Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1527865
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 19, 2024 5 TALK IS CHEAP Ad o n S h u l e r s h o u l d h ave b e e n benched. Talk is cheap and Marcus Freeman's praising him sends the player mixed messages. You don't just talk to a misbehaving youngster. You give him a 10-minute timeout. The proof that this is a poor approach was seen in the blatant unsportsmanlike conduct by a teammate in the following game. Players don't want a big brother. They want a coach, and they want to win games. And the students booing their own team? Times have changed. Reminds me of our loss to Purdue in 1954. Pur- due fans sat watching in buses in dis- belief while our student body waited at the exit and carried our team out on our shoulders — in pouring rain. Let's wake up the echoes! Mack Hicks '57 St. Petersburg, Fla. SO, WHAT IS IT WITH THIS TEAM? It can win at Texas A&M, then lose at home to NIU. They were capable of hanging 66 points on Purdue, then struggle to remove self-imposed chains versus Miami (Ohio). They began Sat- urday by fumbling the opening kickoff and giving the Cardinals a 24-yard field and the opening lead 7-0. Then they play like a world-beater for exactly one quarter, then they fumble again at their own 20-yard line to let the Cardinals quickly back in the game. In the end, Louisville outgained ND by 130 yards but ND hung on for the win. So, what is it with this team? By the time they play USC in their regular-season finale, we may have a different view of the Irish. They do have two three-game sets and two bye weeks coming up. This next week is off and perhaps this will allow several Irish starters to recover from their injuries, including defensive backs Benjamin Morrison and Christian Gray as well as wide receiver Jordan Faison to heal. Maybe the time off will give quarterback Riley Leonard time to find his absent downfield passing game. J.M. Walsh '63 SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS In Jack Soble's Sept. 28 article, the proverbial goalposts keep moving to justify Riley Leonard as Notre Dame's starting quarterback. Now, Leonard's threat as a runner is the litmus test. Before that, he was touted as an elite dual-threat quarterback and an upgrade over Sam Hartman and Drew Pyne, who was 8-2 as the Irish quarterback in 2022 with a 155.3 QB rating. Through four games in 2024, Leonard's passer rating is 110.3. Leonard was anointed as the starter after his NIL deal despite missing most of spring practice. Steve Angeli, in his third year as a backup, has performed at a high level in mop-up duty last year, in the 2023 Sun Bowl and in the 2024 Blue Gold Game. It is a sad state of affairs in college football when Angeli and other players who are loyal to the university that recruited them are not afforded the opportunity to compete for a starting position. Larry Keough FAN FORUM BE HEARD! Send your letters to: sdowney@comanpub.com or mail to: Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 From Sept. 23 to Sept. 30, the Notre Dame men's basketball program received verbal commitments from four prospects ranked among the top 125 nationally by On3: power forward Brady Koehler (No. 114), small forward Jalen Haralson (No. 25), small forward Ryder Frost (No. 97) and center Tommy Ahneman (No. 57). As of Oct. 10, Notre Dame's 2025 class was rated No. 4 in the 2025 On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings — behind only No. 1 Kentucky, No. 2 Arkansas and No. 3 Houston. Here's what some Irish fans had to say about that development on our message board at BlueandGold.com. PortND: ND has upped its NIL game and decided to compete. Had to think this was a factor when you look at some of the kids' rankings who visited ND and never would of profiled to ND in the past. Great sign indeed. fedman: Agree 100 percent. Give Coach Shrewsberry credit, but the way ND is embracing NIL has given him two extra Aces up his sleeve that prior coaches did not have. Xray93: I'm more excited for basketball than I have been in a long time. Looking forward to seeing the team grow this year, too! fedman: I expect vast improvement in the 2024-25 team. While not a tourna - ment team, I expect them to be competitive in every game with a goal of a win- ning season and 10-10 in the ACC. That would set them up nicely for the 2025-26 season when this great recruiting class enters the program. PortND: I agree, there is a progression and ND still has a lot of flaws and players with some deficiencies. I'd like to see double-digit wins in the ACC and talk of be - ing a bubble team. 2025-26 should be a tournament team provided Burton is still on the roster but let's also not overrate this recruiting class because Haralson is the only ready-made recruit, the other three are development kids who are going to take some time to develop. Reality is Haralson will be gone by the time the big and Kohler are truly ready to be performers. Boxer1968: I think Frost will be able to step in and help — if he can handle the defensive end. FROM THE WEBSITE .com .com JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! New subscribers: Use Promo Code Join50 To SAVE 50% off your first year! Should head coach Marcus Freeman have benched sophomore safety Adon Shuler (above) for the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty he incurred against Miami (Ohio) Sept. 21? PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER