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Notre Dame Football Mailbag - Part I

Irish Breakdown

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Irish Breakdown answers questions about Notre Dame Football, College Football, Irish Recruiting and much more in the latest Notre Dame Football Mailbag! This is part one of the show.

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Notre Dame Football Mailbag - Part I

Irish Breakdown

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Irish BreakdownNotre Dame Football Mailbag - Part I. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.

The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports. Right now, the NBA is heating up, March Manus is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news, and highlights all in one place. Dallow the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment. The Maps app that came with your phone, it's fine. If you enjoy waiting and guessing and inefficient routes, or you could use MapQuest, MapQuest is back with live directions, real-time traffic, and faster routes. It moves when you move. Best of all, no prints are needed, no paper, no more misterns, just you and the app. Get there fast with MapQuest. Download the MapQuest app on the app store or visit MapQuest.com. MapQuest, still getting you there.

Every team, every topic, everywhere. This is believed. Brian Diving into part two of the Iris Breakdown podcast brought to you by our friends over at BANDULE. We got a mailbag to take us home today, and basically the rest of today's show is going to be dedicated to answering your guys' questions around, you know, really any college football topics. Noter name specifically, but it's the offseason. We were known to answer the occasional food question, movie question, all that, all that good stuff. Spring practice does start later this week, so if you want your questions answered, be sure to put an M.B. for mailbag or a mailbox emoji that lets us know to set that question aside. And then superchats also get bumped up to the top. And you can also feel free to throw in those in as well. Yep, absolutely, Travis.

So speaking of that, so I did tell you guys to hold off on getting some of your questions in about the press conference until we were done. So now you can get those in if you have some questions about the press conference. We'll get those in now, too. But we did have a super chat from my guy Raymond Hartton. Raymond said, thank you all for the praise. I just really love this community. I won't know much until later this week, just wanted to say thank you all I.B. as the best. So we'll continue to keep you in our prayers, Ray and Ray said in the chat, he said he also isn't an Irish guy. Someone of Irish heritage like I am, who married into a woman of Italian heritage. So he feels the great parts of that, but then also the challenges of that, especially early in the marriage. But I appreciate you man and we look forward to keeping us posted on how things are going. So let's get back to the top treb and let's kick it off with our guy, Black Irish 864. Brian, who would be in your top eight safeties in Notre Dame? Here's my list, Kyle Hamilton, a low heat Gilman, Jaylen Elliott, Harrison Smith, Matthias

Farley, Drew Trankwell, and Elijah Schumay. So I would not have Drew Trankwell on there. I think Drew was like, so part of it is Chris is, I would imagine that you count. Drew Trankwell's year as the rover, as a safety, I don't. I kind of count that more as like a linebacker, the way that they used it. So I count Drew as more of a linebacker. Just off the top of my head, obviously Xavier Watts, I'm kind of working front to back. Xavier Watts is on there. I think that I would put Kyle Hamilton on there, even though again, Kyle's career just left a little bit to be desired because of the injury. Now, it wasn't anything that he did. He just had the one full years of starter during COVID, so that was a little shortened. Then he only plays six games next year, so just limited a little bit, but when he did play, he was really good. I would definitely have, if just Harrison Smith would definitely be on there, I'm going to hold off on some of the guys that you mentioned, because I'm going to go back like I lean towards

a low heat. But I'm going to have, I'm going to have Glenn Aroll on there. I'm going to have, thinking of some different, I mean, it's hard for me not, I know the defense dunk, but Kyle McCarty was super productive in his career in Notre Dame. He's a guy that I would consider being on that list. Tom Zabakowski was a big time playmaker. It's, you know, like I don't think Tom, he's like in that top three or four with guys like Watts, but Tom Zabakowski was super productive. Jerome Sap is a guy that's in the conversation for me. You know, Chris, I'm old enough to remember Pat Terrell, you know, Bobby Taylor played something. Jeff Burris is definitely going to be on my list, so that's another one that's definitely on my list. So Jeff Burris is on my list. So definitely have Xavier Watts, definitely have Kyle Hamilton, definitely have Harrison Smith, definitely have Glenn Aroll, definitely have Tom Zabakowski, that's five, definitely have Jeff Burris, definitely have Pat Terrell, that's seven, man, who would be my eight?

