Notre Dame wrapped up practice no. 4 of spring this past Saturday and it was the first workout with full pads on so the media has yet to see the team with all their gear and live tackling. However, the media were present briefly for a workout this past Wednesday. Since it is strictly forbidden to publish the spring practice schedule we will wait patiently for a more thorough report on the team’s progress down the road.
Here are the latest updates coming out of South Bend.
Grad transfer quarterback Riley Leonard had ankle surgery this past Friday to clean up issues from his injury suffered against Notre Dame last year. He’ll be out a few weeks and probably is done for spring unless they find value in rushing him back which I seriously doubt. The spring game will be 29 days following this surgery to replace a plate from a stress fracture in Leonard’s ankle.
If you’re a believer in Steve Angeli and bought stock in him recently this injury to Leonard really puts the New Jersey native in a much stronger position for 2024. He’s going to head into summer with almost 2 months worth of reps as the no. 1 starter at quarterback and if Leonard comes back and wins the job it won’t be very easy. If Leonard wins the job this pretty much guarantees it won’t happen well into fall camp whereas Angeli could win the job a little sooner due to the amount of reps he’s received.
Per Freeman, when they are reducing practices down to just 2 teams on offense they are rotating in CJ Carr at quarterback with Kenny Minchey. I keep seeing around the internet that Minchey is going to be a factor. If so, he will need to be taking some reps with the starters now that Leonard is out and not sharing backup reps with a true freshman early enrollee.
Deion Colzie had finger surgery and will be out a while. Judging by Freeman’s comments (Colzie will be back next week but not catching passes which I believe is important for a wide receiver) that’s a more troubling set back than you’d think given the increasing competition at wideout.
Jaden Greathouse has “enough skill” to play on the outside in addition to the slot, per Freeman. That leaves reps for Jordan Faison and Jayden Harrison as the pure slot receivers.
Based on expectations coming in, this has been a tremendous spring so far for Harrison who has caught everyone’s eye during practice. You’d think he’ll be a huge playmaker this year although we’ll see how things go when pads are on and the physicality turns up.
Freshman running back Kedren Young tweaked his hamstring in the second practice and has been limited ever since.
The offense has been running primarily 11 personnel (1 running back and 1 tight end) this spring mostly because of the injuries at tight end. Eli Raridon hasn’t been participating a lot in the portions the media has watched this spring. Although no injury looks apparent Freeman mentioned that they are managing Raridon’s work load as a precaution.
Pete Sampson had a recent look at the offensive tackle situation with some insight into Aamil Wagner’s weight gain situation. At the peak of his struggles Wagner was eating over 8,000 calories per day. Gross.
I’ve seen a lot of scuttlebutt from fans that Billy Schrauth is going to win the job at left guard, but he continues to practice only at right guard from what the media has seen so far. I guess the assumption is that Pat Coogan will get benched?
Bryce Young is an early enrollee currently standing out from the group of freshmen and was the only one mentioned by name during Marcus Freeman’s Saturday press conference.
I noticed on a recent Irish Illustrated podcast that Tim Prister mentioned Junior Tuihalamaka getting passed up, or something to that effect. Is that Boubacar Traore already making a move at Vyper behind Jordan Botelho?
After sitting out the early practices with quad soreness we’ve finally got a look at Arizona State transfer Jordan Clark mixing things up at the nickel position. He’s another player who we’ll need to see with full gear when the defense goes live.
We seem a long ways away from figuring out the safety rotation next to Xavier Watts. Reading between the lines it looks like Adon Shuler and Luke Talich could be creating some distance for themselves before Northwestern transfer Rod Heard begins practicing with the team.
Gabriel Rubio was present at the last practice with the media but in street clothes. We won’t speculate on his issues but judging by the teammate and media reactions it seems like everyone was glad to see him and looks forward to his return to the program in the summer.
I’m glad Gabe is back on campus around the tean. It always pains me to read about leaves of absence for unknown personal reasons. from what I’ve seen on the outside looking in, HCMF has handled these situations pretty well, seemingly giving the player the support they need. Fingers crossed Rubio is doing well enough to rejoin the team this fall, get well buddy!
Yeah that’s huge. On one of the pods there was a mention of the word “academics.” Might have been a slip? If that was his challenge, having been there, I really empathize and I’m so happy for Gabe that he’s turned it around enough that he’s back with the team. You could argue that’s harder to come back from than an injury. And I agree, speaks volumes about the support they’re getting.
Read an interview with Deuce Knight. He seems very solid to ND 🙂 . No visits to other schools planned. 🙂
Leonard’s big advantage in the QB comp. are his legs. Is it possible his ankle injury has lessened that advantage? Could this be something that keeps nagging him? Just wondering out loud. Hopefully there are no more setbacks.
Many have mentioned how physically gifted Adon Shuler looks. A little depth at safety would be very nice.
I had about zero per cent confidence that Leonard would start every game, and I’m still feeling confident about that. Odds are we’ll see some serious Angeli time this year.
I think Angeli is a good enough runner and Denbrock obviously a good enough OC that I don’t think the offense will have a huge change if and when Leonard goes down. Nice to have a QB room that’s got real options! Heck, even our third string guy seems like he’s making progress.
While the Leonard situation isn’t ideal, this is the best position the QB room has been in with viable options. Maybe angeli’s athletic ceiling isn’t quite there, BUT as you said, he is good enough, I totally agree. a big equalizer for a player with a lower athletic ceiling is their experience, which is a stegnth of angelis (and his calm pocket demeanor, it doesnt seem like he rattles easily). Coupled with the arm talent behind him, it’s about as good of a spot you could be in given the circumstances:
We go with the steady-eddy guy with plenty of time in the program
or
One of the young talented upstarts demonstrates ability to take over.
It looks like a great example of the aggregate talent HCMF has built across the roster; it wasn’t but 2 years ago, our QB room was in much rougher shape.
I don’t know if that’s a knock against Leonard. I don’t think I’ve seen any QB for teams I watch play every snap they could the past few years. It’s too hard to stay healthy all the time.
There’s “every snap they could”, and then there’s being the starter. How many games did Williams/Maye/Daniels/Penix/McCarthy/Nix not start this last year?
I think Leonard is 1) injury prone and 2) a running QB more than any guy on the list above of top QB prospects this year (except maybe Daniels).
Looking at the top 12 prospects, IIRC Travis from FSU is the only one that missed significant starts this last year. And Leonard. Not great company.
Put another way, when Tyler Buchner injured himself in the spring walking down a flight of stairs, I thought “No way is he going to be a running QB in the NCAA, too injury prone.”
As someone who previously broke a bone in the foot: foot injuries suck and can struggle to heal in many cases.
They really can, and I do wonder what this means for Leonard’s prospects this season. I think it does give us a better chance of keeping quarterbacks coming into the spring, though. Certainly seems Angelli’s not going anywhere
Shoulder surgery for Ben Morrison 🙁
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