ND & Texas - Post Spring

[TheDecker]

What are you guys thinking about our upcoming game, now that the spring is behind us?

Strengths/weakness of the Texas team?
Important match ups?
Areas you want to (or expect to) see further development in?
Predictions for the game?

The "very short version" of where ND stands coming out of spring is:

ND Post Spring Summary

QB - Battle ongoing, but the position is LOADED and should be one of the strongest in CFB
RB - Strong a versatile committee. Deeper and more talented than ND has had in a long time
WR - Going to miss Fuller. The unit is talented and versatile, but young and inexperienced
TE - Lacking epxerience and proven production but as talented as we've had since Eifert/Rudolph
OT - OT tandem is as talented as any ND's had, but less experienced. Still likely the strength of the offense
OG - Our LG is the best OG we've had in 25+ years. RG is unsettled and the weakest on the OL
C - Mustipher has locked down the starting position and looks to be solid. Agressive run blocker

Offense Overall
The run game should be especially strong, with a potentially dominant run-blocking OL, volume of dynamic RBs, and a mobile QB. The passing game should be decent, but continued cohesion between the QB and new WRs will need to continue to develop.

DE - Very strong against the run. Good size, strength, and experience. Pass rush is a major concern
DT - 3 starting-level players, if J. Jones returns to 100%. Great against the run, but not pass rushers
LB - 2/3 LB positions are set, 1 is still uncertain. Unit has great athleticism/size, but lacks experience
CB - Deepest and most athletic CB unit in years, but 2/3 starters will be young. High potential, but inexperienced
S - Starters should be good-to-great against the run, but may struggle in coverage. Very thin unit

Defense Overall
The main concerns on defense surround the ability to be organized consistently (especially in coverage) and the ability to get a pass rush off the edge. This team should be strong against the run (especially the interior run) but could struggle in coverage, especially down the field.

 

[westx]

I don't even know how there could be a QB competition at ND. Zaire is a stud.

 

[TheDecker]

I don't even know how there could be a QB competition at ND. Zaire is a stud.

Kizer had a very good year playing in place of Zaire

As a RS Frosh, 11 games, he put up:
Passing - 2,900 Yards , 8.6 YPA , 63% Comp , 21TD , 10 TD
Rushing - 525 Yards , 3.9 YPC , 10 TD
If you expand those stats to a 13 game season it would be 4,000+ Total Yards and nearly 40 Total TDs

Kizer struggled in the Red-Zone, with Turnover, and wasn't fantastically consistent.....plus Zaire is in fact a stud.....so there is a competition

But honestly, Kizer is probably the better bet to start against Texas
(though I believe Zaire will also have a role)

If both QB's buy-in 100% and keep developing as they've shown so far, we should be absolutely LOADED at QB

 

[westx]

Kizer had a very good year playing in place of Zaire

As a RS Frosh, 11 games, he put up:
Passing - 2,900 Yards , 8.6 YPA , 63% Comp , 21TD , 10 TD
Rushing - 525 Yards , 3.9 YPC , 10 TD
If you expand those stats to a 13 game season it would be 4,000+ Total Yards and nearly 40 Total TDs

Kizer struggled in the Red-Zone, with Turnover, and wasn't fantastically consistent.....plus Zaire is in fact a stud.....so there is a competition

But honestly, Kizer is probably the better bet to start against Texas
(though I believe Zaire will also have a role)

If both QB's buy-in 100% and keep developing as they've shown so far, we should be absolutely LOADED at QB

Kizer had 3 losses on his watch.

 

[TheDecker]

Kizer had 3 losses on his watch.

