2011 Notre Dame Fighting Irish

[Jack Lambert]

Here are the white starters for Brian Kelly's Fighting Irish this year. Notre Dame had 10 white starters in 2005, 11 in 2006, 2007, and 2008, 10 in 2009 and last year. This year, the Irish look to start 11 whites again, with a ton of white backups getting some playing time. White backups to look for include QB- Andrew Hendrix, RB Cam McDaniel, WRs John Goodman, Luke Massa(former QB) and Roby Toma, TE Mike Ragnone, LT Tate Nichols, LG Andrew Nuss C- Mike Golic Jr., RG Lane Clelland, RT Christian Lombard, NG Taylor Stockton, OLB Danny Spond, ILB Anthony McDonald, ILB Carlo Calabrese, ILB David Poslusny, FS Dan McCarthy, and S Austin Collinsworth. Tyler Eifert filled in admirably at TE last year for an injured Kyle Rudolph, and with Rudolph off to the Vikings, Eifert will look to develop into a great target for who ever's the QB for Notre Dame. FS Harrison Smith is a lock to get drafted next year, and, along with ILB Manti Te'o, is the leader of the Irish defense this year.

Offense
QB- Dayne Crist or Tommy Rees
TE- Tyler Eifert
LT- Zack Martin
LG- Chris Watt
C- Braxston Cave
RG- Trevor Robinson
RT- Taylor Dever

Defense
NG- Sean Cwynar
ILB- Dan Fox
FS- Harrison Smith

 

[FootballDad]

It would be really nice if the Irish would break caste and recruit a white RB. With two starting white safeties, a slew of good white WR's that should get playing time, white TE's, a white RB would make this a school to really root for. It's not like they have to look far, the leading rusher for the state of Indiana was a kid by the name of Matt Bruderle, 6'0", 230lb. He had 217 carries for 1,927 yards and 13 TDs.

Wait! After digging around Indiana pages, it turns out that Matt was number 2. Number 1 was a pasty-faced kid named Iyan Bass who amassed 1,941 yards. Here's an article about him from last year, before the season started. And here's his Rivals profile.

 

[mattgianone]

Hey Football Dad. Notre Dame has true freshman Cam McDaniel on their 3rd string list as a rb. One injury to the starters and McDaniel may get some serious playing time. I think he will be returning kickoffs early on.

 

[FootballDad]

Oh, I forgot all about Cam McDaniel. Of course, he was one of those "by mistake" recruits. Notre Dame was scouting Texas and down south for all of the affletes and "southern speed" when they couldn't ignore this funny-looking kid making the bruvas look foolish. They only look in their own state when they need O-linemen.

 

[Carolina Speed]

Hey Football Dad. Notre Dame has true freshman Cam McDaniel on their 3rd string list as a rb. One injury to the starters and McDaniel may get some serious playing time. I think he will be returning kickoffs early on.

Good posts mattgianone and footballdad, I hadn't forgotten about Cam, I just didn't realize he was already third on the depth chart as a true freshman. Good news indeed!

Good to see you posting again mattgianone!

 

[Jack Lambert]

Thanks for the heads up guys! I didn't forget about Cam either, but I didn't see that Cam was the 3rd stringer already! I'll add him onto my list.

 

[Electric Slide]

Cam McDaniel in line with a couple other white Irish to return kicks:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...tre-dame-return-game-20110807,0,3625344.story

"There are probably six, seven guys max that can play in those positons," Kelly said. "Theo Rid**** has to be back there, there's no question. The guys that are sure-hand guys, you already know. (John) Goodman can catch the ball back there, Harrison Smith can catch the ball back there, Robby Toma. Those are the sure-hand guys.

"Now guys that have a chance ot make something happen, I'll put Theo Rid**** out there for one. Maybe Michael Floyd can do something back there. We're going to look at a lot of different optons when it comes to Cam McDaniel, we're going to look at George Atkinson, we're going to look at Everett Golson. We're going to look at young guys that can be exciting with the football in their hands and see how that pans out."

Speaking of "sure-hand" Robby Toma, here's a video of him winning the 2009 Under Armor WR hands competition, catching everything that came his way:
[video=youtube_share;1DND3morYo8]http://youtu.be/1DND3morYo8[/video]

 

[Deadlift]

Corwin Brown charged with 3 felonies

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...amily-says-corwin-brown-may-have-brain-trauma

Brown was an assistant with the New York Jets and at the University of Virginia before serving as Notre Dame's defensive coordinator from 2007 to 2009. He was fired along with most of the rest of the staff when Charlie Weis was fired. He coached defensive backs with the New England Patriots last season but was not retained.

Charlie Weis sure loved to have many black coordinators (and assistant/positional coaches) while at ND! I can't even stand looking at Weis..

 

[mattgianone]

Does anyone here think Notre Dame can run the table? I think by the time they get to the Stanford game they will be undefeated and very deep and experienced. There only weakness in cornerback depth. IMO.

 

[Electric Slide]

A couple updates for Notre Dame: Dayne Crist was named the starter. Dan Fox (white) will be starting over Carlo Calabrese at LB, and unfortunately Zeke Motta lost the starting SS spot to Jamoris Slaughter (black), though Kelly says Motta and Calabrese will still play a lot. Also, the article says Chris Watt will be the starting RG, so I don't know what it does to the rest of the O-line. http://www.uhnd.com/articles/football/fox-watt-slaughter-cywnar-starting-9009/

 

[Colonel_Reb]

If I'm reading that right, ND loses 1 White starter and now has 10. I'll update the Whitest teams thread.

 

[jaxvid]

I was listening to the local sports talk radio station and the guy was tallking about the UM Notre Dame matchup and he said this game is no problem from Michigan because "face it Irish fans, the team is too slow, until Brian Kelly can recruit "speed" Notre Dame is not going to be any good." Obviously he was caste speaking and what he meant by speed is "black". I immediately changed the channel because I can't stand listening to racist people anymore.

 

[Hawkeye2]

Hopefully if Notre Dame's offense gets blow out, as I suspect will happen with the way things are going, maybe they'll let Cam McDaniel play.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

This should have an effect on the game with Stanford, although I believe the Cardinal would win anyway.

Black RB Jonas Gray out for season with knee injury.


http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7261228/injured-knee-shelves-jonas-gray-notre-dame-fighting-irish-season

 

[celticdb15]

Highly touted runningback Cam McDaniel has been switched by the coaching staff to Corner. Right now looks like he is the number 5 corner on the roster.

 

[white defensive back]

Highly touted runningback Cam McDaniel has been switched by the coaching staff to Corner. Right now looks like he is the number 5 corner on the roster.

That is not good news Celtic. On the good news front wr John Goodman looks to be starting with Robby Toma and up and coming Luke Massa is in the 2 deep but at his size he probably will be converted to TE if injuries should prevail.

 

[celticdb15]

That is not good news Celtic. On the good news front wr John Goodman looks to be starting with Robby Toma and up and coming Luke Massa is in the 2 deep but at his size he probably will be converted to TE if injuries should prevail.

Not at all looks like theyre grooming him to eventually be a Free Safety.. Good to see that Goodman and Toma will finally get a chance to shine, Austin Collinsworth another converted white skill player is backup safety and Zeke Motta should be a beast at SS.

 

[Deadlift]

Notre Dame QB Tommy Rees arrested, charged with battery to police officer

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoo...rested-charged-with-battery-to-police-officer

That's a SERIOUS charge.