The 88th edition of the Blue Gold Game takes place this weekend. You can watch the compact 2-hour performance beginning at 12:30 PM ET on NBC Sports Network.
We’ve remarked that this has been the Quiet Spring for Notre Dame football as they’ve largely operated in the shadows without much fanfare. We’ll likely remember this off-season as the one dominated by strength and conditioning articles and discussion which tells you enough.
A simple theory is that the 4-8 disaster campaign sucked the life out of thousands of fans and the Irish haven’t been dealing with any high-profile spring competitions, namely at the quarterback position.
Wimbush, Kizer, & New Recruiting Rules
Speaking of quarterbacks, Brian Kelly met with the media following Wednesday’s third and final open practice and remarked that redshirt sophomore Brandon Wimbush was running the offense like he’s been at Notre Dame for years. It’ll be nice to see Wimbush’s first major public performance as The Guy but it’s also important to remember he’s kind of in a no-win situation until the real season begins. Any great performance can turn into show-me-in-the-fall talk and a poor performance, well, you know what will happen.
There’s always the silver lining of the defense playing well if Wimbush struggles.
DeShone Kizer talks with me about offense, accuracy, desire and his NFL upside: “Why can’t I be the greatest?” https://t.co/IyTCTjh3uL
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 20, 2017
In the former Irish quarterback news section you may have seen that Brian Kelly will be attending the NFL Draft in support of DeShone Kizer. For his part, Kizer came out with some pretty outrageous quotes last night in an interview with USA Today.
This kind of feels like Kizer’s going to surprise and go something like 6th overall or have one of the most horrendous slides in the history of planet earth. Nothing may ever top the slide that Brady Quinn experienced in terms of overall time. He only fell ~20 spots (yeah, that sucked in its own right since he was projected as high as No. 1 overall) but this was back when teams got roughly 45 minutes to make each selection. The first round in 2007 took over 6 hours to finish!
This is a pretty ballsy move by Kizer and Kelly to put all these chips on the table and show up as Kizer’s pretty regularly going in the 2nd round of mock drafts. Let’s hope they got some really good intel and won’t be forced to put on different suits and come back for another wait on day two of the Draft.
Also in the news lately was the NCAA voting yes in favor of several new rules, the most high-profile being the adoption of an early signing period (taking place in mid-December) and official visits being allowed 5 months earlier starting on April 1st. Kelly mentioned he likes the new rules and that getting more kids on campus in April will be a plus.
I wrote extensively on the new rules a while back. I’m always pretty skeptical when it comes to college football recruiting so I believe while some positives are created there will be new negatives popping up in the future, as well. For tomorrow’s official visit in April is tomorrow’s “gotta get this kid back on campus” complaint. It’s the same stuff, just with the time of year shifted.
A great year on the field could lead to more spring official visits only to be followed up by a poor season in the fall, fewer visits, and decommits. Pick your poison.
Roster Update
It certainly hasn’t been a bad spring on the injury front by any measure.
Redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Elijah Taylor (foot) and freshman running back C.J. Holmes (shoulder) were the only long-term injuries to occur this spring.
Junior safety Nicco Fertitta broke his hand but is expected to play in the spring game because that’s pretty much his DNA.
Redshirt sophomore corner Shaun Crawford (Achilles) has been practicing this spring although not in full capacity. Kelly described him as “close to being able to play” and someone who will be fully healthy when summer workouts start. Remember, he’s now 7 months post-surgery.
Redshirt junior corner Nick Watkins (arm) began the spring as a bit of a question mark but has appeared completely healthy this off-season. The same can be said for sophomore receiver Javon McKinley (fibula) who looks like he’s right at or very close to being 100% now.
There was some worry about senior nose guard Daniel Cage and his concussion history. So far, he’s been able to make it through the grind of spring which is heartening. Also, keep an eye on junior kicker Justin Yoon and his length strength. He’s been battling tendinitis which is why many think he’ll give up the kickoff duties this fall.
Sophomore receiver Kevin Stepherson missed Wednesday’s practice attending to his court appearance but will participate in the spring game on Saturday.
