Notre Dame released its depth chart for the Nevada game earlier in the week which only covers the two-deep. There weren’t many changes at all but that’s why we provide a depth chart for the entire roster and find little nooks and crannies to discuss for each game.
As I’m sure you’ve seen tweeted out endlessly on Wednesday night from one of the 14,000 sites covering the Irish we now have an official starter at quarterback. At least, according to DeShone Kizer this controversy is all wrapped up:
“I had a conversation with Coach Kelly and he decided this week I would get the first snaps for sure. He congratulated me on fighting through the process and encouraged me to maintain the same mindset. He ensured me that I would be the guy on Saturday.
As of now, I am expecting to be the only guy. The conversation was to let me know I would be the guy. We’ll see how the game goes. Obviously Malik is an amazing athlete and there is going to come a time where you definitely see him on the field. That hasn’t been talked about too much.”
It sounds like Kizer came back from Austin, Texas fully prepared to take the big step in leadership and make this squad his team. On Thursday night, Kelly said Kizer “made a pretty big statement” against the Longhorns.
Torii Hunter has been going through the concussion protocol this week and there is no word yet on if he’ll suit up and play. He was listed in his usual starting spot by the school, though we can safely assume he’s as likely to sit out for precautionary reasons than he is to play. He didn’t practice and if he is cleared it’ll be his decision to play or not, per Brian Kelly.
Without Hunter, there will be many snaps available. Here’s looking at Kevin Stepherson who logged 25 snaps against Texas and could double that output on Saturday. Also, Holmes and his 18 snaps will also look to play a bigger role this weekend.
If you’re going off the Texas game there really wasn’t a co-starter deal at tight as Smythe (65) played most of the snaps while Weishar (13) barely played at all.
We can probably expect some backups to get work on the offensive line against Nevada. However, the starters played every snap against Texas.
In case you missed it in the lead up to the opener, Chris Finke has switch to jersey No. 10 for the season while Alize Jones sits out with an academic suspension.
There is no depth chart shake up in the defensive front 7 although Jarron Jones remains listed first atop the nose guard position with an “OR” designation for Cage. Jones played 7 fewer snaps than his younger teammate against the Horns. Also, not only did the Irish largely deploy a Frankenstein 3-3-5 against Texas they did so without a nose guard on 30 snaps.
The two-deep at corner (per the school it remains Luke/Love & Crawford/Coleman) are the only ones who logged snaps at Texas at their position. The question this weekend is how much Coleman will play following a series of embarrassments against the Horns. There’s lots of talk that Julian Love is going to start at nickel this weekend while the Irish keep Shaun Crawford outside and Coleman mostly on the bench.
Devin Studstill didn’t get the start in his first game but did play about half of the defensive snaps. No safety played more than Avery Sebastian against Texas. Whether it’s due to his late injury (he’s healthy for Nevada) or his sub-par play it will be Studstill getting the start with Sebastian moving back over to the strong side.
Not that there were many options to work with this weekend but Drue Tranquill remains a starter despite his benching in the latter portions of the Texas game.
FRESHMEN WHO PLAYED AGAINST TEXAS:
Devin Studstill, Daelin Hayes, Jalen Elliott, Julian Love, Kevin Stepherson, Spencer Perry, Julian Okwara, and Chase Claypool.
FRESHMEN WHO TRAVELED BUT DID NOT PLAY:
Javon McKinley, Tommy Kramer, Khalid Kareem, Jamir Jones, Donte Vaughn, and John Shannon.
FRESHMEN WHO DID NOT TRAVEL:
Ian Book, Deon McIntosh, Liam Eichenberg, Parker Boudreaux, Ade Ogundeji, Jonathan Jones, Troy Pride, and D.J. Morgan.
With Hunter (likely) out, who steps up at receiver? The obvious answer is EQ, but while I stand up and applaud his two circus catches for TDs, he still had a drop or two. CJ Sanders is obviously a treasure and needs the ball MOAR. The thing that bothers me is the comments I’ve heard on several of the podcasts around that once Torii went out, the receivers were in turmoil. Apparently he is as valuable or more for his leadership as he is his actual play. Is he the “Joe Schmidt” of the WR corps? I’m glad we play Nevada this week, hopefully the young WRs can get themselves together and make that stride, and we’ll be the better for it come Michigan State.
The biggest problem for the receivers is that Hunter was drawing a ton of attention from the defense. When you have to single cover EQ or CJ, they are going to be huge problems for a defense. But, if you can jam EQ at the line with safety help over the top, you have the ability to take away the 1 on 1 matchup nightmare he creates. He’s just not quite ready to beat double teams yet. Sanders is similar, in that if you can get physical with him at the line, you can take away the bubble screens and quick slants that he could be so deadly on. At his size, he’ll likely never be a guy who can beat double teams. I think EQ will eventually be able to with his size, but he’s not there yet.
Nevada’s run defense is awful, I would expect a heavy dose of the run game to batter them and open up the pass after the run guts them. Looking forward to the triple stack of receivers in a bunch to pop someone (CJ!!) into space.
And, there’s always the tight ends. Hopefully they can go to some 2 TE looks with Weishar and Symthe and open up intermediate routes for either of them.
They’ll be without Hunter this game, but it shouldn’t matter. There’s no great WR option, maybe someone gets open, but it’ll probably have to be creative. And luckily with Kizer’s development he should be able to find the open guy, whomever that is.
Are those the helmets Nevada is wearing for the game?
No I don’t think so.
Good.
So my nephew is getting married today. He told his fiancé “If we’re getting married in the fall, it can’t be on a Saturday.” Love that kid.
Maybe being nitpicky (okay, definitely being nitpicky), but you might want to consider using a different word in the chart other than “burned” for describing somebody who has taken a redshirt. Usually in the redshirt context, I’m under the impression that “burning” a redshirt is the exact opposite of taking a redshirt (e.g., what we did with Romeo Okwara his freshman year was burning his redshirt).
Though “burned” is appropriate if the player is a DB.
I agree.
To continue picking nits, I think you meant to say Shaun Crawford insread of Shaun Coleman at the end of your paragraph about the cornerbacks.
Nah, we picked up a new JUCO corner during the week.
Thinking about changing it to “used.”
Hunter not playing tomorrow, per Kelly at the prep rally.