Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.

In the News

Prepare thyself for the drama, Bill Connelly over at ESPN+ has ranked the top 60 quarterbacks of the 2000’s so far and there’s some controversy involved. If you don’t have a subscription the top 15 from the top are: Baker Mayfield, Cam Newton, Vince Young, Tim Tebow, Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson, Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, Marcus Mariota, Robert Griffin III, Trevor Lawrence, Colt McCoy, Johnny Manziel, Kellen Moore, and Sam Bradford.

Alabama is moving forward with 100% capacity in their stadium for fall football games. I’m pretty sure the entire SEC is going to follow this guidance.

Rece Davis has a new contract to stay as the host of ESPN GameDay.

Did you know there’s college football being played now? North Dakota State saw their 39-game winning streak snapped as 16.5 point favorites over the weekend.

The NFL isn’t holding any in-person workouts for the Combine but decided to send out a list of invitees anyway.

After 10 seasons and 48 touchdowns in Minnesota, the Vikings have cut former Notre Dame star Kyle Rudolph. He had 3 years remaining on his contract with the move costing Minnesota $4.3 million in dead cap but nearly $6 million in total cap savings.

Golden Tate was also released by the Giants on Wednesday evening. He’ll be turning 33 years old soon.

Throwback Article

I wanted to go back to Sunday and make sure anyone who missed the passing of Louis Nix III reads my thoughts on one of my favorite Notre Dame people. I’m going to miss him.

The Portal

Former 5-star recruit and freshman All-American Erik Gilbert transferred from LSU to Florida this off-season. He’s apparently not enrolling with Florida anymore, though. Back to the Portal!

Michigan added former Texas Tech quarterback Alan Bowman this week.

Discipline appeared to do starting Clemson corner Derion Kendrick in as he’s no longer with the Tigers program. He’s reportedly transferring instead of opting for the NFL Supplemental Draft.

Second-team All-SEC defensive end Big Kat Bryant is following Gus Malzahn from Auburn to UCF.

Helmet Talk

Oregon State has flipped between a black or orange helmet throughout their history while largely sticking to the black as their primary choice over the last 30 years or so. Once and a while, they will break out an orange alternate like this:

The hard outline of the logo has always bothered me but I wish the Beavers would wear this helmet more often and not just with their orange jerseys. To my knowledge, they’ve only worn orange helmets in modern times with black jerseys once HERE against Boise State back in 2016.

Recruiting

Notre Dame had been chasing 3 quarterbacks in Kentucky’s Gavin Wimsatt (0.961), Ohio’s Drew Allar (0.910), and New Jersey’s Steve “Peanut Butter” Angeli (0.890). I just made up that nickname–and with Allar rumored to be leaning towards Penn State–Notre Dame decided to take Angeli on Thursday as part of the 2022 class. Commit post coming soon.

Top 100 quarterback Sam Horn (0.963) is from Suwanee, Georgia and has committed to Missouri.

One of the top athletes and players in the state of Florida is staying within his borders. Sam McCall (0.983) committed to Florida State.

Michigan landed the top player in their state as corner Will Johnson (0.991) is headed to Ann Arbor.

Alabama swooped in and picked up the verbal from 5-star quarterback Ty Simpson (0.986) last Friday. Simpson was thought to be a Clemson lean, instead the Tigers swiftly picked up a commitment from Austin, Texas quarterback Cade Klubnik (0.969) on Tuesday.

In the land of plentiful safeties, Texas picked up a verbal from Bryan Allen, Jr. (0.962) out of Aledo.

Ohio State reached into Arizona to pull receiver Kyion Graves (0.947) into their squad.

Two older coaches continue to recruit well. North Carolina picked up a commitment from linebacker Malaki Hamrick (0.940) and Arizona State swoops into California to pick up near 5-star athlete Larry Turner-Gooden (0.976). His name is Larry at 17 years old, wow.

House of the Week

Some of the chillest vibes I’ve ever witnessed were in Nyack, New York on the western bank of the Hudson River just outside New York City not too far from the New Jersey border. Today’s home is a little further north on the other side of the river in the hamlet of Garrison within sight of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

It’s nice to see a more normal house on the inside compared to previous videos, although the decoration is sneaky awful. Then, there’s no TV in the living room. There’s also no office desk in the office area. Great views of the river from the main floor, though!

I don’t understand the Greek playhouse. A wide open space with a piano, ping pong table, and a lot of books plus a kitchen and secret sleeping loft? It seems like very weird people built this place.

Typically, you don’t want train tracks a stone’s throw from your house with no fence or anything. How could anyone let kids play in the yard with the Metro North and Amtrak trains barreling down your side yard all the time? This property should sell for less than $1 million, in my opinion.

Tunes

Deep Purple made it into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame about 5 years ago and what a great band they were, right? This track “Woman from Tokyo” is on my running playlist and perhaps my favorite song from the group.

They’ve always received a lot of acclaim for their loud guitars but I have to say I’ve always loved Jon Lord’s Hammond organ work on most of their songs. I feel like it’s really the thing that made the band tick and become so popular.

Ugly Apparel

I have 2 daughters and I really only had one big rule when they were infants. No big headbands.

I cringe at pictures of girls with these giant clown bows on their faces. So innocent and unaware of the foolishness being thrust upon them.

On This Day in Sports

On this day back in 1973 perhaps the weirdest baseball story ever was publicly disclosed as Yankees pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich swapped wives. No, really.

At the Cinema

For me, it felt like 2002’s City of God was experienced by everyone I knew in the same way. Someone had the DVD and it spread like wild fire through the college dorms over the course of a couple months. Did anyone else have this classic come into their lives like this?

I remember going into this not expecting much (no English!) and being blown away by the story and acting from so many kids. What a triumph.

Hot Take

Notre Dame may lose to Florida State to open 2021. It’s quite possible, given that Notre Dame will be breaking in so many new players, that the trip to Talahassee (with fans back in the stadium going nuts) may be, at worst, the 5th most difficult game of the season. And possibly the 3rd toughest if McKenzie Milton can re-gain his 2017 form which was basically 310 passing yards and 50 rushing yards per game.

Trivia

Who led the 2016 Fighting Irish in tackles for loss?