I mean, part of me wants to say Bobby Taylor, because he moved, he played both corner and safety and part of me wants to say a low he, but we only really got a low he for two seasons because of the injuries, yeah, I have to think about who that eighth one would be. There's a lot of good candidates, a lot of good candidates, but that's where I'm at right now with the seven that I said, I have to think about who that eighth one is Chris, because I feel like I'm missing somebody, feel like there's somebody from like the late, oh, one of my favorites. I don't know if he's one of the best, but I love to de Cooper as a player at Notre Dame. And he was kind of in the Bob Davey era, but I don't know if I'd consider him the best. I just liked watching de Cooper play, but there were some other guys that I really liked. I liked watching the Johnny Sanders play a lot, you know, so I feel like I'd be for I'm forgetting someone, but I have to go back and kind of think about that more, but that

would be mine, Trevor. Just off top of my head list. Yeah, my list to look a little bit different, just because my evaluation really starts at 2005 to now. So obviously Watts is on mine, Hamilton will be on mine, a Lohi Gilman's on mine. My list goes Xavier Watts, Kyle Hamilton, a Lohi Gilman, Elijah Shume, he's a very underrated part of that 2015 defense. Tom Zippekowski, I liked the Kyle McCarty pick, as he was just steady, very productive during his time at Notre Dame. I have Jaylen Elliott on there, and then honestly, just from 05 to now, I know his career is not done yet, but I have a Don Schuhler written on as a right now, because I think compared to some of the other guys that I have on my list, it's like, I think if I was building a team, if somebody asked me, who would I rather have Kyle McCarty or Don Schuhler, with all due respect to Kyle McCarty, I would take a Don Schuhler. And there's a couple of people on there on my list that I would take a Don Schuhler over, so that's probably where I'm at with mine. And by the end of this year, you might have both of the safeties on there.

Yeah. I mean, there's a chance for that, for sure. Absolutely. Good question, Chris. Very good question. From Blue Lobster 1000, I was wondering what you might think Rush Limbaugh would think of the state of the college football, NIL, etc. You know, God, I don't even want to pretend to be able to speak for someone as, I mean, my intellect is here, and I think Rush's intellect is there, and it's for those watching, listening on the podcast, it's higher than where mine is. Also someone who loves sports. He got his start working for the Kansas City Chiefs before he got into, to do in radio for politics, but I would think that his, I'm trying not to project my views onto him, but the reason I listen to Rush Limbaugh for so long is because he gave voice to things that I believed on a lot, not everything, but a lot of different issues. I would have to think that he would have a view of, I believe he'd be supportive of NIL,

like I am, but also disgusted with the fact that we're ruining what made the sport so good. Players were playing for free, or just getting, because I'm not one of those players were exploited. I don't think they were necessarily exploited. They were, they were not given their fair share, because for decades, the scholarship was incredibly valuable, because football wasn't generating the billions of dollars that is now in the early 80s, a scholarship met something to these players. It wasn't really until the TV deals of the late 80s and then in the 90s, where it started to really take off, and players were making beyond what their scholarship number might be, and they didn't do what they needed to do to get in line. And so the scholarship means something, but it wasn't enough once the sport exploded, and I think he would have been someone that would have supported the players getting a

piece of the pie, but not it turning into what it's turned into. And that's what I think his view would have been. I don't know, unfortunately, Rush passed a couple years ago, but that's kind of what I would think, Trevor. I think he'd be like a lot of older people that love the sport. Yeah, the players deserve this, but the way they're going about it is terrible. The conference expansion that's tearing up the rivalries, it's just destroying the fabric of regional rivalries and things like that, I don't think he would support that. That's just my opinion. I could be wrong, but again, I even hesitate to try to pretend to speak for Rush Limbaugh of what he would think about this, but I do think he'd have a strong opinion on it because he liked to talk about sports, but maybe that's me projecting my thoughts onto him, but I do think he's someone that would have been supportive of the revshare and players getting

an opportunity to make money off their name, image of likeness, which should have been done decades ago. Yeah. It's my turn. Two sets. I'm sorry, I meant that we got one from him, I'm going to go back to him, I meant to go to this one, sorry. From Sine Cossine Tangent, regarding the IB board topic of prespring intel, can you expand on more of what you meant with Micah Gilbert and the staff considering him Lenny's kryptonite because that has me excited? So I appreciate the question, but I don't want to expand on too much because there's a reason that I put it on the premium board because it's something that is really only there for the premium members, but basically what that means is if you're making plays on Leonard Moore, you're a really good player, and that's kind of what they've seen from Micah Gilbert, and that's why the intel about him was so intriguing.

