This is the 172nd edition of Irish Illustrated Insider, brought you by Irish Illustrated.com.

I'm Tim Priester with Pete Sampson and Tim O'Melly.

As we wrap up the 86th, I don't say annual, because they did skip in there.

It was the 86th Blue Gold game at the little bar practice complex,

kind of a neat setting for a blue goal game, not typical of what we're accustomed to,

a sparsely filled Notre Dame Stadium.

And it was a neat setting, there there's no doubt and helping that was

a 75 degree day and some good action on both sides of the football so let's

talk about what we saw in the 86 blue goal game yeah I mean it was a good

setting for one or two times and you know it was interesting talking to the players afterwards, and Matthias Farley and Steve Elm were, their reaction to sort of questions about the environment was like, I didn't really like that many people on the practice fields. Like, I think they sort of saw, see that as their sanctuary a little bit. Oh, they're kind of possessive a little bit. Yeah, it was a little bit like this is a little bit invasive for us.

But, you know, I guess in terms of the performance, there wasn't a whole lot there that, you know, caught me off guard or surprised me or even, like, changed the way I thought about the team.

You know, I thought both quarterbacks, every time we see them, they both look like

they can contribute.

The offensive line looks good.

Every time we see it, the defensive line looks young and, you know, without a, not just

a dominant pass rusher, just a pass rusher.

So, you know, I think probably the secondary is probably the position for me that

improved the most as I saw them throughout the spring. And I thought that Nick Watkins over taking

Devon Butler by the end was a real positive. But beyond that, I'm not sure there was anything that

really kind of struck me. No, and I don't, I didn't really expect to be floored in the spring. I do think when you see the team in its whole, all the parts, especially as you mentioned, the secondary, if they get one of the best players in the country back there with Cavarie Russell, I think August might reveal a little more. As you said, we come away impressed watching, watching the quarterbacks and the offensive line the way

they work, I guess. I maybe thought that, I don't know if it's in Fulston's personality, but I maybe

thought Bryant and Fulston would stick out a little bit more this spring. Bryant didn't at all.

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