Five Wide Fullbacks returns coming off the bye week and ready for some more Fighting Irish football. But first, we tackle a preview of the NFL Draft, assistant coaching grades, the quarterback controversy, impressive true freshmen, and the desire to coach in Los Angeles or LA the state.

1) The NFL Draft is just over 6 months away even though we’re halfway through the regular season in college football. What’s the status of Notre Dame’s draft eligible prospects?

Let’s take a look at the players who should garner some interest from the NFL while scratching off people who really shouldn’t have any business seeking the pro ranks right (staring at everyone in the secondary that isn’t Kyle Hamilton).

2017 Class
QB Jack Coan
WR Avery Davis
OG Cain Madden
OT Josh Lugg
NG Kurt Hinish
DT MTA
LB Drew White
PK Jonathan Doerer

The veterans of this group, could you guarantee any of these players will get drafted? Swear on your mother’s life? Okay, I think we can safely assume MTA will be in the mix as a versatile defensive lineman and likely to hear his named called. We’re also living in a world again with the ‘Notre Dame bump’ like back in the Holtz days where some borderline guys are going to get a stronger look due to intangibles which is good news for the likes of Hinish, White, and maybe even Davis.

In my opinion, Madden and Lugg have firmly played their way out of a draft pick if it ever was possible.

2018 Class
WR Kevin Austin
WR Braden Lenzy
C Jarrett Patterson
DE Justin Ademilola
DT Jayson Ademilola

This is a really interesting group! Well, except for Lenzy who I don’t think has any shot getting drafted next spring and 10000% should come back to Notre Dame.

Obviously, the big news this off-season will revolve around the decision of Patterson and if he’s ready to move on or not. It’s really tough to be a Top 50 pick as a pure center so he’s a lot like a running back in that the ability to improve his stock is limited. I bet he leaves though, he’s safely a mid-round pick I would think.

My gut feeling is that all 3 of Austin and the Ademilola brothers come back, as well. They are all guys with decent to good pro potential but should return to school.

2019 Class
RB Kyren Williams
DE Isaiah Foskey
S Kyle Hamilton

Hamilton is a lock to leave while Kyren is maybe a hair less likely but still leaning strongly in that direction. Although, everyone should prepare themselves for a 6th round pick for Kyren not because of his abilities but because that’s how it goes these days for running backs.

Foskey is going to be an interesting one to watch. He’ll have the measureables the NFL will like and at least for 2021 the production will be a positive, too. My bias is he needs more seasoning. This could also be a bit of a surprise loss to the Draft in the vein of Troy Niklas a number of years ago.

2) Can we get a current grade on all of the Notre Dame football assistant coaches?

Oh, okay let’s walk down this road. I’m going to hand out grades for everyone.

A: DL/RC Mike Elston, DC/LB Marcus Freeman, S&C Matt Balis

Elston’s tenure at Notre Dame has been so good that selfishly we’d all love for him to stay but you almost feel bad that he hasn’t moved on to bigger and better things. So far, Freeman has lived up to the hype off the field and has the Irish defense ranked inside the SP+ top 20. I’m the guy who always says people get sick of the strength coach after a few years–5 year into this and Balis is still doing great work.

B: OC/QB Tommy Rees, RB Lance Taylor, ST Brian Polian

I go back and forth with Rees but couldn’t justify ranking him lower than this. He’s young, a good program fit, and generally does a good job. Lance Taylor has been an upgrade for Notre Dame and once again has a young back (Diggs) looking ready to contribute again. I like to tease Polian about tagging along next to Kelly on the sidelines and being a little too involved for a special teams coordinator but I guess he’s the associate head coach and works well within the Brian Kelly orbit.

C+: TE John McNulty, CB Mike Mickens

Both of these coaches are in their second years and are doing fine both on and off the field. One guy gets to coach an All-American which helps. Mickens will get some leeway for taking over a young and inexperienced cornerback room but should get props this year for the development of Cam Hart a former receiver.

