Those you of you who haven't seen the videos of Notre Dame's first padded practice, let me run a few observations by you. I will say, through all and all, I liked what I saw.
- Eric Olsen (JR/#55/LG) is now my favorite ND player. Have you seen this guy? I will tell you what, he reminds me of a former ND mauler, Jeff Faine. His arms tattooed and a nasty attitude that he shows everytime he blocks someone. During one of his one-on-one drills against Kuntz, he earned himself a pancake block. He absolutely humiliated Kuntz causing a roar of cheers from his fellow lineman.
- Chris Stewart (JR/#59/RG) is looking like he could be that missing link the line needed last year. He's BIG, nasty, and moves incredible well. Not to mention, mixed with Sam Young (6'8" 330lbs) you could see a lot of those run plays right up his hind-end. This kid was showing emotion on every play. That's what I was looking for. And teamed up with Olsen in the middle, I look for a lot of those crafty draws they use to run with Walker to break for some solid yardage this year. The kind of plays we were waiting to see Allen actually get in and make.
- Robert Hughes (SO/#33/HB) looks like he's gaining momentum as the feature back. I know I know, it's only the first week of practice, but on film, Hughes was getting the most work with the 1st team. I have always been a solid Aldridge fan (I still am) but watching him make some of the runs that he did, I'm becoming more and more of a Hughes fan. He's quick through the hole, he sees the openings well, he's hard to tackle (no one tackled him first try) and my god did he show some speed, outrunning McNeil to the endzone on a 21 yard TD scamper. My only gripe about him is when he gets into the line after he has the ball. For a guy that is 237 lbs., you would think that he would be looking to hit someone to create for himself, but his case is the opposite. Hughes takes the hand-off, finds the hole, and then looks to make cuts and slide steps. If he would hit the hole like Aldridge and Allen (who still runs the hardest of all of them) then he would gaurantee himself 3 yards, regardless of when he gets hit. Put a shoulder down first and you've got my overwhelming support Robert!
- Harrison Smith (rFR/#22/LB) made me smile on one play. Hughes ran off tackle to the right and Smith came up and laid a smack right on him. I mean, usually a defender is coming up and tackling the runner as he gains a few yards after the initial contact. With Smith being a lighter LB, he came right up and made the hit, taking Hughes down immediately. I have been praying for a player/LB like this for a long time. Someone who can fly all over the field and yet still lay a lick down on a player. This is going to be a guy to watch this year!
- Newman is BIG!
- Newman is REALLY BIG!
- Jonas Gray (FR/#25/HB) is looking like he has all the makings for a truely dominant RB in this offense. Imagine Darius Walker, only good (those who know me knows I wasn't a huge fan). Hughes, Aldridge, and Allen had better be careful, because this guy is going to make some noise if any of you slip up. (Don't you get the feel of a USC type stable of running backs with the verbal of Wood for 2009?)
- And it looks like at least one of my prayers has been answered, as it seems to appear that Turkovich (SR/#77/LT-LG) has moved ahead of Duncan (SR/#72/LT-LG) for the starting left tackle position. Duncan was working with the 2nd team offense at LG. I'm not going to get emotional here, but I wanted to put my hand in a frying pan everytime I watched Duncan "attempt" to block anybody last year. I'm a big "Turk" fan right now!
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Left tackle still scares me. I was hoping that we would have a starter there, in place, penciled in, named, no doubt, concrete. I like that there is competition, but this is one area that has been under a microscope all off season. We should know our line. Only time will tell, go get'em Turk.
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