Tyler Eifert Placed on Mackey Award Watch
Photo Courtesy of Neon Tommy, Flickr
Irish tight end Tyler Eifert was one of 34 players named to the Mackey Award preseason watch list in an announcement from the Nassau County Sports on Wednesday. The Mackey Award is given each year to the nation’s top tight end at the yearly ESPN College Football Awards Red Carpet Show at the end of the season. (more…)
Three Irish Players Given Preseason Honors
Photo Courtesy of Danny Wild, Flickr
Preseason awards continue to pile up Notre Dame players for the upcoming 2011 season. The university announced on Tuesday that junior Dayne Crist and senior Michael Floyd were named to the Maxwell Award Watch List and junior Manti Te’o was placed on the Bednarik Award Watch List.
The Maxwell Award is given each year to college football’s best player. The last Irish player to win the award was Brady Quinn back in 2006. The Chuck Bendarik is given to the defensive player of the year in college football. (more…)
Michael Floyd Pleads Guilty; What is Next?
Photo Courtesy of Gaspar Garcia de Paredes, Flickr
Notre Dame star receiver Michael Floyd pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor druken driving charge that he was given back in March and was sentenced to one year of probation on Wednesday.
Floyd’s guilty plea and sentencing was to be expected. As long as he attends a class and keeps his record clean, Floyd will only have to be without his driver’s license for three months and then will have to a detector in his car for six months after he gets his license back.
The question remains is will the senior play in the Irish’s opener against South Florida on the first Saturday in September?
Irish suspend Floyd indefinitely
As if last night’s loss on the basketball court wasn’t enough, Notre Dame fans took another hit this afternoon when football coach Brian Kelly announced that star wide receiver Michael Floyd is suspended indefinitely following his arrest this weekend.
Floyd was arrested around 4 a.m. Sunday morning after he ran a stop sign, failed three field sobriety tests and blew a 0.19 into a St. Joseph County sheriff’s breathalyzer. For someone Floyd’s size that is the equivalent of about 10 drinks in four hours time. Floyd was arrested last winter on underage drinking charges in his home-state of Minnesota and will likely face stiffer penalties from the school, if not the law, because of his history. The maximum sentence for operating while intoxicated is one year in prison.
“I understand the gravity of the decision I made and how it could have had catastrophic effects on myself and others,” Floyd said in a prepared statement released by Notre Dame’s athletic department Monday evening. “I’ve talked to Coach Kelly and I accept the decision he made. I absolutely recognize that I have many things to work on to become a better person and will need to regain the trust of all whom I have hurt within my immediate family and the Notre Dame family.”
You can read the full statement and comments from Kelly here.
Kelly said that he did not know when Floyd would be reinstated, but reading a little deeper into the statement there was no “if” in Kelly’s statement that leads me to believe that Floyd will have another chance to suit up for the Irish as long as he keeps him nose clean from here on out. Which, of course, raises the question Does he deserve a third chance? (more…)
Irish move to No.1 in national rankings
Despite inconsistent kicking, Ben Turk and the Irish punt coverage team are tops in the country.
Ok, so maybe it is only the nation’s punt coverage rankings, but it’s been a long time since Notre Dame was at the top of any list. Notre Dame’s punt team is allowing an NCAA-best 0.5 yards per punt return after shutting down Western Michigan’s returners in a 44-20 win Saturday.
Notre Dame was far from perfect in victory, but it’s been an even longer time since that was the case and any win is – as Brian Kelly described in his post-game presser – a step in the right direction.
“Our players are learning, learning how to win football games regardless of who the competition is,” Kelly said. “No, there’s no question, a win against a team that has scored a lot of points, a well-coached team, we’re pleased that we moved in the right direction.”
Notre Dame looked like it was ready to cruise after the offense had racked up 80 yards and seven points only 12 seconds into the game. Dayne Crist hit Michael Floyd on a deep post route on the first snap of the game and Floyd spun away from a defender on his way to his first of three touchdowns on the day. While Floyd stayed in sync with his quarterback throughout the game, the rest of the offense struggled in the first half.
Crist and his screaming shadow Brian Kelly both agreed that the quarterback played a poor first half, leaving points on the table and giving Western Michigan the means to get themselves back in the game. The Notre Dame defense didn’t make things any easier. The Irish gave up a 15-play and two 10-play scoring drives to any essentially one-dimensional, vanilla Broncos offense. The Irish defense kept drives alive with dumb penalties and a couple of fourth down let downs on Western Michigan’s first TD drive of the game. (more…)
