Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/76097
midweek interview when he made a clear delineation between the players he has recruited and those who were on campus when he arrived. "You can see the players that I have re- cruited, you know who they are," Kelly said. "The other guys here are coming along. It's a process. It can't happen over- night. They're getting it. They're making good progress." Several upperclassmen took to social me- dia to crow back at their coach about their "progress." The comments seemed to cause a locker room rift, but Kelly apologized during a team meeting later that week. All wounds were healed by the time the team took out its frustrations in a 56-14 win over Navy that Saturday. at least temporarily derailed this winter on its way to the Notre Dame football locker room. Kelly appeared for a second straight year to be bringing in the type of elite ath- leticism that doesn't make its way to South Bend as much as it used to, but four de- parted in a span of four months. Ronald Darby, the top cornerback pros- The gravy train of top football talent was 7. TOP TALENT DEFECTIONS he had in early enrollee cornerback Tee Shepard, who would have battled for a starting spot this fall if not for leaving school in March. He certainly knew what he had in Aaron Lynch. The Freshman All-American was perhaps the biggest hit of the long stretch of defections when he packed his bags for his home in Florida midway through spring practice. championship this year rested on the shoulders of Muffet McGraw and the Irish women's basketball team. For the second year in a row, McGraw's team came up one game short in another remarkable season filled with far more peaks than valleys. The Irish set scoring records as they Notre Dame's best hope for a national 8. TWICE IS NOT SO NICE blazed through the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament before knocking off archrival UConn in a memorable Final Four overtime victory. Baylor and its 6-8 star, Brittney Griner, were head and shoul- ders above the rest of the NCAA and ended Notre Dame's title hopes with an 80-61 win in the championship game. pect in the country according to 247Sports, was the first to change his mind during the first week of January. Three weeks later, fellow five-star recruit Deontay Greenberry surprised the Irish staff by inking a letter of intent with Houston on National Sign- ing Day. "For me, it's hard to be disappointed about something you never had or you never coached," Kelly said. He knew at least a little about what It was well overdue, but the $50 million Compton Family Ice Arena may have been worth the wait. Notre Dame's hockey team moved into its new building shortly after the 2011-12 season began. The 5,022-seat arena was a major step forward for a pro- gram that has been on the rise since head coach Jeff Jackson arrived seven years ago. The christening didn't go as well as planned when the Irish, ranked No. 1 by some polls to start the year, sputtered in the 9. BREAKING THE ICE IN COMPTON AUGUST 2012 97