Expected Depth Chart for Saturday
QB: Wimbush, Book
RB: Adams, Williams/T. Jones, McIntosh
X WR: St. Brown, McKinley, Stepherson
Z WR: Finke, Sanders
W WR: Claypool, Boykin
TE: Smythe/A. Jones, Weishar, Wright, Luatua
LT: McGlinchey, Hainsey, Bivin
LG: Nelson, Banks
C: Mustipher, Hoge, Boudreaux
RG: Bars, Ruhland
RT: Kraemer, Eichenberg, Byrne
WDE: D. Hayes, Okwara, Ogundeji
NG: Tillery, Cage, Tiassum
DT: Bonner, Dew-Treadway, Mokwuah
SDE: J. Hayes, Trumbetti, Kareem
BUCK: Martini, Coney, Barajas
MIKE: N. Morgan, Jo. Jones, Ja. Jones
ROVER: Tranquill, Bilal
FCB: Love, Pride, White
BCB: Watkins, Vaughn
FS: Coleman, Robertson, Fertitta
SS: Elliott, Studstill, D.J. Morgan
Tidbits
Kelly was asked about the players he can count on through spring and he mentioned Mike McGlinchey, Drue Tranquill, Quenton Nelson, Sam Mustipher, Equanimeous St. Brown, and Julian Love.
Any notions of a positional battle at center were pretty much confined to our minds, huh? I’d imagine Notre Dame will be running the ball to the left side a whole ton in 2017.
Back in the day we coined FC Goodman for his ridiculous amount of fair catches during the 2011 season. I think we now have FC Love. Future Captain Julian Love.
If you’re concerned about the layout of the spring game it’ll be the number one offense against the number one defense while the second teams will battle each other. The offense will be wearing blue while the defense wears white. Of course, in Brian Kelly’s world the offense gets to wear the home uniforms.
The quarterbacks will not be live, and neither will the special teams.
On the facility front not only will the Crossroads project be opening up this fall but the Board of Trustees has approved the expansion of Notre Dame’s practice facilities, the Gug and Loftus Center, with the main goal of creating a second indoor football field.
As many know, this is basically the final frontier for Notre Dame to catch up with the times. Loftus far more than the Gug, obviously. Let’s hope the dank atmosphere, dirty nets hanging from the ceiling, exposed gray concrete walls, and lack of sunlight are all replaced with something approaching the student-athlete amenities seen elsewhere on campus.
Bets
Offensive MVP: Tony Jones
Jones is right in line for this award. He’s far enough up the depth chart to get some first quarter reps but may also get a ton of reps once the starters sit down later in the game. Plus, he can be a weapon in the passing game.
Defensive MVP: Julian Love
FC Love is a terrific pick here. There aren’t a ton of corners on the spring roster so he might play a little longer than he maybe should. He’s also pretty good near the line of scrimmage and could make a big impact with only first half snaps.
Hype Train to Slow: Daelin Hayes
This spring has felt like everyone has wanted to be a little more critical of Hayes but has held back. Physically he looks good, though! The spring game probably isn’t the best situation for him to blow up and really get after it, either.
Hype Train to Gather Steam: Drue Tranquill
The spring started with Tranquill spending some (more?) time at safety while cross-training as a linebacker at the Rover position. In the latter part of this off-season he’s worked far more at linebacker and had a great practice on Wednesday. Let’s predict a strong spring game and a few months of positive talk.
Most Intriguing Player by Saturday Night: Deon McIntosh
Deon headed into spring as an afterthought and should get plenty of reps at running on Saturday. He’ll probably look pretty good playing late against a lot of backups and third-team guys. Since this will be his first introduction for most of the Irish fan base he’s sure to raise a few eyebrows.
Player NBC Randomly Fixates On Too Much: Jerry Tillery
Position of need? Check. Possible academic angle to talk about? Check. Player with questionable motivation who could turn the corner as an upperclassman? Check.
When to Tune the Game Out: Mid-2nd Quarter
Through a quarter and a half we’ll probably begin to see some sloppy play, poor substitutions, a false start, and a fumbled snap. By then, you’re good to start multi-tasking. Tottenham vs. Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals is running head-to-head with the Blue Gold Game anyway.
PSA: Anyone who brings up Junior Jabbie or whoosh will be banned. Have a great weekend!
“Any notions of a positional battle at center were pretty much confined to our minds, huh? I’d imagine Notre Dame will be running the ball to the left side a whole ton in 2017.”
On the first part, yeah, untested Hoge was never going to unseat veteran Mustipher. On the second part, it would definitely be a good idea to lean on Q-Glinch, but the right side should be pretty good too – Bars is much better suited for guard and Kraemer reportedly has won the starting job by looking better than Eichenberg as a run blocker, while Eichenberg has looked like the better pass blocker.
I think you mean the ND lacrosse game is running head-to-head with the Spring Game. This is ‘Murica, and in ‘Murica April “football” means exhibition games where you play your teammates and nobody tries too hard, but at least people use their hands. ‘Murica.
18S lacrosse correspondent NDAtl endorses this message.
One of the two games was a sell out and had an exciting finish.
Will there be a place to watch this game online once I inevitably can’t find a bar that has NBC Sports Network?
You can try the official live stream site: http://www.nbcsports.com/live
Pretty sure you’ll need to sign in with your TV provider account. There’s also an NBC Sports app that carries live streams of whatever they’re covering.
Ah yes, the TV provider. Don’t have one of those. I was never able to watch any of the games online last year, was hoping that maybe ND would upload the game after the fact or something.
I thought Claypool was Z and Boykin was W for starting.
Probably for the “giant” lineup but I doubt we use that as a base.
Brendan gets me excited about the season, and Eric brings me crashing back down to reality. Great write up Eric.
Who is the best bet for the “Junior Jabbie” award for most memorable performance likely to mean nothing in September?
BANNED.
Wow… a quick hook on 18 Stripes!
We were warned right in the post. I guess that part went whoosh right past you.
I’ve always been a skim-reader. Hit the high points and move on, so I missed the italicized notes at the bottom! My apologies, thank you for not actually banning me.
Munir Prince Memorial Auto-rec
BANNED
*I’M* not the one who said “whoosh”!!
I think you might have the wrong first name on the offensive MVP. Alize is going to have a field day. From the practice notes that I’ve read, I think Wimbush will look to him early and often.
no game thread?
Glad to see our tackling has gotten bett…oh, nevermind.
Yoon needs to be looking over his shoulder…
I’m trying to post laughing Justin Yoon and I cant. I am an old.
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Ok, you fixed it kinda.
I edited it like 13 times and still couldn’t get it right. Sad!
Defense looking… not great, except the string of INTs. Red zone INT. It’s like Tommy Rees is our QB coach or something.
I thought this place was a little quiet during the B&G game. Then I looked at the old site. Two comments. Haha.
Yeah, I think it’s safe to say the new crew 2016’d that site away.
It’s tempting to say the site is dead, but remember why they made the change–had nothing to do with comments/discussion. They wanted more clicks! We’d have to see the site stats to know how down it is (but yeah, I’m guessing there aren’t a bunch of random people clicking a bunch of articles and not leaving any comments).
I’ll say this much….
In terms of clicks, the SBN network has large enough tentacles that a certain amount of page views are going to be baked into our old home.
In the short term there probably isn’t much of a difference.
Long term, well that’s a different story. I can still remember our early days at SBN where we felt weird, but more upset with ourselves, that we’d post more than one article in a day, especially if it wasn’t breaking news.
I always chuckle when I look at Land Grant Holy Land, the Ohio State SBN site. It’s run by 2 long-time college football managers for SBN and it’s a complete ghost town for real. They’ve been pumping out 4 or 5 articles every day for years and there’s no one there.
Comments aren’t really the be all end all but that type of business model makes it really tough on readers. It sucks if you really want to get into a discussion and your article is buried and off the main page within 36 hours.
Sadly, for Josh and the guys over there the future is really only two options. Either you stay on the hamster wheel and pump out articles on as many sports as possible with a small (and probably rapidly decreasing) comment section or they give up.
I’m sure someone at SBN is convinced 5 posts/day and 100+ comments/day is achievable but not for a Notre Dame site. Our fan base is far too diverse in its tastes and set in its ways. We’ve thought about this for a long time, LOL!