But beyond that, you'll have to read for those of you on there, have to read, and then if you need further explanation, Sine, then just ask me in that thread, and I'll give further feedback on it in that actual thread. But Trev, you know, we're talking before the show, like that was, you know, the people that I was talking to, like there was a genuine cool man, like when you do these things and people know why I'm asking the questions, and they know what it's for, and you know, they want to, you know, they want to be positive about their players or the, you know, people in the program, and so you have to, you know, I've been doing this a long time, you get good at kind of differentiating between someone who's just like being positive and telling you the truth, but just being positive, like, oh, everybody's good. You should win 12 games and everyone of them by 40, and the people that are like genuinely excited about something that they're telling you, and the people that I've talked to about Michael Gilbert, like there's a genuine like, oh, oh, oh, man, wait till you see kind of thing with him.

So I'll leave it at that. And if you want further intel, you can, you can ask me on the, on the message board. From Mr. Meal Wagner, been a second sense we've seen you in here, but from Mr. Meal Wagner is Notre Dame still recording Kiemann Speller, have they moved on? I don't think they've moved on. I think that they're still going to talk to him, but I think they realize that that's not happening right now, and they are moving on. So it's a little bit of both. Are they still recruiting him? Yes. Have they moved on? Yes. And because they know right now, that's an unlikely situation, so yeah, that's, that's the best that I can, that's the best way to explain it to you is they've moved on, but like they're still communication, and if his attitude towards Notre Dame changes, then they would be able to quickly go in that direction, but I don't know that that's,

I mean, I didn't think they were going to have a shot to get him before he committed to Georgia. I've said this. I definitely don't think that that's the case now. So good question. From my guy, Joseph Bairg is getting right to the point, Trev. So Charles Jagassel ever played for Notre Dame again, for Notre Dame. If you ask me today, if you want my honest opinion, I'm going to say no, because I, and, and that's not a whole, but like we said at the start of the show, when regarding Charles Jagassel's injury, now it's just about the concern for him as a young man, not as a potential first round talent in the NFL draft, right guard, Charles Jagassel, it's Charles Jagassel's a person. Five surgeries with the fifth one being today in less than a year is not something that you get for just a run of the middle type of injury. Will he ever play for Notre Dame again? My opinion, it's a no, because not only will he have to work his way back from just having

a healthy arm, then he's going to have to get back into football shape. And in the meantime, you have guys like Sullivan ab sure that's going to continue to develop. Maddie Augustine, who's going to continue to develop, Tyler Merrill and Ben Nichols and all the guys on the roster still, Christopher Terrick, Peter Jones, guys like that. So no, there's just, it's, it's not just coming back and his arms good again and they just slot him right back into the starting line. There is a long road and I hope that I'm wrong. But the outlook right now is pretty murky, so if I had to say yes or no, as of today, I would say no, but I hope I'm wrong. Agree. We have a super tattoo just popped super chat, not a super tattoo, super chat that just popped up from our guide Drew, UT Iris 55. Appreciate the super chat, man. Any concerns that great shoulder injury will affect his ability to be physical in the nickel? No, because I don't think his injury is current. I don't think Christian Gray has a, a bum shoulder that is never going to heal.

I think it's something that like he dealt with last year. I think he's healed, he's good from it and I don't think it's going to be an issue for him. Now, if it could get re-injured and it becomes, then it becomes an issue. Yeah, I think it could become an issue. But as long as it doesn't re-occur, then I don't think it'll be an issue. But it's a very fair question because we just saw a lack of physicality from Christian early last season that never existed in 2024, ever. And, you know, I have to think that they think he's healed enough from that. They're not going to move him inside if they didn't think he could be physically be the, like from a physicality standpoint, be the kid he was in 2024. That's my, that's my two cents on that. Agreed. Thank you for the super chat, my man. I do appreciate that very, very much. Notre Dame Villain is the Wisconsin game going to be on NBC and Peacock or do you not know yet and do you know if it will be a day or night game? So we definitely, the one thing we don't know for sure is day or night.

The kickoff time has not been announced. What, there was a game, what game was it, was it floored, what, there was a game that was moved to Sunday night. And I, and I, was it Clemson Louisville or Clemson LSU? I think that game got moved to Sunday night. There was a game that got moved to Sunday night, which led some to believe that that means the Notre Dame game on Sunday could be a 330 kickoff or something like that. I don't know the answer to that question. The kickoff time has not been announced. The TV broadcast has not been announced either. I believe this is a Notre Dame home game, because as I was thinking about this, because the game that they played in Chicago was on Fox, which means it was a big 10 game. That would mean this isn't, so I would assume that this is going to be on NBC, but I don't believe they've announced that officially, but my expectation is it's going to be on

