On Thursday afternoon the Fighting Irish concluded their final fully open practice in front of the media. We’re 17 days away from Notre Dame opening the season at Florida State and will largely bide our time as the information from practices dries up as we inch closer to the 2021 football season.

We’ll wrap up the top news & notes from the latest workout as well as take a look at the perceived depth chart going into the season as we’re unlikely to hear about major shakeups without further extensive media access.

OFFENSE

*Starters*

QB Jack Coan
RB Kyren Williams
WR Kevin Austin
WR Avery Davis
WR Braden Lenzy
TE Michael Mayer
LT Blake Fisher
LG Zeke Correll
C Jarett Patterson
RG Cain Madden
RT Josh Lugg

Now that Fisher has returned from his concussion this starting lineup looks pretty locked in for Florida State. After an okay full practice debut for the media last week, reports are that Jack Coan looked much, much better on Thursday and was in command with his accuracy and decision making despite (as we’ll discuss below) plenty of pressure and stiff resistance from the defense.

Since our last update, Coan was officially named the starting quarterback and by all accounts everyone around the program is very comfortable with that decision. This felt like an important practice for Coan as you can imagine he’s gained confidence from the public announcement and flashed a higher level of playing for the Irish on Thursday than we’ve ever witnessed.

I think it’s fair to say that the media wasn’t wowed by the Irish interior play, specifically at guard. I doubt we’ll see things change prior to the season beginning but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on, particularly that left guard spot where many are questioning Correll’s long-term ability. I think it’s also important to remind ourselves that the guards are now much smaller (especially compared to the massive 2020 guards) and they are up against the biggest strength of the defense every single practice. This probably colors the perspective a little bit.

At receiver, the good vibes continue where we see Mr. Steady (Davis) being flanked by Lenzy starting to reach his ceiling and Austin healthy and looking to be forming into a dangerous No. 1 receiver. Overall, there’s a lot to like about the receivers–but notice how this doesn’t necessarily elicit panic about the pass defense the way the defense winning battles against the offensive line does. We don’t always think rationally about the offensive line!

*Key Backups*

QB Drew Pyne
RB Chris Tyree
RB Logan Diggs
WR Lorenzo Styles
TE Kevin Bauman
TE George Takacs
LT Michael Carmody
LG Rocco Spindler
C Andrew Kristofic

If this fall camp is an indication for the immediate future, Diggs could be pushing hard for 3rd team reps behind Williams and Tyree. He once again impressed the media and has an array of skills that the Irish offense could use in 2021.

For a while, it seemed like a jump from Styles just wasn’t going to happen. That notion appears to be blown to smithereens on Thursday where Styles looked outstanding and was getting a decent amount of work with the 1st team offense. More receiver good vibes!

There’s a hype train being created for Kevin Bauman who made several big plays on Thursday and is in contention to back up Mayer at tight end. Side note, the offense appears to be relying a lot more on 11 personnel packages (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) as expected with far less 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR) and when in the latter at least one tight end is flanked out and not inline or in the backfield as a blocker quite as much.

During the workout, starting right tackle Josh Lugg strained his neck (he appears fine) and was replaced by Michael Carmody. In speaking with the media, Brian Kelly lavished quite a bit of praise on Carmody who definitely is in the running for the biggest increased stock of fall camp. If you take Kelly’s comments at face value, Carmody could be the next-man-in at either tackle spot, plus at guard too.

I think many will expect Spindler to challenge Correll at left guard but it wouldn’t surprise me if Carmody ultimately got the call there if Correll struggles.

*To Be Determined*

RB C’Bo Flemister
WR Lawrence Keys
WR Joe Wilkins
TE Mitchell Evans
RG John Dirksen
RT Tosh Baker

Most of the time, these practice reports are flowing with positive information and that with so many players looking good it inevitably hurts other players, even if they aren’t playing bad per se. So it may be with Flemister who is going to be pushed continually by Diggs.

Keys missed practice recovering from a shin injury and while by all accounts Joe Wilkins looks solid I would argue these guys are in the stock down category as they’ve always been backups and aren’t pushing to move up the depth chart. It’s not possible for every single receiver to dominate, right?

Following the spring, Evans looked like an intriguing player for 2021 but if Bauman has hit another level (and Takacs’ experience gives him consistent reps) perhaps we aren’t going to see much of a breakout. The stock for Evans definitely feels promising long-term but maybe a hold for now.

Back in the spring it looked like Baker was entirely in the fight to start at tackle. Then, he had a really poor spring game and looks to be passed up by Carmody as the next man in at tackle. He’s still just a redshirt freshman which maybe we need to remind ourselves.

DEFENSE

*Starters*

DE Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa
DT Jayson Ademilola
NG Kurt Hinish
VYPER Isaiah Foskey
MIKE Drew White
WILL Marist Liufau
ROVER Jack Kiser
CB Clarence Lewis
CB Cam Hart
FS Kyle Hamilton
SS Houston Griffith

Let’s start with the good news. The defensive line as a unit is looking very good, the linebackers somehow look even better, and Houston Griffith appears to have locked down the starting safety spot while also continuing to develop into a playmaker.

The news on Griffith may be one of the greatest things from fall camp so far. Not only has he stepped up his game on the field he’s developing into a vocal leader which could pay huge dividends in 2022 when Kyle Hamilton is gone. By the way, Hamilton left practice late with a stiff back but it’s not considered to be serious at all.

