Here is what ESPN said regarding the outlook for the 2012 Notre Dame team.

The jury still seems to be out on whether coach Brian Kelly can return the Fighting Irish to national prominence. There’s no question the Irish are a better defensive team under Kelly, but the offense continues to struggle because of turnovers and poor quarterback play. Kelly will again oversee a quarterback battle in the offseason, with Tommy Rees, Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson battling for the starting job. The Irish will be without star receiver Michael Floyd, but tight end Tyler Eifert decided to come back for one more season. The defense should continue to improve as young linemen such as Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt get stronger. Notre Dame’s schedule in 2012 is daunting, with nine games against teams that played in bowl games, including road contests at Michigan State, Oklahoma and USC.

Personally, I have never been a huge fan of the early rankings. We have about eight months to start of next season and a lot can happen before then as far as players transferring or going to the pro level and coaches taking jobs at different schools or even at the pro level. These rankings will probably change before September rolls around.

I would much rather have the Irish being unranked heading into next season so they can fly under the radar. After all, their Top 15 ranking at the start of the 2011 season didn’t help them one bit.

Here is the following statement that was released from athletic director Jack Swarbrick.

“While Coach Kelly and I are focused on the additional work that must be done to reach our goals, I am very pleased with the progress we have made during the past two years.” University of Notre Dame vice president and director of athletics Jack Swarbrick said. “Our football team’s performance on the field, in the classroom, and in the community reflect Coach Kelly’s commitment to building a program that will be able to sustain success in the long run, and to doing so in a manner consistent with Notre Dame’s values and tradition.”

Kelly also made a comment on the news.

“I want to thank Father Jenkins and Jack Swarbrick for their unwavering support of me the last two years,” Kelly said. “My family and I are truly blessed to be at Notre Dame and we are excited about what the future holds for the Fighting Irish football team. I also want to thank Father John and Jack for the commitment they made to the football program last week by renewing the contracts of our assistant coaches. I think we have one of the finest coaching staffs in the country at Notre Dame, and the confidence our administration has shown in us is truly appreciated.”

Some might view this as premature considering Kelly only has a 16-10 record in two seasons in South Bend, but I think it is the right move. It gives him some job security, something that is needed when you are recruiting top talent across the country. It also gives Kelly some time to get his guys on campus and put in place a quarterback that will lead his spread offense.

Over the course of 13 games, Bama allowed only nine touchdowns. Yes, that it is not a typo. NINE TOUCHDOWNS. Didn’t Clemson allow that many in their entire bowl game against West Virginia? Unbelievable.

The unreal stats don’t end their. Heading into last night’s matchup, Bama’s D allowed only 8.8 points per game. The next closest team was LSU at 10.5 points per contest.

Looking at pretty every defensive statistical category, the Crimson Tide are at the top in the country, whether it be against the run, pass or total defense. Their D on averaged only allowed 191 total yards per game; 116 yards through the air and 75 yards on the ground. The last defense to be first in every defensive statistical category was the 1986 Oklahoma Sooners.

The Tide saved their best performance for last during last night’s game in New Orleans though. They held the Tigers to under a 100 total yards of offense and the #1 team heading into last night’s game didn’t cross mid field into halfway through the fourth quarter.

Honestly, I don’t think I have ever seen a more dominant performance by a defense.

As I was watching the game, I was thinking about Notre Dame’s defense and how far behind they are compared to Alabama’s. There is no question that Brian Kelly has improved the talent dramatically in his two season in South Bend, but there is still a lot of room to grow before the Irish get close to the Tide’s and other other top SEC defenses.

Where Kelly has improved the Irish D the most is on the line. Upcoming sophomores Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt are special talents and showed a lot in their first year’s of playing collegiate ball. Kelly has also two blue chippers coming in for this year’s class and might add one more in Arik Armstead before National Signing Day.

Despite those things, the Irish front is still behind the Crimson Tides’. At times, it is hard to differentiate between members of their defensive line and their linebackers. That is how quick and athletic their d-line is and they were a pain all night long for LSU’s run attach and for Jordan Jefferson.

What largely separates the Notre Dame defense from Alabama’s defense is at linebacker and in the secondary. Manti Te’o would start on Bama, but that is about it as far as the Irish linebackers go. The rest just simply don’t stack up with the speed, size and athleticism of Jerrell Harris, Dont’a Hightower, Courtney Upshaw and whoever else Nick Saban is throwing out there.

Both Hightower and Upshaw are expected to go in the first round of April’s draft.