NBC. Yeah, especially since it's like the Shamrock series game, I would also think it would be like, because in 21, that wasn't the Shamrock series game. They just wore all uniforms. Yeah, it was a throwback kind of thing. But Wisconsin was considered to home team. They both ran, you kind of did throwbacks. But remember at the time, Big 10 was with Fox and ESPN. That was before they signed the NBC contract. I'd have to think that even if it was a Wisconsin home game, the NBC would be getting first dibs on this game. I would think. But I guess I believe this is considered a Notre Dame home game. And like you said, Trev, Shamrock series game, I fully expect them to think the game to be on NBC. Just don't know when it'll be right. And got off from Jay Melvin, Brian, does it irritate you as much as the joint conference line when you put something good out on social media about Mantine, some idiot brings up the girlfriend thing.

It doesn't irritate me because it makes me feel bad for the person that says that because some people are just really miserable in life. And they have very low IQs. And when somebody who's a miserable loser, exposes themselves as a miserable loser that doesn't irritate me, it kind of makes me feel bad for them. And because if like that's all, if like that's right where your mind goes, like I'm sorry, it sucks that you're stuck in junior high school, I'm sorry to hear that. But it did it first, but it doesn't anymore. The joint at conference stuff still bothers me when it comes from national people. I don't care that some knucklehead fan of a fan base I don't care about says something done like that because let's be real. All fan bases have people to say stupid things on social media. All that includes ours. So like that doesn't bother me. It's when I have to respond to it from someone who's got a platform.

It's like, dude, you're supposed to be better than this. You're supposed to hold yourself above the standard of some like normal, homer fan that just says any dumb thing that comes to his mind, like you're supposed to have a rational argument for joint at conference, you know, like give me a rash argument. I love the debate why they should or shouldn't do it beyond just because, you know, I just wouldn't need more than that. But yeah, that's kind of my, my two cents on that. What say you, Trevor? I mean, if somebody else is stuck in 2012, that doesn't bother me. That's, that is your own, I don't know what you call it, vindication. I guess you're prerogative. If that's where you want to be stuck in, that's fine. If you're going to still try to say, and I haven't, personally, I haven't seen anybody say that. No, very much. So if that's something you're going to say after an entire documentary comes out about it and after he has played college football and played an entire career in the NFL and has moved on to the next stage of his career and you're still bringing that up. And he's married. We've seen her.

She's beautiful. He's got a child now. He's a dad. It's like, move on, brah. Just because your life sucks doesn't mean you have to convince yourself that Mantis, trust me. Mantis Teo is doing very well, very well and, and I'd love to see him back in Notre Dame more. Heck yeah. The event of what year was it was a 22 or 23 when he was here that day and they honored him. And I mean, just like that was one of the loudest ovations I've ever seen for a player that's come back to Notre Dame, you know, like we've seen he in book back, we've seen, you know, he was there with Robert. We've seen the 88 team back, the, the ovation that Mantis got in 20 when he visited a few years ago was awesome. I'd love to see him be more of a regular at Notre Dame things. He was a, yeah, good dude, heck yeah. But yeah, it's, it's, it's kind of sad, but not for Mantis, but for those, for the people

that still think that that's like a, some kind of own, you realize you're kind of exposing yourself as being the stupid one here, right? Just saying, just saying. The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports. Right now, the NBA's heating up, March Mantis is here and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I could follow the teams I care about, get real time scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment. The Maps app that came with your phone, it's fine. If you enjoy waiting and guessing and inefficient routes, or you could use MapQuest, MapQuest is back with live directions, real time traffic and faster routes. It moves when you move.

Best of all, no prints are needed, no paper, no more misterds, just you and the app. Get there fast with MapQuest. Download the MapQuest app on the app store or visit MapQuest.com. MapQuest, still getting you there. The sun shining, birds are singing and all feels right in the world. Until the season changes and suddenly you lose your motivation to get out of bed. In fact, one in five people experience some form of depression, no matter the season or time of year. At the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, our vision is to build a mentally healthy nation for all because we want you to live your best life and be your best you all year round. Please visit mentallyhealthination.org to learn more. College basketball is nonstop. Big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every night and now Fandall is giving you a way to turn that energy into bigger wins. With the College Basketball Parlay profit boost, here's how it works. Build any college hoops parlay you like, the early tip, the rivalry game, the ranked

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in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelpline ma.org or call 800 327 50 54 24 7 support in Massachusetts or call 877 8 hope and why or text hope and why in New York for Louisiana call 1 877 770 7867 from armor dude us ma 87 thoughts on the fandall over under wind total for Notre Dame. So for those of you who don't know, band will a couple of weeks ago release the over under wind totals for every team at the power for level, including Notre Dame and they have Notre Dame at 11 and a half. So basically their prediction is will they go on defeated or not? They're one of two teams at the power for level that are projected to go on defeated. It's them in Texas tech who are at 11 and a half. To give context. What it says to me Trev is that they expect Notre Dame to be the lead team and they view Notre Dame as having a schedule that they should dominate. And guess what, so do we.

