Here are some highlight videos of Cam McDaniel that really highlight his athleticism and versatility.
Senior year highlights mainly of McDaniel as a running back.
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Junior year highlights.
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Sophomore year highlights of McDaniel specifically as a receiver.
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More sophomore year highlights, this time of McDaniel as a kick/punt returner.
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WOW!
He makes alot of nice cuts on an artificial field. Wonder if he’s ever played on grass.
Kelly came to his highschool and told him that he will be a tailback.Kelly doesn’t seem like a guy who beats around the bush and will tell a kids straight this is what we want for you and how you will help this program.In reading the article Cam said as soon as he saw Kelly he new he was going to ND, Cam said”exelence was beaming off of him”the last coach that ND players said that about was Lou when he first came to ND, not trying to be to optimistic, but I think Kelly will have much success in coming years he just has that presence about him. Christian French said he will announce on Tuesday lets hope for the best, I think he’s going to Iowa though just a feeling.
I stand corrected on my prediction. Golson just switched from NC to ND. He is also an early enroll at ND. This kid is going to be a scary option for Kelly. The QB position just became a position of strength with Crist, Rees, Hendrix, Massa and Golson. All four are very good once they grasp the system. I still see French in a ND uniform.
If you watched every game and not the highlights, the Navy game was the only one where you felt ND was just confused which is typical of a first time look at the option for coaches. Even the Stanford game gave you a feeling that they were beat but not slaughtered. The rest of the games you felt that ND should have won. This is the same way the first season under Holtz felt. This team is moving in the right direction and the recruits will see this over the next few weeks especially with a nice bowl win.
I thought you didn’t like predictions?
these recruiting sites are hard to make sense of. Some have Christian French’s 40 time from 4.37 – 4.5.
Great size and speed though. I would love to see him on the defensive side of the ball.
These recruiting sites vary so much, some have French as a TE some have him as an OLB.With his size and speed I would like him on the defensive side also.He plans to announce thursday, it was originally planned for tuesday, but he postponed it.Getting a freak athlete like French or Ishaq on the edge to go along with Prince Shembo would be awsome and give us a rush off the edge we havn’t had in a long time.GO IRISH!!!
WOW – kid got jets! His size is a concern for college football, but I have tremendous faith BK knows what he’s looking for.
The kid looks solid to me. I love the cutbacks and quick reactions. I would love to see this kid as a WR in Kelly’s system. He is perfect for it. Solid pick up. I see christian French as the next to commit. He would be a huge pick up at OLB.
This kid has been playing 5A ball in Texas and has some incredible numbers!
His highlight film is a real pleasure to watch.
Explodes out of cuts at full speed…
He must be deceptivley fast because the defenders pursuit angles seem that they should have caught him… but end up behind his hip…
Strong lower body with GREAT balance…
Doesn’t stop fighting for yards until he has been forced to stop…
Vision, patients, catches the ball with his hands…
I sure do hope his abilities translate well to the college game. He’s certainly fun to watch while in high school.
Chucky to the U. Wow, a great twist to the next version of Catholics vs. Convicts.
Yeah, I like this news as well. He’s a great coach! He would be great for the Hurricanes.
I enjoy the “fun” of calling them “convicts” but they are kids who could use some positive mentoring and a strong Miami team is good for college football.
I wish them well if Chucky takes the job…
Notice the kids that made up the speed difference and had a shot at him, almost all of them were still not able to make the tackle. He looks hard to bring down after first contact. Plus hes from Texas everything here is bigger and better, I like this kid!
I agree the kid runs hard, I’m looking forward to watching this kid, he could be a gem in this class.As for a return man I think George Atkinson a recruit from California who is a speedster.He is 6-2 200, as a sophmore he finsished 3rd in the 100m dash in the state and 4th in the 200m.He played runningback in highschool but will be a WR in college.He averaged 33 yards a kick off return.I think Kelly is attacking the needs of this team and realizes he needs help at return man.