The starkest difference between the two defenses comes in the secondary though. There were times when the Irish secondary, mainly Gary Gray, struggled in pass coverage this season. Things won’t get any easier for the Irish with Gray, Robert Blanton and Harrison Smith moving on and graduating and a bunch of youngsters competing for three spots in 2012.

As far as their draft status goes, Smith might be the only member to be selected in April. Gray will probably go undrafted and Blanton could be on the outside looking in depending on well he performs in his workout.

That isn’t the case with members of Alabama’s secondary. Dre Kirkpatrick, who hardly had his name called on last night because he was so good in coverage, is pretty much a lock to be a Top 10 pick. Mark Barron is another player who is expected to go off the board within the first couple of rounds. A couple of others will more than likely be picked before the end of seven rounds.

Now, it is hard to compare the two defenses because the schools so different in contrast. The academic requirements at Notre Dame are much more strict compared to what they are at Alabama. Saban also uses and abuses kids medical issues and features the greyshirt quite a bit. That usually doesn’t end up being the case in South Bend.

With all those things against them, Notre Dame might never have quite the level of talent that Alabama has on the defensive side of the football, but they can eventually compete with them as long as Kelly continues to recruit well and the defense takes the steps needed to improve.

All of that great news came to a crashing halt late Sunday night when rumors circulated that Ronald Darby, a long time Notre Dame commit, had back out of his commitment from the university. All of those rumors have now been confirmed and Darby has been dropped as an Irish commit on every major recruiting site on the web.

One of the top cornerbacks in the country, Darby has been long rumored to be a possible decommit. Darby has been taking official visits to other schools, mostly in the South, and the news became official on Sunday, a few days after the high school senior played in the Under Armour All-American Game.

There is no concrete news on whether Notre Dame remains an option for Darby, but his relationship with the Irish staff has said to have deteriorated in recent weeks. Defensive backs coach Kerry Cooks also didn’t have a good meeting with Darby at the UA Game, according to reports.

Taking a quick glance at this news, losing Darby is a tremendous loss. If he would have remained firm in his commitment, he was expected to contribute right away for the Irish in his freshman season. The Irish depth at corner doesn’t have a lot of experience and Darby would have been given the chance to start from day one. He was also expected to play a key role in the return game as well.

If Darby has indeed ruled out going to Notre Dame, the coaching staff does have some options to fall back on with the top one being Yuri Wright. The Don Bosco product is expected to announce where he is going to attend college soon and Notre Dame remains his favorite. Athlete Davonte’ Neal and Anthony Standifer are options as well.

Daje Johnson, a cornerback who is currently a soft verbal to TCU, is said to be another option that has recently came into the picture. Johnson is more raw in coverage compared to Darby, but his elite speed and freakish athleticism would be a great pick up in this late stage of the recruiting game.

Here are the details of the process that Carlisle will have to go through, according to the South Bend Tribune.

Carlisle will transfer to Notre Dame and will have three seasons of eligibility remaining beginning with the 2013 season. He will enroll at ND for the spring 2012 semester, which begins Jan. 17. Carlisle must sit out the 2012 season to satisfy NCAA transfer requirements.

There have been rumors of a player planning to transfer to Notre Dame for more than a week now. There were a number of names mentioned, but not a concrete one until this story came out this afternoon.

A four-star recruit coming out of The Kings Academy in California, Carlisle was being looked at by both USC and Notre Dame during last year’s recruiting season. Carlisle liked the Irish, but he picked the Trojans, despite having family ties to the Midwest region.

When he committed to Southern Cal last year, Amir’s dad Duane was the head strength and conditioning coach for the 49ers, but he no longer holds that position and is now the director of sports performance at Purdue. Being close to his father might have something to do with the younger Carlisle transferring to campus in South Bend.

Carlisle was highly thought of by USC head coach Lane Kiffin and his staff so much so that the running back was given consideration to be the Trojans starter this past season at tailback, but an ankle injury kept him out for the first three games. He would return for the Arizona State game, but would hurt his ankle again and suffered a sprain of his MCL.

The running back ended up with a brace on his knee for the rest of the season. His only real good game of the 2011 campaign came in garbage time against Colorado where the freshman run for 90 yards on only 10 carries against a really bad Buffaloes defense. He also had a pair of catches, one of which went for a touchdown.

That ability to catch the ball out of the backfield might make him an attractive option at the slot receiver for Kelly’s offense. Robby Toma and Theo Riddick will both be out of eligibility after next season, which means Carlisle could be a favorite to win the job for start of the 2013 season.

Whether he plays in the slot or stays at running back, this is a real nice get for the Irish. When healthy, Carlisle is an electric athlete with terrific speed. With having three years left of eligibility, he has the tools to produce nice numbers in his time in South Bend.

