The good, the bad, the ugly: Notre Dame vs. Louisville

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The Irish exited Notre Dame Stadium for the last time in 2014. And for the second-straight week they sang the alma mater after a defeat, taking another step backwards from the home-field advantage Brian Kelly and the Irish had quietly built over the past few seasons.

The loss was Notre Dame’s fourth in five games, a third-straight defeat at a time of year where Kelly’s football teams have historically gotten better. But that’s certainly not the case in 2014, where a ravaged defense played a mix of journeymen and children, a difficult blend for any program, but especially this one.

That — combined with a slow start by the offense and struggles in the scoring areas — cost the Irish a victory. And the razor’s edge that Kelly once danced upon comfortably, has drawn blood again, another loss where one or two key plays swung the balance.

With the annual rivalry battle with USC set for Saturday afternoon, both teams enter battered and bruised. But before we get to that, let’s close the book on the Irish’s 31-28 defeat in their first ever meeting with Louisville on the gridiron.

Here are the good, bad and ugly from Notre Dame vs. Louisville.

 

THE GOOD

Tarean Folston. The sophomore running back is emerging as a star player. For all the clamoring for Greg Bryant, it’s been the running back who didn’t come in with a five-star tag that’s turning into the best runner the Irish have had in the backfield since Julius Jones.

Folston didn’t get 20 carries against the Cardinals elite rushing defense, but it didn’t matter. He ran for 134 yards on just 18 carries, a 7.4 average on a day where the rest of the team managed -28 yards on nine carries. (Golson’s fumble craters that number, but it’s still a stat worth mentioning.)

Even better, Folston stayed on the field in passing situations, holding his own as a pass-blocker in a situation where Cam McDaniel usually steals snaps. In case you are wondering, his head coach noticed.

“What I’m most impressed with is that when we challenged him as a complete running back, he took that challenge and he stepped up,” Kelly said Sunday.”As you saw, he was in the game late, and he did an outstanding job in pass protection, and that was the piece that was missing for him.

“He did a great job.  And then tough yard running.  He’s just, again, a guy that’s developed as a sophomore to the point where he’s put himself in a position to get the primetime carries and be in the game late.”

 

Will Fuller. Another game, another touchdown for Will Fuller. Fuller has scored a touchdown in every game this season minus Stanford, and his 14 touchdown catches are one shy of the single-season mark held by Jeff Samardzija and Golden Tate, who both caught 15 in their breakout junior seasons.

Fuller is making that move as a sophomore, and doing so as it becomes more and more apparent that he’s the team’s most dynamic pass-catching weapon. Fuller got behind the talented Louisville secondary multiple times, and likely would’ve scored another touchdown if Golson could’ve gotten a deep throw out quicker.

“He’s a factor in every game we’ve played. Louisville had probably two of the better corners in the country, and he ran by them at will,” Kelly said.

Earlier in the year, Kelly hesitated to call Fuller a No. 1 receiver. On Sunday, he acknowledged the step forward Fuller has taken in his game as the season has worn on, acknowledging his ascent in a very condensed timeline.

“He has obviously put himself in a position to be considered one of Notre Dame’s finest receivers,” Kelly said. “And he’s done it in very short order. Obviously he didn’t play very much at all last year, and he’s made a statement this year.”

 

Jaylon Smith. After seeming lost in the shuffle after Joe Schmidt’s injury, we saw flashes of the Jaylon Smith of September on Saturday, with the sophomore linebacker leading the team with 11 tackles, including one TFL. Probably most important was the return to Smith tracking down an opponent in the backfield, an occasion that’s frequency dropped precipitously since Schmidt’s injury.

Smith was named a finalist for the Butkus Award on Monday, a tip of the cap to a talented young player who from afar still resembles an elite linebacker. But for those that have watched the sophomore the past few weeks as the Irish defense has collapsed, they’ve seen a young player whose taken some lumps as he’s learning along the way.

That’s perfectly normal. Especially for a (still) young player learning a new position in a new scheme, forced to rely not just on his elite athleticism but to deal with some limitations that come with being slightly undersized at his position in the trenches.

As he met with the media after another difficult loss, Smith sounded wise beyond his years as he took a relatively big-picture approach to things, while also understanding that winning the next game continues to be the most important thing.

“It’s experience. The whole atmosphere. Even losing, in this case, is something we’re all learning,” Smith said. “I’m young myself. I’m a sophomore. I’m 19 years old. We’re all just continuing to learn.

