Welcome to the anti-preview for the annual Notre Dame Blue-Gold game. It’s been a loud spring but also a quiet one for the Irish. The three transfers (Kiel, Neal, & Ferguson) certainly made a whole lot of noise, but that’s really about it. Sure, there are curiously closer looks at players like Cam McDaniel, Jarrett Grace, Elijah Shumate, and others- as well as the team starting to form its identity for 2013 and developing its leadership hierarchy. Sure.
In all seriousness, the spring game (and spring practice itself) is more like a cheatsheet written by a dyslexic friend. Most of the pieces are there- but not all of it. It’s also in a weird and almost cryptic order. Good luck guessing what it all means.
Despite ALL of that- we love spring football. Why? IT’S FOOTBALL! Let’s get this anti-preview rolling and cozy up to some Notre Dame football…
Blue VS Gold
This is the how we divide the game- or so I’m told. It was announced that this particular version of Notre Dame’s spring game will be offense versus defense. The offense will be WHITE and the defense will be BLUE, which begs the question… HOW IS THIS STILL THE BLUE GOLD GAME???!!!
I guess we’ll survive, and the game will be played on in blue and white, but there are a few players that won’t see any action due to injury but will return in fall camp:
Corey Robinson WR eeFreshman
Dan Fox LB Senior
Amir Carlilse RB Junior
Bennett Jackson CB Senior
Nickey Baratti S Sophomore
Players that have been banged up but will still play Saturday:
DaVaris Daniels WR Junior
Lo Wood CB Senior
Chris Brown WR Sophomore
And that’s about that. Now on to the fun stuff…
What Should You Be Drinking?
I gave this far too much thought, but after tossing it around for a few minutes, I figured that we could probably do two different drinks since this is an intra squad scrimmage. Pick one or be a certifiable badass and drink both:
The Godfather
1 part Amaretto
1 part Bourbon
Pour into an ice filled highball glass. Stir. Eliminate all enemies.
Beer
Vague, I know. I don’t like pushing a certain beer on you like some crazy hippie wannabe. Beer is a personal, private, and spiritual choice. If you like to know I’m drinking Saturday…
What Should You Be Eating?
Go ahead- get sassy. Seriously.
Sassy Tailgate Sandwich
1 (12 count) package Hawaiian bread rolls
1 pound shaved Black Forest ham
12 slices Gruyere cheese
1 (8 ounce) tub PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon dried minced onion
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1. Cut all rolls in half. Place roll bottoms in 9×13-inch pan.
2. Place equal amounts of ham on each roll bottom. Top with Gruyere.
3. On each of the roll tops, spread a generous amount of the cream cheese spread. Return the tops to the bottoms making sandwiches.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, Worcestershire sauce, onion and Parmesan cheese. Pour over your sandwiches and let sit for at least 20 minutes. (You can make these ahead of time and allow to sit in fridge overnight.)
5. Place sandwiches, covered in foil, in a preheated 350 degrees F oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until warmed through.
Irish Stew
Not only is it time for the spring game, it’s time to kick off the marketing campaign for the 2013 season. Yep. The Shirt will be unveiled Friday. I’m just going to forget the many abominations during the past decade, and hope for the best. Here’s the promo from ND. Not much to go on, but the color could be… wait for it… BLACK. Just a guess based on a 2 minute video and Kelly wearing gray and black during the spring. I should have joined the FBI.
Tweeter
“Oh, toilets can be flushed? I had no idea!” -apparently everyone in dorm i live in.
— lOUIS NIX III (@1IrishChocolate) April 8, 2013
Kelly said team worked on the triple-option with Nix, Tuitt & Stockton in the backfield. Said Nix isn’t very good in the shotgun. #NotreDame
— Rachel Terlep (@eTruth_Irish) April 17, 2013
Offensive MVP
Cam McDaniel. This is one of those “Catch 22” things. Before I get into anything more. let me just say that I think Cam McDaniel is a very talented running back that absolutely will contribute in 2013. With that said, I also think he is limited in some respects and proclamations of him becoming the “starter” are optomistic at best (sorry).
In the spring game, the Irish are down to just 3 serviceable backs in McDaniel, Atkinson, and Mahone. We will get our first real decent look at Mahone agter he redshirted during his freshman year in 2012.
Cam should get a pretty large share of the workload both running the ball and catching the ball out of the backfield, all the while he will be racking up some numbers.
Let the Cam McDaniel hype machine throw the throttle into high gear.
Defensive MVP
Elijah Shumate. This was a pretty tough choice to make. This defense has a lot of veteran playmakers and it also has some young talent coming up the pipeline as well.
In 2012, the Irish defense was supposed to have a very inexperienced, if not weak, secondary. That was the case, I suppose, but the unit rose to the occasion and delivered far more than it stumbled and it did it with young players filling in for injured players.
This is what gets me fired the fuck up. Production, developed out of nowhere.
In the spring game, I expect to see a lot out of Shumate. Reports have been very good about the physicality and the athleticism that Shumate has displayed thus far. With that, I suggest that we will see him all over the field and be involved with several turnovers.
Something Else To Watch For
Really the list is long, but also predictable. Still, Brian Kelly talked about “not hiding” anything in the spring game and the evolution of Everett Golson. I want to see his command, leadership, and the tempo of the offense. I want to see how crisp they can make this thing look. The Irish offense is lacking in proven offensive firepower, so those things mean a great deal. We are going to need Golson to really take this offense over and make it his bitch. Domination? Yep. It’s needed.
At The End Of The Day…
We may come out o the spring with more questions than we came in with, but they should be closer to all of those answers. Understand? Yeah, I have trouble with that one too, but that’s what spring football gives us- well that and injuries.
For the most part, I expect we will see more good than bad and we will see less than more. The best thing to get from all of this is that Notre Dame has an experienced starting quarterback (11-1 as a starter) coming back as the ABSOLUTE number one. We haven’t had that in Kelly’s time at Notre Dame. Hell, we haven’t had that since 2009. I’m excited- are you?!