No question, it's reasonable to have concern about the losses, in addition to the turnovers, and the red-zone woes

Those are the primary areas where Kizer needs to improve, in order to win the QB competition and remain the starters

But in his defense, the losses he led the team to (as a RS Frosh, 3rd String QB) were all against team that finished in the Top 5 Nationally:
@ #2 Clemson (lost by 2 points)
@ #3 Stanford (lost by 2 points)
v. #4 Ohio State (lost by 16 points)

 

[westx]

No question, it's reasonable to have concern about the losses, in addition to the turnovers, and the red-zone woes

Those are the primary areas where Kizer needs to improve, in order to win the QB competition and remain the starters

But in his defense, the losses he led the team to (as a RS Frosh, 3rd String QB) were all against team that finished in the Top 5 Nationally:
@ #2 Clemson (lost by 2 points)
@ #3 Stanford (lost by 2 points)
v. #4 Ohio State (lost by 16 points)

Kizer is definitely a good player, but Zaire totally impressed me. We shall soon see. The 2016 season should put this debate to rest.

 

[Son of Wasatch]

Here is my thoughts on post Spring Texas

WR - We are coming out with 3 true studs in Burt, Johnson, and Foreman. Those three guys you have to account for. Beyond that we have 5 other guys that have shown a lot of ability. Dorian Leonard, Jacory Warrick, DeAndre McNeal, Ryan Newsome are all looking very productive. It is looking like Jake Oliver has woken up and is ready to be a major contributor. I hope he finally gets his chance.

TE - We have a difference maker in starter Caleb Bluiett, he is a great blocker and pass catcher. Beyond that we have a good blocker in Andrew Beck we are thin at the TE spot but I absolutely love Bluiett.

OL - I'm not going to break down the line by position, but rather as a group. We have 5 solid starters in Williams, Perkins, Vahe, Hodges, and Shackelford. The biggest worry is again having a true freshmen starting on the line, but I will say that Shack is a damn good player, and he is mean. He isn't afraid to smack you in the mouth. Beyond the starting 5 we are looking at an issue with depth. We have bodies but we need the light to come on. Nickelson, Major, Cuney, Rodriguez, and Anderson are all vets but so far the lights have not come on.

RB - If you didn't watch the spring game, do so. I think we have one of the deepest backfields in all of college football. Warren and Foreman are stars in the making, Bernard Johnson and Houston are all very productive. Might be the best backfield Texas has had since 1996. That was the year we had Priest Holmes, Ricky Williams and Shon MItchell.

QB - Coach Strong will continue to say this is still a three man race. But those of us with eyes knows Texas has found their signal caller for the next 3 or 4 years. Shane Buechele is reminding me a lot of Colt McCoy. He is headsey, and has a great release, but more than anything, he is accurate.

Defense

DE - We are very deep at the DE position we have probably 6 guys that will contribute, but I don't see a difference maker, a guy that scares opposing offensive coordinators. Solid, yes, but not a guy that I would call a all conference performer.

DT - We are weak, there is no beating around the bush, we have good starters but we need depth, good thing we have a huge influx of DTs in this recruiting class as we have 6 studs, two of which should make an immediate impact.

LB - We are steep and deep with talent in the linebacking corp. so much so I'm not sure how Texas is going to find enough playing time for all of them. Malik Jefferson is a guy the OC must game plan to stop. Texas is going to move him around and make him the focal point of the defense. Anthony Wheeler is another guy I'm excited about. He looks like a clone of Brian Orakpo as the lights come on for this talented sophomore he will become a bigger and bigger force on the defense. I don't usually talk about incoming freshmen until I see them, but Erick Fowler and Jeffery McCullough are going to be two tough guys to keep off the field, they are every bit the impact players that Malik is.

DB - This is the strongest position on the team. Texas has both depth and talent. I expect to see at lease 6 of our DBs from the two deep playing on Sunday. Holton Hill, Devante Davis, Chris Boyd, PJ Locke, and DeShon Elliott all have NFL ability. Throw in guys like Antwan Davis, Sherod Evans, Jason Hall, and incoming freshmen Brandon Jones and you have a serious backfield. I'm really excited about Hill Davis and Boyd because all three are big time shutdown corners.

Special Teams, - We suck plain and simple.

