Well folks, with basketball season now officially behind us (except for the WNBA and it’s May-September(ish) schedule), it’s time to turn our collective sports fan attention to enjoying the summer slog of professional baseball and discussing at-length the hypotheticals of the coming football season.
With that agenda ahead, of course we have begun thinking about Notre Dame football and whether or not all of Brian Kelly’s new assistant coaches will enable the team to significantly improve on the 2016 fiasco.
Lou Somogyi at BlueAndGold.com recently wrote an article about what Las Vegas thinks, as the official over-under has been set for the Irish at 7.5 wins, which is 2 fewer than 2016’s preseason over-under number.
I’ve become a major pessimist recently as it comes to ND football, so I think I might take the under and say the Irish will finish with 7 wins this season. However, there’s still a small part of me deep down screaming that 8 or 9 wins is possible.
For now I’ll keep drowning that voice out with a healthy mix of Cathy Richardson and “Crazy Train,” but who knows what will happen, considering Notre Dame never seems to meet expectations anymore?
Poll
What do you think of 7.5 wins in 2017 as the over-under?
This poll is closed
-
75%
I’m taking the over, Brandon Wimbush is going to tuck Irish nation under his arm and whisk us away to a national title
-
22%
I’m taking the under, because I’m much more realistic and cranky, and I’m too used to being disappointed to have hope anymore
-
2%
I’m saying it’ll be a push, because I don’t understand how this works
Notre Dame Baseballers Gettin’ Drafted All Over the Place
I don’t have much of a comment here because I don’t follow the Irish baseball program closely enough (although this kind of talent on the team is pretty surprising considering I’ve heard ND didn’t do too well this past season), but the Notre Dame baseball team saw three players get drafted in the first 7 rounds of the MLB Draft, which is pretty cool.
Congrats to Peter Solomon on being selected by @astros!
— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) June 13, 2017
He becomes the 8th player to go in the first 10 rounds of @MLBDraft under @MikAoki9 pic.twitter.com/AFk7F5FxqW
Lucky number seven for the Irish!
— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) June 13, 2017
Congrats to Sean Guenther (@Marlins) & Brad Bass (@tigers) on their selections in the 7th round. pic.twitter.com/gbwqxje39S
Congrats to Peter, Sean, and Brad, and hopefully they follow in the footsteps of Trey Mancini, who has been tearing it up for the Baltimore Orioles this season.
Oh, also, a Notre Dame baseball commitment got drafted pretty early on, and his name is dope. It warrants inclusion here, for sure.
The #Reds take SS Cash Case with the 107th pick of @MLBDraft. Case among @Cut4's best names in 2017 #MLBDraft class: https://t.co/fLUaMSyFXT pic.twitter.com/jBAkYGJ9NF
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 13, 2017
The Irish Officially Welcome Juwan Durham to the Squad
Notre Dame officially welcomed Juwan Durham to the program this week, and Mike Brey sounds pretty damn excited.
Check out the story on UND.com to see what Brey had to say about the promising big man and to see a lot more information on Durham’s high school accomplishments, family members, and that he has two middle names (Josiah, Larry).
Speaking of Transfers...
Everyone’s favorite football player who committed to a school by pulling a bus to reveal a logo on the pavement has decided on his landing spot.
Parker Boudreaux, former Notre Dame interior offensive lineman who was voted “Most Louisianan Name on the Team” by me, has chosen to play ball close to home at Central Florida.
I plan on coming back home and attending UCF #ChargeOn
— Parker Boudreaux (@ParkerBoudreaux) June 14, 2017
Seems like it will work out well for him to be close to family and continue his football career, so I wish you the best, Parker, and thank you for following me on Twitter one time (along with like a million other strangers) before unfollowing me at some later, unknown time. That meant a lot.
For What It’s Worth, These Commitments Are Rock Solid
Finally, Notre Dame had its big camp and recruiting event this past weekend, Irish Invasion, and a couple promising affirmations of commitment came out of it, as key recruits DT Jayson Ademilola and RB Markese Stepp both made sure to state that they are solid to Notre Dame.
Four-star RB Markese Stepp is fully committed to the Irish. Plans on signing early with #NotreDame https://t.co/pqbyLgOE2X @markese_stepp pic.twitter.com/oAyI4gb4Mj
— Tom Loy (@TomLoy247) June 13, 2017
ICYMI Big news: #NotreDame DT commit Jayson Ademilola completely shuts down recruitment following trip to South Bend https://t.co/KA7EaPP6k4 pic.twitter.com/0iRk6HJ2PN
— Tom Loy (@TomLoy247) June 13, 2017
Obviously these days recruits say this all the time only to change their minds later, but it’s definitely encouraging that the commit who is shooting up the rankings right now (Ademilola) and the one who has been a key recruiter of other prospects but who has been checking out a few other schools (Stepp) are both publicly stating how committed they are.
Ademilola “shutting down” his recruitment especially seems like a serious gesture, so hopefully these two future starters remain firmly committed and continue to help bring in other prospects to a class that could see some turbulence, depending on how the 2017 season goes.