Fall camp is coming. The Irish will open up their preparations for the 2024 opener on Wednesday, July 31st as year 3 of the Marcus Freeman era officially begins. It’s time to preview the offensive side of the ball!

Coordinator: Mike Denbrock, 1st Season

Well it’s not Denbrock’s first season, really. More like it’s his first season working with Marcus Freeman and his second time coordinating an offense at Notre Dame from 10 overall seasons with the Irish.

Obviously, the program is hoping Denbrock cooks up something special upon his return and recaptures some of the magic in his time at LSU which led to a Heisman trophy winner at quarterback. The team has kept things really close to the vest schematically during August and this fall camp will be no different with a tough opener at Texas A&M coming up.

Returning Starters: 5/11

This is the same amount of returning starters as last year, if you use a really rigid definition. In this case, we’re including wide receiver Jayden Thomas, wide receiver Jaden Greathouse, guard Pat Coogan, guard Rocco Spindler, and tight end Mitchell Evans. It’s unclear if Spindler will return to the starting lineup this fall after off-season knee surgery. More on this below.

In the world of transfers, there are more starters. Quarterback Riley Leonard (21 starts) and wide receivers Kris Mitchell (24 starts), Jayden Harrison (8 starts), and Beaux Collins (27 starts) offer a lot more experience to the offense.

Injuries

QB Riley Leonard
RB Gi’Bran Payne
WR Jayden Harrison
TE Mitchell Evans
TE Kevin Bauman

In our spring preview we mentioned the Riley Leonard off-season ankle surgery that was reported in a really weird way like it might be serious but probably wasn’t and no one seemed to have great intel. We expected Leonard to be ready for spring ball but on March 22nd he had a follow up surgery on the same ankle and missed all but a couple practices. We *think* everything should be good to go now.

Can Evans be healthy for the first game?

Redshirt sophomore running back Gi’Bran Payne tore his ACL during the Blue-Gold Game and will miss the entire 2024 season.

Incoming speedy grad transfer Jayden Harrison sat out the back half of the spring with an undisclosed foot injury.

Starting tight end Mitchell Evans tore his ACL in late October and he’ll be one of the most anticipated guys on the roster to watch and see if he’ll be ready for the A&M game.

This section might have to be re-named the Kevin Bauman list because I’m not sure when he wasn’t featured here! He blew out his knee (again) back in August. He must be highly valued by the coaching staff, be a great teammate, and/or both because it’s surprising that he’s still fighting for a roster spot.

Camp Questions

#1 Restructuring the Offensive Line

This section of camp questions is basically the same as it was last year, except for the offensive line a medium-level rebuild is needed and it’s not merely a case of shuffling some things around with a pair of NFL talents on the edges.

The ability for this offensive line to gel this upcoming August could have massive ramifications for the season. The predicted matchup against Texas A&M’s defensive line already isn’t in Notre Dame’s favor and if there are issues with the offensive line during camp it could be a huge worry.

#2 Can the Receivers be Playmakers?

Again, same question as last year. It did not work out in 2023 and let’s hope things are improved significantly in 2024.

What we do know is that the experience at this position is infinitely better than last year. That doesn’t guarantee excellent productivity but Notre Dame has to feel comfortable with 6, and maybe 7 guys, to start off on the right foot right when camp opens up.

#3 Riley Leonard Lifting the Offense

Literally, this is the same as last year where we asked if Hartman was going to be a X-factor to push the Irish to another level. It didn’t happen.

Those are some big shoulder pads, sir.

Riley Leonard brings a different skillset to the table than Hartman, and in this writer’s opinion the ability for the former Duke signal caller to run the ball is a really promising part to an excellent 2024 offense.

New Faces to Watch

WR Kris Mitchell

The FIU transfer was brought in, arguably, as the premier transfer outside of the quarterback position this off-season. Spring time is always tough to gauge the success of a player, especially a new transfer whose projected no. 1 quarterback missed most of the practices.

Mitchell was up and down in spring seemingly from what we could tell but his explosive 62-yard touchdown in the Blue-Gold Game is hopefully a sign of things to come.

WR Beaux Collins

Collins was an impact player at Clemson.

Perhaps one of the forgotten transfers this off-season as he didn’t enroll during the spring, and yet someone with a ton of Power 5 experience in big games at Clemson. Collins might not be the super explosive type nor someone ready to come in and be a certified no. 1 receiver. At the same time, he comes in with great pedigree, a long frame, and is a good bet to surprise during camp a few times.

