The culmination of spring practice happens this afternoon as the offense takes on the defense in the 84th annual Blue-Gold game. (For those bristling about a lack of traditional scrimmage, what do you expect from a game that supposedly pits Blue vs. Gold and one team always wears white?)
With a winter blast hitting South Bend, the conditions might not be too spring like, but that won’t stop thousands of people from descending on Notre Dame Stadium, where they’ll get a look at a team that should be ranked among the best in the country heading into next season.
Before we get to the live-blog, let’s run through a few things I’m looking forward to seeing today:
Nick Martin vs. Louis Nix: One of these guys is not like the other. While Nix might have fifty pounds on Martin, the young center gets a nice status check after battling the All-American defensive tackle all spring.
Don’t expect this battle to last too long though, as I don’t see Nix getting too many reps in this game before Brian Kelly and Bob Diaco let frontline guys like Nix and Stephon Tuitt spend most of the game on the sidelines.
The Irish running backs: One of these guys is going to have a big spring game. What that means? Maybe not as much as you’d think. Last year, George Atkinson exploded onto the scene, showing a top-gear and explosiveness that had people looking forward to a breakthrough season. That didn’t happen.
This year, expect a guy like Cam McDaniel to impress. Whether that means McDaniel heads into spring with a real shot at edging ahead of Atkinson for the number one spot heading into training camp remains to be seen. I’m of the mind that McDaniel is closer to the No. 1 back than the No. 3 spot held down (for now) by Will Mahone.
That said — somebody is going to have to carry the ball this afternoon, especially with walk-on Tyler Plantz already out with an injury. Want to sound smart? Start laying odds on some action from a walk-on like Ryan Liebscher or Eric Lee. Someone’s name is going to come out of the woodwork to carry the load during the second half.
Will the Irish show any tempo offense? Sure, it might give Temple an early look at Everett Golson and company moving quickly, but after three years, it sure would be fun to see this tempo offense Brian Kelly continues to talk about.
With Golson behind center and a package of skill players with plenty of experience, it’d be fun to see how Bob Diaco’s defense reacts to an offense that just calls it and hauls it.
Bring on the werewolves! After being relegated to the background, we’re finally going to see Bob Diaco’s werewolves, better known as Austin Collinsworth and Jarrett Grace. Both players received the compliment from Diaco sometime over the past few years, a moniker meant to (I think) reflect the ability to play ferocious and attack on defense.
We will finally see Grace in the center of the defense, where he’ll do his best to fill Manti Te’o’s shoes. Collinsworth will spend plenty of time in the back end of the defense, where I think he’ll lock down the nickel back role played by Elijah Shumate last year. Collinsworth might give up a little size, but he’s one of those high IQ football players that need to find a way onto the field.
The kids will be alright. This will be our first real look at the early enrollee freshmen who got a jump-start on their college careers since they began classes in January. All reports have been incredibly positive, and it looks like each guy will play a significant role in the program sooner than later.
First let’s talk about quarterback Malik Zaire. While the plan is still to keep a redshirt on Zaire, his comfort in the system has to make the Irish staff feel much better about the loss of Gunner Kiel. Expect to see Zaire take a significant amount of second half snaps, hopefully getting some valuable experience running the offense in front of a Notre Dame Stadium crowd.
While Corey Robinson will be in street clothes, James Onwualu will likely get a lot of reps. The freshman from St. Paul, Minnesota has impressed so far this spring, and physically he doesn’t look like a high school senior playing with college kids the first time.
Mike Heuerman still needs to add some weight to his frame, but he should show an interesting element this afternoon — a tight end that’s capable of getting down the field and making plays in the passing game.
Lastly, Steve Elmer sure doesn’t look like a freshman offensive tackle. He’s got everything that it takes to be a really good one, and we’ll see that on display this afternoon. Elmer might be too valuable to keep on the bench this season, even with both starting tackles returning and Ronnie Stanley capable of playing swing man.
Who’s going to be this year’s Junior Jabbie or Kyle Budinscak? Neither of those names mean much to the average Notre Dame fan, but both Jabbie and Budinscak put on absolute shows in spring games of yesteryear. Jabbie, who never broke into the lineup as a running back, won the 2007 MVP after leading the game in rushing yards. Budinscak, who never had more than three sacks in a season, had five in the 2001 Blue-Gold game.
Looking for some below-the-radar players to break out? I’m going with Luke Massa on offense and Justin Utupo on defense.