 

[CoachEmUp64]

Here is my thoughts on post Spring Texas

WR - We are coming out with 3 true studs in Burt, Johnson, and Foreman. Those three guys you have to account for. Beyond that we have 5 other guys that have shown a lot of ability. Dorian Leonard, Jacory Warrick, DeAndre McNeal, Ryan Newsome are all looking very productive. It is looking like Jake Oliver has woken up and is ready to be a major contributor. I hope he finally gets his chance.

TE - We have a difference maker in starter Caleb Bluiett, he is a great blocker and pass catcher. Beyond that we have a good blocker in Andrew Beck we are thin at the TE spot but I absolutely love Bluiett.

OL - I'm not going to break down the line by position, but rather as a group. We have 5 solid starters in Williams, Perkins, Vahe, Hodges, and Shackelford. The biggest worry is again having a true freshmen starting on the line, but I will say that Shack is a damn good player, and he is mean. He isn't afraid to smack you in the mouth. Beyond the starting 5 we are looking at an issue with depth. We have bodies but we need the light to come on. Nickelson, Major, Cuney, Rodriguez, and Anderson are all vets but so far the lights have not come on.

RB - If you didn't watch the spring game, do so. I think we have one of the deepest backfields in all of college football. Warren and Foreman are stars in the making, Bernard Johnson and Houston are all very productive. Might be the best backfield Texas has had since 1996. That was the year we had Priest Holmes, Ricky Williams and Shon MItchell.

QB - Coach Strong will continue to say this is still a three man race. But those of us with eyes knows Texas has found their signal caller for the next 3 or 4 years. Shane Buechele is reminding me a lot of Colt McCoy. He is headsey, and has a great release, but more than anything, he is accurate.

Defense

DE - We are very deep at the DE position we have probably 6 guys that will contribute, but I don't see a difference maker, a guy that scares opposing offensive coordinators. Solid, yes, but not a guy that I would call a all conference performer.

DT - We are weak, there is no beating around the bush, we have good starters but we need depth, good thing we have a huge influx of DTs in this recruiting class as we have 6 studs, two of which should make an immediate impact.

LB - We are steep and deep with talent in the linebacking corp. so much so I'm not sure how Texas is going to find enough playing time for all of them. Malik Jefferson is a guy the OC must game plan to stop. Texas is going to move him around and make him the focal point of the defense. Anthony Wheeler is another guy I'm excited about. He looks like a clone of Brian Orakpo as the lights come on for this talented sophomore he will become a bigger and bigger force on the defense. I don't usually talk about incoming freshmen until I see them, but Erick Fowler and Jeffery McCullough are going to be two tough guys to keep off the field, they are every bit the impact players that Malik is.

DB - This is the strongest position on the team. Texas has both depth and talent. I expect to see at lease 6 of our DBs from the two deep playing on Sunday. Holton Hill, Devante Davis, Chris Boyd, PJ Locke, and DeShon Elliott all have NFL ability. Throw in guys like Antwan Davis, Sherod Evans, Jason Hall, and incoming freshmen Brandon Jones and you have a serious backfield. I'm really excited about Hill Davis and Boyd because all three are big time shutdown corners.

Special Teams, - We suck plain and simple.

What he said! Lol

I like your analysis.

 

[clob94]

Don't expect Malik to have the stats he had last year. He's on the radar now. Teams will start putting two dudes on him. It's up to the rest of the D to pick up the slack.
Now if Malik DOES have better stats than last year, just give the dude the Butkis award.

ND dude, the Decker--- let me break it down for you.

