Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/864798
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2017 5 FAN FORUM A TRUE PLAYERS' COACH Here's my favorite Ara Parseghian story: My cousin Neil Putnam was a start- ing guard for Ara at Miami (Ohio) in the 1950s. He went on to coach football for years at the college level, eventually serving as the athletics di- rector at Lafayette College. Around a decade ago, Neil was travelling on the Indiana Turnpike and decided to peel off at South Bend to say hello to Ara. Neil located Ara's office. At first, Ara's secretary told Neil that the coach was in a meet- ing and she couldn't interrupt him. On second thought, she asked Neil to wait while she checked with the coach. In seconds, Ara bounced out of his office and gave Neil a big hug, call- ing him "the old redhead," although Neil's hair had long since faded to grey. Ara loved his old players. Some people might have been too busy to see Neil, but not Ara. This vignette is a nice reminder of the kind of person Ara Parseghian was. Ed Adams ND Law '63 Cincinnati THE WRITE STUFF The 160-page 2017 "Run To G l o r y " Ye a r- book you pro- d u c e d t h i s summer is yet another stel- l a r i s s u e o f Blue & Gold Illustrated. In an age when over-hype is the norm and balladeers need flashing lights and fireworks to sell their songs, your beautiful prose on paper presentation of Notre Dame football is a treasure. It's Crosby, Fitzgerald, Sinatra and Cole at their finest. A few tidbits: • Being of an age when I don't buy green bananas, I don't bother reading Notre Dame's football schedule in the 2020s and the 2030s, nor spending too much time contemplating past Notre Dame heroics. However, I did enjoy reading your, "Green Machine." • On page 4, you have Coach Kelly quoting a Biblical passage about Abraham dying leaning on his staff, which reminded me of Abraham tak- ing his staff, hitting a rock and finding water. It must have been a three iron, because every time I use a three iron I also find water. Bryan Driskell in "Resurrection" writes of Coach Mike Elko's "bar stan- dard." Hopefully this means we can expect the fifth quarters this season to be "Happy Hours." Sure hope so, because I'm running out of time. Matt Hart Trenton, Mich. Mr. Hart, thank you for your review! We sold out of the print edition this year, but anyone that forgot to order a copy can still buy the digital version on our website at BlueGoldOnline.com. ROOKIE MISTAKES Please have your writers stop us- ing terms like "redshirt freshman" or "true freshman." If a player is there one year, but held out the first year he is a "redshirt freshman." If the player is there one year and plays he is a "true fresh- man." What else could he be? Announcers and writers are add- ing "cutesy" sayings every year that don't do anything but bore us. I'm still trying to understand why scor- ing a touchdown is "taking it to the house." Paul Dici Elwood City, Pa. Mr. Dici, We generally refrain from using "red- shirt seniors, juniors or sophomores," but we do believe a distinction sometimes has to be made with freshmen because of the way it has been misused. For example, when Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Tro- phy in 2012, he was publicized nationally as the "first freshman to win the award." That was not an accurate representa- tion. Manziel was in his freshman year with the Aggies in 2011 (in fact, he was an early entrant that spring) but was red- shirted that season. So he was actually a sophomore during the 2012 season, not a freshman. It would have been like saying that Terry Hanratty and Coley O'Brien were "freshman" quarterbacks for Notre Dame's 1966 national champs just be- cause they didn't play in 1965 (when the NCAA did not permit freshmen to compete). For Notre Dame players, we will use the academic class year, or refer to current players such as right tackle Tommy Krae- mer or running back Tony Jones Jr., as sophomores instead of redshirt freshmen. For opponents, though, we will note that someone who might be listed as a "freshman" on their depth chart is either a true freshman or redshirt to clarify the actual listing of class by the opponent. BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: lsomogyi@blueandgold.com FROM THE WEBSITE On BlueandGold.com this month, one of the topics centered on Notre Dame starting 6-0 en- tering the Oct. 21 USC game, just like in 2014 when Notre Dame was 6-0 entering the Florida State game. The schedule is described as "favor- able" — although it supposedly was last year during a 4-8 meltdown. NDcummins: If we can somehow stop Georgia running the ball then we have a good chance of beating them. Maybe I'm drinking the Irish Kool- Aid but I really like our chances of being 6-0 or at worst 5-1. Benko's Army: We started 6-0 in 2014. We started 10-1 in 2015. Both years with a less-than- stellar defensive coordinator. No reason to think we can't do it again. BGIUser 756: Though all good changes on staff, 5-1 is my best hope. Chamgel: Hoping for a 4-1 September. Anything worse could lead to another long season as the schedule gets more difficult after September. Santabarbara: No way — 20 years of mediocre football has made me cynical. (One good year where everything went perfectly the exception) MichiganIrishman: Beat UGA and we are 6-0. LD83: Georgia will run wild. Anything is pos- sible, but I predict 4-2. Soco24: Absolutely. Maybe I'm drinking the Kool-Aid but I don't see any reason why the ND offense can't average 40 points a game. Just means the defense has to be a little bit better than last year. Irishnatty: I have us at 6-0 going into USC at home, though I do have it as one of our two losses on the year. Zznd1: I'll pick 4-2 as the most likely. UDPride: I would just like to beat Temple first. That's no guarantee. Dmdurand: I'm still waiting for Kelly to win a big game. Pass me the smoke and maybe I'll feel better about starting off at 29 in the coaches poll. 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ISSUE RUN TO GLORY $11.95 ✦ WWW.BLUEANDGOLD.COM Workhorse running back Josh Adams and Notre Dame aim for a resurgence this fall Brian Kelly Discusses Program Changes Page 28 Quarterback Brandon Wimbush Page 48