“Obviously, it’s not acceptable to lose at any cost. There’s no moral victory, so you can’t look at it like that. We’re not even focused on next year right now. Right now, it’s all about our rivalry next week and finding a way to get a victory.”

 

Cole Luke. Notre Dame’s coaching staff did their best to match the sophomore cornerback with Louisville’s DeVante Parker. Luke held his own, with Parker catching three balls against him, though Luke had two pass breakups.

But it was the catch that didn’t have Luke in coverage that burnt the Irish, with Parker matched up with Devin Butler that turned into a 21-yard touchdown.

“Outstanding,” Kelly said, when asked to evaluate Luke’s play. “Except we didn’t get the matchup on the touchdown. We had matched them up all day and didn’t get that matchup and they threw a touchdown.”

Kelly didn’t mention the gameplan to shadow Parker with Luke all game. But that’s both a testament to the improvement Luke has shown this season. It’ll also likely be the assignment with USC’s Nelson Agholor, who after exploding the previous four games was held to just three catches for 24 yards against UCLA.

 

The Effort from the Young Guys. Nobody wants to find moral victories out there, but not too many people had Jacob Matuska, Greer Martini and Isaac Rochell contributing sacks against Louisville. Add to that a productive afternoon for Nyles Morgan (10 tackles and a 1/2 TFL) until his ejection for targeting and the incremental steps are starting to show up.

Morgan’s ejection will cost him the first half against USC, putting Greer Martini into the starting lineup. That’s an awful long way down the preseason contingency plans for the Irish defense at a position that couldn’t be more important in this system.

After calling the targeting penalty a “careless mistake” after the game, Kelly took the long view when asked about the play of his freshman middle linebacker, reminding everybody that while he appears to be struggling now, that the sky is still the limit for Morgan.

“Oh, he’s going to be a terrific player. He just shouldn’t be on the field right now,” Kelly said. “He’s a great kid, we love him.  He’ll learn, because the kid does everything we ask him to do. He’s going to get an opportunity to be a complete player.  It’s just going to take a little bit more time.”

 

Greg Bryant. That’s the type of return Notre Dame can use in the punt game. Bryant showed a way to impact the game as a punt returner, nearly taking a kick to the house as the Irish rallied back from a large halftime deficit.

Bryant’s still making too many mistakes back there — no fair catch early, and the huge collision with James Onwualu was a near-crisis that was barely averted. But Bryant made a game-changing play.

Now go make a few more against USC.

 

THE BAD

The Third Down Defense. The Irish defense killed themselves early against Louisville, allowing the Cardinals to convert three key third downs that extended touchdown drives to open the game.

The mistakes were critical ones. After after allowing just four conversions on 39 attempts of 3rd and 10 or longer, the Irish defense gave up three back-breakers to put Louisville up early.

The Irish defense recovered, allowing the Cardinal to convert just six of 14 third downs, but the three long early ones killed them.

 

Tackling. This one might seem a little all-encompassing, but that’s kind of the point. There are some pretty elusive skill players on Louisville’s roster, but that might have been the worst tackling we’ve seen from an Irish team since the BCS title game had Zeke Motta performing fly-bys on Alabama All-Americans.

Those misses were headlined by Austin Collinsworth trying to play with one arm. Or Nyles Morgan flying by or misdiagnosing plays. Or young defensive linemen doing their best to chase down a play and miss it.

 

The Rush Defense. In a game where Notre Dame knew it absolutely needed to stop the run, they gave up 226 yards. Yes, it took Louisville 50 carries to do it, but still — there were just too many big runs happening, a product of injuries and missed assignments that’s timed up with the injury to Joe Schmidt.

The guys got better as the game wore on. But once again, in need of a critical drive on defense, the Irish weren’t able to get it.

Pete Sampson at Irish Illustrated ($) had this key stat that shows how far the D has fallen since Schmidt’s injury. In 30+ quarters of football with Schmidt, Sheldon Day and Jarron Jones manning the middle, the Irish gave up just 25 rushes of 10 yards-or more. In the 13 quarters since Schmidt’s broken ankle? Notre Dame’s given up 31.

 

Red Zone Offense. I said it very early in the game when the Irish settled for three points on their opening drive, but celebrating a made field goal masked the issue of not getting seven.

The Irish might have scored on four of five red zone drives (with the missed chip-shot field goal the back-breaker), but scoring only two touchdowns isn’t going to get it done.