C: OL Jeff Quinn, S Chris O’Leary

I’m going to zag with the Quinn criticism following the Virginia Tech game. Prior to 2021 his grade did not belong at this low of a level and if they can show steady improvement the rest of this season I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that Quinn actually gets some praise for piecing things together and especially getting Joe Alt prepared to start, incorporating Andrew Kristofic, and likely would’ve also had Blake Fisher starting at a decent level, too. Or, maybe things fall apart and he gets fired.

I know many are super high on O’Leary with his recruiting abilities but so far we’re getting very little out of the safety position that isn’t Kyle Hamilton. Next year will be a big, big year for this young coach.

D: WR Del Alexander

This is Del’s 5th season with the Irish and while the recruiting has ticked up lately his resume on the field for that long of a period has been meager. The late blossoming of Miles Boykin and Chase Claypool were good stories but what’s Alexander’s next best work? Finke’s final 2 seasons? Getting something out of Javon McKinley? Having Avery Davis be reliable and become a captain?

3) It’s unlikely that Tyler Buchner is going to start over Jack Coan any time soon. How best to handle this situation? Is there a best way?

Unfortunately, there is no best way to handle this situation. It feels like things are coming full circle from when Brian Kelly was initially hired and so many people thought he was the guy who played multiple quarterbacks and juggled them successfully with Tony Pike and Zach Collaros. No, Tony Pike just got hurt, you guys. We went over that a million times in those 2010-11 days.

Obviously, I don’t have all the answers and it’s tough to judge anything without practice reports. Is there a student newspaper reporter with binoculars on top of the library judging the reps at practice like what recently happened at Oklahoma?

My only piece of advise would be to think strongly about starting Tyler Buchner to see how it goes. But more generally, think about a percentage of reps that you’re comfortable with Buchner taking–and then add 10% more to that total. We’re not starting Buchner against our main rival during a night game, not after Lane Stadium was made out to be this terrible den of madness holy hell can we calm down with the Virginia Tech intimidating crowd talk? But, push your comfort level with Buchner.

4) Speaking of Joe Alt, he’s been one of the biggest shocks to start as a true freshman at Notre Dame in recent memory. Do you think there’s anyone in the 2022 class with similar out-of-nowhere potential?

Where does the intersection of opportunity and a lower rated but high ceiling recruit meet next year? I actually remembered Alt being rated much lower in my head but he was the No. 406 rated player in the 2021 class which isn’t that bad for someone most expected to take a couple years to get up to speed.

Taking a look, incoming 2022 freshman Devin Moore from Naples is currently the No. 381 rated overall player in the Composite. It’s quite possible we’re looking at 2 new safeties needed next year so there you go. Almost everyone expects bigger things out of Moore early in his career than most did with Alt, though.

5) Ed Orgeron has agreed to an unprecedented separation agreement down in the Bayou and will not return for 2022. Do you think the LSU job is more attractive than the USC job?

This is tough! It’s a weird comparison because USC should be the place with a higher floor (especially considering conference competition) AND the higher ceiling given their place in the fertile recruiting grounds of Los Angeles and their national/historical prominence.

Yet, if we could simulate 10 football coaches getting 6 seasons apiece at both USC and LSU I feel like the greater median success (if this term makes sense) would be found with the Tigers.

Yeah, it probably does versus L.A. culture.

More specifically, I feel like a good coach could walk into LSU and win more easily whereas at USC you’re dealing with what has comfortably turned into a 13-year cultural problem that could prevent you from getting off the ground for a couple seasons.

That’s pretty much the same length of time from the late Holtz era to Brian Kelly coming to Notre Dame. Although USC has reached higher highs in comparison (10 decent seasons, 7 years finishing ranked, a Rose Bowl win) that’s a long time to reverse program underachievement. I also think USC’s weird aversion to embracing a mobile spread quarterback continues to be really bizarre and troublesome.

The recruiting pipelines for LSU will give you a more consistent defense, the Louisiana per capita treasure trove of talent is a massive comfort, and you’re walking into an automatically more committed and functional (says more about USC, in my opinion) administration and fan base.

LSU is the more attractive job.