You wouldn’t think a star Notre Dame football player would fly under the radar, but there are actually three which don’t get a ton of attention despite their talents and abilities. FOX Sports did a college football preview press call today, and Notre Dame football icon Brady Quinn was one of the participants.
I asked Quinn for his thoughts on ND’s prospects this season, as well as some general impressions of DL Sheldon Day and OL Ronnie Stanley and Nick Martin. He joked about how it took 20 minutes into the call for someone to bring up Notre Dame. (The podcast of Quinn’s segment is embedded below, you can scroll down to hear it)
Regarding Stanley and Martin, they play the position that gets the least amount of media coverage, and has the fewest numerical stats for fans to read up on and recite.
As for Day, he doesn’t put up the gaudy sack totals that make headlines. So while the average college football fan (we’re not talking about Notre Dame football fans here, I mean college football fans of other teams in the rest of country) doesn’t know much about these guys, NFL scouts really do.
Speaking of NFL mock drafts (here’s ours).
All three of these guys could easily be first round picks, and two of them were named team captains last night. And Quinn was gracious enough to fill us in on Stanley, Martin and Day.
Nick Martin, Jaylon Smith, Sheldon Day, Joe Schmidt and Matthias Farley are your 2015 Notre Dame team captains. pic.twitter.com/4A6fOa3MiE
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) August 27, 2015
Sheldon Day
When he first came to Notre Dame he wanted to be an anesthesiologist, and he was going to either pre-med or business with his major.
“The business side kind of took my heart and just ran with it,” he said at Media Day.
He’s already making use of his business skills, having taken out one of those insurance policies for potential future NFL earnings. In case he gets hurt this season, he’s covered, so it made his decision to return to ND for another season that much clearer.
In order to complete his degree, he just needs to finish one class, which meets for half a semester, twice a week. So this year Sheldon Day will experience a natural transition to what being a full time football player will be. Or at least as close to this kind of transition as his possible in college football today.
Brady Quinn on Sheldon Day: “He’s able to penetrate, both in the pass, and in the run game. “
Nick Martin
Martin’s position group is considered by many to be the biggest strength of the team. That says a lot about the Fighting Irish O-Linemen, given that Notre Dame football is ranked #11 in the preseason AP poll. Martin is obviously the younger brother of Zack Martin, who made a tremendous splash as a rookie in 2014. The young guard had a tremendous breakthrough season, and Notre Dame fans are hoping that Nick follows in his footsteps.
Brady Quinn on Nick Martin: “he resembles a little but of Zack in the case of he pulls well, with great feet placement, if you’re an evaluator, you see a guy where it’s nice to know that you can plug him in right away, and you can see the kind of impact he can have. And we saw that with the Cowboys and Nick Martin’s brother.”
Ronnie Stanley
Many NFL scouting services/media outlets/draftniks etc. rate him as the top offensive tackle prospect in the 2016 NFL Draft class and a near certain top ten overall pick. We published a tremendously detailed post on Stanley earlier this week, which you can read at this link.
Brady Quinn on Ronnie Stanley: “He’s going to be a franchise left tackle protecting someone’s blind side.”
Quinn on Jaylon Smith, who we profiled in detail here.
“You’ve watched the film on Jaylon Smith, you see him fill the holes in the run game. It’s like watching the NFL, with his ability to anticipate, he doesn’t waste any steps, he’s very efficient with his footwork, and he’s got this power and explosion.”
Notre Dame Football Preview Series
-Ronnie Stanley resembling top 10 overall NFL Draft talk
Will Fuller is Notre Dame football ’s best chance at the Heisman
KeiVarae Russell returns; wins Media Day
Malik Zaire takes issue with usage of the term “dual threat”
Comprehensive Notre Dame football Season Preview
2015 Notre Dame football is playoff or bust
-WR Chris Brown is a big Borussia Dortmund supporter (coming Sunday)
-Brady Quinn’s Notre Dame football Season Preview and predictions (coming Monday)
-Three star ND football players who are flying under the radar
Quinn podcast below:
Todd Burlage of Blue and Gold Illustrated/The Fan Indiana breaks down Notre Dame’s offense:
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 the Zone.
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