Give Louisville’s defense credit. They’re a Top 10 red zone defense and a Top 5 group when it comes to allowing touchdowns in the red zone. But with a chance to win the game with a touchdown near the end, the Irish ended up needing to settle for a field goal, and even that short-circuited.

It’s popular to criticize the playcalling near the goal line. But ultimately it comes down to making the plays and being assignment correct. That didn’t happen on the final drive, with Kelly trying to run clock down and get seven, but unable to do it after struggles up front blocking derailed the final series.

When asked about the step backwards in the red zone, Kelly wasn’t willing to make any blanket statements, though acknowledged the special teams struggles and turnovers for any statistical drop off. But just like he said when Tommy Rees was playing quarterback, it comes down to making the plays in a tougher offensive environment.

“It’s really hard for me to give you a great answer other than we take a lot of time and effort to break down that area of the field and think we come away with the plan that’s going to allow us to score touchdowns in that area,” Kelly said. “But it’s still about execution.”

 

Safety Play. At this point, we can only speculate what Max Redfield and Elijah Shumate have done to be stuck behind Collinsworth and Drue Tranquill at safety. Because for the second consecutive game, the safety play has stunk, and Notre Dame’s best two athletes at the position still haven’t been able to work their way back onto the field.

Shumate was the missing player when the 10-man Irish gave up a critical third-down conversion to Northwestern, a junior who should know better. Redfield had mostly been an invisible presence on the back line, outside of an interception against Michigan and a missed sideline tackle against Arizona State, a play that caught the ire of analyst and former All-American linebacker Chris Spielman.

Most fans see the safety play and think that Kelly and defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder are cutting off their nose to spite their face. And there’s plenty of ammunition for that school of thought, especially after watching Collinsworth and Tranquill struggle in space against both talented and less-than-talented personnel.

But here’s what Kelly said about the situation on Sunday, asked specifically about the absence of the Shumate and Redfield.

“We would like to have the two young guys back there… but we haven’t been consistent enough,” Kelly said, while correcting himself after calling Shumate young. “That’s forced Austin into the game, and he’s not 100 percent.  He’s giving us everything he has, though.”

When effort is the best thing you can say about your injured safety, you’re essentially saying everything you need to about the guys that are being replaced. So if the message hasn’t gotten to Shumate and Redfield, there’s a chance it might not happen this year.

But with a very talented group of receivers on USC’s roster, the Irish will need to match athletes in the secondary. That means Redfield and Shumate need to do what it takes to sharpen their gaze in practice.

But Kelly was rightfully asked if the schematics of the defense weren’t part of the problem. After reminding the head coach of his comments about making it easy enough for Jaylon Smith to get on the field and allow him to use his skills, Kelly agreed to a point, before drilling down further and acknowledging the elephant in the room.

“It’s a dramatic shift from where we were last year to this year in terms of the scheme that we’re playing,” Kelly acknowledged. “So we’re never going to put it all on the players.  It’s part coaching, as well.  You’re right in the premise of your question in that we’ve got to get the best players on the field, but they also have to be the most productive players, so it’s also about production while they’re on the field.

“Max and Elijah are not on the field not just because there’s mental mistakes, but there’s production lapses, as well.  So it’s a little bit of both in that sense.  In other words, it’s not just simply the scheme, it’s also about production, and we’ve got to keep an eye on both of those things.”

It’s worth mentioning to people who continue to call for Redfield and Shumate to play. Those opinions were likely formed not by anything they saw on the field, but by the stars affixed to their recruiting rankings. Those have been rendered useless since they stepped foot on campus.

“We haven’t given up on them, let’s put it that way,” Kelly said. “We still believe in them. But they’ve got to continue to show more consistency in practice.”

 

THE UGLY. 

Making a Field Goal. The dynamics of a successful field goal operation are three-fold: Snap, hold and kick.

Of course, that’s the simple version. But with the school’s all-time leader in field goals stepping up to tie the football game, the final two pieces of that puzzle seemed to executed at a less-than-satisfactory rate.

On the sidelines, we saw Kyle Brindza, Kelly and holder Malik Zaire talk about the hold, with Brindza frustrated and animated as he talked to Zaire.

Here’s the slo-mo version of the kick in question.

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source:

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Without question, it takes a little bit too long for Zaire’s hands to clear the kicking area. The ball is late getting to the correct position on the ground.

But the ball is there, and Brindza — a senior kicker who snap-hooked two misses last week that contributed greatly to the loss against Northwestern — needs to just rip it. It’s a 32-yarder that doesn’t need anything more than brute force and direction.

