Notre Dame Spring Practice Preview: Offense

Spring practice begins this Thursday and plenty of questions remain for an offense bringing back a ton of experience at quarterback and offensive line but dealing with injuries with the latter position. Will Notre Dame be able to use these 15 workouts to establish an identity and pecking order for the rest of the roster, especially at the skill positions?

This side of the ball will have 37 scholarship players on campus for the spring. The (*) denotes a returning starter.

The Players for Spring

QB Ian Book, 5th SR*
QB Brendon Clark, r-FR
QB Drew Pyne, FR

RB Jafar Armstrong, r-JR
RB Jahmir Smith, r-SO
RB C’Bo Flemister, r-SO
RB Kyren Williams, r-FR
RB Avery Davis, r-JR
RB Mick Assaf, 5th SR

WR Braden Lenzy, r-SO
WR Kevin Austin, r-SO
WR Lawrence Keys, r-SO
WR Bennett Skowronek, 5th SR
WR Javon McKinley, 5th SR
WR Joe Wilkins, r-SO
WR Isaiah Robertson, r-JR
WR Micah Jones, r-SO
WR Kendall Abdur-Rahman, r-FR
WR Xavier Watts, FR
WR Jay Brunelle, FR

TE Tommy Tremble, r-SO
TE Brock Wright, SR
TE George Takacs, r-SO

OL Tommy Kraemer, 5th SR*
OL Liam Eichenberg, 5th SR*
OL Robert Hainsey, SR*
OL Jarrett Patterson, r-SO*
OL Aaron Banks, r-JR*
OL Josh Lugg, r-JR
OL Colin Grunhard, r-JR
OL Quinn Carroll, r-FR
OL Dillon Gibbons, r-JR
OL Andrew Kristofic, r-FR
OL Cole Mabry, r-SO
OL John Dirksen, r-SO
OL Zeke Correll, r-FR
OL John Olmstead, r-FR

Injuries

If you’re excited to watch a veteran offensive line work together for spring you might want to bottle that up for a while. Up to 4 linemen will be either limited or out all together, including: Banks (foot), Carroll (knee), Hainsey (ankle), and Kraemer (knee). With the exception of Banks, all other injuries came last year and are well into their healing process.

Banks appears to have a foot issue again, following surgery late last June prior to the season. One would think the short amount of rest and current situation attributed to a bit of a disappointing year for him in 2019. Now, I’d imagine they will be extra careful with their starting left guard and we will see very little of Banks.

Due to these injuries, there has been talk that rising redshirt freshman nose guard Hunter Spears will be moved to guard this spring. That’s probably not a great sign for his long-term career unless he makes a big move in March.

Also, there are rumors of a significant injury at the running back position. That could be part of the reason why the Irish are interested in Stanford grad transfer Trevor Speights. The former 3-star recruit was injured last year and only has 363 rushing yards in his career to date. A bit mystifying if it comes to pass as the depth chart has enough bodies prior to Chris Tyree arriving on campus.

3 Questions for the Offense this Spring

1) Will a player emerge from the back at running back?

Of course, it’s possible no one is truly in love with the running backs on campus at the moment and someone like Speights is worth a shot in August. For the guys currently on the roster and ready for spring this is a huge set of practices that could set up the next several years of playing time.

I know that seems hyperbolic but there really is an opportunity for at least one guy to grab the bull by the horns and head into fall as the secure No. 1 back on the team.

2) Will there be confidence in developing a No. 1 receiver?

The same issues that plague running back are true at receiver, although most people feel a whole lot better with the tools available for Ian Book to throw to this year.

It may be important to define what a No. 1 receiver is for Notre Dame. Quite often if you’re not a 1,000-yard receiver you may not be considered a true No. 1 guy. I don’t always subscribe to that theory yet it would be nice if the Irish came out of spring thinking one of the receivers had this potential in 2020.

3) Are we sleeping on Tommy Tremble?

Notre Dame welcomes a new tight end coach John McNulty and for spring I’m sure he wishes Cole Kmet was still around as a nice house warming gift to his position. In the world of Irish football only having 3 tight ends to work with is being quite short-handed.

We should get to see a healthy Takacs who is entirely a question mark until proven otherwise and should we expect a breakout senior season for Brock Wright following 4 receptions in 3 years?

I’m looking at the depth chart and it’s possible Tremble really blows up as a major weapon as he’s handed the keys this spring.

A New Face to Remember: WR Bennett Skowronek

Don’t forget that Northwestern grad transfer Bennett Skowronek is here for spring and brings with him 110 catches, 1,417 yards, and 8 touchdowns over his career. Compared to his new teammates, Skowronek is by far the most experienced and productive receiver on the team.

The Lineman with the Most to Gain: OL Andrew Kristofic

You could go with Josh Lugg here but he was going to be heavily involved with the first team anyway, plus he logged a handful of starts last year too. I’d also go with Carroll as well but we don’t know about his health.

Kristofic seems like someone who could come from way off the radar (he was mildly involved as a true freshman last year) and become a player who stakes his claim as the future at tackle with all the reps available for spring.

Breakout Needed: WR Kevin Austin

I mean, this is the story of spring football in South Bend.

The fortunes of the 2020 offense revolve heavily around the type of impact player Austin can be. If he’s quickly on his way to stardom heading into his 3rd year following a year-long suspension suddenly the receiving corps looks really potent. If we’re stuck listening about the dreaded traits and this spring is a slow process featuring Austin running between second and third team (even if he looks good doing so) it’s going to be a huge bummer.

Breakout Possible: RB Kyren Williams

If there’s a flaw to Williams’ game it’s that he’s not particularly fast. Still, the same can be said for the rest of the running backs this spring, too. Kyren should have the tools necessary to separate himself from the pack once he begins to pick up more experience.

A breakout is even more possible if someone like Jafar Armstrong is moved to the slot (although I don’t think this will ultimately happen).

True Freshman to Watch: WR Xavier Watts

If you pay attention intently to recruiting you’ll know Watts is definitely not flying under the radar. If you’re not really paying attention closely you may know the more highly rated Jordan Johnson is coming this summer to boost the receiver position. It’s certainly possible that Watts performs well enough this spring that he’s considerably ahead of his classmate Johnson once August camp opens.

If you’re skeptical about Watts making an impact this spring, you’re smart. Typically, it’s difficult for freshmen receivers to waltz into the spotlight under Brian Kelly–doubly true for spring–plus there’s full roster of receivers on the roster as it is. It’s not like Watts is coming for spring with 7 other receivers to battle against.

Coach in the Spotlight: Tommy Rees

Maybe there are some offensive system adjustments that we could talk about for spring but I doubt it’ll be anything too crazy out of the gate. I’d imagine a lot of that stuff will be for the closed media sessions, plus Rees likely isn’t going to tip his hand this early in the process.

It’ll be a tricky spring for Rees to manage his quarterbacks, though. His partnership with 5th-year senior Ian Book should be fruitful yet he’ll have to navigate this spring with a patchwork offensive line and not many proven playmakers to get the ball to in practice.

This will definitely trickle down to the backup quarterbacks. How many times have we witnessed the backup quarterback (hello, Jurkovec!) struggle in practice only for much of the blame to fall on an inexperienced second-team offensive line? This could only be exasperated this spring with all the injuries. I’d like to think that this could be an exciting spring for the early enrollee Drew Pyne but things could really get messy if he’s relegated to 3rd-team duties and he’s being blocked for by several walk-ons and Hunter Spears.

2020 Spring Practice Schedule

*Notre Dame will announce practice date at a later time.