UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting

Disclosure: I have never been to a ND football practice. I have a child that is a D1 collegiate athlete (not football). I am only adding the part about my child to say that I know the amount of work it takes to be a student athlete and what goes into practicing and how that can translate to a game.

I have no doubts that practice "stats" are much better than game stats. I have no doubts that RL looks good throwing the ball in practice. RL performed very well at the Manning stuff this past summer.

I do agree that evaluation starts at practice and if you practice poorly you will probably not play much. Practice is the first place to show your coaches that you deserve to start at your position. However, practice speed and game speed are different. You can't lose practice but you can lose a game. Eighty thousand fans aren't watching practice. The QB isn't wearing a red jersey in a game.

To play a player continually in a game situation where that player obviously struggles to do the things that he did in practice well, is insane. RL is a tremendous runner as a QB. Above average. Great stats. I get it. Navy can rush for 300 yards a game but it doesn't make them a contender.

Being the best guy on the practice field means nothing if you can't do it in a game! When these kids are being recruited and they consistently play poorly on Friday nights coaches aren't asking the question "Yeah, but is he the best at practice?". Come on guys. This "have you seen practice" crap is old. We have seen games.