Instead, Brindza pushes the ball wide right — like a golfer giving up on a swing before it’s off his club. The view of the conversation on the sideline didn’t look like a veteran coaching up a young guy. It looked like Sergio Garcia blaming a difficult lie or a Bubba Watson yelling at his caddy.

On Saturday, Kelly backed his veteran kicker. On Sunday, after reviewing the tape, his viewpoint shifted.

“I think we needed a little bit better hold, and we needed a little bit better kick.  I don’t think it’s all on the holder, and I don’t think it’s all on the kicker.  I think it was a combination of both.”

In a results based business, Brindza’s taken a nose dive at a time of year where his mistakes have been remarkably painful. In Notre Dame’s two home losses, Brindza’s missed field goals have been the difference in the final tally.

 

Sam Hartman’s practice debut features Notre Dame veteran Chris Tyree move to receiver, at least for now

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: NOV 26 Notre Dame at USC
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Marcus Freeman’s second spring as Notre Dame’s head coach has begun. As he pointed out Wednesday, it is quarterback transfer Sam Hartman’s sixth spring practice. Both are still looking around a bit for their proper cues, though Hartman’s hesitance now should be short-lived.

“He’s like a freshman, it’s new,” Freeman said. “I was joking with him, this is his sixth spring ball, but you’re at a new place, a new system, still figuring out where to go, what a drill is called, so you can see him at times just trying to say, ‘Okay, where are we going, what’s the drill, what are we doing, how many plays?’

“But he’s got some natural ability when he throws the ball and when he plays the game of football. You’ll see the leadership traits that he possesses grow because I know he has them. He’s a leader the first time you meet him. You can tell that he really commands respect.”

Freeman mentioned a “quarterback competition” between Hartman and rising junior Tyler Buchner only once, something that will reoccur throughout the next month, though more in name than in reality. Whoever takes the lead at quarterback, and it will be Hartman, will have a new target to get comfortable with in rising senior Chris Tyree.

Tyree spent the first spring practice working at receiver after lining up at running back the vast majority of the last three years. Freeman would not commit to that being a full-time shift for Tyree, but given the Irish depth at running back — led by rising juniors Audric Estimé and Logan Diggs, with rising sophomore Gi’Bran Payne the next in line for the spring while classmate Jadarian Price continues to “progress” from a torn Achilles last summer — Tyree working at receiver for the long-term should make some sense.

“He’s a guy that has multiple skill sets, and we know Chris Tyree is a guy we have to have on the football field,” Freeman said. “The ability to put him at wideout, we know what he can do as a running back, to really be a guy that can do multiple different things.”

Tyree took 100 rushes for 444 yards and three touchdowns and caught 24 passes for 138 yards and two more scores last year. The ball-carrying was a step forward compared to his previous seasons, but he caught 24 passes for 258 yards in 2021. In three games in 2022, Tyree gained more than 20 yards through the air. He was one of the more reliable pass-catchers on Notre Dame’s roster last season, finishing tied for fourth in receptions, one behind Jayden Thomas’s 25 catches and just six behind Lorenzo Styles, the leading returning receiver.

“You’re seeing more of that in college football and in the NFL,” Freeman said. “Guys that can play multiple different skill positions on offense, so do you treat him as a running back, do you treat him as a wideout? That’s what we have to do, and gain confidence in the quarterbacks in him as a wide receiver.”

Tyree’s shift was the most notable on the field on the first day of spring practices, but a handful of absences also stood out.

Junior linebacker Will Schweitzer, junior safety Justin Walters and junior quarterback Ron Powlus III have taken medical retirements, while junior cornerback Philip Riley, junior offensive lineman Caleb Johnson and junior kicker Josh Bryan are all no longer with the program, presumably each pursuing a transfer following this semester.

With those departures, Notre Dame’s roster now has 87 players on scholarship, two more than the NCAA maximum allowed when the season starts.

ON SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR Marty Biagi
In hiring Marty Biagi from Mississippi, Freeman strayed from his usual habit of hiring coaches he has previous experience with. He did, however, have some mutual connections to reach out to about Biagi.

“I remember when we were playing Purdue when I was defensive coordinator (at Notre Dame in 2021), I was sitting in a special teams meeting, and they did some unique things on special teams.

“I still know some people back in West Lafayette from my time there, and he does, too. Somehow his name got brought up, so I was interested in interviewing him last year before I hired [former Irish special teams coordinator Brian Mason]. I didn’t know [Biagi] personally, but I had talked to him before, I knew enough about him. It’s important because you need to know when you’re not around, you can trust those guys that you’re working with.”

