Blue Gold Spring Football Game

This past weekend, the Notre Dame football team concluded spring practice with the Blue Gold game on Saturday. The Gold, coached by former great Lou Holtz, defeated the White, coached by Ara Parseghian 10-6. For a recap go to http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/042107aab.html. I was in attendance for the third consecutive year and got some pretty good observations. Keep in mind that this is just the spring game, not a whole lot can be learned from this but it's fun to try to make predictions nonetheless.

The four quarterbacks in competition to replace Brady Quinn at quarterback were muzzled by head coach Charlie Weis. Only 24 passes were thrown combined among the four. We really didn't learn anything we didn't already know about them.

Jimmy Clausen, the star freshman, looked the most poised and calm in leading his team. He made the best throw of the day when he hit Robby Paris on a 13 yard out pattern right at the sideline.

Demetrius Jones completed 3-6 passes but many were overthrown or behind the receiver, including one that was picked off by David Bruton and returned for a touchdown. However, he did make a great play on a 3rd and long situation when he tucked the ball and took off for a 31 yard gain. I was very impressed by his speed, I just don't know if he fits Weis' offense.

Evan Sharpley had the most impressive stats (5-7, 31 yards) and has the most experience in the system. It looked to me like he was one of the top two quarterbacks along with Clausen.

Zach Frazer went 0-4 passing but he did make a nice throw to Richard Jackson in the endzone that was dropped. He has a very strong arm but didn't stand out in this particular practice/scrimmage.

The running back position appears to have both quality and quantity. I thought all four backs: Travis Thomas, James Aldridge, Armando Allen, and Junior Jabbie have the ability to contribute this season. Jabbie was the most impressive Saturday, carrying 13 times for 87 yards. He showed good speed and nice vision, however he did run behind the first team offensive line who was going against the second team defensive line. Allen is going to be outstanding in my opinion. He has the type of explosive speed and quickness that Notre Dame hasn't had in an awful long time. Thomas runs hard and likes contact, but he does have a little wiggle if needed. Aldridge is similar to Thomas, he's more of a power back but does have some nice speed.

Corwin Brown's new defense looked quite good in the spring game. The defensive backs played tight man-to-man coverage and didn't allow anyone to beat them deep, something that happened far too often the past two years. Linebacker Toryan Smith played very well, I thought, as did fellow linebacker Joe Brockington. I think it's obvious that Brown has brought a new intensity to the defense, a passion that was missing under the previous regime. They might not all be great players on defense, but if you play with excitement and passion, that can make up for a lot of shortcomings.

We didn't get a real good look at special teams in the game, there were no kickoffs and punts were automatically fair caught. We did see, however, that the place kicking still leaves something to be desired. Nate Whitaker had an extra point blocked, then was able to retry it and missed it wide to the left. Ryan Burkhart made his only field goal attempt from 23 yards and an extra point. The kicking game will be of great concern all summer, until we see if either of these two can consistently make kicks from 40 yards in.