WR Micah Gilbert

This true freshman had one of the best springs from anyone on the roster versus their expectations. Despite not being as highly rated as classmate Cam Williams, it was Gilbert who was able to zoom up the depth chart a few months ago.

Will that translate to actual playing time in the fall?

LT Charles Jagusah

I’m stressing the term ‘new’ here but if you skipped the Sun Bowl scrimmage annihilation of Oregon State and checked out during the off-season it might be pretty big news that a redshirt freshman has, by all accounts, locked down the starting left tackle position. Now the real work begins as a full-time starter for all of 2024.

PK Mitch Jeter

Kicking rarely gets talked about before the season begins and that’s probably fair on all accounts. Once the season begins, all bets are off with how quickly people will lose their mind about missing field goals. Good news for Mitch Jeter is that he’s missed only 2 out of his 25 field goal attempts over the last 2 seasons at South Carolina. He might be a huge weapon, especially in a suspected tight opener at A&M.

P James Rendell

The times have changed. This off-season, Notre Dame flew to Australia to recruit 6’6″ hulking punter James Rendell who is a graduate student but also might have several more years of eligibility remaining. No one is really sure what’s going. Rendell also has zero game experience punting with American football rules but from the clips out there once he connects the ball is hammered into orbit.

Key Positional Battles

Right Tackle

Fifth-year senior Tosh Baker seemed to have the upper hand at this position during the spring and he did start the bowl game after Blake Fisher sat out to prepare for the NFL Draft. Baker’s performance against Oregon State was solid enough. Just about everyone likes the future of redshirt sophomore Aamil Wagner if his lighter weight (290 lbs.) and lack of experience can be overcome this August.

Left and/or Right Guard

Notre Dame essentially has 3 players for 2 starting spots at guard. First, surprise 2023 starter Pat Coogan is back and spent most of the spring at left guard with the starters. The highly touted Billy Schrauth is entering his redshirt sophomore year, started the last 3 games of 2023, and was largely the right guard with the starters in spring.

What happens with Rocco?

Where does that leave Rocco Spindler who started the first 10 games at right guard last year and was close to full strength this spring after recovering from knee surgery?

Field Receiver

In the past, and even plenty during the spring, we saw Notre Dame mixing up the location of its receivers. While the boundary players tend to stay among the taller/heavier guys, the field receiver rotation has been a mixture of speed, slot, and smaller possession-type wideouts.

Nearly half the receivers will be battling for snaps at this position.

Redshirt Watch

Last year, only 4 players used a year of eligibility from the 2023 recruiting class. They were running back Jeremiyah Love, wide receivers Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison, plus tight end Cooper Flanagan. Heading into fall camp, I’ll place the freshmen into these groups:

Likely playing more than 4 games: Micah Gilbert, Cam Williams, Aneyas Williams

Gilbert is probably the only lock from this group. I see Cam Williams burning a year just because of his potential and possibility of improving rapidly throughout the year. Wide receiver reps will start to get tight though once the games start getting played.

With the loss of Gi’Bran Payne for the year, that might mean one of the freshmen running backs steps up and plays a lot more. Aneyas Williams looked ahead of Kedren Young (who also dealt with a spring injury) and seems to be more ready now.

Borderline 4 games played guys: CJ Carr, Kedren Young, Jack Larsen, Guerby Lambert

Will a 4th string freshmen even see the field at all? Maybe if he’s CJ Carr!

Notre Dame throws tight ends on the field like candy and with the 4-game rule I’m betting Larsen gets 10-20 snaps somewhere on the schedule. I wouldn’t bet on Lambert doing much (no spring) but his ceiling is crazy high.

Likely redshirt with few game appearances: Logan Saldate, Peter Jones, Anthonie Knapp, Styles Prescod

Basically, the one freshmen receiver who didn’t enroll early and the rest of the offensive linemen. We could see any of Jones, Knapp, or Prescod get work on special teams, though.

Freshmen Numbers

QB CJ Carr #12
RB Aeneyas Williams #20
RB Kedren Young #21
WR Cam Williams #17
WR Micah Gilbert #14
WR Logan Saldate #19
TE Jack Larsen #85
OL Peter Jones #73
OL Anthonie Knapp #54
OL Styles Prescod #71
OL Guerby Lambert #76

*Blue italics indicate true freshmen who enrolled in January.Â