I mean, like like Trev, we've said this. I've never sat here and tried to pretend and tell people like, no, this is a vintage Notre Dame brutal sketch. We've never said that. I think the whole why are they the only team anyone ever mentions is having a not hard schedule? Like, are we going to pretend that Indiana's got some gauntlet next year? Are we going to pretend that Indiana schedule is anything close to what Ohio State has to do? Ohio State could have a better team than Indiana next year and have two more losses than Indiana next year with the way that their schedule is because they don't play borderline FCS teams and FCS teams in the non-conference. They're going down to Darryl K. Royal, you know what I mean? And playing one of the three or four most talented roster in coach football in the first month of the season. That's what annoys me, you know, like just enough with that. It's even funnier when some big 12 loser says it. I'm like, seriously, your whole conference is a week schedule. Like, what are you talking about? You know, um, but, uh, it's like, oh, yeah, our second toughest game is your conference runner up.

The second best team in your league the last two, you know, a couple of years. So like, whatever you keep saying whatever you want to say, but, um, it's still, though, you, you've got three really tough games. You got to go two and one against them and then dominate everybody else you're supposed to dominate. That should not be asking too much of this football team. So, um, and, and, and, you know, you go two and one against them. Like, that's the minimum expectation, but that, that's the under. And that's why they, I think the over under place 11 and a half because like, there's no excuse for it to be worse than 11 and one. So you can't set it at 10 and a half because then like a lot more people are going to take the over. Because like, there's no way they're losing two of those three games again this year. I mean, that's the thought process, especially they play them later in a year. So yeah, it makes total sense. Same thing with, with Texas tech, like that joke of a schedule, that, now that's a joke of a freaking schedule. Like, yeah, you should not lose more than one game. And, and that's where we're going to put the betting on. And like Ohio States was like, what, like eight and a half wasn't what's that nine and a half?

Are they thinking Ohio State's going to be really bad this year? No, that's a freaking brutal schedule where nine and Ohio State, like, look, let's be real, right? We're not in here to just tear down teams because we don't like them. Let's be real about something. Ohio State could go nine and three, lose to Texas. Let's say they lose on the road to Texas, on the road to Indiana. And let's say they lose on the road to either Iowa or USC. So they lose all three of those games. They would still have a win over Illinois. They would have a win over the other team we just talked about or Iowa or USC on the road. They would still have a win over Oregon. They would still have a win over Michigan. And they would still have a road win over Nebraska with three losses. If an Ohio State fan wants to say something about Notre Dame schedule, I'll sit and take it. If an Indiana fan, a Penn State fan or even a Michigan fan would say some, I'm like, slow your roll there, brother, do you want to go through the schedule? You guys played when you went 12 and 0 a couple of years ago.

I don't think so. So sit down and shut up. And I want to hear nothing from you. If you're in the big 12, just go sit at the kitty table. You're not invited to this party. This is where the grown folks hang. So I think that's an accurate reflection of where Notre Dame is and the quality of the team. And then also the quality of the schedule that they play this season. Here's the reality that I know you can put spin on anything you can. You could put spin on Notre Dame schedule, which either benefits or hurt them. I could put I could put a spin on Ohio State schedule. I really could. They have a gauntlet of a schedule. But I could also sit here and say that Ohio State has a tough schedule. Eight of their opponents have never made the playoffs. They're too hard as games are against a team that lost by 44 and last year's playoffs. And another team that didn't even make the playoffs. They're spin you. Right. You could absolutely. You could pretend Michigan's not. They got a brand new coach. Right. You know Oregon lost all. You know, but you could.

If you wanted to be a home or you're absolutely right to have you could spin it to where their schedule is not considered that tough. Yeah, it's. You know. Absolutely. And Notre Dame is just kind of the latest team to feel that. If you just paint on pictures like, hey, teammate. You know, teammate. They play their hardest game is at home at night against a team that played for the national championship. Their second hardest game is on the road against a team that should have been in the playoffs. You know, their third hardest game is against a team that won or that complete plate for the ACC championship two years ago. And it's 27 in the last two years. What do you think of that schedule? It's, you know, not a gauntlet, but you know, that's a pretty decent schedule. Okay. Well, those opponents are Miami BYU and SMU. It's like, oh, that's a cupcake schedule. Why? And there's just been that you can put on anything. So it's just. It is. That's what I kind of found funny. I really had to enjoy my debate with Alex Dano. And I wish in sports, we had more debates like that. I stayed in my case. He stayed at his case. It was mutual respect. There was no cutting each other off. It was a really good debate. I enjoyed doing it.

