It’s that time of year again. As our summer days gradually shorten and the calendar creeps past the middle of July, the long abyss is ending and we are inching closer and closer to real football. With the 2013 Fighting Irish set to kickoff preseason camp in early August, it’s time to take to projecting what this year’s squad will look like.
Here’s what we know: Gone are two All-Americans -- all-time greats at their positions, and national award winners in Manti Te’o and Tyler Eifert. Their shoes will be filled with capable youngsters, but hardly proven commodities. We also know the Irish will be starting over at quarterback, with Everett Golson exiled for academic reasons for the fall semester. Hoping that veteran backup Tommy Rees can rely on a strong ground game? Well, who powers that unit is still up in the air, with a slew of talented but unproven runners waiting to battle it out in camp for carries.
That’s not to say this team is short on talent and filled with questions? Once again, the Irish will have at least two players that are likely locks for All-American honors. Who did the panel judge the best player on the defensive front, Stephon Tuitt or Louis Nix? Is left tackle Zack Martin better than both of them? Where did the talented five-star freshmen rank on our judges list? (I feel like I should be yelling this...)
As we’ve done for the past few years, we’re once again ranking the roster’s top 25 players, an exercise that’s created quite a bit of diversity among the lists I received from our panel of judges. This year, we had eight voters (including yours truly) weigh in -- as good of a mix as I think we’ve had since we started doing this. Here’s the group:
Brian Hamilton, Chicago Tribune
Pete Sampson, Irish Illustrated
JJ Stankevitz, CSN Chicago
John Vannie, ND Nation
John Walters, MediumHappy.com
Ryan Ritter, HerLoyalSons.com
4pointshooter, OneFootDown.com
Keith Arnold, Inside the Irish
With that out of the way, let’s take a trip down memory lane so you get caught up on the prognosticating skills of this exercise the past few years. We’ll roll out the least each day this week, five players at a time, with some observations in between. (Feel free to play along in the comments section as well...)
IRISH 2012 Top 25
25. Zeke Motta (S, Sr.)
24. Tommy Rees (QB, Jr.)
23. Andrew Hendrix (QB, Jr.)
22. Davonte Neal (WR, Fr.)
21. TJ Jones (WR, Jr.)
20. Robby Toma (WR, Sr.)
19. Christian Lombard (OL, Jr.)
18. Davaris Daniels (WR, So.)
17. Troy Niklas (TE, So.)
16. Bennett Jackson (CB, Jr.)
15. Ishaq Williams (OLB, So.)
14. Everett Golson (QB, So.)
13. Chris Watt (LG, Sr.)
12. Prince Shembo (OLB, Jr.)
11. George Atkinson (RB, So.)
10. Kapron Lewis-Moore (DE, Grad.)
9. Theo Riddick (RB, Sr.)
8. Jamoris Slaughter (DB, Grad.)
7. Braxston Cave (C, Grad.)
6. Louis Nix III (DT, Jr.)
5. Stephon Tuitt (DE, Soph.)
4. Zack Martin (LT, Sr.)
3. Cierre Wood (RB, Sr.)
2. Tyler Eifert (TE, Sr.)
1. Manti Te’o (LB, Sr.)
A few thoughts: Just a quick look at our last rankings, done around this time last year. The one name most missed on was obviously Cierre Wood, who came in ranked No. 3 and then ended up going undrafted. Meanwhile, Theo Riddick ended up being the team’s second most important offensive weapon, only behind first-round draft pick Tyler Eifert.
Another big miss was Andrew Hendrix, who some thought had a chance to start at quarterback after a strong fall camp. That ended up not happening, with Hendrix relegated to No. 3 quarterback duty all season. (Tommy Rees, ranked right behind him, became the situational reliever for the offense.)
Both TJ Jones and Zeke Motta outperformed their rankings, though Motta undid a lot of good with an ugly BCS Championship game and subpar testing. Lastly, it seems like our rankings of Everett Golson was just about right -- the starting quarterback proved his worth as the season went on, growing into the responsibility heaped on him.
IRISH 2011 Top 25
25. Taylor Dever (OT, Sr.)
24. Chris Watt (OG, Jr.)
23. Zeke Motta (S, Jr.)
22. Aaron Lynch (DE, Fr.)
21. Carlo Calabrese (LB, Jr.)
20. TJ Jones (WR, Soph.)
19. Louis Nix (NT, Soph.)
18. Braxston Cave (C, Sr.)
17. Tommy Rees (QB, Soph.)
16. Prince Shembo (OLB, Soph.)
15. Trevor Robinson (OG, Sr.)
14. Ethan Johnson (DE, Sr.)
13. Dayne Crist (QB, Sr.)
12. Tyler Eifert (TE, Jr.)
11. Kapron Lewis-Moore (DE, Sr.)
10. Robert Blanton (CB, Sr.)
9. David Ruffer (K, Sr.)
8. Theo Riddick (WR, Jr.)
7. Cierre Wood (RB, Jr.)
6. Darius Fleming (OLB, Sr.)
5. Gary Gray (CB, Sr.)
4. Zack Martin (LT, Jr.)
3. Harrison Smith (S, Sr.)
2. Manti Te’o (ILB, Jr.)
1. Michael Floyd (WR, Sr.)
IRISH 2010 Top 25
25. Nick Tausch
24. TJ Jones
23. Taylor Dever
22. Gary Gray
21. Theo Riddick
20. Zack Martin
19. Duval Kamara
18. Steve Filer
17. Jamoris Slaughter
16. Robert Hughes
15. Harrison Smith
14. Cierre Wood
13. Darrin Walls
12. Ethan Johnson
11. Kapron Lewis-Moore
10. Ian Williams
9. Darius Fleming
8. Dayne Crist
7. Armando Allen
6. Brian Smith
5. Trevor Robinson
4. Chris Stewart
3. Manti Te’o
2. Kyle Rudolph
1. Michael Floyd