Notre Dame held their first practice of fall camp on campus Saturday afternoon while allowing the media its 3rd viewing in less than a week. There will be a small glimpse of practice on Monday morning but the next full viewing will take place on Saturday, August 17th inside Notre Dame Stadium.
We’ll get to some depth chart talk in a moment but first a couple of notes.
2019 Captains
Ian Book #2
Robert Hainsey #8
Chris Finke #9
Julian Okwara #1
Khalid Kareem #3
Jalen Elliott #6
Alohi Gilman #4
The program announced a school-record 7 captains on Saturday with few surprises. I’ve added the rankings of each player from our recent unveiling of 18 Stripes’ Top 25 player rankings and if you like the best players being captains this is a year for you. This might sting a little bit if you’re Troy Pride (#5) or Chase Claypool (#7).
Allen Transfers – Down to 85
Redshirt freshman safety Derrik Allen recently announced his intention to transfer in a move that is curious for its timing a few weeks before the season but hardly surprising based on his early returns on the football field. I mentioned Allen in my fall camp preview as one of the 3 players to watch entering a crucial second August practices and apparently it still wasn’t clicking for him even after a week.
The fact that Allen weighed 220 pounds and wasn’t moved to linebacker was a gigantic red flag in the spring. The staff seemed intent on keeping him at safety and making it work but in the end it just wasn’t a fit. With this transfer the Irish are now officially down to 85 scholarships which includes the likes of JD Bertrand and Marist Liufau.
Defensive Depth Chart
With the Allen transfer the safety depth chart looks downright scary…for next season. Of course, one could argue not much was expected of Allen anyway so what difference does it really make, plus the rise of super frosh Kyle Hamilton is a major development. Still, there are no safeties committed for 2020, Elliott is done after this season, and Gilman is expected to skip his final year of eligibility. Maybe Hamilton can play both safety positions at once?
Back to this year, things are looking awfully good as Hamilton is already looking every bit of a freshman All-American behind a pair of playmaking captains. For convenience sake I’ve place Shaun Crawford on the safety depth chart to fill things out as he cross-trains between the back end and as the nickel corner. If healthy–and that’s a big if–is there anyway Crawford can sustain a full season at safety in 2020?
Houston Griffith was on the sidelines nursing an injury for the second straight media viewing. On Saturday, the coaches gave a break to Donte Vaughn which allowed TaRiq Bracy to step up while performing pretty well. If you’re of the mind that no more than 3 corners are going to see significant playing time absent injury it seems like those players will be Pride, Vaughn, and Bracy.
The early returns on nickel corner look to be either Alohi Gilman dropping down from his safety spot or the aforementioned Crawford.
Among the 10(!!) inside linebackers listed on the depth chart Saturday finally brought us some much needed clarity according to the media. As things stand now, the top four appear to be 1) Bilal 2) White 3) Lamb 4) Simon. If the last two practices seen by the media are any indication Bilal is going to play a lot, alternating at Buck next to White and moving over to Mike with Lamb at Buck, the latter primarily in passing situations.
It’ll be interesting to see how the staff tries this if it’s true in real games. Substituting is harder than ever in college with so many quick tempo offenses and we’ve already seen the Irish working on a nickel package that does not include Bilal on the field. Will this be a case of a Bilal/White partnership against a run-heavy offense like Stanford and a Bilal/Lamb partnership against a pass-heavy offense like USC? If that’s the case, I’d expect White to play a lot more than Lamb both because of the schedule and what I would presume is the staff’s desire for more muscle at linebacker.
Did you read my blurb on Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (heretofore nicknamed as “Wu” by players and coaches) in our Top 25 rankings? He finished #18 overall and I ranked him #13 in my personal list. If fall camp is any indication, he may be a lock to be a top 10 player. I thought there would be a pretty good back and forth competition between him and Paul Moala (who had a really strong spring) but Wu looks like he could be a special player–and not to get too ahead of myself–the best defender on the team in 2020.
The defensive line found its greatest praise of August this past Saturday after the offensive line won the media over during the previous viewing. There really hasn’t been much of note for depth chart purposes up front as we’ve seen everything play out so far as expected. The only interesting thing recently was true freshman Isaiah Foskey getting some work in the pass-rushing packages on Saturday. As I mentioned in my previous practice report, I think Foskey is going to find himself in the rotation this year and burn a year of eligibility. It might suck when 2023 rolls around but he very well could be a threat to start in 2020.
Offensive Depth Chart
We know who the top 5 offensive linemen are right now as the starters remain together for the spring and fall camp. After that, it’s unclear how the backups are stacking up. For sure, Josh Lugg is the 6th lineman and favored back up at possibly tackle, guard, and center. The rest feels like a crap shoot. Walk-on Colin Grunhard has been receiving positive reviews during camp but at 6’1″ 282 pounds it doesn’t seem realistic for him to take the field if something happens to Patterson.
If there is any competition it seems to be at right guard where Dirksen and Gibbons have been sharing reps. Lately, Cole Mabry has been banged up but it looks if he’s healthy he will work as the backup right tackle ahead of Kristofic. This all makes sense, with Carroll’s season-ending injury all of the freshmen appear destined to be far away from the field in 2019.
Many were wondering if the injury to Kmet would mean a lot less two tight end sets heading into the season. If Saturday was any indication the answer to that question is no, for now. Of course, the staff probably wants to keep shoving reps at the remaining three healthy tight ends to see what they can do but you do wonder if the talent is good enough to consistently use a pair of tight ends early in the season.
