Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 18, 2023 5 FAN FORUM KEEP THE PRESSURE ON Coach Freeman's comments regard- ing the pass rush after the tremendous USC win were: "You have to attack, you cannot play passive. You cannot play a three-man rush, etc., etc. …" So while not trying to beat that pro- verbial dead horse but where was that vs. Ohio State at the end of that game? It begs the ultimate question for all of us here in the cheap seats, why don't DC's throw the kitchen sink at the QB on all obvious passing downs? Sitting back with eight defenders while "rushing" only three never seems to have good results. Just ask Caleb Wil- liams. Go Irish. Rick "Duck" Santry '76 Allendale, N.J. REMEMBERING JOHNNY LUJACK I was about 6 years old (I am 81 now) when the Bears played the Giants in Yankee Stadium on a rainy, muddy field. After the game, my dad carried me onto the field to meet my hero — Johnny Lu- jack, as he was leaving the muddy field. But he was nice enough to shake my hand. I still remember that day. He was a great player and a great man. John Collins Nazareth, Pa. BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters, Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 or e-mail to: sdowney@comanpub.com With seven weeks remaining until the early signing period in December, Notre Dame stood at No. 10 in the 2024 On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. Blue & Gold Illustrated recruiting reporter Kyle Kelly posed the question, "What would be an acceptable finish for Notre Dame's 2024 recruiting class? on our message board at BlueandGold.com. Here is what Irish fans had to say: NJNative140: I'm happy with top 10 as long as we get the game-changing player at the game-changing positions. WR, QB and DE. Too many other options out there for recruits at schools that provide every- thing and where education is treated only as a necessary evil and is mostly an afterthought. Holland3626: I think this class is a good filler class, top 7 or 8 kids I think are elite and then hit needs with solid players at all our positions. With the last two classes this roster is finally getting depth and talent across the board they've needed. There's players like [defensive tackle Sean] Sevillano, [cornerback Leonard] Moore, [tight end Jack] Larsen and [running back] Kedren Young that I think will be studs and aren't getting enough hype. Next year's class needs to be better, but I love this class. I do think we need a speedy WR transfer, though. Kcndmis97: Need a rankings boost from a few of our 3-star players into the 4-star range. Get the all- important blue chip ratio around 75 percent. arrowfan624: I don't care about individual rankings; I care about tiers. Right now we're in the same tier roughly as LSU and the other 3 schools in the bottom half. We have 4-6 consensus top-100 guys at positions of need. tivs31: A top-10 class isn't probably in the tables, we are looking at a top 15. I think many of the schools behind us still aren't done for the year. I think that's overall disappointing. We had opportunities again to pick up top-end talent and some- how missed out. We need a better class to really compete. Rockne1988: If the goal is titles, then top 3 is what is needed for multiple years, but realistically I would like to see us hold on to everyone, add another stud or two and get a flip or two of highly rated players. A No. 6 or 7 class would be a really, really good class, IMO. I know it's kind of a tall task asking for a few high-end flips, but possible. Charlestonirish25: Relative to where things stand, acceptable I guess is just keeping the class intact. Want to be realistic about the fact they they're essentially done already. In general, though, I don't get signing less than 25 at a minimum in today's game, unless you're really turning things up in terms of portal additions. Would like to see them go after a 4th wideout and more options for another DL. I assume it's unlikely they stay in the top 10. tommy1380: Depends on the goal. I think it's acceptable to keep us at the level that we're at. If we're trying to win a title 4 top-100 players and an overall ranking in the top 11-15 range isn't going to get it done unless there's a Heisman candidate in it. Bsmitty8: Good class but not great. We got some really good skill kids but I'm not a huge fan of the back 7 of this class on defense. FROM THE WEBSITE .com .com The Fighting Irish defense kept the heat on USC quarterback Caleb Williams and sacked him 6 times in their 48-20 victory Oct. 14. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER