Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1067075
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com FEBRUARY 2019 11 UNDER THE DOME THEY SAID IT "Tillery uses great upper-body strength to press in the run game and flashes up- side as an interior pass rusher. He does play a little high and doesn't have great closing burst, but that didn't stop him from dialing up eight sacks, three forced fumbles and 10.5 tackles for loss in 12 games for the Irish this season." ESPN NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay ranking Irish defensive lineman Jerry Tillery No. 19 on his big board for the 2019 draft "These are two of the challenges in recruiting that Kelly and his staff have aced in recent years — not just finding players who can gain admittance to a university that U.S. News & World Report ranks 18th nationally in terms of academics, but players who can handle an increasingly rigorous course load as they progress through college. "There aren't a lot of soft majors available at Notre Dame, which means athletes are expected to do more than simply find ways to stay eligible. What the Irish have been able to do is recruit, re- tain and develop. And to do all three consistently." — Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports on Notre Dame and recruiting "You can see that there are five Power Five con- ferences, and then there is the independent ranks. If there's going to be expansion of any kind, we would prefer that to include eight. That gives the Power Fives, obviously their champions, and then opens up much more opportunities for at-large bids. … We're forcing out a conference champion or we're forcing out conferences that are in this CFP, and so that puts a lot of pressure on us every year relative to our schedule and what we need to do." — Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly on expanding the College Football Playoff "I tried but didn't get the job, didn't even get to go interview for the job. That was kind of par for the course for where we were at the time. I had a hard time getting a job. And I was either the wrong fit or whatever. So didn't work out, and next thing you know I was out of coaching for two seasons." — Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney on trying to land the wide receivers coach job at Notre Dame for the 2001 season when Urban Meyer was hired away to be the head coach at Bowling Green (The Athletic) "This is when Notre Dame basketball is at its best: When the Irish should be at their worst. It's a joke that Notre Dame coach Mike Brey pulls on the rest of us — the teams he beats, the media he makes looks stupid — and he does it every year. Maybe someday we'll learn. Probably not. … "The last six times the media has picked the Irish to finish sixth or worse in its conference, the Irish have done no worse than seventh — as a seed in the NCAA Tournament. The more dire it seems for the Irish, the better the season tends to go. This season the media picked the Irish to finish ninth in the ACC, and listen, the Irish haven't exactly overachieved yet. … "But the Notre Dame team that showed up [that] Saturday [against Purdue] is no joke — we in the media, we're the joke, remember? — and it mostly controlled a solid Purdue team that should contend for an NCAA Tournament berth." — Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star on the Irish following a win in the Crossroads Classic against Purdue PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA NOTRE DAME Thank you for a great season! 2019 Home Game Tickets Now on Sale All Sports & Concert Tickets Nationwide 800-925-2500 NotreDameTickets.com