The Irish were back on the field for their 5th practice of spring this Saturday with full viewing from the media. Notre Dame spent a portion of the workout indoors and then headed outside for the remainder of practice. This is the only full media availability in practice until April 7th.

QUARTERBACK

All positive things continue to be splurged upon redshirt sophomore quarterback Brandon Wimbush who is showing enough consistency at this point to allow his considerable skills to shine.

Wimbush met with the media after Friday’s practice and Watch ND also released a one-on-one interview, as well. We’re still getting to know him and it’s pretty early for his exposure but right now Wimbush looks to be the most media savvy quarterback of the Kelly era.

RUNNING BACK

The story of practice was redshirt freshman Tony Jones who dazzled at times with his running and catching abilities. After the practice, Brian Kelly said he was “noticeable.”

Adams and Williams continue to look real strong, as well. Although Williams turned his ankle and was slowed down a little bit. With Jones progressing nicely it looks like the Irish will have a very good 1-2-3 punch at tailback.

Some bad news to report as early enrollee C.J. Holmes separated his shoulder during Friday’s practice and will have a MRI soon. Kelly has already ruled him out for the rest of the spring practice. With the ascension of Tony Jones you have to think this makes it roughly 13% more likely Holmes will redshirt this fall.

For Saturday, redshirt freshman Deon McIntosh shifted to running back for positional drills but remained with the wide receivers in team work.

WIDE RECEIVER

Chase Claypool continues receive 1st-team reps alongside Equanimeous St. Brown. The word on Claypool is that he’s still very raw on the finer points but once he gets down field continues to show off his high level of athleticism and playmaking ability.

Rising sophomore Kevin Stepherson continues to receive minimal reps, read into that what you will.

There hasn’t been a whole lot of talk about C.J. Sanders this spring but he continues to be in a battle with Chris Finke in the slot. Both of them, along with St. Brown and Stepherson, were taking reps outdoors as punt returners on Saturday.

TIGHT END

If you like two tight end sets there’s been a lot of Durham Smythe set up on the line with Alize Jones split out as a receiver with the first team offense. After practice, Kelly mentioned that Jones is simply unguardable on certain areas of the field.

Things are certainly trending in the direction where Smythe/Jones are going to be eating a ton of reps in the fall. That’s not great news for Nic Weishar even if he’s getting solid reviews this spring, as well.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Here was the two deep for the offensive line on Saturday:

McGlinchey–Nelson–Mustipher–Bars–Kraemer

Hainsey–Banks–Hoge–Ruhland–Eichenberg

Kelly was THIS close to announcing it earlier in the week and made it official after this practice: Alex Bars will be the right guard for the 2017 season. Kraemer and Eichenberg continue to battle it out for the right tackle spot with Kelly mentioning they like the former’s physicality and the latter’s length.

Both of the early enrollees have surprised during the spring but Saturday it was Hainsey (projected to play guard by virtually everyone) excelling at left tackle of all places.

Per Kelly, they will give 5th-year senior Hunter Bivin a look at the right tackle spot but he was still down on the 3rd-team with Boudreaux and Byrne this Saturday.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Your two deep for Saturday on the defensive line was as follows:

J. Hayes–Bonner–Tillery–D. Hayes

Trumbetti–Dew-Treadway–Cage–Okwara

It’s still early in spring ball but the move of Trumbetti to strong-side defensive end doesn’t seem to be a temporary situation. Everyone seems to be tepid on the line, and for good reason. Daelin Hayes continues to look good physically and flash his potential but the major breakthrough isn’t quite here yet.

Quick note, rising redshirt freshman Ade Ogundeji missed practice with an apparent injury.

LINEBACKERS

The defense tried out something different as Asmar Bilal was the starting Rover during the positional drills which has been the case so far this spring but for the team scrimmaging Drue Tranquill dropped down from safety. Obviously, not unexpected but this was the first long-term exposure to the safety at the hybrid position.

Martini–Morgan–Tranquill

Coney–Jon Jones–Bilal

Josh Barajas has missed two practices in a row with an illness.

SECONDARY

The top four safeties remain Tranquill and Coleman plus Studstill and Elliott. When Tranquill moves spots that’s slotting Studstill up to the 1st-team. After a rough start the recent news on Coleman (moved from corner) seems to be surprisingly positive compared to his nightmare 2016 season.

Julian Love and Nick Watkins have been running with the first team for the entire spring so far and it’s safe to say they’re creating a little bit of a distance between themselves and the other corners. The reports on Shaun Crawford have him looking in good in limited action but the staff is not risking him or using him much at all as he recovers from an Achilles tear.