Some notes

Alabama

On the rumors that OT DJ Fluker has been suspended:

They’re just that. Rumors. For those who missed it, the rumor was that OT DJ Fluker has been suspended 4 games for illicit contact with an agent and that Alabama is trying to negotiate it down to 2 games.

Turns out, this was just an epic trolling job by a guy named Kingpin on one of the Alabama sites. He posted that Fluker had been suspended and by the time people had started calling BS, the rumor had already spread to 10 other sites and momentarily taken the Alabama world by storm. No legitimate site has reported anything on the situation, but if you want to hold out hope, wait for later this afternoon when the announcement is supposed to come out. Personally, I think sitting around waiting for a Green or Treadwell commitment would be a better use of your time.

Link to the original thread

As the conclusion of summer workouts beckons, the depth chart at running back stands as this:

1.      Eddie Lacy

2.      TJ Yeldon

3.      Jalston Fowler

Eddie Lacy measured in at 6’0’’, 232 lbs and should be playing in the upper 220s to low 230s. The depth chart is pretty clear cut at the position at this point in time. Still expect Fowler to get a good number of carries though.

Other news from summer workouts:

5-star Fr ATH Eddie Williams could be starting as the outside WR, the same position that Julio Jones played. He measured in 6’4’’, 218 lbs.

Looking at the LBs:

Mosley is getting looks at Sam LB to try and get the combo of Johnson, Mosley, Depriest, and Hubbard on the field at once. Dickson will likely be the 5th LB, Patrick and Ragland right behind. All of them will play.

And the DBs:

Clinton-Dix may start in every down situations over Sunseri because of coverage skill difference against passing teams. (Arkansas) 

Milliner and Fulton outside, Belue Dime as of now.

But wait! What about our old friend Dee Hart?

Likely Kick Returners are Chris Jones and Dee Hart, possibly Milliner.

Dee Hart will see a role comparable to Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey at West Virginia thanks to ideas from Nussmeier in the new offense.

He mentioned the both of them in a sense that Hart would start his routes out of the slot and back field.

Dee Hart is also 100% recovered from his injury.

Link 2

Link 3

On the Eddie Lacy injury:

According to the source above, Eddie Lacy is fine and at 100%. However, other people are saying that conditioning is currently an issue. Expect him to be ready to play on Sept. 1st.

On the Reuben Foster decomittment:

This link is a very interesting read on how it all played out. I recommend you take a look at it.

Link to insight on the Foster decomittment 

Nick Saban on stopping Denard:

"You got to be very disciplined any time you play a quarterback that can move between the tackles," Saban said. "Everybody has to be disciplined as far as their responsibility. The guy's already a fantastic athlete, so if you're not doing the right thing, you have no chance to succeed. Even if you do it exactly right, it still may be a challenge. Everybody's got to play with great effort, great intensity, great toughness and everybody's got to play team defense when you play against guys like this." 

"This isn't the only guy that can beat you, but you've certainly got to make sure he doesn't beat you." 

Also look for Alabama to air out it out a bit more than in the past:

"You always try to feature the players you have on offense," Saban said. "I certainly think AJ is a guy who has proven that he's trustworthy to do the kind of things when you open up the offense, not to make the kind of mistakes with turning the ball over that can really hurt your team. I think you can make a lot more explosive plays that way. 

"I think it's going to be important for our team this year, with the offensive line we have returning and the experience AJ has at the quarterback position, to be that type of team."

Link 5

Notre Dame

Everyone’s favorite topic, ND’s QB carousel:

If I had to guess, here’s what ND’s depth chart at QB looks like to begin this fall:

1.      Everett Golson

2.      Tommy Rees/Andrew Hendrix

3.      Gunner Kiel

On Everett Golson:

He’s apparently been stellar in summer 7 on 7s, but he hasn’t had to read defenses or pick up blitzes, which is what he struggles with. He’s an athletic and mobile QB, so he is what Tommy Rees is not.