INJURY UPDATES
Defensive backs Cam Hart and Thomas Harper will both be held out of contact for at least the near future as they recover from winter shoulder surgeries, while early-enrolled defensive lineman Devan Houstan Will Likely miss all springtime work due to his own recent shoulder surgery.

Tight ends Eli Raridon and Kevin Bauman will not take part this spring due to ACL injuries in the fall.

Freeman expressed some optimism about Price’s timeline, but even that was measured.

“I don’t know if he will be full go, but he has done a lot of running and I see him progressing to more and more actual football practice.”

Given Price is still less than a calendar year from a ruptured Achilles, it is most likely he is limited well into the summer.

Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Quarterbacks — Sam Hartman and Tyler Buchner and Co.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: NOV 12 North Carolina at Wake Forest
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For a position that has undergone a run of tumult since the start of the 2022 season, Notre Dame’s quarterback depth chart somehow still could not be more stable now.

Since Marcus Freeman’s first game as the Irish head coach, his starter was knocked out for the season, the backup that fought and clawed his way to eight wins in 10 games opted to transfer before the bowl game, one of the most prolific passers in NCAA history transferred into Notre Dame, and then the offensive coordinator left.

All of that to end up with Wake Forest graduate transfer Sam Hartman as the presumptive Irish starter, backed up by 2022’s initial starter in Tyler Buchner, and coached by quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli and offensive coordinator Gerad Parker. Not to mention, two more quarterbacks filling out the depth chart.

Hartman opted to join that chaos partly because, as he figured it, he was going to start over anew somewhere regardless. After five years at Wake Forest, the veteran wanted to move. Whether it was in the NFL or at Notre Dame, he would need to win over a new locker room.

“Often I see people that are done with school or run out of eligibility or even have eligibility (but) declare, that (college) opportunity never comes again,” he said earlier this month. “… On the NFL side of it, this is what you have to do when you go into the league, come into a new place where there’s not a lot of familiar faces. The battle is definitely uphill. You have to come in and establish a leadership role while also trying to figure out and follow.”

Hartman’s logic was sound, but there is one key difference between the NFL and Notre Dame: He will be the starter in South Bend this fall.

WHERE NOTRE DAME WAS
In that respect, this will be the third straight year the Irish have insisted on the optics of a quarterback competition in the spring and perhaps the preseason. When Jack Coan transferred to Notre Dame in January of 2021, it was obvious he would start against Florida State to open that season, yet freshman Tyler Buchner and sophomore Drew Pyne were still mentioned as competing with Coan for that gig throughout the spring and a week into the preseason.

Despite Buchner rather clearly surpassing Pyne that season, the entire exercise was conducted all over again in the spring of 2022, Buchner named the starter as expected a week into preseason practices last August.

Hartman will start in Dublin on Aug. 26 (159 days), no matter what Guidugli may say now. That much did not change with the coaching changes this winter and spring.

“Tyler Buchner and Steve Angeli and Sam Hartman, Kenny Minchey, all those guys are going to get an opportunity,” Guidugli said. “I come in with a clean slate, not knowing any of those guys, so I’m anxious to see what all of them can do, I’m anxious to see how they lead, I’m anxious to see how they retain information, I’m anxious to see how they perform, how they execute, how the offense responds to them.”

That quarterback competition may have had an ounce of authenticity if Pyne had stuck around South Bend, a somewhat proven starter to go up against Hartman, but even that would have been only a matter of time. As it stands, Pyne’s focus is on keeping his job at Arizona State in front of the most controversial recruit of the class of 2023, Jaden Rashada.

2022 STATS
Drew Pyne: 11 games; 2,021 yards on 8.0 yards per attempt and a 64.6 percent completion rate; 22 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
Tyler Buchner: 3 games; 652 yards on 7.9 yards per attempt and a 55.4 percent completion rate; 3 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.

Sam Hartman at Wake Forest in 2022: 12 games; 3,701 yards on 8.6 yards per attempt and a 63.1 percent completion rate; 38 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Sam Hartman in his career at Wake Forest: 12,967 yards on 8.1 yards per attempt and a 59.1 percent completion rate; 110 touchdowns and 41 interceptions.