"Can" we beat you next September in Austin?
Yes

Will we beat you? Probably not. We saw some highlight moments out of our freshman QB, but did he wow the sh!t out of me? No.
As far as I can tell, a true freshman QB has never started an opening game for the university of Texas. If I'm wrong please correct me guys, but I think I'm right. If he were starting off against UTEP or Little Sisters of the Poor and THEN playing ND, I'd give us a better shot. But playing a blue blood on opening day, as a freshman, on a sunday in prime time, on national TV, with your butthole pucker up tighter than Dickies hat band---- that's darn near impossible. I'm hoping for a good showing and some momentum to build on. I'm hoping for the effort I saw during the OU game. I'm hoping to see the offense build its identity. I'm hoping to see these kids look like a "team".

I'm hoping to see growth out of our staff and development out of our players. If I see this and we lose, I will credit strong and co and my confidence in our head coach and staff will be bolstered.

If I see us poop the bed and lose to you guys by 3 tds, I will call for the guillotine immediately.

 

[TexExSpur]

Post Spring reaction. It's going to be a good game.

 

[LonghornSoldier]

Post spring prediction - Texas by 12 at home.... swoopes starts and lasts 2 series before the kid comes in and absolutely shreds the domer defense due to being underestimated.....

 

[TheDecker]

Don't expect Malik to have the stats he had last year. He's on the radar now. Teams will start putting two dudes on him. It's up to the rest of the D to pick up the slack.
Now if Malik DOES have better stats than last year, just give the dude the Butkis award.

ND dude, the Decker--- let me break it down for you.

"Can" we beat you next September in Austin?
Yes

Will we beat you? Probably not. We saw some highlight moments out of our freshman QB, but did he wow the sh!t out of me? No.
As far as I can tell, a true freshman QB has never started an opening game for the university of Texas. If I'm wrong please correct me guys, but I think I'm right. If he were starting off against UTEP or Little Sisters of the Poor and THEN playing ND, I'd give us a better shot. But playing a blue blood on opening day, as a freshman, on a sunday in prime time, on national TV, with your butthole pucker up tighter than Dickies hat band---- that's darn near impossible. I'm hoping for a good showing and some momentum to build on. I'm hoping for the effort I saw during the OU game. I'm hoping to see the offense build its identity. I'm hoping to see these kids look like a "team".

I'm hoping to see growth out of our staff and development out of our players. If I see this and we lose, I will credit strong and co and my confidence in our head coach and staff will be bolstered.

If I see us poop the bed and lose to you guys by 3 tds, I will call for the guillotine immediately.

Thanks for your take

It's interesting, because in some ways I "want" you to start a True Frosh QB in his first game ever against ND......as that's almost always a losing gambit
But at the same time, I just don't think there is any chance that Swoopes can lead an offense to enough points to beat us and the True Frosh seems more capable of doing just that

I'll say this, I don't think Texas can just run the ball and plan to score very much against ND.....that will be playing directly into the strength of our defense (by far). So an effective spread-passing attack is going to be KEY for Texas

I'll be interested to see how the ND Offense v. Texas Defense matchup goes.
I would expect that ND will try to use a very large and very physical OL to attack what appears to be a thin DT unit and run-defense up front....since our proven strengths are almost all in the run game and our WRs are all young

 

[jsto60]

Of course ND should try to run the ball, control the clock, and play smash mouth ball. And hit some deep play actions with their WRs.

And of course a true frosh stepping out to start in that game is a bit scary. But you are correct that Swoopes won't win that game by passing all over ND. Nor will he even threaten the secondary enough to keep them honest. Which would hinder our ground game. Maybe the frosh will be just naive enough about the moment to be dangerous. He'd have first game jitters no matter what.

It really is a strength vs strength game. Our OL vs your DL. Our secondary vs your QBs. Our

 

[TexExSpur]

I don't know about being thin on the DL, but they have a ton of youth coming in at DT and they are all over 300. The DL has maturated enough that McMillon was moved back to the offense at guard. Charles O is going to eat at DE, Malik won't be bouncing off the backside of the Dline, You may see another freshmen or two at LB in this game and it it's because they are that good. The depth at LB is nice, but the depth at Corner and Safety is awesome and they will be able to stay fresh. Having Evans return as a Senior to play Corner is going to be very beneficial. I think the defense is going to be surprisingly good at times and get torched due to youth and being out of position at times.