But I got a chocolate when he was like schedule made a cupcake. He said that. I was like. Uh, you're a Miami guy. Miami's on the schedule. Number one. Um, that's the schedules made up of teams from your league. Two and number three. Pretty sure Notre Dame plays a team a couple of weeks after they play Miami who. I don't know beat Miami last year. You know what I mean? It's like, so you really want to go down this road, huh? Okay. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. But it's just grabbing on to the talking points. It's like the narrative. It's people too many people jump on the narratives because everybody else is doing it as opposed to like having like a real honest. Discussion about the schedule because as a Notre Dame fan, you need to be willing to be honest about the schedule. It's really top heavy. The rest is uncertain. Like you need to hopefully Wisconsin bounces back. Hopefully Navy stays as good as they have been in recent years. Hopefully Michigan State can bounce back a little bit. Hopefully Syracuse looks more like the team from two years ago when they won 10 games as opposed and started three and one this year with a beat down at Clemson.

Where they beat Clemson down on the road and not the team that lost every game after steve and jelly got hurt and weren't overly competitive and were kind of terrible. Like, yeah, you can be honest about that the schedule could end up being tougher than people think, but right now what we know. There's four really good teams in a schedule and then no other teams on a schedule had a winning record last year. But then if you're not if you're not a Notre Dame fan, you also have to be honest about that the three teams at the top are pretty good. You know, the national runners up from last year, a team that made the playoff two years ago that beat the national runners up last year. You know, I mean, like a team that everybody in the world thought should have been a playoff team, the other one in BYU. A team that has gone into November the last two years with if this, this, this happens there in the playoffs. So it's just be honest from either side, be honest about the schedule 100% that's all we ask for, but unfortunately today whether sports or politics honesty is not a valued thing because honesty doesn't always generate clicks.

But we'll bring that to you and there are people out there that are that way. It's got to just got to find them. Just got to find them. From Black Irish 86 for our guy, Christopher Galloway, who would you start at your corner position from this list? Erad does not matter. Luther Bradley, Todd Light, Julian Love, Dave Wamer, Kavari Russell, Bennett Jackson or Benjamin Morrison. So, all right, Chris, I never saw Luther Bradley play. I heard he was unbelievably good. I never saw Dave Wamer play. I think Dave Wamer had the breakups rec season single season break. I think he's the guy that had the single breakups record before Julian Love broke it. I think that was before my time. I can speak on Todd Light. I can speak on Julian Love, Kavari Russell, Bennett Jackson, and Benjamin Morrison. Number one, my dude, I would say you need to have cam heart on this list.

We're talking about past or in quarterbacks. But here's what my starting cornerback unit would look like from this list. My boundary corners, Todd Light, my field corners, Benjamin Morrison, and my nickel corners, Julian Love. And I hate saying that. And I'm like, because I wear scavari, be either Kavari or Julian Love at nickel, and I would have to go with Julian Love. He was so good. But I would love to have a rotation that also included Kavari Russell and Bennett Jackson in that conversation as well. Yeah, you give me Todd Light in his prime, Julian Love in his prime and Benjamin Morrison in his prime. And you're not completing a lot of passes on me. I don't care who your receivers are. So that'd be one heck of a unit. Yeah, I agree with your list. If I'm going to go off of players that I have seen play, I would start Benjamin Morrison to the boundary Kavari Russell to the field of Julian Love. Because you didn't see Todd Light play just for, yeah.

Yeah. If I was going from 2000 and beyond, we'd have the same starting lineup. Yeah. Either one would be filthy. Like either one is just. Yeah. Yeah, Todd Light was such a dude. And he did it with like pads that would be big for a detackle. You know what I mean? Like today's game. Like I used to make, I used to joke with Coach Light. Uh, when he was here, uh, one of the cool things about this is I was able to, especially once his crew is over. Kind of develop somewhat of a friendship with Coach Light. I can text him and stuff and we talk, but which was like for me is like, in case it's pretty pretty cool. Um, but yeah, we went at the dinner one time and like Andy Heck walks in and they start talking like, I'm like, okay, I'm just. I'm trying to not fanboy out right now. Cause you know what I mean? It's like, this is freaking awesome. But uh, he was so good. Trev, like he was tall, physical. But you go back and watch games from back then and I joke with him like, dude, how did you run?