I am just a tad bit surprised that Kiffin signed off on his former player going to a bitter rival that you play every single season. Carlisle’s knowledge of the USC playbook could help the Notre Dame defense gain an advantage for next season’s matchup, although it would be minimal at best considering how offenses change year after year.

Standing at 6’1, 205 pounds, Shumate is considered one of the top players in the entire country. He is a four-star on both Rivals and Scout with the former ranking him as the seventh best safety while the latter has him as the fifth best in the country.

Shumate becomes the 18th Irish commit in this class and the sixth defensive back joining Nick Baratti, CJ Prosise, John Turner, Tee Shepard and Ronald Darby. Brian Kelly and his staff are said not to be done adding guys in the defensive backfield either as Shumate’s Don Bosco teammate Yuri Wright still needs to make his decision and the Irish are in with other prospects as well.

It remains to be seen whether Shumate will remain locked in at safety. While at Don Bosco, which has produced a lot of quality talent over the last several seasons, Shumate also saw time at corner and even some PT at linebacker because of his 4.4 speed. Shumate could turn into a player like Jamoris Slaughter, who saw a lot of time at outside linebacker at the end of the season for the Irish.

Tyler Eifert will return to Notre Dame for his senior season, father Greg Eifert tells Irish Illustrated.

January 6, 2012 12:20 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@NDatRivals

Irish Illustrated

This couldn’t be better news for Irish fans. Early on in the process it appeared as though Eifert was a lock to return to Notre Dame, but things changed over the last week. There were even some who believed that the tight end was going into the draft despite being given a third round ranking. Today’s announcement puts those worries to rest though.

Many Irish players and new offensive coordinator Chuck Martin have visited in recent days, according to Irish Illustrated. Martin visited Eifert on Thursday to discuss how the tight end will be featured in the Irish offense in 2012. Dan Fox, Tommy Rees, Zach Martin and Chris Watt have also spent time with the soon to be senior.

Eifert’s decision to return instantly means that the Irish offense will better heading into next season. With Michael Floyd leaving for the NFL, Eifert will be the biggest weapon for whichever quarterback wins the starting job in camp. The tight end put up huge numbers in 2011, but those can be improved on in 2012.

Look for Eifert to get every preseason honor that can be bestowed to a tight end. If he stays healthy, Eifert should be the best tight end in the country come next season.

One of those has been Taylor Decker, an offensive lineman prospect Butler High School in Vandalia, Ohio. Decker was one of the first Irish commits in this class announcing Notre Dame as his school of choice back in March of last year, two days after Tee Shepard said he was going to play football at the university.

Talk in recent days has said that Decker was swaying on his commitment with Meyer showing a renewed interest and Tim Hinton and Ed Warinner both expected to head to OSU. Both coaches were recruiting Decker while they were at South Bend.

On Thursday though, Decker locked in on his commitment to playing football in South Bend over the next four seasons.

Received a text message from Taylor Decker that he's solid in his Notre Dame commitment after the departures of Tim Hinton and Ed Warinner.

January 5, 2012 2:54 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@NDatRivals

Irish Illustrated

Losing a commit at this time just about a month out of National Signing Day would have been a tough pill to swallow for Brian Kelly and his staff, especially if it meant Decker going to Ohio State. That won’t be the case however and Decker will be at least the third offensive lineman that the Irish will be adding to the roster come September. ND is still in on a couple of o-line prospects in this class.

Decker has all the makings of being a cornerstone left tackle in the coming future. At 6’8, he is still growing and adding the necessary weight to be a college caliber tackle. Zach Martin is heading into his final season at left tackle and with some uncertainty on the right because of Taylor Dever graduating, Decker might play early on in his career.

Stay tuned.

Notre Dame gets the majority of its revenue from its football program, which of course comes as no surprise. The football program has a total revenue of about $68.7 million compared to a basketball program which only brings in just under $4 million at $3.977 million.

As far as the basketball program goes, the Irish rank dead last out of all the schools on the list. The football program grades out much better with an overall ranking of eighth out of the 20 universities.

I am not surprised by the schools that are ahead of Notre Dame in football revenue. Five of the seven programs are from the southern region of the country which treats football as a religion. All of those schools have more students that attend that individual university as well. Michigan and Penn State have rather large student bodies compared to Notre Dame too.

When speaking about the basketball program, I am very disappointed by the $3.977 million total. Yes, Notre Dame will always be remembered for football first, but the Irish b-ball program has had a very nice history as well. It is time for Mike Brey and company to improve on that number going forward.