One of the unfortunate byproducts of Notre Dame’s decision to keep the assistant coaches away from the media is that we get less time with offensive coordinator Chuck Martin. Moved from the secondary to get the Irish offense back on track, Martin has been tasked with getting an offense with a first time quarterback, a rebuilt offensive line, and without the school’s all-time leading wide receiver playing better than it did last season.
While Notre Dame is 4-0, the results haven’t come quite as quick as many have hoped. And with the Irish on bye week, Martin was afforded the opportunity to discuss with the media why. You can see the entire conversation below in the video, but here are some parts that I found interesting.
***
When it comes to evaluating the play of rookie QB Everett Golson, Martin certainly doesn’t dwell on the fact that the sophomore hasn’t finished any of his starts. He considers the fact that he’s playing in front of a depth chart that features Tommy Rees, Andrew Hendrix, and Gunner Kiel, enough of an accomplishment.
“The kid’s started four straight games as a first year player,” Martin said. “You’ve got to take some solace in that if you’re Everett Golson. There are three other talented kids and you’ve got the nod. The first four games of eligibility he’s started.
“And then the second thing is you keep accentuating all the good things that he’s done. He’s played a lot of snaps and done a lot of good things. We’ve said from day one, you’re not going to be a great quarterback as a freshman. It’s very rare. He may be great in spurts, for a period of time, or a completely game. Just to play, there are so many experiences from him.”
A good glass-half-full solution to the situation for Golson, who needs to put the past in the rearview mirror and try to forget about his performance against Michigan.
***
If you were looking for a better rationale for when Tommy Rees gets inserted into the game, Martin was candid about the inexact science about bringing in the back-up, more experienced, quarterback.
“You’re still just making an educated guess. You don’t know,” Martin confessed. “We brought Tommy in last week and the first drive we drive down and score. We didn’t know. It looked pretty good after we drove down and scored. It’s more of a feel and it’s also the feel of having a young quarterback and knowing how he’s doing in that moment in time.”
It was pretty good timing for Kelly and Martin on the quarterbacking move and its hard to fault the coaches for riding Rees until the end of the football game. Building a young quarterback’s confidence is important, but no where near as important as winning the football game.
***
A few days after Brian Kelly downplayed Tyler Eifert‘s role as a receiver in the passing game, Martin admitted that Notre Dame needs to find ways to get the football to its All-American tight end.
“It’s not as much a product of Tyler not being involved in the passing game, but how efficiently we can throw the football in certain situations and make good decisions and make good reads,” Martin said. “Trust me, Tyler has been doing awesome and he’s been an unbevlieable teammate and competitor. We’re a better team if the ball gets in No. 80’ss direction more.”
Part of the problem here is the fact that the Irish aren’t getting great blocking out of the tight end position. Not to pile on sophomore Ben Koyack, but he’s struggled in the execution portion of this offense. Whether its attached to the offensive line or in space on screen passes, Koyack has swung and missed on a number of blocks, forcing Eifert to stay in the role of a traditional tight end while Troy Niklas continues to play impressive football at the point of attack.
***
With young offenses, you often wonder what the identity of the unit will become. Martin isn’t so worried about that, he’ll leave that for someone else to decide. He’s working on getting the team to execute better.
“I don’t think we’re searching for identity,” Martin said. “We’re still searching for consistent execution in the run and the pass game. Our run game has been better over the first four games than some of the things we’ve done in the pass game. We’re still trying to be consistent in both areas, when we’ve executed we’ve been pretty good in both areas. When we haven’t, we’re playing pretty good teams. When you’re not executing against the teams we’re playing, you’re not going to have success.”
Will that execution include getting Golson more involved in the run game with the zone-read quarterback keep?
“The kid can definitely be an asset in the run game long term,” Martin said. “The rest of this year, I don’t know how much we’re going to run him. We know he’s got some good athleticism and the ability to run the ball. But there’s a lot on his plate.”
***