How did you and rocket run with those big freaking detackle pads on from back in the days? It's just kind of what you wore. You know, it's like. It was crazy, man. But yeah, he was so good. So good. I got a question for you before we move on to the next male bag. We talk a lot about like the players that I wish that I could have seen. Todd Light, rocket, all those guys. Who are those players for you that weren't in your area? Number one is Ross Browner. Just loose emotion. You used to rave about Ross. He's like the best defensive one when I've ever seen. Like he was one and then Luther Bradley, honestly, be another because he, they were teammates. They played on those great 70s teams. I believe, I believe Luther Bradley was one of those players. Pretty sure he was, but I could, I could be wrong, but I thought he played. Yeah, he was a first round draft pick in 78. So he was part of that 77 title team. Those are two that obviously pop into my head.

I mean, it's not so much players, but like I wish I could have experienced like the 60s and 40s era of Notre Dame. I don't know that I could point to like the players like, you know, Johnny Lattner, you know, John Heward, you know, guys like that, I guess. But like a lot of them are some of those 70s players that were just so great. Like I didn't get to see Vegas Ferguson play, you know, whose Notre Dame's all time leading Russia. That'd be one. But when you talk to Lou Samoji and you just hear him talk about how good Ross Browner was and how dominant Ross Browner was at Notre Dame. Like, yeah, man, I think that would be. That'd be a real fun one. A couple of real fun ones. I wish I was. I wish Tim Brown came along two years later. Because I vaguely remember Tim Brown having a big game against Michigan State, but 88s the season I really started paying attention to Notre Dame. I was an NFL guy before that. So I kind of, you know, that's when I kind of wish I would have been able to to, you know, there's a couple other guys.

Who was Bob Crable, a linebacker who's just got ridiculous all time numbers. Trev, I mean, actually, I'm going to try to, I'm going to try to pull this up because I looked at this one time and I was like. Somebody had asked a question one time and it was like what Notre Dame records will never be broken. And I was like, I mean, I can't even think about that. I started, so I started going through some of those, you know, some of the old seasons. And I looked at some of the old numbers and I'm like, okay, yet that'll never get broken. And let me see if I can find one of the old, like one of the old things from Notre Dame about all time. Like one of the recent media guys. Here we go. Here's an old record book from Notre Dame. So let me, this is from 2024. So Bob Crable set the all time record for tackles in a season at 187. Bob Crable's number two at 167 and he also has the number four season at 154.

So he had, and he had 82 as a freshman. So his career tackle numbers, he has, let me see here, he has 521 career tackles. To put that into context, think about how productive Mantiteo was in college. Mantite had three seasons at Notre Dame over 100 tackles. He had, you know, he had 113 in his last year, 128 in his junior, 133 as a sophomore. And he had 63 tackles as a freshman. Mantiteo had 437 career tackles. He is still 84 tackles behind Bob Crable. The next closest is my, is Bob Golick, who played right before Bob Crable. They actually had one year, like Bob Golick was a senior Bob Crable as a freshman. And he had 479. So he's 42 less than Bob Crable.

Like, can you think of like the number, like a player 521 tackles divided by four seasons is you have to average over 130 tackles a year to get to that number. That number's not get broken. It would have been fun to watch Bob Crable play football back then. So those are the ones that Black Eyres said Bob, Bob Lit, Herschel Walker up in that bowl game. That's when Georgia won their title back in 80, I believe. But yeah, so those are, you know, Ross Browner, Luther Bradley, Bob Crable and. Oh, Alan Page, that would have been because, you know, you know, what he's become is a human being and all that like that have been a cool one too, but. Nate Joe Thysman, that's another one, because I grew up watching him with the redskins. I didn't get to watch him at Notre Dame. He set the all-time passer. I mean, you know, we should probably watch that game one day. The USC game see if we can find it online where he set the all-time passing record. Because Joe, Joe still owns that he still, he still owns the all-time single game passing record at Notre Dame.

