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

It's that simple. If your QB can't throw and has a low completion %, who wants to waste four years and the opportunity to go pro as a WR.

A big part of getting drafted is being showcased. NDs passing game has been woeful for quite some time. That's just the cold hard facts.

The higher star receivers want to go to a place where they know that they can flourish. While it's easy to see with certain teams, such as the Georgia Tech teams coached by Paul Johnson, it was painfully evident with us last year.

Looking at last year, the WR corps didn't exactly light up the statistics. Part of this was because we were run-heavy, and the other part was that we were showcasing a QB who wasn't exactly the best of passers.

Yes, I know that Leonard had a very good season last year (269 of 403, 2861 yards, 21 TD, 8 INT), but that was over 16 games (Sam Hartman had those kinds of numbers over 12 games), and there were quite a few where his throwing skills didn't exactly inspire us. On more than one occasion, he would be off the mark when it came to timing, or wouldn't see open receivers streaking away from their cover guys.

While he made up for that deficiency by scrambling for decent yards, a lot of times, he'd basically settle for an 8 yard gain, when he could have had a 25 yard downfield pass. I would actually liken his playing style to what we saw out of Steve Young with the 49'ers, back when he had just replaced Joe Montana. It wasn't until his third year that he finally learned to stay in the pocket more, and not so coincidentally, happened to win a Super Bowl.

That being said, Leonard got better as the season progressed, but when it comes to recruiting, a lot of those prime receiver recruits aren't going to wait until the end of a season.


If we want to reverse this trend, then it's up to the guys we have to produce big time. The talent is there, especially among the trio of sophomores (Williams, Gilbert, Saldate), along with the veterans (including the portal guys).

By all rights, we should have a more prolific passing attack, given that all of the QB's on the roster (4 deep) are better pure passers. With a healthy offensive line in place, I actually feel optimistic about the passing game.

He was one of the fastest (if not the fastest) of all the WRs on the roster plus he caught anything that was thrown his way. He could've been the downfield threat we needed even while Leonard was struggling with his passing early in the season.

Not to mention as a KR specialist he would've excelled at taking a short pass & turning it into a big gain.

He probably won't get drafted this April but don't be surprised to see him sign with some NFL team as a free agent & be productive for them.

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your message seems to lean toward coaching and QB issues. I like the idea that this year we will finally be featuring an "in-house" QB. Maybe we can learn if Guidugli is a QB whisperer or not.

I think it might be a significant one (with recruits only, not transfers or retaining players). The same can be said for recruiting the DL. My guess is that ND is behind the other elite programs when it concerns NIL for recruits, particularly for the DL and WR's. Just a hunch though.

QB obviously is as well. I do agree that we could get away with being able to offer less in NIL to HS kids if he had better production from our WR group, but with the lack of production the price will have to be very competitive if not the highest amount in order to get someone on campus.

still make it to the NC game.

I predict Freeman will take at least one transfer QB after Spring practice. (One of the existing QBs will leave if they are not in the 2 deep.) Now whether that is who starts in the fall remains to be seen.

exist.