The Quick and Dirty on the Notre Dame Blue Gold Game

Ok so here are the raw stats from the B&G game earlier today:

• Offense 68
• Defense 33
• Armando Allen had 12 carries for 70 yards (yes thats roughly 5.8 ypc for those of you counting-very respectable)
  
• Robert Hughes had 21 carries for 93 yards and 2 touchdowns. 4.4 ypc average
  
• Jonas Gray had 20 carries for 89 yards. 4.45 ypc average.
• Jimmy Clausen was 8-17 for 70 yards.
• Dayne Crist was 4-10 for 40 yards.
• Nate Montana was 2-2 for 51 yards.
• Robert Blanton had a 48 yd TD interception return.
• Ethan Johnson, Hafis Williams, and Ian Willaims each had sacks.
• Mo Richardson had 3 pressures.
• Zeke Motta had 7 tackles
• Darrin Walls, Harrison Smith, Ethan Johnson and walk-on Chris Bathon all had six tackles.
• Golden Tate and Micheal Floyd each had 1 reception for 14 yards.
• Duval Kamara, and Robby Paris each had 1 reception for 9 yards.
• Kyle Rudolph led all recievers with 4 catches for 27 yards.
• Mike Ragone had a single 34 yard reception.
• Deon Walker had a single reception for 17 yards.
• Brandon Walker nailed a 48 yard field goal and two PATs, with one miss.
  

Totals:

The offense finished with 25 points on 25 first downs, 20 points on 10 explosive plays, three points for the field goal and another 20 points on the three touchdowns and the missed extra point.

The defense recorded six points on three sacks, 15 points for defensive stops (including three three-and-outs), 10 points for Blanton’s pick-six and a point each for Walker’s PAT after Blanton’s score and for Walker’s missed PAT after the Gray touchdown.

Quick Notes:

1. Armando Allen has found a better level of comfort in his own style and in the offensive system.
2. He is fast.
3. Ethan Johnson is a stud. He split a solid double team to get a "sack". Yes, he is that good.
4. Hafis Williams has as much potential as anyone.
5. Harrison Smith was born a safety.
6. R.J. Blanton is a stud and a half who had a pick returned for a 40+ yard TD.
7. Jamoris Slaughter is the least talked about guy who has an eye opening amount of talent.
8. Lets just say the secondary is fast, nasty, and have hands like a WR core. Did I mention fast? Or nasty?
   
9. Hughes is a pounder, he can lower the shoulder and carry a few guys for 2-3 extra yards.
10. Jonas Gray is an attractive blend of Hughes and Allen, however he seems unsure of himself at times.
11. The DL line is young and inexperienced, but with lots of speed and talent.
12. The DL line will be spotty against the run this season, but stingy in 2010.
13. The OL will be able to run better this season. How much remains to be seen.
    
14. The sack number will go up this season.
15. Dayne Crist is a viable number two.
16. Nate Montana is also viable.
17. Talent, talent everywhere.
18. Didn't see much from the WR core as expected. Vanilla playcalling + great coverage + QB pressure= unimpressive passing game.
19. Notre Dame has 3-4 viable Tight Ends now. Rudolph is a future AA, Ragone is back and getting to be as nasty as ever. Fauria has great hands and is tall, and quick. Berger may also be in the mix in the fall.
20. Even walk ons got to see the field today.
21. Several top flight recruits really realy enjoyed their visit. ND is now tied for first with a few.

I'll be elaborating tomorrow as I re-watch the highlights and re-evaluate the game.

Saturday Day Recruiting Scene

Saturday will be buzzing for sure, for more reasons than one. Saturday is the day that every fan in the ND nation knows and waits for every spring, yes the Blue Gold Game. This game symbolizes like other spring games around the nation the rebirth of a program rising to fight again in a few short months. This season however, the spring game is about more than Charlie showing off an improved running game, or Clausen showing off that incredible accuracy. Its even about more than Jonas Gray showing he can hang onto the ball (actually we're still waiting for that one- dang it). This season the spring game takes on a whole new aspect that ND hasn't truly had for sometime.

This season, the Spring Game is about recruiting.

The A-list of recruits attending this game is eye opening to say it modestly. Weis has compiled a list of guys who are showing up to watch this glorified scrimmage that would make any other team in the nation jealous. There are several to watch, which I will get to later, but don't expect any to commit on the spot ala Texas and Mac Browns "special brownies" the staff must have been handing out. Rather this is a spring board into the rest of the season. Notre Dame isn't at the place where they will lock in top flight recruits this early, some certainly may be close to pulling the trigger, as I will talk about, but most will let the experience incubate. Which isn't a bad thing.

Here are the recruits that will be attending tomorrow's spring game:

Chris Martin (verbal commit)

Christian Lombard (verbal commit)

Daniel Smith (verbal commit)

Khairi Fortt

Cody Riggs

Spencer Boyd

Lo Wood

Nick Montana

Corey Cooper

Kyle Prater

Justin McCay

C.J. Fiedorowicz

James Stone

Of the above listed one to watch for a commit first would be, Nick Montana. This is a legacy recruit who of course has serious roots at ND. That said he might not end up Irish, but if he intends to be what better time to commit than a sunny Saturday afternoon amid spring green and even more green clad Irish fans and players.

A next possible commit could come from Spencer Boyd. He has been to scUM (that's Michigan for those of you wondering ) before visiting the Irish. Luckily, it has been drop dead gorgeous weather in South Bend since he arrived. He is being recruited hard by many schools, but has said that he would commit somewhere he felt right at. There are few things more right feeling or beautiful than a bright sunny spring day at Notre Dame.

As important as the potential recruits are the current verbals. Christian Lombard, Chris Martin, and Daniel Smith will all be on hand to lend their personal recruiting stories and love of ND into the ears of receptive recruits. Three top 200 players (they could all end up being in the top 100 shortly) can't hurt as they are high profile and know what sold them on ND and that can be very persuasive.

The rest of the recruits are all over the place. Some have said really good things about ND, some not much, others want to wait but place ND in their top 3-5. Notre Dame really needs to come through this spring game and sell it out to these recruits and better its position with them drastically. If they can jump into the top 3 with most of the recruits visiting then they will be more than able to make it a serious race down to the wire on National Signing Day or garner a few commits in another few months. I'll post more after the game tomorrow and let you know how the team looked and how the recruits reacted.

The best thing about the Blue and Gold game is that Notre Dame always wins.