Blue & Gold Illustrated: Notre Dame Football And Recruiting

The BGI recruiting staff previews the Notre Dame storylines heading into National Signing Day.

Notre Dame had one of the nation's best offensive lines in 2018, and the end result was the unit winning the Joe Moore Award, which goes to the nation's top group. ESPN Football Analyst Cole Cubelic is one of the top evaluators of offensive line play in the country, and the Irish line was a hot topic for him all season. He joined Blue & Gold Illustrated football analyst Bryan Driskell to talk about the Irish line.

Cubelic broke down what made left guard Quenton Nelson so dominant and where he stacks up compared to other linemen Cubelic has evaluated over the years. He gets into the success of left tackle Mike McGlinchey and the potential of the players that return to South Bend next season, including center Sam Mustipher and right guard Alex Bars.

With less than a week to go until National Signing Day, the BGI recruiting staff discusses where Notre Dame stands with each of its remaining targets, and breaks down the list of prospects that attended the Irish's Junior Day

Notre Dame hired former Tennessee, Nebraska, Texas A&M and North Carolina defensive backs coach Terry Joseph to lead the Irish safeties. The final hire to the new ten man staff, Joseph brings a strong recruiting and coaching background to the Notre Dame staff. Blue & Gold Illustrated senior editor Lou Somogyi and football analyst Bryan Driskell discuss Joseph's background and why this was such an effective hire for Notre Dame, and what it means for the staff as a whole.

Following that discussion, Somogyi and Driskell begin the offseason breakdown of the different position groups as the team heads into winter conditioning and preps for spring practice. Up first is the position that will likely be the most watched, and has the biggest questions .... quarterback.

The BGI recruiting staff discusses the commitment of Georgia CB KJ Wallace and what it means for Notre Dame, plus dicusses the massive amount of talent on campus for Notre Dame's Junior Day 

The BGI recruiting staff goes through the extensive list of official and unofficial visitors sltaed to be in South Bend this weekend 

BGI basketball beat writer Corey Bodden recaps Notre Dame's loss to Clemson, discusses the latest Irish bracketology and previews the upcoming matchup with Virginia Tech

In a surprising move, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly named offensive analyst Jeff Quinn as the team's next offensive line coach. Quinn worked under Kelly from 1989 to 2009 and was an analyst at Notre Dame the last three season's. Blue & Gold Illustrated senior editor Lou Somogyi and football analyst Bryan Driskell discuss the hire. The staff gives their opinions on the hire, discuss the optics of the hire and what has to happen for this hire to work out for Notre Dame.

The show ends with a discussion of what returns on the offensive line, and the pieces that are in place for Quinn next season.

Notre Dame is poised to hire a new safeties coach, and the Blue & Gold Illustrated staff breaks it all down. Senior editor Lou Somogyi and football analyst Bryan Driskell talk about the new coach and discuss what kind of talent he inherits. Notre Dame's safety play wasn't good enough in 2017, but Driskell believes the unit will be much better in 2018, and he explains why. 

The show finishes up with the staff breaking down the four candidates who interviewed for the vacant offensive line coach position.