First, damn proud of the young men, and their will to keep swinging even when the Irish had us on the ropes. This game turns into a blood bath/blowout in prior seasons, and we tuck our tails in between our legs and run. There was none of that last night, even when we were down 18 points.
There’s a lot to clean up, from players to coaching, everyone has room to improve — and they will improve, there’s no doubt about that. This team in a long time has shown real improvement/development across the board.
Not sure what the Warchant staff saw in practices, but Jordan Travis still isn’t a QB that leads us to ACC Championships in the future. He processes things slowly, he’s erratic, and he still is an athlete playing QB. Now he’s not terrible, that throw to Douglas was beautiful, and that touchdown to Parchment doesn’t happen without his improvising skills. I thought we would have ran him a lot more than we did, because that’s what he’s better at than most of the country.
Milton has the IT factor to him. He was cool/calm despite the pressure, the moment was never bigger than him and he had the game under control from the first snap. He also wasn’t an erratic mess behind the line, stepped up in the pocket, made a beautiful throw to Helton (I think) across the middle of the field. Had the field awareness to find Williams on a shovel pass after the play broke down. And there’s no doubt in my mind that we score a touchdown if Baevon Johnson doesn’t screw up that snap.
Not sure what the coach will do about the QB’s, but it’s pretty obvious to me that Milton has to be the starter, and we have 10-15 plays for Travis with specialty packages.
The running backs are awesome. Flat out awesome. They were patient, hit the correct holes, broke tackles, and made people miss in the open field. We have a legit 3 headed monster at the RB position. And Ward looked like a 5 star freshman out there. That kid is special with the way he was running, setting up blocks, and his acceleration/vision is top notch.
This post is becoming longer than I intended, had no desire to break down each position group. So it’s time for lightning round.
McClain is really fast, and looks smooth in the open field. He’s going to be a freak for us in the future.
The receivers were getting open, Travis just didn’t see them because he was hitting EJ Manuel spin moves as soon as he caught the snap.
The OL is still a force to deal with in run blocking, but have a ways to go in order to be an average unit with their pass blocking still being an issue.
Jermaine Johnson is going to be a 1st or 2nd round pick. He was a freak of nature in the first half. Looked like got gassed in the second, and they became smart enough to double him.
Kier Thomas did a great job of setting the edge, and getting pressure as well. Lovett really looked like an animal in the first half. Good on him for getting his body in shape. I didn’t notice Briggs despite the off season hype he got on here. Fuller had back to back great plays in the second half. All in all, our defensive line was very impressive, and won their fight against the Irish OL in what everyone thought would be an advantage for Notre Dame.
DeLoach is going to be a really good linebacker. He didn’t have a perfect game, but he has the sideline to sideline speed that were accustomed to seeing from an FSU linebacker. Dix and Lundy did some good things and some not so good things. But overall, the linebacker unit was flying around and being aggressive, especially when they ran the ball.
Akeem Dent Sr is a natural at free safety, great pass break up that should have been an interception, and had a great open field tackle too. Just someone give him some stick em gloves!
Jarvis Brownlee is a dog, he’s always been a dog even before this game. He will knock the snot out of you, jam you all game long, and be in your hip till the whistle blows. Glad to see him shine on a national stage.
Travis Jay will be fine. He was in position, and his arm was just a few inches away from breaking up the first touchdown pass. The athleticism and skill is there, be patient with him. I’d rather a DB have a 50/50 chance at breaking up the play than having a 0% chance because he was beat like a drum. He will win his share of the 50/50 this season.
Sorry for the long post, but for the first time in years, I am encouraged and optimistic about the program and the direction it’s heading.
There’s a lot to clean up, from players to coaching, everyone has room to improve — and they will improve, there’s no doubt about that. This team in a long time has shown real improvement/development across the board.
Not sure what the Warchant staff saw in practices, but Jordan Travis still isn’t a QB that leads us to ACC Championships in the future. He processes things slowly, he’s erratic, and he still is an athlete playing QB. Now he’s not terrible, that throw to Douglas was beautiful, and that touchdown to Parchment doesn’t happen without his improvising skills. I thought we would have ran him a lot more than we did, because that’s what he’s better at than most of the country.
Milton has the IT factor to him. He was cool/calm despite the pressure, the moment was never bigger than him and he had the game under control from the first snap. He also wasn’t an erratic mess behind the line, stepped up in the pocket, made a beautiful throw to Helton (I think) across the middle of the field. Had the field awareness to find Williams on a shovel pass after the play broke down. And there’s no doubt in my mind that we score a touchdown if Baevon Johnson doesn’t screw up that snap.
Not sure what the coach will do about the QB’s, but it’s pretty obvious to me that Milton has to be the starter, and we have 10-15 plays for Travis with specialty packages.
The running backs are awesome. Flat out awesome. They were patient, hit the correct holes, broke tackles, and made people miss in the open field. We have a legit 3 headed monster at the RB position. And Ward looked like a 5 star freshman out there. That kid is special with the way he was running, setting up blocks, and his acceleration/vision is top notch.
This post is becoming longer than I intended, had no desire to break down each position group. So it’s time for lightning round.
McClain is really fast, and looks smooth in the open field. He’s going to be a freak for us in the future.
The receivers were getting open, Travis just didn’t see them because he was hitting EJ Manuel spin moves as soon as he caught the snap.
The OL is still a force to deal with in run blocking, but have a ways to go in order to be an average unit with their pass blocking still being an issue.
Jermaine Johnson is going to be a 1st or 2nd round pick. He was a freak of nature in the first half. Looked like got gassed in the second, and they became smart enough to double him.
Kier Thomas did a great job of setting the edge, and getting pressure as well. Lovett really looked like an animal in the first half. Good on him for getting his body in shape. I didn’t notice Briggs despite the off season hype he got on here. Fuller had back to back great plays in the second half. All in all, our defensive line was very impressive, and won their fight against the Irish OL in what everyone thought would be an advantage for Notre Dame.
DeLoach is going to be a really good linebacker. He didn’t have a perfect game, but he has the sideline to sideline speed that were accustomed to seeing from an FSU linebacker. Dix and Lundy did some good things and some not so good things. But overall, the linebacker unit was flying around and being aggressive, especially when they ran the ball.
Akeem Dent Sr is a natural at free safety, great pass break up that should have been an interception, and had a great open field tackle too. Just someone give him some stick em gloves!
Jarvis Brownlee is a dog, he’s always been a dog even before this game. He will knock the snot out of you, jam you all game long, and be in your hip till the whistle blows. Glad to see him shine on a national stage.
Travis Jay will be fine. He was in position, and his arm was just a few inches away from breaking up the first touchdown pass. The athleticism and skill is there, be patient with him. I’d rather a DB have a 50/50 chance at breaking up the play than having a 0% chance because he was beat like a drum. He will win his share of the 50/50 this season.
Sorry for the long post, but for the first time in years, I am encouraged and optimistic about the program and the direction it’s heading.
