No. 4 Notre Dame, Ian Book hold on at Northwestern, reach 9-0

By Douglas FarmerNov 3, 2018, 10:29 PM EDT

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EVANSTON, Ill. — Once again it took awhile, and once again Notre Dame rendered that angst unnecessary. The No. 4 Irish topped Northwestern 31-21 on Saturday thanks largely to two third-quarter touchdowns.

Those scores turned a 7-7 tie into a presumed 21-7 Notre Dame rout, even if a delayed one, but an Irish special teams gaffe gave the Wildcats late life until a perfectly-executed read-option fake by junior quarterback Ian Book yielded him a clear 23-yard path for a touchdown and the final score, his third on the day.

“We definitely wanted to put the ball out to the perimeter to our playmakers, and we wanted to take some shots,” Book said of the halftime adjustments. “We were able to hit some of those and help spring our offense.”

Northwestern (5-4) kept the Irish in check in the first half in nearly every regard, giving up only 55 rushing yards and 4.63 yards per play. Book, he of the completion percentage rates usually defying belief, had completed only 7 of 15 passes for 107 yards at halftime. He then nearly matched those numbers on a touchdown drive early in the third quarter, completing 7-of-9 passes for 77 yards, eventually finding senior receiver Miles Boykin for a 20-yard score.

In that period alone, Book went 11-of-14 for 195 yards and two touchdowns, also connecting with sophomore Michael Young from 47 yards. Book finished the game 22-of-34 for 343 yards and two passing touchdowns plus another 56 yards on 11 rushes.

Notre Dame senior receiver Miles Boykin’s twisting third-quarter 20-yard touchdown catch was part of his four receptions for 56 yards in the Saturday night win at Northwestern. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

“I didn’t sense a tightness with the [offense],” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said beneath Ryan Field. “… They played fast and free in the second half and that’s really the most important thing.”

Yet, a blocked punt early in the fourth quarter kept Northwestern around just long enough to keep things interesting. Only Book’s legs made his arm’s contributions enough.

While Notre Dame’s defense allowed a touchdown after the blocked punt — though the Wildcats needed five plays to cover the 17 yards and even then barely breached the goal line — it did not give up any points when the Irish offense fumbled on the first drive for the second consecutive week.

Immediately prior to the blocked punt, the Wildcats scored on a 27-yard touchdown pass, but that was their only play of more than 20 yards, gaining a total of 249 yards and averaging 3.6 per play.

“That’s the way we’ve won this year,” Kelly said. “We haven’t given up the big plays. We’ve been really effective and efficient. We played some different coverages that they hadn’t seen before, … which was obviously effective for us in some certain situations.”

Indeed, Northwestern senior quarterback Clayton Thorson completed only 16 of his 29 attempts for just 141 yards while getting sacked five times, including twice each by senior linebacker Te’von Coney and junior end Daelin Hayes.

“The key this week was to get pressure on [Thorson],” said Coney, who also had 10 tackles. “He’s a great quarterback who we knew we had to move him off his mark, get him out of the pocket and get him moving so he wouldn’t make accurate throws.”

As much as that is the way Notre Dame has won this year, both the bend-don’t-break strategy and the reliance on a pass rush, it was also the distinct game plan from defensive coordinator Clark Lea this week. Thorson typically relies on receiver Flynn Nagel. With Irish junior cornerback Julian Love focused on Nagel — former high school adversaries, in fact, both being from the Chicago area — Thorson needed to take to deep shots, unsuccessfully but for the one.

“We wanted to eliminate Flynn Nagel,” Love said. “… After that, if you do that correctly, they’re going to just take shots. We were prepared for that. They got that one on us, but I think we did a good job of handling deeper throws and getting off their rhythm. You could see they struggled because we game planned well.”

Up until the final minutes, every piece of that game plan was needed, but as Love said, the defense knew what the score was and knew what to do when the Wildcats got within three points halfway through the fourth quarter.

“Our defense is something like waking a sleeping beast really when games are close,” Love said. “… We knew if they didn’t score any more points, game over. And that’s what we did.”

PLAY OF THE GAME
Not only did Book’s late touchdown run give Notre Dame a two-possession lead with only two-plus minutes remaining, it also converted a third down. If not for it, the Irish may have attempted a field goal and given Northwestern a chance at a victory.

The first down, not the touchdown, was the intention.

“We certainly had held that play for an opportunity to end the game,” Kelly said. “It was an unbalanced situation. We got the numbers the way we wanted it.”

Like every read-option, Book had the choice of handing it off inside, but his one read indicated he should pull the ball and head around the edge, following sophomore tight end Cole Kmet. Book’s description made it clear the read was quite plain, and Kmet hardly had to do a thing as the lead blocker.

“We felt like we would be able to pick up the first down,” Kelly said. “We were going to run the football in that situation regardless. Just something we held onto and executed it well.”

If you are going to hold a play that can rip off a chunk gain, deploying it when a first down can ice the game makes plenty of sense. For Book, it may have been the best part of the game.

