Notre Dame's Mike Mickens Departs For The NFL – Buy/Sell/Hold
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Last night, it was announced that Notre Dame defensive back coach Mike Mickens will be headed to the NFL to take a job with the Baltimore Ravens. Mickens revitalized Notre Dame's secondary and took it to new heights that I personally haven't seen in my lifetime. He's developed players like Leonard Moore, Benjamin Morrison, Xavier Watts, Cam Hart and several others. He will be difficult to replace and the road to finding his replacement now begins.
Today, along with Micken's departure, we also had our weekly Buy/Sell/Hold and we had a lot of great submissions this afternoon. We covered topics from the defensive tackle rotation, stat projections and replacements for Mickens to our food preferences and TV show preferences. It was a loaded show in this week's Buy/Sell/Hold.
You can watch the full show here:
Here are some of the main topics we discussed on today's podcast:
On Mickens Departure…
"You want someone who cares about developing young people not just as football players. The greatest stories I've ever heard about Mike Mickens are from parents. And the vast majority are from parents of kids who didn't play that much. It was about how much he cared about their kids and invested in their kids. That's what a college football coach is supposed to be about. That's also what Notre Dame is losing with the departure of Mike Mickens. Not just someone who can teach the position, it's someone who made you a better man because you were a part of his room."
On The Notre Dame vs BYU Matchup Next Fall…
"It means more and there's more at stake since they didn't meet in the Pop-Tarts Bowl this past season. I wanted to see these teams at full strength, and the reality is that if they played each other this past bowl season, we wouldn't have seen either team at 100 percent. Notre Dame would have been without Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price, Malachi Fields and other players like that. It means more that they're going to compete at full strength and in the prime of the regular season in 2026."
On The Atmosphere At Notre Dame When They Host Miami…
"The atmosphere for the playoff game was electric but it was a different kind of electricity. It was new and we hadn't experienced it before. It was the first ever home playoff game in college. That matchup will be 1988-esk in terms of magnitude for the matchup. I'm praying Miami is a Top 5 to 7 team when they come to Notre Dame Stadium on November 7."
On Leonard Moore's Legacy In South Bend…
"To me, he's already been the best cornerback that's come through this program since Todd Lyght. Now it's just a question on if he can surpass him. He's already been named a Unanimous All-American as a true sophomore and if he wins the Thorpe Award, and become the first Notre Dame player to bring that back to South Bend, I think he might take that crown. Regardless, Leonard Moore has been the best cornerback I've seen in South Bend in my lifetime, and that's not due to a lack of top level cornerback play."
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