Tuesday Practice Observations 11-14-06

A nasty day in South Bend sent Notre Dame indoors for its daily practice:

• Good to see Keith Penrod back in his wheelchair.
• John Carlson was not at practice -- and Konrad Reuland was his stretching replacement with Marcus Freeman. A combination of Reuland and freshman Will Yeatman will replace Carlson in two-tight end sets.
• In a playful mood, long-snapper J.J. Jansen slapped the helmet of kicker Bobby Renkes a few times while he was stretching him out.
• Anthony Vernaglia is back...On the bike.
• The assistant coaches were chatty all over the place, apparently pretty lively.
• Sophomore fullback Asaph Schwapp was also not at practice.
• Junior cornerback Terrail Lambert and senior right guard Bob Morton appeared to be fine after nicks against Air Force.

Don't forget about this week's prediction contest -- we're still rummaging through last week's responses to see if we have a winner. But for the Army game, send your guesses to mrothstein@jg.net. Same rules apply.

-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette

Comments

[walt rokosz]

in the air force game ron talley had a tackle according to the stats in ndu game report

[Bill Read]

IRISH 45
Army 6

[chris]

This is the perfect game for the Irish to finally pitch a shutout.

[Jamie Schumaker]

Being out of position on defence is not a reflection on the Irish's talent level. It's poor coaching & bad preparation. It's fairly obvious after 10 games - actually, 22 games.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE being 9 & 1. But offering up 400+ yards to Air Force is really painful to watch. And it takes away the "feel good", or confidence of watching this team perform.

Because "bend-don't-break" doesn't cut it against teams like USC. Our offence is sooo fun to watch...seems a shame that we couldn't compliment Brady & Co. with just an above average defense. Is that too much to ask for?
After 22 games, Charlie has GOT to be asking himself: "Did I make the right hire here?" Mr. Minter better hope for the defensive game
of his career on 11/25.
Because Charlie, I think, is frustrated and mad at himself. But this is correctable.

I just wouldn't want to be on the other side of Charlie's desk after the bowl game. As for the offensive line coach? Take a chair.

Last but not least, I already miss Brady, Jeff, Rhema & John C.(5th year please). Thanks for all the memories. They made my 14 year old son an even bigger ND fan than myself. When we DO get a defense, get out of the way, Son, I'm going out of my Irish mind.