Can’t believe you guys still haven’t posted an article about how Ian Book >>>>> Wimbush. And another article about how Brian Kelly is spending too much time doing in-game interviews and not enough time coaching. You’ve had 12 hours to get that done. Come on.
Frighteningly, Ian Book >>>>> Wimbush is already an earnest conversation on more than one ND board. People.
Completely agree. I think it sucks for us as readers, overall. My point was that the mothership there is defining “success” as something different than we would as readers, so a lack of comments isn’t necessarily something that bothers them. Which makes those of us who followed to over here thankful that you guys created another option.
I also wonder if their (SB Nation) strategy changes over time. Could it be like BuzzFeed that goes strictly for page views until they have enough visibility and ad $ to actually attempt to break into journalism, or is it like Bleacher Report and only focuses on the 18-24 year olds who don’t actually know or care for detailed sports analysis.
I was late to the game at OFD, but I stayed because I knew enough about ND and about football that the finer points of discussion and the well-informed commentariat kept me on my toes. As soon as analysis went away and the articles became clickbait…yeah, sorry not sorry.
Seems like there’s an opportunity out there to get the high-quality independent college sports blogs under one roof.
From someone still involved with SBN as a site manager, the overall model seems to be focused on visibility and the almighty page view. I’m sure they would like 100 comments per story and a lot of engagement among the community, but that’s not the prime objective. All about the power of the total unique views you can get in a month to demonstrate reach for potential advertisers, seems to be the business model and vision the company currently has to stay viable. It’s publicly known but a lot of SBN pages are down across the board this year due to a recent expiration of a link-exchange with Yahoo! which drove a lot of traffic.
It’s possible for some communities to be high volume story wise (to hit all the SEO topics that casual fans are searching for*) and still have an active comment section, but it’s difficult. The rise of social media, I’ve noticed first-hand, has moved a lot of the discussion/live talk off of blogs and more towards twitter, for instance.
*And the average person might be SHOCKED to see how well a “Notre Dame vs. Stanford start time, channel” type basic post would draw….Those types of posts add little value in quality but are very, very valuable to a large network that wants a boost.
Which, rambling long enough, is why a place like 18S is so rare in today’s blog environment and really without peer, in my opinion. The crew here should be commended for sure to branch out and go in a different and solid direction.
Really interesting insight. It should come as no surprise that responses like this are the exact reason why I stay away from Twitter. No one can properly explain a stance or nuance in 140 characters. It devolves into a bunch of hot takes and no real substance.
Hopefully, there will always remain a need for in-depth coverage and analysis and places like 18S (and the better SBN blogs) can continue to exist.
There’s a guy on Bloomberg name Matt Levine who does an excellent daily commentary if you are interested in the markets. Anyway, he often makes the point that 99% of the “high tech” jobs in Silicon Valley can basically be boiled down to “trying to get more advertisements in front of eyeballs”. Which, to the extent it is true, takes away a bit of the glamor and allure of the tech community.
I work at one of the world’s premier tech firms and I am amazed at how much of the industry is just a giant hype machine. And yes, most of the jobs are not glamorous. I’m happy where I am, but man, being an adult is bad for idealism.
I’m glad someone explained to me what was going on with SB Nation. I literally experienced cognitive dissonance when I saw the emptiness of the comments OSU blog a couple of months ago. Good to know my browser is working correctly.
There’s definitely a place for twitter, though. You can’t do the analysis there, but there are lots of great links to good info and you get your news very quickly. The SB Trib guys and some of the national guys are good to follow (Keith Arnold and John Walters to na,e a couple). Still, though, I have not found anything that compares to this site. Many, many, many thanks Eric, et al for doing what you do. Even the uniform posts. 😉
I guess the one commenter left at the other site decided to stop by just to downvote me? Okay…
Question, are we allowed to mention his son, Junior Jabbie Junior?
Wow, just showed improvements in body structure under Balis. I kinda wish they hadn’t shown like 5 selfies of shirtless college dudes, but seriously, that’s pretty legit. Those guys gettin’ SWOLE.
Are there any full replays of the Blue-Gold game? I was at an event all day and want to watch the (vanilla) schemes myself before seeing the highlights and reading the recaps.
Yes, go to NBC Sports.