Last week we provided a scholarship update for the 2019 class and the openings remaining for recruiting. Today, we’ll take a fuller look at the current roster with the current season underway with a glimpse toward the future.

Coleman MIA

Let’s start at safety where Nick Coleman has fallen off the face of the earth. Did he kill a guy? Whatever the case may be the staff appears to be moving on and favoring the development of Houston Griffith despite the true freshman’s continued struggles playing nickel.

The safety position in general has not exhibited much rotation, certainly less than expected during August. That’s not the worst thing in the world since Gilman—although maybe not quite matching the hype from the coaches—has settled in nicely as a starter and Elliott has been better than virtually everyone ever thought he could be. Unless someone makes a big, big leap during the off-season these 2 should be locked in as starters for 2019, as well.

The future of Derrik Allen will be fascinating. Will he remain at safety? Will he be challenging for nickel next year? Or does he bulk up his 6’2” 213 pound frame and compete at linebacker in 2019? I’m not sure there are any easy answers there for him.

Love Thee Notre Dame

It’s an understatement to say the return of Julian Love will have massive ramifications at corner for the Irish in 2019. If he comes back things could potentially be awesome with a pair of returning seniors who have (hopefully!) broken the trend of Irish corners not regressing as upperclassmen. Without Love coming back, things are kind of scary.

The depth at corner is a huge issue even if we grant the fact that the defense never relies much on a 4th corner. Bracy has held his own so far as a freshman but has a long way to go to become a full-time starter. Vaughn—who had such a promising brief stint as a freshman—seems broken and who knows what his future will look like as a senior.

Troy Pride certainly could be a Top 10 player on the roster if he’s not already so that’s a big win for corner development. Beyond this we have unknowns in a pair of freshman (Brown & Boykin) plus the lingering health issues of Shaun Crawford. That’s it, unless another true freshman gets thrown into the fire in 2019.

Stabilizing Linebacker

The linebacker position will be the biggest question mark on the roster next year and it likely won’t be close. Let’s start with Bilal who has played well at Rover but has also spent some time working on the inside behind the starters. So, will he move to Mike or Buck and if so is that something that will happen in the spring or only after other options are exhausted first?

It’s going to be an off-season where we’ll have to trust the staff and their choices because there will be so many players involved with so little playing time and experience exacerbated by the fact that Coney and Tranquill have virtually never come off the field this fall.

You can pick anyone out of the young group of Genmark-Heath, or Simon, or Bauer, or Owusu-Koramoah (coming off injury) and make the case there will be plenty of mold to work with sprinkled in with Bilal and Jones as veterans.

Tilting the Balance

Notre Dame’s defensive line is suddenly one of the best in the country and depending on how some roster things shake out it could remain in that mix next year or go through a little bit of a rebuild. The best news right now is that everyone (if they were healthy at least) has been getting some playing time this year with the exception of Wardlow. There’s nothing better for development than being able to put a dozen different linemen on the field and that’s a great sign for the future.

Losing Tillery in the middle is going to be rough. Everyone in the backup roles has been varying degrees of solid but nowhere near All-American level. The injury to Tagovailoa-Amosa could be sneaky important as he could return later this year (yay, development!) and still preserve a year of eligibility. If he were to take the next step during the off-season having MTA as a redshirt sophomore with 3 more years remaining would feel enormous for the front line defense.

Offensive Line Competition

Looking back, it did not seem like a good idea to shuffle players across the line during the spring and into fall camp after Harry Heistand left for the Bears. This yo-yo effect couldn’t have helped someone like Tommy Kraemer who went from right tackle to left guard to right guard and is now (at least for the foreseeable future) passed up by Ruhland. One of the more highly-touted recruits being passed by one of the lower recruits isn’t something we’ve seen too often on the offensive line.

Josh Lugg is someone who has worked at every position outside of center. Mustipher is the only one missing after this year following Bars’ season-ending injury and all signs have pointed to Ruhland taking over for the long-time center. Are we going to see a Lugg-Kraemer battle at right guard this off-season?

We Have Bodies

Take a look at the wide receiver depth chart and notice how many are not a factor this year, it’s astounding! Six guys aren’t even stepping on the field!

This unit still feels really strong moving forward with everyone coming back (eligibility-wise anyway) and you have to think one of the non-Austin freshman will make a nice jump next year to add even more quality depth.

I remain intrigued with Michael Young who just can’t get going despite the staff really favoring him and keeping him at kick returner for additional game reps. Will he be a starter down the line or forever the 4th or 5th option?

Return of the Mack

The tight end position has come alive with an improved passing game over the last month. With Weishar moving on the current freshmen should like their chances to get in the mix next year which could be boosted if Mack heads for the NFL.

Either way, looking over the roster it would seem like Kmet is going to be staying on the field a ton in the future as he tries to become the next great in the line of Tight End U. This is even more pronounced if Wright remains in his H-back role which has continued throughout 2018.

A New Chapter

If this Ian Book thing is real the Irish won’t need a quarterback until 2021. That might as well read 2078 because it’s unfathomable that this program could go the next 32 games or more with the same player under center. That’s allowed in college football?

You can understand if this is a bit frustrating for Jurkovec as he’s potentially waiting quite a while for the job. Assuming he preserves this year he’ll still have 2 years to start it’s just really difficult for 19 year-olds to have that much patience. All signs point to Jurkovec being the anti-Gunner Kiel so flight-risk is minimal.

Unless he’s interested in a graduate degree it really doesn’t make sense for Wimbush to stick around for 2019 but anything is possible. Just promise us all that you don’t go to Rutgers, my man.

Back in the Saddle

It’s been an up and down year for the running backs. Dexter finally ascending to the top of the depth chart is a feel-good story. We’ll see how effective Armstrong can be this weekend coming off his knee infection but his development has been crucial for the future of this position.

Tony Jones remains a question to me as he has continually battled injuries while seemingly appearing as if he’s a starter-level tailback one week and then regressing the next game. All the same, I don’t see anyone talented enough at the moment to move Jones out of the Top 3 backs over the next couple years.

The experiment with Avery Davis has simultaneously worked better than I imagined for 2018 and still feels like a long-term project.

Well, They’re Special

In case you missed it, the Irish got a verbal commit from a preferred walk-on kicker who will be on campus ready to go for 2019. That’s not a great sign for Jonathan Doerer who has eligibility through 2020. Even though Doerer has yet to kick a field goal his kickoffs have been an adventure, to say the least.

It’s amazing that Justin Yoon has struggled to stay 100% healthy and is on pace to shatter nearly every school record. He will be missed deeply.

Will Finke finish as the top punt returner in school history in terms of yardage? With the recent production at the position it sure feels like it. The days of Rocket seem long ago now.