Link 6

On Andrew Hendrix:

“His reads in the passing game can improve a lot. Too many times he's thrown to the other team. 

His arm is one-dimensional right now... meaning - very strong. On short passes he makes balls difficult to catch. On longer patterns, he throws with a flat trajectory. His release point is also fairly low, but I don't see that as being as big of an issue. “

Link 7

On Tommy Rees:

“Rees, has had issues with his decision making, but didn't show much, if any, improvement over the course of his playing time. He does not have Hendrix's strength, but has nice touch”

No word, as of yet, on what his punishment will be.

News from summer workouts:

At the WR position look for Freshmen Chris Brown and Davonte Neal to compete for significant playing time, if not start. Both are very fast receivers with the ability to stretch the field.

Sheldon Day will likely replace Aaron Lynch.

Link 8

On turf in the stadium:

I have no idea if they’re getting turf in the stadium or not and ND fans seem just as clueless.

Here’s what is known: Brian Kelly wants turf. ND AD Jack Swarbrick said that it’s eventually coming. Last season, their field was grass.

Now apparently ND is replacing the sideline area with turf and redoing the drainage system, but they’re not replacing the grass on the field with turf.  I’ve read that there were plans to replace the whole field with turf, but they were scrapped because of alumni backlash and I’ve also read that they’ll come out and announce the field has been replaced with turf in the next month.

I have no clue.

On new OC Chuck Martin and his philosophy:

“He wants to run the ball 60% of the time.  He wants to use the run and screens and draws to set up the pass.  And when he passes he likes accuracy and long completions. He likes big plays---he said "last year we had two plays over 40 yards"  to him that is unacceptable.”

“He likes his teams to score a lot and his QB has to be mobile, able to run and pass on the run..  (Probably leaves REES out).  His QB has to have big-play ability.  Coach would rather have a 3-play TD than a 15 play TD. “

“Coach MARTIN likes to use 2 TEs---WE have the #1 guy TYLER EIFERT and he is backed by KOYACK, WELCH and NIKLAS---all big strong smart guys.  Two at a time, Lads.”

Link 9

On how playcalling will work:

Martin will call the plays and send KELLY 2 or 3 to pick from

Link 10

On to ND recruiting:

-ND LB commit Alex Anzalone visited Florida for their FNL camp this weekend and as you can imagine, ND fans are none too pleased with this. He reaffirmed his commitment to ND but he might be someone to watch for the annual ND-decommit-on-or-near-NSD

-ND has 17 commits for 2013 and 21-23 scholarships to give this year, leaving 4-6 spots available.

If you want a detailed analysis of who the top targets on their board are, click on this link: Detailed Analysis of ND's last available spots

Or click on this one and scroll down a couple comments for another detailed analysis: Another Detailed Analysis of ND's last available spots

If you want the not so detailed version, here’s what they want:

We need a couple of DL,Ideally, ones who can rush the passer. A CB or two and a speed WR are also needs. IMO, anything else is gravy, but that could change as the season unfolds.

Link 13

Ohio St.

Ohio has somewhere around 4 spots left and they plan on filling it with some combination of LB Tyquan Lewis, LB Mike Mitchell, WR Shelton Gibson, WR Devon Allen, S Vonn Bell and/or OL Donovan Munger. 

 And with that, I'll end this write up. Now that fall camp is starting, I'll hopefully be able to do this every week and include some meatier revelations.

Hope you all enjoyed this.

Before I start, I'd like to apologize. When I posted the first update on ND, I said that I'd try to post an update like that every other week and eventually incorporate updates on MSU and Ohio as well. That thought turned out to be rather ambitious as I forgot that summer, and the accompanying dead period, was bearing down upon us. As a result, I'll probably only post this and another update at the end of July. Anticipating a pick up of information in August, I'll probably  be able to post a full update for each of Notre Dame, Ohio, and Alabama until we play each team. I'm not going to do MSU because they simply don't have a single good site from which to gain information.