PLAYER OF THE GAME
That is saying something, considering Book completed 64.71 percent of his passes, averaged 10.1 yards per attempt and totaled 399 yards and three touchdowns.

That’s a day. Or, more precisely, a night.

Yet, this honor could also be claimed by junior receiver Chase Claypool. In fact, Kelly gave Claypool the game ball Saturday. He finished with eight catches for 130 yards.

*Notre Dame junior receiver Chase Claypool said it has become a point of emphasis for him to gain yards after the catch after not doing so much in the season’s first eight games. (AP Photo/Jim Young)*

Claypool set the table for others’ success. The drive that ended with the Boykin touchdown began with a 13-yard completion to Claypool. The one that culminated with the deep ball to Young started with a 31-yard catch by Claypool to get the Irish out of the shadow of their own goalposts.

“He has really ascended this year,” Kelly said. “… His maturity has allowed that growth. In everything that he has done. His work ethic, the way he practices. Anybody who has been around the game knows the great players are great practice players. The way he practices now carries over to the way he plays, and it’s showing itself in his maturity and the way he practices.”

Claypool said it was a point of emphasis for him to gain yards after the catch, and he did, inflating both his and Book’s stats. Those yards turned into Notre Dame success, even if Claypool himself did not reach the end zone.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
Fourth-and-2 and it would be a 47-yard field goal. The Irish had yet to find offensive success, and the game remained tied. Taking the likely three points would have made plenty of sense. Instead, Kelly went for it.

But offensive coordinator Chip Long did not call for a run up the middle. To that point, Notre Dame had rushed 22 times for 63 yards, an average of 2.9 per carry, including a return to the line of scrimmage by senior running back Dexter Williams on the previous snap. Instead, Long called for a quick screen to Boykin on the perimeter.

“We made a couple adjustments at halftime,” Kelly said. “[Book] picked up on them extremely well. We worked the ball back to the field and got some good looks.”

Boykin made the difficult touchdown catch three plays later. That did not end up being the winning score, but it was the one that finally got the Irish offense on track and rolling toward 24 second-half points.

STAT OF THE GAME
Those Notre Dame halftime adjustments were real:
First-half yards per play: 4.63
Second-half yards per play: 7.74

Much of that change came through the air, but the Irish run game did slowly find its effectiveness:
First-half rushing: 20 carries for 55 yards, 2.75 yards per attempt.
Second-half rushing: 17 carries for 77 yards, 4.53 yards per attempt.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
Usually a question like this would be met with an eye roll by a the discerning listener. It is fluff, little more. But sometimes, it is necessary fluff.

“How does it feel to be 9-0?”

Coney: “It feels great. We know we have a lot more in the tank, we have a lot ore that we have to do. We have accomplishments that we want to accomplish this year. It’s going to take a lot.”

A year ago, there was not a lot more in the tank at this point on the calendar.

SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
6:28 — Notre Dame touchdown. Dexter Williams 1-yard run. Justin Yoon PAT good. Notre Dame 7, Northwestern 0. (14 plays, 79 yards, 5:33)

Second Quarter
8:04 — Northwestern touchdown. Clayton Thorson 1-yard run. Charlie Kuhbander PAT good. Notre Dame 7, Northwestern 7. (18 plays, 73 yards, 8:36)

Third Quarter
7:28 — Notre Dame touchdown. Miles Boykin 20-yard pass from Ian Book. Yoon PAT good. Notre Dame 14, Northwestern 7. (11 plays, 80 yards, 3:51)
2:33 — Notre Dame touchdown. Michael Young 47-yard pass from Book. Yoon PAT good. Notre Dame 21, Northwestern 7. (6 plays, 98 yards, 2:09)

Fourth Quarter
13:05 — Notre Dame field goal. Yoon 43 yards. Notre Dame 24, Northwestern 7. (5 plays, 29 yards, 2:17)
11:16 — Northwestern touchdown. Riley Lees 27 yards from Thorson. Kuhbander PAT good. Notre Dame 24, Northwestern 14. (6 plays, 75 yards, 1:49)
7:05 — Northwestern touchdown. Thorson 1-yard run. Kuhbander PAT good. Notre Dame 24, Northwestern 21. (5 plays, 17 yards, 1:51)
2:45 — Notre Dame touchdown. Book 23-yard run. Yoon PAT good. Notre Dame 31, Northwestern 21. (10 plays, 89 yards, 4:16)

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

By Douglas FarmerMar 22, 2023, 12:48 PM EDT

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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.

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

By Douglas FarmerMar 21, 2023, 6:00 AM EDT

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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.

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.

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

By Douglas FarmerMar 20, 2023, 6:00 AM EDT

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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.

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.

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

By Douglas FarmerMar 16, 2023, 7:00 AM EDT

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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.

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.

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Inside the Irish

Inside the Irish

Inside the Irish

Inside the Irish