Hey Horka! Predicting Notre Dame football Blue-Gold Game MVPs
Notre Dame is two days away from holding its annual Blue-Gold Game. This edition of the Hey Horka! BlueandGold.com message board mailbag includes spring game MVP predictions and much more in advance of the conclusion of Fighting Irish spring practices.
Who are your picks to be the Blue-Gold Game MVPs, one from offense and one from defense? — Slevmania
My thought process here is picking a couple players who aren’t the first you think of at their respective positions but guys who if given enough opportunities can make the most of them. Let’s go freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse and freshman linebacker Drayk Bowen.
Last year, two freshmen (Steve Angeli and Jadarian Price) took over the game. From what we’ve seen in media-allotted viewings of practice, Rico Flores Jr. has been the most eye-catching of the three early enrollee wide receivers. But when it comes times for 7 on 7 or 11 on 11, Greathouse seems to catch the most passes. He clearly has the trust of the Notre Dame quarterbacks. He also has a knack for finding the soft spots in zones and beating his man in short-area routes. I expect him to be a consistent contributor Saturday and potentially catch a red-zone touchdown.
As for Bowen, linebackers are always a safe pick to be the most outstanding defensive players in any game. He’ll likely see the field a ton with Notre Dame not wanting to put the three graduate student linebackers in harm’s way in the final practice session of the spring. Look for Bowen to make the most of his increased playing time.
What do you want to see from Sam Hartman and Tyler Buchner in the Blue-Gold Game? — arrowfan624
No turnovers, 60 percent completion percentages and willingness and decisiveness in getting the ball downfield. Just play a clean game.
Why not put Lorenzo Styles at safety instead of corner? — Jaebird
Ryan Barnes has been playing some safety. Clarence Lewis is exclusively working at nickel as Thomas Harper comes back from his rehab. Cam Hart has been held out of competitive work with his recovering shoulder. Christian Gray is out for the spring. So all things considered, there is a bit of room for Styles to get reps at corner currently even with how dire things seem at safety.
What do you want to see from Marcus Freeman, Gerad Parker and Al Golden in the Blue-Gold Game? — arrowfan624
Nothing from Freeman. He’s going to be engaged like he normally is, and there isn’t much he can to throughout the course of a spring game to make people formulate opinions. From Parker, creativity. It’s going to be vanilla, sure, but it doesn’t hurt to throw a couple plays in there that are worth the price of admission. From Golden, I’ll be looking at the splits of different packages. Interested to see what the secondary looks like, specifically.
What does Sam Hartman need to do to gain control of the quarterback competition? Is it as simple as gaining chemistry with Notre Dame pass-catchers? — Hond92
Getting on the same page as the wide receivers is a big part of it. I don’t think there is a lack of talent at that position anymore. The chemistry just seems off so far. But I also think the adjustment out of the slow-mesh offense has actually been more of a detrimental factor than I thought it would be. Hartman is not seeing the field the same way he was when he was at Wake Forest. There is a reason NFL scouts hardly even mentioned his name for this year’s draft. They believed what he did at Wake would not translate to the next level. I bought the hype and thought it would easily translate to Notre Dame, meanwhile. So far, it hasn’t. Still time to make it right though.
What are the odds Notre Dame wins a national championship by 2030? — arrowfan624
Somewhere in the 5-10 percent range. Not what Notre Dame fans want to hear, but it’s harder to win one now than it was 10-20 years ago, and the Irish don’t have one since 1988 to begin with. Factor in name, image and likeness (NIL) and having to go through a 12-team playoff format moving forward, and the odds are against not just Notre Dame but anybody not named Alabama, Georgia, LSU, etc.
Who will have a better Blue-Gold game, receivers or running backs? — Ian BOOK IT
Receivers. I think Notre Dame goes pass-happy in the game for a few reasons. Nothing to gain by beating up your ball carriers running the ball, and the Irish have all these quarterback questions and concerns to sort through. You also want to test the three early enrollee wide receivers in a game-like situation.
What will Jaylen Sneed’s playing time look like if he excels in the spring game and propels into the summer and fall? — Iferr21
I think he would shoot up like Prince Kollie did in his sophomore season and then some. Kollie played 136 last year, fourth most of any Notre Dame linebacker. We know who was one (Marist Liufau), two (JD Bertrand) and three (Jack Kiser). Big-time success for Sneed would be sneaking into the 200 range after only playing 37 last year. Expected success would be getting between 125 and 150 like Kollie did. Super success would be getting up around 250-300. At that point he would be taking snaps away from the elder statesmen, putting him on a nice career path.
The post Hey Horka! Predicting Notre Dame football Blue-Gold Game MVPs appeared first on On3.
