Quote Of The Day: "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer" - Sun Zhu
With the conclusion of another weekend in April, college football saw more spring games played across the country. Some of the headliners for this weekend included USC, Texas, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Oregon. With a big September 3rd matchup against the Irish, it may have piqued the interest of some Buckeye fans to see what they had going on over in South Bend
Irish Spring Game Takeaways
It is never easy to get a gauge on how a team is actually going to perform in the fall based on a spring game, but there are definitely some observations that were easy to make
The first thing that was obvious in Notre Dame's scrimmage on Saturday is that they sorely need Tyler Buchner to be 100% healthy this season. Buchner suffered a sprained ankle just a couple days before the spring game, and was withheld for that reason. The QBs that did play on Saturday did anything but impress. Buchner when healthy is definitely a difference maker as a signal caller, being rated as a 5-Star prospect in the class of 2021. He saw some action last season from time to time, and he is a name Ohio State fans should keep a close eye on. Jim Knowles and his defense are going to have to make sure they bring it on September 3rd.
Offense last year wasn't Notre Dame's strength, but their defense really started to play some good football later on in the season. They lose 2021 All American Safety Kyle Hamilton to the draft, but have replaced him with Northwestern transfer Brandon Joseph, who was an All-American in the 2020 season. Al Golden has been hired at defensive coordinator after Marcus Freeman was promoted to Head Coach, but this unit will very much have Freeman's fingerprints on it. Golden was most recently the Linebackers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals, and his last gig as a defensive coordinator was at Virginia from 2001 to 2005. His first game back in the defensive coordinator role will come against Ryan Day and CJ Stroud... good luck Al.
Quinn Ewers Makes His Debut For Texas
Quinn Ewers is probably the weirdest recruiting story surrounding Ohio State in the past ten years. Committed back in the fall of 2020, Ewers was originally a class of 2022 prospect before reclassifying to 2021 in late July of last year. Whatever transpired, transpired, and Ewers found himself in the portal just a few short months later.
Ewers, who originally committed to Texas, transferred back home to play for the Longhorns, and this weekend we got our first glimpse at him in the Burnt Orange. In the Spring Game, Ewers was able to connect for a 62-Yard TD that was awfully impressive, but outside of that, he looked very uncomfortable in the pocket. This doesn't mean much going forward, as we've seen countless QBs be inconsistent in a spring game, and go on to have great seasons (Justin Fields in 2019). Texas has a lot of weapons coming back this season, and should have one of the top offenses in College Football. If Ewers is able to win the starting job over Hudson Card, he should have no problem racking up stats in Austin.
Quiet Week For Ohio State
After the spring game in Columbus last weekend, that earned the Buckeyes a couple commitments on Easter Sunday, all has been pretty quiet. Outside of Ohio State getting left out of Cedric Baxter Jr's top 5, which came as a bit of a surprise, nothing much has changed. We will be keeping a close eye this week on the class of 2024, as Dylan Raiola is still on #BoomWatch. There is no set timeline for a commitment, but I would not be surprised if it comes this spring or summer.
Thanks for stopping in. Don't let Monday get to you. Greet it with a smile, and kick some ass. Go Bucks!