Great read. I think it was a fair assessment. Love the comment "it was a kick into the crotch". All IRISH fans would agree. I am still trying to get feeling back.

hemy,

Kelly's the boss. If he thinks Daniels was good enough to play, do it, especially because you didn't appear to be getting the type of consistent production at the other positions. I didn't see the sense in Chase Hounshell playing either, but he did by the midway part of the season.

we were so thin at line hounshell had to play. diaco said he really wanted to redshirt him and was upset about exhausting his red shirt so late in the year

Lou,I appreciate your objectivity in grading the offensive recruits.hopefully,the Irish can still land Neal and this would upgrade the receiving corps.

Agreed. The jury is still out on Kelly and this has nothing to do with his recruiting. It all has to do with decision making. I think recruiting is a strength and will get better with some on the field success. The real question is can he get us to 11-2 so it spills over into recruiting. Even 10-3 with a couple of big wins would bring back the excitement. Kids react to the buzz. Greenberry has actually seen more success from Houton than ND on the football field over the last few years. To him the great ND football is kind of like the great Army teams to some of us. Should a prolific recruit pick Army because of its great football tradition, Heisman trophy winners, beautiful campus, career opportunites, great academics? These kids still need football buzz and we are not the hot thing right now. Not sure we can wait to 2013 to have a big year.

This team had way too many negtives to overcome to have a good recruiting year. Two painful losses due to their own ineptitude to start the season. The USC game. The FSU game. Coaches quitting. Boring offense with Rees and all the QB negativity. Coaches quitting and going to Ohio State. We still manage to land good recruits in spite of the lack of positives around the program. We never end up ranked as high as our recruiting rankings. This team hasn't over achieved since Weis' second year. Charlie gets villified, but at least you can say he over achieved in his first 2 years, with 2 BCS appearances. Its not like he was loaded with talent. Marginal success on the next level from those teams.

I still see the biggest difference in why Weis' first two teams and why Kelly has not had that overachieving moment is the qb play, yes there are other reasons as well. But this is the biggest one I believe. Quinn truly was a top 5 qb in college football those two years who used the talent around him well and knew how to hurt the d. And Kelly has not been anywhere close to that (a large gap cavern even) in qb play. With the future looking brighter. Top 10 qb will make a huge difference for this team in the future. Other needs yes, but this is the biggy. IMO

nbennyboy,

It's not like Kiel will be asked to be Tony Rice. All Brian Kelly and the staff want is to "spread" defenses enough so that they legitimately can honor the QB as a bona fide running threat because that opens up so many other derivatives of the offense and overall scheme.

If Kiel or anyone else at quarterback can carry 5, 6, or 7 times per game for about 35 or 40 yards, that would be a tremendous boost in achieving it — and significantly aid the red zone offense as well. Crist actually had a team high 4 TDs rushing in 2010 before getting injured and had a couple of TD runs where he was completely untouched off the zone read.

I've learned over the years not to take high school running stats of QBs too seriously, mainly because as athletes they are so superior to everyone else on the field. So while I respect what Kiel did, it's also Indiana high school football, which doesn't translate the same way to major college football. Let me put it this way: As a high school senior, Ron Powlus ran for 677 yards and 20 touchdowns. Yet Holtz was eviscerated for even thinking about running the option with him.

Conversely, do you realize that Everett Golson had negative rushing yards in seven of the 14 games he played as a junior? His own coach, Mickey Wilson, told us "he's mobile, but running the ball is not his strong point." Yet he's perceived as the perfect fit for Kelly's offense "because he can run."

Anytime you recruit a black quarterback, the pubic perception is "athlete." And unless you're a Tim Tebow, with a white quarterback it's "statue" and "dropback QB." Same at point guard. Every white point guard is a "gym rat."

Time is the only thing that will tell us anything. Can Kiel be a threat five or six times per game with the read option, thereby opening up so many other avenues in the offense? On paper, the answer would see yes. But nothing can ever be answered until you get into the actual meaningful situations at this level against good opponents.