13 months and led 16 games (sorry, tests). What’s going on outside of the World Cup and Six Nations?
Tunes
I didn’t know much about the pop band AJR until recently, except they had these very colorful and striking album covers in recent years. Their 2017 song “Sober Up” caught my attention before a couple years ago their single “Bang!” brought the group mainstream success. Well, AJR is back with a new album The Maybe Man released 2.5 months ago featuring today’s song “Yes I’m a Mess.”
Their sound has evolved over the years (they were really heavy on the lighter dance pop when they started almost 2 decades ago) and now they are rounding into form and sound an awfully lot like a friendlier version of Twenty One Pilots. I heard this song and actually thought it was Twenty One Pilots. I think AJR are a little too dorky for full support (a band with 3 brothers is a little weird) but I like today’s song a lot.
Trivia
Marcus Freeman has faced 12 ranked teams at kickoff since being hired at Notre Dame. Can you name the 5 teams from that group that did not finish ranked?
The Other Football
Two of the best soccer teams will need new managers. Late last week, Jurgen Klopp shocked the world when he announced this will be his final season at Liverpool before taking time off away from the game. Since arriving in England, Klopp has been wildly successful winning the Premier League in 2019-20 along with a Champions League title, FA Cup, and EFL Cup on his resume. Liverpool also currently lead the EPL–a championship winning sendoff would certainly make history.
Barcelona manager Xavi also resigned on Monday, ending his tumultuous time with the club. Despite winning La Liga and Super Cup last year, Barcelona sit in 4th place 11 points back of 1st place Real Madrid. It’s just not good enough at the high pressure Barcelona club.
In mid-week EPL action, Liverpool crushed Chelsea 4-1 and extend their lead to 5 points atop the league.
Tottenham and Everton have crashed out of the FA Cup.
Gio Reyna has completed his loan from Dortmund to Nottingham Forest.
The 5 highest rated FIFA teams are knocked out of the African Cup, including Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Egypt, and Algeria.
The quarterfinals are set this weekend in the Asian Cup with Tajikistan vs. Jordan, Australia vs. South Korea, Iran vs. Japan, and Qatar vs. Uzbekistan.
TV & Movies
I’m an hour into the Elvis movie released back in 2022 and I haven’t gone back to it yet since he entered the army and just met Priscilla. Holy Baz Luhrmann, what a mess this film is! There’s something about Austin Butler looking and sounding so much like Elvis that it’s too freaky. I know that’s a weird criticism but I stand by it. It’s a great transformation by him but something just seems off about it. I know Tom Hanks had been dragged hard for his depiction of Col. Tom Parker in this film and even I wasn’t ready for this performance.
Parker was a mysterious figure and we actually don’t have a ton of video evidence of his accent. But, it seems pretty clear to those who were around him that he didn’t have a super thick Dutch accent 24/7 like Hank does in this movie. Plus, it’s freaking Tom Hanks in the role who looks like Tom Hanks with weird prosthetics on his face. The whole movie is so bizarre, especially added with Luhrmann’s modern flourishes sprinkled throughout the movie.
A Look Back
I’m thinking about how awesome Tyler Eifert was at Notre Dame again. Is he still the best Irish tight end of the modern era? Did Michael Mayer surpass him? By the way, not a super amazing rookie season for Mayer with the Raiders. He came on later in the season and finished with 27 receptions for 304 yards and 2 touchdowns. I’m assuming next year will be much better if Las Vegas can figure out their quarterback situation, which admittedly might not happen.
NFL careers are so short. Eifert hasn’t played since 2020! He dealt with injuries and was Doing Good Things for a while with the Bengals, even making the Pro Bowl in his 3rd season. Just like that, poof! These gridiron careers just end. Eifert started in 41 games and finished time in the NFL with 221 receptions, 2,501 yards, and 26 touchdowns. Honestly, pretty respectable numbers especially the touchdown to games started ratio–but I think most Notre Dame fans would’ve predicted much more at the next level.
