Sometimes you just have to gamble and go all in!..... GO IRISH!

A good gambler doesn't need the best cards

in every hand to enjoy success...

The way you play, with what you're given...is what makes 

a consistent winner!

The way you hold your cards, your facial expression.

The tone of your voice..the way you stack your chips!

The attacks you make....pinpoint and critical!

Then every now and then you have to just go ALL IN!

This can pay off, or it can back fire!

This is the position of the Notre Dame Defense this season

by my opinion...

ag-gre-ssion: noun

1. Hostile or violent behavior or attitudes

toward another ; readiness to attack

or to confront. 

This is what I've heard about the new defensive 

scheme...We are going to play AGGRESSIVE with 

an emphasis on attacking. 

The "bend but don't break" mentality is gone now!

This will create two situations...

1. More "BIG PLAYS" on defense...I expect to see a 

defense that will go after the QB and the ball aggressively!

Different stunts...and personnel packages, due to 

the influx of speed and young talent.

This will have the DBs in man coverage most of the time and 

will attack the QB with multiple looks and blitz packages!

2. This will make us more vulnerable to offensive "BIG PLAYS"

We are GOING TO GET BURNT here and there.

The difference this season...Can we survive the games

that we are burnt in, by outscoring our opponents due to 

having the proper offense?

Look...Nix and Tuitt are gone!

We are going to have to gamble to be efficient!

It's an odd situation...we upgraded at almost EVERY 

position group in the past three years as far 

as talent...now we have to develop and train the 

young talent to perform!

In 2012 I remember the message board 

couch coaches screaming "THE SKY IS FALLING" with 

our DB situation...We had Bennett and Russell, two players

NOT recruited to play DB, and Farley a kid that 

had only played limited time in High School and at WR!

But we had speed...

You can make up for a lack of experience with speed!

But you can't make up for a lack of speed with experience!

That was my message in 2012 and look how that went?

We have the horses now...young aggressive THOROUGHBRED 

studs at almost every position on the defense...now we just need 

to set them loose in the right scheme...

2014's D will be as dominant, if the coaches can develop 

the talent....The verdict is just not in yet! 

What are our hole cards?

1. Talent- We are deep at certain spots and thin at others

but we have young aggressive talent that shows no

celling as far as their abilities!

Jaylon Smith:

This season we will actually see

Jaylon. Freshmen year it was more "See ball..

now got get ball!"...Now his understanding of the 

game. His ability to read plays..to position himself

should make him a household name by week three!

Cole Luke:

Cole was thrust into action, and by pure talent alone 

was not a liability but a tremendous asset.

Speed and closing ability make him special..now 

with the opportunity to take the starting CB 

position, the sky's the limit...but he's got Devin Butler 

to talk to about that campaign!

Jarron Jones:

WHO IS JARRON JONES?

This kid is a complete bi-polar mystery to me!

He played like a man possessed at times last season!

BYU linemen are still having flashbacks of him 

destroying their running back!

What and who will he be this season?

2. Experience

 We have kids on this D that have played in 

almost every game since they arrived at ND!

Sheldon Day- BREAKOUT YEAR

Russell-BREAKOUT YEAR

We need our experience to rise up on the field!

-Ishaq Williams

-Austin Collingsworth 

-Mathias Farley

It's time...you've faced some of the best teams in the

country...now experience should help with that next 

step in evolving their game!

3. Re-Enforcements

I told a guy February tenth that this might be the 

best class Kelly has landed since his arrival!

I don't care about the stars!

I don't care about the ranking!

I see talent...deep developable talent!

We need some of this talent to emerge!

We saw freshmen arrive and contribute last season, 

this season in my opinion will be NO DIFFERENT!

I don't see many breaking the depth chart offensively!

But I see several that can be difference makers right away

on D!

-Nyles Morgan?

With Grace and Councell hurt and with an 

undetermined return date?...Morgan has a 

chance to contribute right away!

-Pete Mokwuh?

Running the 4-3 opens the door for Pete to, 

if properly conditioned, make a tremendous impact

quickly!...

-Jay Hayes

-Andrew Trumbetti

-Kolin Hill

-Grant Blankenship

-Drue Tranquill 

We have BIG kids with athletic ability just 

chomping at the bit to play and make plays!

This is the first class in years with this many over 6'3 

athletes that can lose weight and move position or 

gain weight and move position!

These guys are multi-functional players!

We have questions on D....that's no mystery!

But we have the pieces in place, and soon to arrive

to make us a very LARGE PAIN IN THE ASS for

opposing O-coordinators! 

 This may come as a shock to some...but word is we 

were moving in a new direction defensively either 

way from what I'm hearing!

This guy wins...he's coached in the best conference 

in college football and at the biggest stage in the NFL!

I've got little doubt he'll have us ready!

But we are gonna have to flip a coin here and there!

JAMESON DOUCHE BAG OF THE WEEK!

This week the Jameson Douchebag of the week?

The bad 20% of the Notre Dame Fan base!

It's like religion...

The Jewish think they are right!

The Baptists are sure!

The Catholics are convinced their correct!

The Mormons want to show everyone 

the "truth"

So they fight, argue and shed blood...

Yet they all have the same goal...to walk with our 

Heavenly Father!

-Facebook Pages

-Blogs

-Chatrooms

-Forums

-Websites

-Twitter

STOP THE INSANITY of bashing each other 

when we all want the same thing!

For NOTRE DAME to enjoy success!

I live in the worst sports city in America...believe me!

I know UN-RATIONAL!....Stop giving them a run for 

their money!....We are all IRISH FANS!

Stop the trolling...and bashing and personal attacks!

This was just an example...this was a post on 

Facebook for a blog...it was, as you can tell, not received 

very well!

But for some reason the "dislike" of the post ended up 

being all the Damefan's  fault!

Not the 14 people who agreed with me...not the 

other comments around mine...just me?..

Now at the end of the day a guy like me FEEDS off

this type of insecurity...but not everyone is like me!

We aren't gonna all see eye to eye...but if you don't 

relax...let it go and realize we are all gonna have

different views!

Hell I wonder if people who like my blog read it more than

people that hate my guts that don't know me and have

never met me! LOL!... 

Let's just for the lack of a better way of saying it...

"Get along!"

GO IRISH and GOD BLESS!