HARTMAN’S CAREER STATS COMPARED TO NCAA RECORDS
Don’t scoff. A prodigious season could propel Hartman into some lofty air. That is obviously partly due to the benefit of a sixth season, granted by the universal pandemic eligibility waiver. But Hartman also missed up to 18 games in his career to injury, depth chart and the pandemic. If he plays 13 games this season, Hartman will appear in a total of 61 games in his career. That will be more than any of the players yet ahead of him in career passing touchdowns or career passing yards, but that aside, Hartman should move his name up the NCAA record books this season.

Career passing touchdowns
No. 1 — Case Keenum, 155 touchdowns
Tied at No. 4 — Colt Brennan, Rakeem Cato, Baker Mayfield, 131 touchdowns
No. 10 — Luke Falk, 119 touchdowns
No. 15 — Derek Carr, 113 touchdowns
No. 18 — Sam Hartman, 110 career touchdowns

Career passing yards
No. 1 — Case Keenum, 19,217 yards
No. 5 — Ty Detmer, 15,031 yards
No. 10 — Rakeem Cato, 14,079 yards
No. 15 — Philip Rivers, 13,484 yards
No. 19 — Sam Hartman, 12,967 career yards

WHERE NOTRE DAME IS
It feels like a quip to be offered in March so that April progress can be that much more lauded.

“With the coaching change prior to me coming in, [Hartman] thought he should be further along in February than what he was,” Guidugli said. “There wasn’t anything I could do about that.”

Games are not won in February film sessions. Weight room work, perhaps, but not in studying film. Habits are built then, but Hartman should not need earnest discipline. He has already begun moving forward with Guidugli.

“[Guidugli] has taken this thing by the reins for the quarterbacks, and along with that is just the quarterback room, we stuck together,” Hartman said. “I knew Tyler (Buchner) a bit before, had no idea who Steve (Angeli) was, obviously [early-enrolled freshman Kenny Minchey] is showing up just like I was. It’s a really tight-knit group.”

None of that group holds Rees’s departure against him — “Obviously, it was a great opportunity for him,” Hartman said — but they all know they need to learn the same language now. That will be the springtime priority.

“The key there is my communication with [newly-promoted offensive coordinator Gerad Parker],” Guidugli said. “I have to be speaking the same language.”

From Parker to Guidugli to four quarterbacks from three different backgrounds, finding the same language might take a few weeks. Guidugli has already been picking Hartman’s brain off old Wake Forest film, learning what his eventual starter is used to in terms of pre-snap procedures, etc.

“I’ve been learning from the guys as much as they’ve been learning from me,” Guidugli said. 

Ignore the spring platitudes about a quarterback competition. If they carry into the preseason, they will provide a headline some Saturday in August when in-depth writing is not yet applicable. Beyond that, there is no meaningful quarterback competition.

There are, however, spring priorities. Primarily, getting Hartman onto the same page as Guidugli and Parker.

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Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Receivers, finally a filled depth chart

FUTURE DEPTH
Minchey did not commit to Notre Dame until late November, de-committing from Pittsburgh not long before he did so. He enrolled early, anyway.

“I feel like it’s big, as far as any quarterback across the country, you want to early enroll, get in as early as you can, learn the playbook, because that’s big compared to any other position,” Minchey said. “Coming in, learn the playbook, mesh with the guys, everything like that. I like just getting in, building that connection.”

A shoulder injury truncated Minchey’s senior season, but he expects to be full-go in spring practices, beginning tomorrow.

“I am working back into it,” he said two weeks ago. “I am reconditioning my arm right now, building back, working back, building up strength.”

He does not need to rush into that, though, given Notre Dame expects him to be fourth on its depth chart this season.

Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Receivers, finally a filled depth chart

Brigham Young v Notre Dame
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Notre Dame’s next generation of receivers is already on campus. The trio of four-star recruits of Jayden Greathouse, Braylon James and Rico Flores all enrolled early, though Greathouse and Flores arrived with nicks that are expected to no longer be issues when spring practices begin Wednesday, but a touch of caution could still slow them all the same.

Along with them, the Irish welcome Virginia Tech graduate transfer Kaleb Smith. When an incoming freshman by the same name arrives in the summer, Notre Dame will suddenly have 10 receivers on hand.

That may seem an odd way to begin an article previewing a position before spring practices, but it is the biggest difference between where the Irish were and where they are. Notre Dame simply having receivers on hand is a drastic change. Last preseason, it was working with just six receivers, including a former walk-on and an incoming freshman. The sole veteran in the group, Braden Lenzy, would lament that there were not enough receivers on hand for he and an underclassman to both stand by during a rep so Lenzy could coach up the youngster.

