Your weekly dose of Notre Dame news, opinion, and other stuff.
In the News
Notre Dame has scheduled a pair of football games with South Florida in 2029 and 2031. The Bulls were a last-minute addition to last year’s schedule losing 52-0 in South Bend.
Jamir Jones was cut by Houston last year after signing a free agent deal out of Notre Dame and has recently inked a 1-year deal with Pittsburgh where older brother Jarron is currently under contract, as well.
In order to enroll as a student at Notre Dame in the fall of this year you will need to be vaccinated from Covid. So far, the rule does not apply to staff.
The medical examiner in Jacksonville ruled that Louis Nix died from drowning with a blood alcohol level of 0.192 and trace amounts of THC in his body.
A bit of a strange sight out west as former Boston College quarterback Anthony Brown appears to be the strong favorite to win the job at Oregon.
Former FSU wide receiver Travis Rudolph has been charged with double murder following a shooting Wednesday morning in Palm Beach.
Throwback Article
How did you predict the 2020 football season for Notre Dame?
The Portal
Notre Dame’s rising academic junior running back/receiver Kendall Abdur-Rahman is transferring.
Coveted safety transfer Tykee Smith has committed to Georgia after leaving West Virginia.
Michigan linebacker William Mohan is leaving after one season in Ann Arbor.
Washington receiver and former top 100 recruit Marquis Spiker is in the Portal after making just 3 catches for the Huskies over 3 seasons.
Former 5-star and Alabama player Antonio Alfano left Colorado earlier this year and will attend Independence Community College this fall. That pretty much guarantees he’ll play at 4 schools in 4 years.
Former top 100 corner Jahari Rogers has transferred to SMU from Florida.
Helmet Talk
Of course, the USC colors are ugly we know this. I will keep banging this drum that their helmet logo is really bad, too. From a distance, it’s just a yellow blob and even when you get a good look at it I’m not sure there’s much to write home about. There’s a version where the face is white which looks much better.
Of course, there’s tradition to contend with here. The origins of the logo were created in 1972 and to my eye it’s a logo that looks really dated. I always thought the Tommy Trojan logo was more bold and modern, but either way, I think USC can come up with something far better than this overall.
Recruiting
Four-star tackle Grant Bingham (0.900) is staying in-state and committed to Kentucky.
It’s been a slow week, but Notre Dame is lining up a massive month of June worth of visits from numerous blue-chip prospects. Get ready.
House of the Week
We’re back in Manhattan for this week’s house just a few blocks from where my high school girlfriend lived in the Upper East Side. Like many places in New York City, you could walk right past today’s home–even with the fancy pushed back entrance–and think nothing of it.
There’s way too much weird looking marble in this place. The effort it took to get all of that into the city bothers me. I can’t stop thinking about how my kids would be constantly injured walking and running around a home with more marble than Caesar’s Palace.
Wait, did they say the wall in the bedroom is velvet?
Tunes
Are you not in love with Lana Del Rey? Well, you should be. Her 2019 album Norman F*cking Rockwell! was a masterpiece and is her best work to date. Although, the title and album cover are some of the worst in music history.
This track “Hope is Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have – but I Have It” is the third single off the album and perhaps my favorite LDR song. Her latest studio album just came out last month and I have to find time to dig into it soon.
On This Day in Sports
Curly Lambeau was born on this day in 1898. He was born in Green Bay, enrolled at Notre Dame, suffered a severe case of tonsillitis, returned to Green Bay, and founded the Packers. He’d play professionally for 10 years and then coached for 33 more years.
At the Cinema
‘Knives Out’ is a popular film among our writers and one of my favorite movies from the past few years. Who doesn’t like a well done whodunit? The film has been back in the news recently, as well.
After it looked like Lionsgate was set to produce a sequel, Netflix swooped in and signed a 2-movie deal worth $469 million instead. Also, I recently noticed actress Ana de Armas has a new Estee Lauder commercial which is pretty nice.
Hot Take
It bugs the crap out of me how few NBA teams are wearing white at home in recent years. It’s become even worse during this shortened 2020-21 season, too. It seems like the league is slowly drifting towards more of a NFL-style “wear what you prefer at home” set up that would see the Lakers be a team that wears yellow in Los Angeles but with most of the other clubs wearing their dark colors. I don’t like the dark at home switch in the NHL so I hope the NBA doesn’t go down this road fully in that way.
Trivia
Which player led the country in yards from scrimmage per game in 2020?
Perhaps Southern Cal could just go with a simple interlocked SC (Southern Cal) on their helmet but, it seems they don’t like being called Southern Cal. Oh well.
I think this would look better, IMO.
Trivia: It has to be Jaret Patterson from Buffalo right?
Did buffalo play double digit games in 2020, cant say I was well versed in MAC nuance. That might be the real wrench in the works here, but that dude did ball out. And heck, maybe he made up for lack of games with metric tons of production.
Maybe one of the North Carolina running backs, outside of the ND game, it felt like they were going cray cray all season, both running and passing.
Also, knives out is a dope movie. One of the few recent movies that got me jazzed to go see it on release, the only future one for me right now is the dune remake.
Oh they for sure did not…played 5 regular season games (one got canceled), the MACCG and a bowl so seven total so that may be a good guess!
It’s almost definitely Patterson, but this Ball State alum can’t resist the opportunity to add that he only had 47 yards on 18 carries in the MACCG. #ChirpChirp
Sir, you are correct.
Totally agree about the NBA uniforms. What they’ve done with that is utter nonsense. Looks like it’s bleeding into the MLB too with the staggered releases of these ‘City Connect’ uniforms. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31202785/boston-red-sox-push-envelope-marathon-inspired-blue-yellow-uniforms
Trivia: CHUBBA HUBBARD
(Don’t know if that’s right – just wanted to type the name).
Has there been an official go ahead with official visits for recruits?
I don’t think there has been. But official visits are definitely being planned and talked about by some of the kids announcing them.
But, shocker, there hasn’t been a lot of guidance or leadership from the NCAA on the issue. IIRC, the current restriction periods expire 5/31 (and usually they have extended it by now back during the pandemic) but I don’t think the NCAA has confirmed that they will loosen restrictions on 6/1 and allow more visits/contact and all that stuff…But it sure seems like that’s the expectation and way most programs and kids are operating as of now.
It would be a huge blow to us if they ended up extending the restrictions.
I’m sure they are nervous to confirm anything at this point and taking a wait and see approach even though they expect to let the restrictions expire.
That rb from Buffalo
Apparently his name is jarret Patterson. My back up guess would be devonta smith since they played a ton of games
That’s why I threw in the “per game” stat. Najee Harris and Davonte Smith were both 1-2 nationally in total yards from scrimmage.
Reading comprehension always been a weak point for me, clearly.
“Also, I recently noticed actress Ana de Armas has a new Estee Lauder commercial which is pretty nice.”
This is the kind of gem that keeps me checking you guys at least daily. I don’t know why but I love this little anecdote. Good for her! I’ll check out knives out this weekend, maybe right after I finish getting this massive slab of corned beef in the slow cooker.
“Corned beef” — darn, aheadofme, that takes me way back (as this is one item NOT EVER found in France cuisine).
Eric, thanks for the song, I am sending it to all the sensitive American women I know, they will both appreciate it. Unfortunately, kind of like corned beef, it doesn’t translate well into Father Sorin’s mother tongue.
OK, enough ramblin’! Anybody check out BK’s presser? Lotta love for Cam Hart, hope desperately that he will become a monster corner!
Thanks for the LDR recommendation. I had not listened to her before, but that is a fine album. Clearly I have been stuck under a rock to have missed out on this talented lady.