The Fighting Irish were back on the practice field Wednesday morning for their 3rd workout of spring following a lengthy layoff due to spring break. The team got a couple of practices in but had to shake off 12 days worth of dust to get back into the groove.

QUARTERBACK

The Dude remains Brandon Wimbush and the on-field reporting for practice number three was kind of light so we’re left largely with remarks made by Brian Kelly following practice.

Wimbush spent his spring break evading brooms and such as he worked out with noted QB guru George Whitfield. Kelly was asked if this bothers him to which he replied, “Nah, bruh” in so many words. Wimbush also spends time with his former high school coach when he’s on break to keep his throwing skills sharp. Who isn’t for sharp throwing skills?

Kelly was also asked about running Wimbush in the offense and his response was there’d be a sharp downturn in the amount of QB Power and designed runs because he’s not as big as Kizer. It’ll largely be option-based runs and trying to get Wimbush more on the edge of the defense.

RUNNING BACK

One quick note from today’s presser in that Kelly mentioned not only that they are hitting and tackling more this spring but that the team was “soft” and getting complacent with bad habits during practices. Tell me how you really feel, right? At any rate, the backs need to get hit more apparently.

Kelly brought out his cheeky side in mentioning the 11-on-11 work being moved to the earlier portion of practice to push the 7-on-7 later in workouts. They won’t throw the ball as well but will get better at running the ball which people will love.

WIDE RECEIVER

Everyone wants to talk about Chase Claypool who was getting reps with the 1st-team during the media viewing period. Kelly was asked about moving the Canadian to defense as is I believe is journalistic law until Claypool becomes a junior and the answer was that the staff felt they needed him more on offense.

That’s interesting. It’d be one thing if Claypool was the reverse Onwualu who thrived more and fit better on offense. Maybe that’s the case anyway. But it’s kind of funny how Notre Dame returns roughly -16 sacks from last year—and has a great tradition of big playmaking wideouts—and the thought is we need Claypool on offense.

TIGHT END

Kelly seemed pretty excited about the tight ends when they were brought up, even mentioning all 4 of them could split out wide and catch passes. Sadly, there’s 5 tight ends on the roster and the one not mentioned was Tyler Luatua.

I’m setting the over/under on snaps played in 2017 by Luatua at 8.5 place your bets.

OFFENSIVE LINE

A few things have come into focus on the line where we had the same starting lineup (McGlinchey–Nelson–Mustipher–Bars–Kraemer) as the first practice. However, the competition at right tackle looks to be quite solid between Kraemer and Eichenberg as Kelly praised the latter’s competition level and they’re going through a situation where each player gets a practice with the 1st-team.

Bars sticking at right guard is all but set in stone, so it seems listening to Kelly’s comments. He also mentioned Hunter Bivin being on the Mark Harrell plan whereby he’ll be used at various positions when needed but the team is more interested in developing the youth this spring.

Quick note, Kelly took the time to mention how the offense still has and will continue to have his culture to it so it can be sustained from year to year in the event that Chip Long moves on to another job.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Some bad news to report as rising redshirt sophomore Elijah Taylor was announced as having a lisfranc injury suffered in the second spring practice. He’s already had surgery and will be out for a while. Kelly mentioned they will have him back in July but that seems a little bit of a generous timetable. We will see.

Kelly was willing to praise Micah Dew-Treadway which was nice to see. He said he’s changed his body, had a great off-season, and was really coming on strong last August prior to his injury.

LINEBACKER/SECONDARY

Kelly opened the presser speaking about how they felt Asmar Bilal’s skill-set fit with what they wanted at the Rover position and that they don’t want to lose Drue Tranquill’s veteran ability and communication at safety. At the same time, they want to see a lot of players working out at safety which is allowing Tranquill to move positions from time to time.

Nick Coleman, who has moved from corner to safety, was brought up as someone who has the ball-skills and speed to play safety but has to tackle better. If this practice is any indication tackling is going to be the buzz word this spring.

The Irish will be back on the field this Friday with the first full media viewing coming up on Saturday.