Let me see if I can find it here real quick. He 526 yards against USC in 1970 in the rain. So that is the number two, the only other quarterback to get over 500 yards as a game. I was at it was Jack Cone against Oklahoma State in the festival a few years ago. So those would be my guys, Trev. Yeah, how about you? That's cool. Yeah, I mean, to go back, it's a lot of them we talk about on the show quite a bit. I wish I could have seen Rocket in person, because I mean, you get it, man. Highlight tapes don't do it as much justice as being in the moment of the back and forth of the game. And then somebody takes it, it'll be like when I show my kid a highlight tape, a Jeremiah love. Now, I'll probably show that relatively early on, but it's like, it's not going to do it justice is when you're sitting on the couch and you watch what he did in the orange ball breaking what felt like nine different tackles to score touchdown. You can, you can appreciate it, but you don't understand the impact.

So Rocket would be one of those guys for me. I would have loved to have seen like Mike Stonebreaker is a guy that just like he's just kind of a football guy in my mind, you know, just like neck roll crop top jersey, big old shoulder pads. He has the name of a linebacker. He's one of them. I would have loved to have seen the duo in the back field of Reggie Brooks and Jerome bet his innocence. And it wasn't just them, Trev, that's the crazy thing about it. Like it wasn't just if you actually go back and look at that season and you look at the backs that were on that team, like it's not just Reggie and Jerome. You know, Lee Beckton was in that backfield. Ray Zellers was in that backfield. Like Ray Zellers went on to be a first round draft pick like that team was so low, like their backfields were so gross back then like in 1991. Yeah, Jerome Betis, Tony Brooks, Rodney Culver, Reggie Brooks, Lee Beckton, Ray Zellers and I believe he might have already transferred by then.

But I believe you had the guy, he had transferred by then. But you had, let me see if I can find he was he was there in 1990, right. Adors he leavens. He left in 1990. But like in 1990, he had Rodney Culver, who was an NFL running back before he passed away. He died in a tragic, him and his wife, I believe both died in a tragic flight, a plane crash and Everglades, I was on my birthday, my 18th birthday, which really sucked. But you had Rodney Culver, Ricky Waters, Tony Brooks, Reggie Jerome Betis, Dorsey Leavens, who went to Georgia Tech and was a big time back. And one was leading Russia on the Packers teams. I want a Super Bowl, like Notre Dame back then, like this is where they, I think they're getting to now when you look at what they're doing, you know, and running back recently. But like that was like commonplace for Lou. And they were so loaded that early on they put Reggie Brooks a corner. That's how we're running back in his older brother was there.

Like in that year that I was talking about Trevor in 1991 or 1990, when when they were Rodney Culver, Ricky Waters, Tony, their third leading Russia that year was red was rocket with 537 yards on only 67 degrees. He had 537 yards rushing, 699 yards receiving. And then obviously was a dynamic punt returners well, Trevor, that season also for Notre Dame. But he had 14 kick returns for 336 yards in a touchdown, 13 punt returns for 151 yards, and got actually screwed out of the Heisman trophy. I still think to this day was the biggest screw job of a Heisman trophy was rocket not winning it in 1990 over tight debtmer, because he threw the ball a lot. He threw 5,000 yards. Yeah, he also threw like 28 interceptions that year, like literally, let me go see what tie, tie debtmer stats were. But yeah, he was he was unbelievable man, you had so much fun watching rocket play.

Okay, through 41 touchdown passes 5188 yards, but he also threw 28 interceptions on the Heisman trophy. Yeah, it's like, okay, whenever. 28 interceptions is a preposterous amount of interceptions. Even then, even then that was a lot. I mean, he threw 12 the year before and 15 the year after, you know, 20 interceptions in 12 games. That's like, that's like to a game. It's crazy. He had no business one in the Heisman over rocket. Holy cow. Somebody said Joe Mark said another one you would have loved is Bob Goliak. So possibly. Here's the problem that I have with Bob Goliak. My first real the thing when I think Bob Goliak, I don't think Cleveland Brown's defensive linebacker. I don't think another great all-time great and Bob Craybell was, I mean, Bob Goliak was a great player, no, today. But I think of the dude from save by the bell. I can't take him seriously as a football player because I don't remember him as a football player.

I remember him as the actor and saved by the bell. So it's just hard for me to, and he was kind of a funny guy in that show. So it's hard for me to take him seriously. He's like, this guy was a butt kicker, but you talk to people that saw him play. They're like, yeah, he was a monster. Another name. He's number two all-time in tackles. I had another day. He was a great player as well. But Bob Craybell first, second and fourth in all time and single season tackle numbers. You know, like just an absolutely nutty, nutty statistic, very nutty statistic. Yeah. And then we knew this one. Joe Mark said that Joe Thiesman and Drew Pearson played together in high school. Joe, I didn't know that till Joe told us that on the show he was on with us this summer, which was pretty awesome. So yeah, that was pretty cool, very, very cool. Yeah.

Yeah.

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