Jan 6, 2009

2009 Eligibility



With the season over and Irish fans waiting anxiously for spring practice, some of us may be wondering what the roster will look like next year. I took the time to put the scholarship players and spreadsheet their asses. This particular one is based off of the free chart at Irish Illustrated as there is a similar one at Irish Eyes.

The reason I am basically copying this stuff, is so that I can use it as a resource for future posts whether they be about new recruits, depth chart, transfers- whatever. So get used to seeing this thing as I will embed it with a lot of roster-type posts.

The future of a program can be foretold by objectively looking at the depth chart and identifying strengths and weaknesses.

A few notes from The Subway Domer:

  • Gary Gray is still on the eligibility chart. Until further notice from the university, I will count Gary as a roster member.
  • No official word has come from the University about the players that may return for a fifth year. We have all heard that 5 players were for certain (Anello, Herring, Duncan, McCarthy, and S. Smith) would be invited back for a fifth year. This chart has two others that still have a year left and after the recruiting class is signed, they may be back next year (Bemenderfer & Schwaap.).
  • Harrison Smith is still considered a linebacker until he practices with the safeties. As much as Weis may want to move him, it may not happen.
  • The black boxes on the chart represents the fact that no players are designated for that eligibility year. The two that are the most significant are the Junior eligibility for offensive tackles and the Senior eligibility for the defensive tackles.
  • Darrin Walls is listed as the word has been spread about his return this month.
  • The defense that ND is running is kind of like Optimus Prime. It transforms. I'm not sure you can label this unit. 3-4? 4-3? Well, the Irish ran most of the year with an even front and I would venture that next year will be similar. The hybrids and other linebackers could get moved around.
  • Ethan Johnson is known as a defensive end, but he played more defensive tackle this year than anything else.

There is a lot of discussion available as far as the depth charts and positioning goes, and I will be discussing these more and more as we roll into the spring.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice work! One catch is that Clausen will be in his Junior year of eligibility, and that there will not be a quarterback with Sophomore eligibility in 2009. Sharpley could potentially return (based on his MLB draft opportunities) and fill the Senior slot as a 5th year, although that is probably unlikely (he's too good of a baseball player).

Jay-A said...

Great post, Subway!

Anonymous said...

Schwapp seems like he has already been around for 6 years. Does he really have another year?

Anonymous said...

Nice work, but the D End part really has me worried. EJ will be an end next year, which will help.

Anonymous said...

Nice Job..

I also read that Cave, who only played very briefly in the beginning of the season, was held out of action for the rest of the year to preserve a year of eligibility..so he should be eligible to ask for a fifth year..

Anonymous said...

Cave lost this year of eligibility. He would have to have medical reasons to come back for a fifth.

SubwayDomer26 said...

A few things...

Sorry about the Clausen goof- it's fixed.

I agree somewhat about Johnson. It depends if a few of our young DT's can develop.

And Cave burnt a year this year. That was a HUGE coaching mistake. i think he was the snapper in the SDSU game.

JohnF said...

Looks like you have Deion Walker and Michael Floyd's names spelled wrong. Great job putting this together!

Anonymous said...

I appreciate having this information as we go through the balance of the recruiting for the current class.

Great post and thanks Subway.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the chart, Sub. For some reason when I see it, I get a hankering for playing College Football in dynasty mode.

Anonymous said...

Hire Coach Jags for OC!!!!