By the way, Kelly mentioned after Saturday’s practice that Kmet is out 4 to 10 weeks (quite the timeline!), hopefully coming back for the New Mexico game on September 14th. That would be 36 days post-surgery for you math majors.
Fall camp is typically the high-point for hype about the backup receivers. Do you know how many receptions the depth chart caught outside of the top 3 wideouts last season? TWELVE. That number plummeted from a decent 32 in 2017 and a solid 56 in 2016. We’re expecting the Irish to throw the ball a lot so last year’s number should be blown out of the water. Still, we’re expecting Finke and Claypool to get a ton of targets, too.
Michael Young looks like he’s clearly the third receiver and it will remain that way this season. After that, I’ll buy a little splash of Lawrence Keys in the mix. We know Lenzy is a burner but still needs more seasoning and McKinley is having a nice camp but by all reports is a possession receiver almost to a brutal point.
Let’s say when the games begin Notre Dame really is going to shy away from using a bunch of tight ends with the Kmet injury. I wouldn’t expect an extra receiver or two to benefit from this–I’d expect the running backs to get much more involved. It seems obvious Chip Long loves him some two-back sets and there’s been plenty of them during camp. I’m curious to see how this rotation works out against Louisville and beyond because right now it does seem like all 5 guys are in the mix.
I’ve listed freshman Kyren Williams last mainly due to his age but I have a feeling he’s going to end up far away from that position by end of the season. Even though he’s only 5’9″ he’s getting a lot of reps moving out to the slot (all the backs are) and I think he’s going to emerge as a quality safety valve in the passing game when you need 8 yards for a first down. He has really good hands and can make moves in space in a way that the other backs can’t right now.
If Phil Jurkovec hasn’t turned a corner yet he’s approaching it and looking intently on pushing the gas around that thing. His initial media viewing workout wasn’t great but after a week his progress has to be considered about as good as anyone could hope for so far. Interestingly, Ian Book has received pretty hot and cold reviews at times. That’s not unusual as there are some really good defenders out there but if you were hoping for a massive “Lamar Jackson 2016 off-season explosion” that isn’t going to happen for Book.
After a week do we feel a little bit better about the special teams situation? By all accounts, punter Jay Bramblett is performing pretty well being able to drive balls deep and create a lot of hang time when needed. No one should expect remarkable consistency as that basically doesn’t exist at the college level. Yet, Bramblett is hopefully shaping up to be a steady player as a freshman. The kicking competition definitely feels like it’s going to heat up considerably over the next few weeks. Jonathan Doerer apparently looked a little stronger on Saturday after a poor outing in the previous media session. Preferred walk-on Harrison Leonard is right there making a lot of kicks and might be the favorite after a week to trot out there for the first field goal and/or PAT of the season.
Good job Eric. I don’t know if I feel good about special teams. I feel better about the team appearing to prioritize it, and their willingness to show it to the media.
Allen is disappointing to me. He seemed like a stud during his recruitment and he’s always seemed like an ND kind of kid. I’m assuming that every team goes through this kind if roster stuff.
The roster is finally at 85 schollys? Does that include a shollarship for my presumed field goal kicker Leonard? I bet they find room to put him on one too.
Leonard is still a preferred walk-on right now. Leonard plus corner Temi Agoro and center Colin Grunhard seem like they’d be next in line for a scholarship. I’d imagine there won’t be any room soon unless a medical scholarship pops up at some point.
What’s the skuttle on D. Vaughn?
Reports say he’s been glue on every receiver and that the QBs don’t even look in that direction anymore.
Also, are griffith and Avery both # 3?
The linebacker corp has been a big discussion, obviously. IMO, although LB is not the necessarily easiest position on defense (depending on the scheme) and there is a lack of experience in re: to play count on the team, I would think that given most of these guys have been in the program multiple years, w/ continuity at the coaching positions, in addition to be highly regarded prospects, that there is not a ton of excuses for not being able to confidently trot out a competent group of linebackers.
Davis is now #4 thanks for the catch!
I think the most interesting thing about the recent practice reports is that, even prior to the Kmet injury, it seemed that Tony Jones was running with the ones as much if not more than Armstrong. That was a little concerning, but that might have some payoff now that Kmet is injured and, as you say, it seems like the natural fix is more two-back sets.
I also wouldn’t be shocked to hear of another transfer or two before the end of camp. Months ago somebody did an analysis of expected losses from the (large) 2017 class, and they figured it would be 4-6 before the end of camp this year. Right now we are at 4, I believe, inclusive of Allen.
I thought we’d hear more big about Armstrong so far, but it’s still early. I think last August when Dexter was in trouble Jones and Armstrong basically split reps right? That’s how I remember it then Armstrong came out on top and was the top choice early in the season. I have to think it’s a pretty similar situation right now.
Did you mean the 2018 class? Signed 27 and sitting at 24 now with transfers of Allen, Luke Jones, and Noah Boykin.
I doubt we see more transfers before the season (fall camp transfers are pretty rare if my memory isn’t failing me). But you’re right, we’ll probably see a few more gone from that class IMO within the next 6 months.
Is Austin getting much action at camp? It seems like he could step in after his suspension much like Dex did last year. I imagine it will be harder to step back in as a WR but ever since he super secret suspension I haven’t heard anything about him.
The only things I’ve seen are that he’s getting work in individual drills but when they go to team stuff he’s mostly working as a corner.
Ouch
Yeah, the media hasn’t brought him up much if at all since that first open practice. Not great. Generally when the media go cold like that it’s bad.
Eric, I see you have Dante Vaughn listed as injured “!” Is that correct or a holdover from last year?
Darn, forgot to remove that.
VERY glad to hear that!