18S Paddock Club
Reviewing the 2023 season for each team on the F1 grid…
Ferrari
Place: 3rd/10
Points: 406
Charles Leclerc: 206 points
Carlos Sainz: 200 points
This wasn’t going to be an especially interesting review for Ferrari who recently signed Charles Leclerc to a long-term contract extension and were looking to extend Carlos Sainz beyond 2024 when his contract runs out. Late Wednesday night in the United States, reports out of Italy claimed a bombshell was about to occur that would shake up Formula 1 in a major way.
On Thursday, as of this writing it looks to be official. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will be leaving Mercedes following the 2024 season and signing for Ferrari.
Now, the Silly Season™ drama gets jacked up to incredible proportions. Hamilton playing out the string on his 12th season at Mercedes and not retiring is a huge story on its own. Now, Mercedes has to find someone to fill a seat for 2025, presumably readying George Russell to the no. 1 seat.
What of Carlos Sainz then? The Spaniard had been rumored to join Audi for 2026 when the German automaker joins the sport but will he now sign a pre-contract for 2025 instead? If so, that would mean Guanyu Zhou’s contract won’t be renewed after this season.
Hamilton at Ferrari is wild, audacious, and such a bold move. Hamilton’s recent deal with Mercedes was reportedly for as much as $55 million per season–will Ferrari be paying an even larger figure? The team also has to contend with balancing Leclerc’s career (he’ll be 27 and in his prime when Hamilton joins) with an aging superstar who will be 40 years old for the 2025 season. Plus, there’s a massive regulation change coming in 2026.
Ferrari president John Elkann was intent on making a big splash and job done!
Trivia Answer:
BYU, 2022
Syracuse, 2022
Duke, 2023
USC, 2023
Oregon State, 2023
Oh man was pretty close, other guess was north carolina 2022. man those mack brown team kinda suck
I have been very fortunate to be able to see ND kick the shit out of UNC en vivo twice now
2017 they were just straight up bad but last year they were undefeated and we were 1-2 so there was a lot of hope and almost bloodlust in the air
which didn’t last long
Timing being everything (or at least alot), the best guy to replace Hafley at BC recently signed with JMU.
Chad Bowden staying at Notre Dame after overtures from Michigan:
https://footballscoop.com/news/sources-marcus-freeman-stays-hot-hanging-on-to-chad-bowden-after-michigan-courtship
Good thing. From everyone one hears, this guy is a stud and every recruit loves him and names him explicitly when asked about ND.
Yep. Damn glad we got aggressive against those scUM.
I’m actually calling a Rugby tournament in march and really want to learn the sport more beforehand (obviously lol) so thanks for the youtube channel!
Tyler Eifert was such a cheat code in NCAA 13
Wait, you’re an announcer and just getting thrown into a rugby match!??
next man up!
i was doing a hockey game last friday and a line brawl broke out and i just about jumped out of the window
On Hafley, BC has an all names team candidate as a recruit: Turbo Richard. So fast he doesn’t need a last name. “You see Richard play last week?” “You mean Turbo Richard?” “Yeah.”
My jaw hit the floor with the Hamilton news. I think he wants to be the GOAT!
An 8th title and titles with McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari would make him forever GOAT.
He got bored with competent management, wanted a little spice at the end of his career
The states of Tennessee and Virginia’s lawsuit against the NCAA filed by their Attorneys General would end any NCAA’s enforcement over NILs. They are initially seeking a Temporary Restraining Order to stop NCAA’s enforcement of penalties over UT. The suit contends that the NCAA’s enforcements on NIL violates federal antitrust laws. The state plaintiffs allege the NCAA’s guidelines deny prospective college athletes “the ability to effectively negotiate their NIL rights at the very time they would best be able to maximize the value of those rights,” resulting in unfair compensation down the line.
UT is hiring a number of law firms to represent them in an antitrust suit. UT says it is independent from the Vol’s NIL Collective, the Volunteer Club or to Spyre Sports which signed Nico Iamaleava prior to his committing to Tennessee. that involved a limited assignment of his NIL rights for $8 million “no matter which school he chose to attend”. After Nico signed this “representative agreement”, Knoxville-based Spyre flew Nico out to Knoxville in a private jet on a recruiting visit.