The bad news, it really doesn’t seem like Foskey is prepared to have a big year based off what the media have seen over the last couple weeks. Is he coming on slowly from a summer pectoral injury? If you want to spin this into a positive light, the pass-rush outside of Foskey (particularly from the linebackers) has looked frightening at times so that’s good.

Liufau once again picked up rave reviews from the media in attendance. By most accounts, he’s on the shortlist to have a national star breakout type of season.

*Key Backups*

DT Rylie Mills
NG Howard Cross
VYPER Justin Ademilola
MIKE Bo Bauer
WILL JD Bertrand
ROVER Isaiah Pryor
CB Ramon Henderson
NICKEL Tariq Bracy

If you went off the Thursday practice reviews Rylie Mills basically turned into J.J. Watt. I was never as high on Mills as a recruit as many others and I’m poised to look extremely wrong. For the majority of the 11-on-11 work the pass rush was looking strong with Mills–and Cross adding even more disruption–being a huge reason why the offense was having issues. I think we’re going to see a ton of disruption through the A and B-gaps which has been a hallmark of Freeman’s defense.

More on this below as it appears Justin Ademilola is cross-training at both jumbo defensive end and the Vyper spot while quite possibly being the main backup at each spot. That’s quite a workload if true.

JD Bertrand turned a lot of heads last week and that momentum continued on Thursday. I believe Freeman has spoken about cross-training the linebackers, especially the Mike and Will spots, but I have found it interesting that Bertrand was always thought to be a Mike and has now developed into an impactful Will linebacker.

Last week, Kelly was adamant that Tariq Bracy had not won the starting nickel job, although looking at the sub-packages from the beat writers I think JoJo Johnson is in contention and I’m assuming Bracy will win this fairly easily when it’s all said and done.

*To Be Determined*

DE Alex Ehrensberger
DE Na-Na Osafo-Mensah
DT Jacob Lacey
VYPER Jordan Botelho
MIKE Shayne Simon
ROVER Paul Moala
SS D.J. Brown
SS Justin Walters
FS KJ Wallace

The options at the jumbo end don’t look great behind MTA which may explain why Ademilola has been getting time at both spots. He also continues to receive Vyper reps ahead of Botelho which is a bit strange.

I have a theory: Botelho is a bit of a tweener (he’s not particularly tall or rangy like an ideal body-type such as Foskey) who Freeman may not love as an every-down Vyper. Kelly was asked about Botelho after practice and praised his work ethic (and improvement in the classroom) so some sort of suspension really doesn’t seem to be coming. It makes me wonder if Botelho–who has built a bit of a reputation as being extremely passionate bordering on being a hot head–really struggled learning about a reduced Vyper role which possibly led to some discipline issues that they’ve ironed out internally? Just a thought.

Either way it seems like Botelho has moved on because he’s apparently not in the doghouse and he’d being used extensively in the sub-packages and pass-rushing situations. That includes being moved all over the field and lining up more at other spots more so than just Vyper.

Lacey appears to be doing some good things but is currently passed up by Cross. Quality depth, I suppose.

Shayne Simon has turned into a very curious case. He was praised for his off-season work and leadership and yet is now working at 3rd-team Mike (flip-flopping roles with Bertrand). This was a 2020 starter! The media were all in agreement that he didn’t look that effective on Thursday. Will he find a role in 2021?

I wish we knew more about the backup Rover spots. The media has said nice things about both Pryor and Moala although I’m not sure this pecking order is even close to settled at this point, especially with Moala getting back into the groove coming back from injury.

With Griffith excelling at safety we’ve also heard nice things about Brown and Wallace, too. After Hamilton missed time late in the Thursday practice, Brown filled in nicely. I just want to see all of these guys in game action and see how they handle things when the bullets start flying. Mostly, I think it’s exciting to see the progress from true freshman Justin Walters who Kelly mentioned to the media “will be a very good player for us.”

Notes

We haven’t talked about scholarships in a while but the Irish are sitting at 84 right now, absent handing out any new ones to walk-ons.

Redshirt freshman nose guard Aidan Keanaaina was working on the sideline while nursing an injury.

I was watching the latest edition of “Litch in the Field” where true freshman safety Khari Gee was featured in the very beginning. My first reaction was, “Whoa, Gee has a lot of work to do in the weight room.” This is followed up by friend of the blog Jamie Uyeyama’s practice report from ISD where he stated: “This was my first time seeing Khari Gee in person and to me he looked like he was a lot less fluid with his hips than the rest of the safeties other than Ajavon Litchfield. Gee competed pretty well in one on ones, but seeing him in individual drills convinced me even more that he’s probably going to be a Rover in the long term.”

Scheme Talk: While Freeman was at Cincinnati he ran a lot of 3-man fronts on 1st and 2nd down and utilized a lot of 4-man fronts on passing downs. I noticed in the sub-packages on Thursday they were using a lot of 3-man fronts. Perhaps we will see a lot of pass-rushing personnel like this:

DE Tagovailoa-Amosa
DT Mills
VYPER Foskey
MIKE White
WILL Liufau
ROVER Kiser

With this, you’ll either roll out 5 defensive backs or keep 4 defensive backs in favor of Botelho coming in and wreaking havoc from multiple spots. The latter could look like a 4-man front sometimes but it certainly seems like Botelho is ready to be deployed as much as a pass-rushing linebacker than a defensive end. It’s also possible they take Kiser off the field, too.