Building the depth chart back out to nine or 10 receivers will give position coach Chansi Stuckey time to work with players individually, players like Greathouse, James and Flores. That said, there may be no established veteran like Lenzy to pass along insights. Only the former Hokie would qualify, and he openly acknowledges he is facing his own learning curve.

“I’ve had four or five different receiver coaches at this point,” Smith said earlier this month. “It’s been a rotating door. We’re teaching an old dog new tricks here at Notre Dame is what I can sum it up as.”

WHERE NOTRE DAME WAS
Injuries decimated this group in 2022, and in turn, they compromised the Irish offense. Joe Wilkins suffered a foot injury in the preseason that effectively cost him his season. Avery Davis tore his ACL for a second time, ending his career. Then-sophomore Deion Colzie injured his knee, slowing his start to what was expected to be a breakout season.

A November concussion would cut short then-freshman Tobias Merriweather’s progress, eventually leaving Notre Dame with just four receivers it could rely on toward the end of the year. More than anything else — more than former Irish offensive coordinator Tommy Rees’s preferences, more than Notre Dame’s deep backfield — that lack of receivers limited the Irish offense.

The more wide-open the Irish offense ran, the more those few receivers would wear out. Notre Dame could not operate as such.

2022 STATS
Lorenzo Styles: 13 games; 30 catches for 340 yards and one touchdown.
Jayden Thomas: 13 games; 25 catches for 362 yards and three touchdowns.
Braden Lenzy: 13 games; 24 catches for 309 yards and three touchdowns.
Deion Colzie: 12 games; 9 catches for 192 yards and one touchdown.
Matt Salerno: 13 games; 5 catches for 62 yards and one touchdown.
Tobias Merriweather: 7 games; 1 catch for a 41-yard touchdown.

WHERE NOTRE DAME IS
Styles may return more catches than any other Irish receiver, but he also returns more drops than the rest combined, with six just last season. The headlines may focus on Notre Dame’s new receivers — alternately the three freshmen and the veteran transfer with size for new Irish quarterback Sam Hartman to throw to — but Styles rediscovering his focus and/or his confidence would be the biggest step forward for Hartman’s pass catchers.

Smith will battle rising junior Jayden Thomas to be Hartman’s primary big-bodied target. Thomas’s run-blocking abilities could even turn him into a pseudo-slot receiver, allowing them both to conceivably start.

There are options, unlike a year ago. Further development from Merriweather would only add to them, as would any of Greathouse, James or flores quickly progressing.

“We know what the offense has looked like, and the coaches have talked to me since I started being recruited about what it could look like in the future with me a part of it,” Greathouse said to Inside ND Sports earlier in the winter, before Rees left for Alabama. “I definitely think that they want to start airing the ball out.

“That’s what the coaches have been telling me, is that they want to be throwing the ball all over the field. And I think once our recruiting class starts making an impact, we’ll definitely be able to start doing that.”

That would have been the case regardless who the offensive coordinator was in 2023. Gerad Parker will have more receiving options at his disposal than Rees did in 2022, adding layers of possibilities to the Irish offense.

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Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Tight ends, moving on from an all-time great
Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Running backs, led by a familiar ‘three-headed monster’
Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Linebackers, led by a trio of veterans and little change
Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Defensive backs, with a star sophomore and an Oklahoma State transfer
Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Offensive line, returning bookend tackles and a three-year starter at center

FUTURE DEPTH
The younger Smith’s arrival will almost certainly be a non-item for 2023, sparing us all any extensive confusion between one Kaleb Smith beginning his career and one Kaleb Smith ending his career in the same season.

Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Offensive line, returning bookend tackles and a three-year starter at center

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When Brent Pry arrived at Virginia Tech last offseason, the new Hokies head coach understood he had a deep hole to climb out of if he wanted to return Blacksburg to ACC contention. Pry set out to hire coaches who would stick around and help with that climb, including offensive line coach Joe Rudolph.

One season later, Rudolph is now preparing for Notre Dame’s spring practices beginning March 22. That departure is not a reflection of Rudolph dismissing his original intentions, but rather of how alluring the Irish offensive line coaching job was after Harry Hiestand retired following Tommy Rees’s departure for Alabama.

Notre Dame is an appealing coaching gig in a vacuum, the Irish offensive line position duties just as much so. But the 2023 possibilities attracted a few of the better line coaches in the country, given two future first-round draft picks should start at the tackle spots and Zeke Correll will start at center for a third season. Add in a plethora of highly-sought former recruits on the depth chart, and Notre Dame’s offensive line should make nearly any coach look good.

