Rockne's Roundtable

Dude could be a beast at OLB/DE. I hope it works out for the team if they follow through.

He is going to be good wherever!

I like the idea of having a 6'7" receiver in the redzone. Definitely looking forward to watching him play.

Letting MacNamara go and then doing this...does anyone think this makes sense or just another miscalculation...you never have enough defensive line players or tight ends..

When we slow played McNamera we still had Darby, Greenberry, and Decker. We also had legit shots at the Armstead's and Poole. Most of the discussion was centered on which valuable 5th year we would turn away.

That would be an interesting move. I hope it works out if true.

I've posted this previously, but going into last year's recruiting cycle, ND was not set on taking a TE as they felt they had needs at other positions. Clearly, they had Kent Taylor at the top of their board, but also recruited McNamara as a 2nd option. However, from the get go they were very honest with him - his offer would have more to do with whether Eifert would come back or if a scholarship opened up by Jake Golic getting a medical redshirt. Neither of those happened, and McNamara wanted to make a decision in December rather than wait it out, so ND was honest and up front with him and let him make the decision to go to OU.

At that point, ND still had Greenberry and Decker, and had a bunch of other prospects above him on the board (as script noted above). We did not feel TE was a position of need because of what we had currently on the roster, and that included Niklas being part of the equation.

Niklas did see some spot time at the DOG position this year, but that's not where he was suited best - recall, the main reason he saw time there was because Shembo's father had the medical emergency and Danny Spond was injured, so we had no other options (even Filer saw time there that game). By the end of the year, his primary role was coming in at dime and nickel situations and rushing the passer. He was always a better fit at the CAT than the DOG, but we're most likely going to be moving Shembo to CAT this year. Ishaq Williams is versatile enough to play both OLB positions, and then you have Councell who the staff is very high on as a RS FR. Either way, whether it's at OLB, DE, or TE, we have a bunch of young talent to work with, so the staff thinks they need to put him where he not only fits best, but helps the team the most.

Now go to the other side of the ball, and at TE you now have 4 very big, very talented, very athletic TEs in Eifert, Welch, Koyack, and Niklas. Eifert will be gone after this year, as well as Golic, leaving us with 3 TE's remaining for 2013. Each guy will have 2 years remaining after that, but Welch may not get a 5th depending on the production levels and scholarship distribution, so you have Koyack and Niklas for sure until 2014. With the shift in coordinators and potential change in offensive identity, this is a good move to at least experiment with. Niklas has really impressed the staff with his athletic ability since day 1, and they see an opportunity here for a large body to help out in the red zone (an area we struggled in), as well as give us a more physical presence.

Love Niklas's physicality at TE. Obviously we already have three talented guys at TE but Troy may be a more ferocious blocker than any of them. And with his athleticism I'm sure he'll be a great receiver as well.

People seem to be giving the staff a hard time for letting McNamara get away, but back in December I remember he was quoted as saying that early playing time was a major factor for him and that he would be less interested in ND if Eifert came back. Once Eifert did decide to come back, I think it was going to be tougher to pull him in anyway.