Jerry Rice ran a 4.7 40 yard dash at the combine, but nobody ever caught Jerry in the open field.Some kids may not look fast or have blazing 40 numbers but some kids get into the open field and nobody can catch them, it’s game speed I think this kid might have that.The most important part of being a runningback or reciever is the first ten yards, he reportedly ran a 3.84 shuttle at a camp, this mean the kid accelerates to top speen in a heart beat.The corner may be faster but if he can accelerate past him out of routes or cuts then the corner has to play catch up and you can get 20 yards or so before that happens.I’m excited about this prospect, seems like a good kid who will work his butt off.I think people should look up Rex Burkhead of Nebraska, very similar and competed at the same level of Texas class 5A.He is doing very well at rb for Nebraska.GO IRISH!!!
Wow – ND’s next great slot WR after Riddick graduates. Hopefully can at least take some of the punt return duties from John”Fair-catch”Goodman.
sorry, but this is starting to drive me nuts on all the ND sites.
please show me one time where goodman did not have anywhere from 3 to as many as all 11 of the opposing team barreling down on him. zibby would even fair catch 75% of these.
the problem is the blocking. plain and simple. fix that and whoever is back there will be serviceable.
i am not picking you out personally or trying to defend goodman, but please realize the real problem rather than calling him “fair catch” goodman because it would also be “fair catch” zibby.
I agree. It seems on every kick that by the time the ball crosses the apex of it’s flight path we’ve already got 3 defenders waiting around by the receiver. Not sure what good it would do to catch the ball and get drilled…other than creating a possible turnover situation.
ST blocking needs some major work, but now we’ve got time for it 😉
I agree – It’s best for Goodman to know his role and ability level and play it safe calling for fair catches – Nothing wrong with that it eliminate penalties or fumbles. He just doesn’t strike me as a returner that could take a punt for a TD even with 14 blockers out there. Now maybe it’s the blocking or maybe it’s Goodman but ND needs game-changing abilities out of the punt return game once again.
Yeah, I definitely see what you’re saying. Bennett Jackson on the other hand, the few times he’s caught that ball and started his return…I was like “man, did my hero #25 come back and sneak on for play”. His burst speed is unreal. So many times he was 1 block away from a td return. He just needs to work on his hands and ball-in-air concentration.
We’ll see what happens next year, but I like the idea of Atkinson, McDaniel, and Jackson back there! Talk about lesser of 3 evils for the opposing kicker. 😉
It does get a bit frustrating watching all the fair catches, but in support of the other postings in Goodman’s defense- He still has the job. If the coaching staff thought the fair catching was a problem he wouldn’t be receiving punts anymore.
Why is he not returnig puns for ND this year?
http://ndgdn.com/
pretty impressive stuff. he has great field awareness and can stop and turn on a dime. some guys are just good football players period.
but (there is always a but) you can tell he won’t have break away speed at the next level. maybe the competition in the video is against division 1 speed, but i doubt it. speed is not wholly dispositive, but the best skill guy at notre dame this decade had break-away speed (golden).
this is why scouting is tough. he is clearly a good football player but (most-likely) lacks size and speed. where is the trade-off? i also find it funny (ironic maybe?) that hundreds of highschool prospects tout 4.4-4.5 speed, yet the numbers at the combine show a sub 4.5 time is actually really rare. are these guys getting slower in college? haha
Alot of people probably had some of the same knocks against Peyton Hillis and that guy is tearing it up (9th in the NFL in rushing and 2nd among RB’s in TD’s). Toby Gerhart was also a beast in college and if given the chance at the pro level he might be just as good if not better but is currently behind one of the best…Adrian Peterson. Danny Woodhead in New England also proved he can play at the pro level when given a shot.
I can understand the skepticism simply because he looks too good that your initial thought is that the competition is lacking….but (as you said, always a but :-} ) This is from the commitment article:
“McDaniel is a shifty running back who has played in a spread offense against some of the best competition Texas has to offer. Coppell High plays in Texas’s 5A class..”
That’s about as tough as it gets!
To me, the best part about this kid is that he wants nothing more than to play for Notre Dame. THAT is something you can’t coach!!
Sorry, somehow I left this off:
“McDanial has rushed 287 times for 1,859 yards (6.5 average) with 31 touchdowns – all against the highest level of competition in the state of Texas. “