 

[TheDecker]

Of course ND should try to run the ball, control the clock, and play smash mouth ball. And hit some deep play actions with their WRs.

And of course a true frosh stepping out to start in that game is a bit scary. But you are correct that Swoopes won't win that game by passing all over ND. Nor will he even threaten the secondary enough to keep them honest. Which would hinder our ground game. Maybe the frosh will be just naive enough about the moment to be dangerous. He'd have first game jitters no matter what.

It really is a strength vs strength game. Our OL vs your DL. Our secondary vs your QBs. Our

I think a lot of that is true....but there are 1-2 match ups that I think are Strength-on-Weakness, specifically...
ND OL v. Texas DL

Additionally, I don't think most ND fans would consider it "obvious" that we would be a more ground oriented, between the tackles offense v. Texas

Brian Kelly's offense at ND is heavily predicated on vertical passing concepts and outside-zone running...usually. There have been times that we've shown more power concepts, more inside-zone concepts, and been more willing to rely on an aggressive rushing attack

Given ND's size/talent on the OL, depth in the run-game-skill-positions (RB, TE, QB), youth at WR, plus Texas's youth at both DT/LB,and lack of depth at DT..........heavy use of the up-tempo, inside rushing attack seems logical to me

 

[TexExSpur]

Most likely, Strong rolls out 3 freshmen on offense....QB/Center/WR2 and they're capable but will make mistakes. ND needs to pounce on those mistakes.

A 6'1" 191# QB, 6'3" 296# Center and 6'6" 212# WR

 

[FlourBluffHorn]

I think Notre Dame goes home licking their ass wounds from a ass-kicking in Austin, not like the rest of you saying well, maybe, we might, no we can't, it will be close etc. Ya either in or ya out! After Texas beats them half of ya will change ya story and get a excuse as to why ya said what ya said, guess I am the only one that Believes! Ya'll forgot to figure in the embarrassment that they suffered in South Bend last yr, they still remember that shit I guarantee ya !


Texas by 10 at least


Hook'em

 

[TheDecker]

Most likely, Strong rolls out 3 freshmen on offense....QB/Center/WR2 and they're capable but will make mistakes. ND needs to pounce on those mistakes.

A 6'1" 191# QB, 6'3" 296# Center and 6'6" 212# WR

Is Buchele really 6'1" 191lbs?

Could just be a trick of the camera, but the little I've seen of him, I would have thought he was 170lbs...max

 

[TexExSpur]

Is Buchele really 6'1" 191lbs?

Could just be a trick of the camera, but the little I've seen of him, I would have thought he was 170lbs...max

Yup. That's measured in at Texas.


He's not as small as folks think. He also measured in at the elite 11 camp last year. He was 180ish at that time.

 

[oldhorn2]

I think Notre Dame goes home licking their ass wounds from a ass-kicking in Austin, not like the rest of you saying well, maybe, we might, no we can't, it will be close etc. Ya either in or ya out! After Texas beats them half of ya will change ya story and get a excuse as to why ya said what ya said, guess I am the only one that Believes! Ya'll forgot to figure in the embarrassment that they suffered in South Bend last yr, they still remember that shit I guarantee ya !


Texas by 10 at least


Hook'em

FB it is on the other ND thread, but I called my shot last week....before the spring game and it was Texas by 10....look it up.

 

[LonghornSoldier]

FB it is on the other ND thread, but I called my shot last week....before the spring game and it was Texas by 10....look it up.

I too said Texas by 10 pre spring game....butchanged that to Texas by 12 in this thread post spring game.... Here come the Horns, either get out the way or be prepared to be run over!!!!

 

[FlourBluffHorn]

FB it is on the other ND thread, but I called my shot last week....before the spring game and it was Texas by 10....look it up.

Great minds think alike Old!



Hook'em