This update will focus more on ND with a little bit of Ohio and Alabama at the end.

Brian Kelly on ND's Hopeful Record

Brian Kelly has gone on the record as the goal for this season being 8 wins. That seems to be a realistic goal as ND's schedule is very, very difficult.

ND's Quarterback Situation

The general consensus of ND fans is that Kiel will redshirt and that the competiton is between Golson, Hendrix, and Rees. Rees' arrest adds another dimension to the competition as well so it'll be interesting to see how that shakes out. Anyone who saw ND's spring game would think that Golson hands down won the starting job and that would likely be the case if not for several issues that he needs to work out before he gets the job. The two primary concerns with Golson are character issues and a lack of understanding of the playbook. Golson had a problem with showing up to practice on time and Brian Kelly had to have a talk with him. Some ND fans are saying that he also has a problem with leadership and that the team does not yet respect him like they did Rees. As for the lack of knowledge of the playbook, during the spring game the coaches had to turn off the play clock so that Golson could get the plays off and the coaches had to tell him what to do on several plays. As for Hendrix, the main problem with him has been inconsistency. Despite Golson's problems, gun to my head, I think that he starts and splits time with Hendrix during the first game. I figure Rees gets suspended for at least 1 quarter and we'll see what happens with him after that. 

It's also important to note that Kelly plans on continuing the competition during August, which some ND fans worry will take away snaps from the eventual starter and hurt his chemistry with his receivers.

ND's Secondary

The situation is still terrible . The 2 safeties look to be at least decent, but they really have no one at corner. I wouldn't be surprised if it was as bad as our secondary in 2010.

ND's Gameplan

Look for the role of the TE to be significantly increased this year in ND's offense. They're specifically planning on maximizing the role of Eifert and the lack of proven WRs plays a big role in that. Along with the increased focus on the TE, the brunt of the offense will be earned on the back of the running game. ND returns 2 very capable backs in Cierre Wood and George Atkinson III who'll provide a nice 1-2 punch. 

Regarding incoming recruits making an immediate impact, look for WR Davonte Neal to make a splash. He runs a 4.4 40 and brings speed to the table. WR Chris Brown is just as fast and could be another name to watch out for. Look for DT Sheldon Day to come in and make significant contributions as well.

ND's Recruiting

If you haven't been paying attention, ND is putting together a very solid class, likely a top 10 class if it sticks together.  Look for Alex Anzalone to commit to ND soon-ish as reports regarding the two have been increasingly positive. I also think that if Devon Allen decided to leave the South/West, it'll be to ND or Ohio. I have no inside information and I don't know how likely it'll be that he goes to ND but it's at just something to look out for. A few of ND's players are on the track team and have done very well and track is obviously very important to Allen.

Now, on to Ohio....

Ohio's Recruiting

I really don't have much to comment on other than they're obviously putting together a solid class and that their O-Line recruting is reaching near perilous levels. Of their top 2 remaining O-line targets, Dorian Johnson and Khaliel Rodgers, Johnson just committed to Penn St. and Rodgers is rumoured to be leaning towards either USC or Auburn. They also seem to be leaving LB recruiting to 2014. In typical Ohio fashion, they think that they'll have their pick of things at the position.

A little on Alabama....

Eddie Lacy Update

As you might recall, I posted a while back on how Eddie Lacy might not be able to play beacuse of injury. The word from Alabama fans is that he's making progress and that they won't really know until closer to the start of the season. As of now, he is apparently slightly out of shape and overweight at the moment but he should be back in shape by the time the season starts. Alabama fans aren't expecting him to have as large of a role as Richardson did last year, mostly as a result of his turf toe injury. If he plays, and I think he will, he'll likely split carries with TJ Yeldon.

Hope you guys enjoyed this, I get almost all of this information from perusing message boards and blogs so this is right from the fan base. If you have any quesetions about something I didn't mention, I'll try to answer them.

Mods if this is too long, feel free to move it to the diaries.