Spyre’s co-founder and president Hunter Baddour also heads up the NIL collective Vol Club, which with NIL collectives from six other schools from Georgia, Ole Miss, FSU, Michigan, USC and Penn State founded a Collective Association to advocate for their interests and for revenue sharing. Tennessee, with a number of other schools, has previously sued the NCAA over any enforcement of regulations of transfer, calling any eligibility restrictions on transfers a restraint of trade. The DOJ joined that lawsuit against the NCAA.
California, where Nico is from, recently passed laws that allow a high school player to have an agent or representative and lawyer(s) prior to recruitment for NIL agreements.
NCAA issues statement responding to lawsuit filed by Tennessee, Virginia
Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman responds to NCAA
Curious if Dabo can pull a Brian Kelly 2017 and turn around the trajectory of his program. It seems like this could be a make or break few years depending on what happens with the ACC. Can he rekindle the magic, or are they headed to being a perennial 10-25 ranked team?
I’ll bite. I liked the movie. OK I never saw Elvis though hearing “Hound Dog” on the radio when I was a kid, and then Don’t Be Cruel, awakened me to… music. And I commanded at his caserne in Germany (later). Anyway, granted Tom Hank’s accent was strange, but the essence of “Colonel” Parker was OK, and I think you’re being too tough on Austin Butler.
Finished it yesterday. Butler did a really good job. I just can’t get behind Tom Hanks as a bad guy in that role. It took me out of everything.
Yeah… honestly, you’re very right.
Hanks is one of my favorite actors, I actually talked with him and Spielberg in Normandy for one of the D-Day anniversaries, and wound up pitching my WWI project about Gen Pershing for which he’d be great… Then here he really misplays a key role in what should have been a marvelous film about The King. I saw the film in Paris with a French friend, she really had no idea about Elvis, that distracted me enough that I could kind of deal with the offputting weird accent and makeup. But as usual, your judgment is right on.
I always enjoy your posts as you’ve led such an interesting life and you can “zoom out” on ND Football and provide historical perspective that often softens my knee-jerk emotional reactions to the ups and downs of a season.
But really sir, did you just anecdotally drop that you were Elvis’s barracks commander and that you pitched your WW1 documentary to Spielberg and Hanks in person… in back to back posts? Just… I don’t have any more words besides WOW. That’s pretty cool.
Thanks! But I sort of must not have mention all of that very well, as Eric as usual had my juices flowing. To be more precise:
(1) I pitched a WWI feature film project, vice a documentary (plenty of them, but you know how the world is, if there’s not a movie there isn’t a thing). In the case of WWI (sadly evocative of what’s going down hard to the east of where I am tapping this out), there’s a lot there — including a dramatic virtually unknown love affair between Pershing ( a widower) and a younger French artist.
So that was fun to discuss with Messrs Hanks and Spielberg, and they even gave me a beer!
(2) I commanded in the 3rd Armored Division in and around Friedberg where Elvis had been stationed. I’m pretty old but not that old! There was still a lot of memory about him there though, the local Germans in particular thought it was great.
Yep I reread the post and must’ve missed your “later” the first time around re: Elvis. Still pretty awesome! Thank you for your service.
Edit: Re: Austin Butler, I haven’t seen Elvis but I’m loving Masters of the Air. At the start I noticed the camera lingered on him a little too long on him doing his AB smoky eyes look as if to say ”you should know this guy,” but I didn’t know him. It’s doesn’t bug me anymore though. The rest of the cast and feeling like you’re *right there* in the Forts with them more than makes up for a little bit of overacting.
IMO Elvis was fine, which makes it *by far* the best Baz Luhrmann movie.
🙂
Romeo + Juliet was a 90’s masterpiece. It can’t be compared to a confused fat Tom Hanks stumbling around a TV studio because Christmas music isn’t being performed.
I will not stand for this Moulin Rouge erasure!