On top of all that, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman sold Rudolph with his favorite catchphrase.

“That’s not always in fashion to say, ‘This is an O-line driven place and the O-line sets the tone,’” Rudolph said earlier this month of his interview conversations with Freeman. “He took a lot of pride in saying it and said it in a few of the meetings we had. That hits deep to me.

“It’s how I grew up when I played. I felt that responsibility as a player. It really hit home for me.”

The opportunity to lean into the offensive line at Notre Dame was simply too much for Rudolph to turn down to stay at Virginia Tech.

WHERE NOTRE DAME WAS
The Irish lost two captains, two multi-year starters, two massive human beings in guards Jarrett Patterson and Josh Lugg. Their combined 79 starts is not simply a stat in the rearview mirror.

Here is a 2023 prediction: When Notre Dame struggles to run through Central Michigan on Sept. 16, the fanbase’s consternation will be met with this space repeating Lugg’s accurate philosophizing a year ago about how an offensive line needs some time to coalesce. In each of the last three seasons, that was an Irish need, and in each of the last three seasons, that became an Irish reality.

In 2022, it was because Notre Dame was working in a pair of green tackles. In 2023, it will be because the Irish are finding their footing with a pair of green guards.

2022 STATS
Joe Alt (two years of eligibility remaining entering the 2023 season): 13 starts at left tackle
Jarrett Patterson: 12 starts at left guard
Andrew Kristofic (two years of eligibility remaining): 11 games, started the season opener at left guard in place of Patterson
Zeke Correll (two years): 13 starts at center
Josh Lugg: 13 starts at right guard
Blake Fisher (three years): 13 starts at right tackle

Tosh Baker (two years): 13 games
Rocco Spindler (three years): 12 games
Michael Carmody (two years): 1 game

WHERE NOTRE DAME IS
Those three starters are established. It would take injury to change them.

Alt (pictured at top) will be a preseason All-American at left tackle and likely first-round draft pick 13 months from now.
Correll will start for a third season at center and about halfway through the year the Irish will start pondering if they should talk him into a sixth collegiate year in 2024.
Fisher will start at right tackle and could join Alt in the NFL draft with a strong year. While that may panic Notre Dame fans, a season producing a pair of first-round tackles should be a season with some substantial successes in the fall, as well.

But those two guard spots will lead to much springtime and preseason wonder. Rudolph does not know who will emerge, obviously, but he indicated he will take the same approach that Hiestand did and find his best five players first, their positions second.

“You’d be selling the group short if you weren’t trying to find the best five,” Rudolph said. “You have to do that with some vision of how the whole group fits together.

“There might be someone who is competing their tail off, and they might back up [Alt] or back up [Correll], but if they play in a way this spring where you see they’re one of those five (best), you can easily move them to a position and have them ready in fall camp and all summer to take that over.”

The initial candidates should be rising junior Rocco Spindler, fifth-year Andrew Kristofic and perhaps rising sophomore Billy Schrauth. Kristofic has starting experience, most notably stepping in at left guard for the second half of the 2021 season, with much success. The other two are unknowns since high-profile recruitments.

For the moment, presume the starting guards come from that trio. The player to nominally come up short should still anticipate playing in 2023. Notre Dame’s offensive line health in 2022 was absurd. Aside from Patterson suffering a foot injury in August, no offensive lineman endured notable injury.

That may have been karmic justice for the historical string of injuries at left tackle in 2021, needing four underclassmen to take their knocks just to get through the first half of the season, but it was still the first time since 2017 the Irish enjoyed such fortune up front, needing at least two reserves in each of the four intervening seasons.

It would be irrational to expect such luck again, giving tangible motivation to the three other rising sophomores as well as a pair of rising juniors, none of whom have seen the field yet.

RELATED READING: Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Defensive line, suddenly inexperienced and unproven
Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Tight ends, moving on from an all-time great
Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Running backs, led by a familiar ‘three-headed monster’
Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Linebackers, led by a trio of veterans and little change
Where Notre Dame Was & Is: Defensive backs, with a star sophomore and an Oklahoma State transfer

FUTURE DEPTH
Hiestand pulled in a total of 10 offensive linemen in the last two classes, though Joey Tanona was already forced into retirement due to a concussion suffered in a car accident last winter. Nonetheless, those nine underclassmen present Rudolph plenty of options moving forward, all notable recruits, part of the luxury of taking this job.