I was thinking about the 2014 version of the ND Football team and trying to figure out what it needed or lacked to ensure great success on and off the field. They have great talent, great coaches and great facilities, but what else? I thought about the last few years and many others and the one thing that great teams have is an identity. In 2012 it was a Manti Teo led team with great talent and great guys around him. Last season it was a group of Senior and 5th year leadership in Tommy Rees, Carlo Calabrese, Dan Fox, et al. Unfortunately that wasnt enough talent to be considered a great team. We all remember the NC teams and the identity, attitude and swagger of those teams was obvious. Tony Rice was the leader of the 88 offense and is still considered their life long captain. The Three Amigos on Defense, Stonebreaker, Pritchett and Stams were tough, nasty and took no prisoners and with Ned Bolcar in the mix gave opponents nightmares. Joe Montana... what more can be said. The77 team had great players like Ross Browner, Willy Fry, Gerome Heavens, Vegas Ferguson, Bob Golic, et al. That team was talented, resilient and never said die. In each of those years the team had its leaders, role players and unexpected contributors that melded into an identity that became the stuff of legends. I have had the opportunity to meet and hang out with the 88 team on several occasions and there is an unbreakable bond between them. It might be due to the accomplishment of a National Championship or a collective love of Lou Holtz, but I think it is more. I think, like other great teams, they had a unified and unshakable identity that they were a team to be reckoned with. Realistically we all know you can have all the swagger, trash talk and attitude in the world but if you cant back it up on the field you are a joke and probably a bunch of punks. ND does not roll that way and I would never expect our guys to act like punks. So what will or identity be? We will have great leadership, unexpected contributors and our own identity? This is what Coach Kelly has to create for this team. He has all the right ingredients, all the necessary skills and many unknowns. What will come of this 14 team and season? I dont know but I am very hopeful that we see a bunch of young pups become some very Big Dogs over the course of this season. Explosiveness, attitude, nastiness and power are all there under the surface. Lets hope the maestro can bring it out of them and show college football that ND is all the way back! GO IRISH!
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 11:46:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015