Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1523876
6 AUGUST 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FAN FORUM NO AVERAGE JOE My son is a high school athletics di- rector in a suburb of Minnesota whose school played football against Totino- Grace, which was Joe Alt's school. Writer Jack Soble asked in his column in the June/July 2024 issue of Blue & Gold Illustrated if anyone predicted Alt's suc- cess when he was in high school. My son told me and a friend from here in Southern Indiana that if Alt ever started a game, they would never be able to get him out of the lineup. He said it didn't matter what position he played; he would be outstanding. Neil Mieras Santa Claus, Ind. Thanks for sharing, Mr. Mieras. BGI recruiting insider Mike Singer — the self- proclaimed president of the Joe Alt Fan Club — was also quite high on Alt despite him being an unranked three-star recruit according to two of the recruiting ser- vices (Rivals and ESPN). Alt went from being the No. 24 offensive tackle and No. 275 overall player in the 2021 class in the On3 Industry Ranking to a first-team AP All-American and the No. 5 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM I'm a longtime subscriber and af- ter reading the June/July 2024 issue's Point/Counterpoint article I am com- pelled to voice my opinion. Mr. So- ble's commentary concerning Kenny Minchey's spring performance increas- ing his chances of starting elsewhere if things don't work out at ND just rubbed me wrong. It may be the elephant in the room but, regardless, seeing it in print that way just seems wrong. Just my opinion. Go Irish! Ed Doyle We appreciate and understand your opinion Mr. Doyle. Unfortunately, it is the harsh, cold reality of college football in the NIL and transfer portal era. The fact the Irish didn't lose any of their four signal-callers in this past cycle was a major victory. The late, great Lou Somo- gyi often noted that quarterback trans- fers were part of life at Notre Dame, even before the chaos of the current era. "It's as predictable as the sun rising in the East: Once you have more than four, or sometimes even more than three, scholarship quarterbacks on the Notre Dame roster, a transfer, if not a posi- tion change, is inevitable," Somogyi once wrote 11 years ago. IRISH DEFENSE 101 Please devote an issue explaining the ND defensive positions such as vyper, Will linebacker, etc. Thanks! Ed Fechtel (ND '57) Mr. Fechtel , here is a brief overview for you. The vyper is an edge defender that has both down linemen and outside linebacker responsibilities. The Mike and Will are the Irish's two inside lineback- ers. The Will lines up on the boundary side (considered the short or weak side), while the Mike is on the field side. We include the rover in the linebacker posi- tion group but it operates as essentially a bigger in-the-box safety. In short, the vyper is used to attack different pass-rush matchups and also aids in coverage at times against big- ger tight ends, while the rover provides strong run support but can also assist in pass coverage. However, the rover is of- ten rotated out for a nickel back — which is a defensive back with both safety and corner skills — against pass-heavy teams. 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 fall camp less than a month away, Notre Dame fans were ready to jump back into football. On our message board at BlueandGold.com, one Irish fan ignited a discussion about what position battles would be worth keeping an eye on. Here is what they had to say: Mh2365: What are the biggest expected battles in fall practice? O-line? LB? lucio: There will be many battles for the backup spots. Not many for starting positions. aundrelrwilliams: The starting corner spot will be a great fall battle. jrp3: With zero intel or insider info I would expect the only real "battles" to be along the offensive line + corner: RT: Tosh Baker vs. Aamil Wagner (vs. maybe Guerby Lambert/someone else. But wouldn't expect it) to start opposite LT Charles Jagusah. OG: Rocco Spindler vs. Pat Coogan (vs. any breakout underclassman) to start with Billy Schrauth, who seems to have firmed up one guard spot. CB: Christian Gray vs. Jaden Mickey to start opposite Benjamin Morrison. This could be a battle, but I'm not really clear how entrenched the starter is: MLB: Drayk Bowen certainly seems to be the starter, but Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa by all accounts was a quick study in the spring. I don't really think this will be an actual battle but given Bowen hasn't actually started a regular season game at Mike for ND it seems unwise to just ignore it. Joe Alt may not have been a highly ranked recruit in high school, but it was apparent to some that he had a bright future ahead of him. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! New subscribers: Use Promo Code GoIrish2024 To SAVE 25% off your first year! FROM THE WEBSITE .com .com