It’s been an unprecedented month for the whole world including for college football whose spring practices came to a sudden halt in March. For Notre Dame, they will head into the uncertainty of summer with just one practice from spring and virtually nothing achieved for player development. Obviously, it’s thrown everything for the program into flux as it remains to be seen when the 2020 season will begin, or if it will even be played.
Given this situation, a scholarship update seems unneeded but our last update was before the Camping World Bowl win over Iowa State and prior to some personnel decisions on turning pro.
Out of Eligibility Following 2020
QB Ian Book
RB Mick Assaf
WR Javon McKinley
WR Bennett Skowronek
TE Brock Wright
OL Tommy Kraemer
OL Liam Eichenberg
OL Robert Hainsey
DE Daelin Hayes
DE Ade Ogundeji
DT Kurt Hinish
LB Jordan Genmark Heath
CB Shaun Crawford
PK Jonathan Doerer
This is a sizable list of players as Book, Eichenberg, Kraemer, Ogundeji, Hayes, Crawford, and McKinley returned to the program for graduate seasons. Also included in the 5th-year group is former walk-on Mick Assaf who will presumably remain on scholarship for 2020.
Those who did not return for a 5th season included Alohi Gilman, Tony Jones, Johnathan Jones, and Ryan Shannon. Additionally, Cole Kmet decided to forego his senior season and is anticipating a high placement in the NFL Draft this week.
As things currently stand, Notre Dame is carrying 88 scholarships which includes the aforementioned Assaf as well as redshirt junior former walk-on offensive lineman Colin Grunhard.
At this point, who knows how much upheaval the COVID-19 pandemic will have on the roster. Players could be away from campus for several months struggling with online learning, staying on top of their strength program goals, or getting restless thinking often about their situation when there was no spring football to assess their place.
List of Eligible 2021 Grad Students
Tier I
OL Aaron Banks
OL Josh Lugg
LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
LB Drew White
DT Myron Tagavailoa-Amosa
S Isaiah Pryor
RB Jafar Armstrong
Tier II
RB Avery Davis
OL Dillan Gibbons
OL Colin Grunhard
Tier III
WR Isaiah Robertson
DE Kofi Wardlow
Tier I includes 4 projected starters (Banks, JOK, White, MTA) who would be slam dunks to return if they don’t have an eye for the NFL. From that group, Owusu-Koramoah seems by far the most likely to leave with a year remaining after 2020.
Lugg may not be a starter but with 3 linemen moving on he’s a high priority for 2021. I chose to include Armstrong and Pryor in the first tier because both are expected to play significant roles in the fall. Pryor made the decision to transfer to Notre Dame knowing he has two years remaining so unless his stock blows up I’m sure he’s planning on coming back. Armstrong could be more of a wildcard.
From the remaining 5 players in tier II and III I’d predict Grunhard returns but no one else. In my opinion, no spring football particularly hurts players in these tiers.
2021-22 Academic Classes
8 Verbal Commits
17 Sophomores
22 Juniors
23 Seniors
12 Graduates
82 Total Scholarships
Since our last update there is only one additional scholarship on the books for the 2021-22 academic year. A couple of players have left the 2021 class in offensive lineman Greg Crippen and wide receiver Deion Colzie. Plus, corner Landon Bartleson didn’t enroll from 2020 and quarterback Phil Jurkovec transferred to Boston College.
On the plus side, the Irish added safety Justin Walters, defensive end David Abiara, and offensive lineman Pat Coogan. The staff will be looking to regain momentum on the recruiting trail that currently exists as these are the 3 lowest rated members of the class.
***SCHOLARSHIP CHART CLICK HERE***
2021 Positional Needs
Done
Quarterback
Tight End
After gnashing of so many teeth all across the country Irish quarterback commit Tyler Buchner finally became a 5-star in the Composite. His score currently sits at 0.9834 which lands him 30th overall in the country. It’s pretty absurd that there are 5 other quarterbacks still ranked ahead of Buchner, including: Caleb Williams (Washington DC, Oklahoma commit, #5 overall), Sam Huard (Burien WA, Washington commit, #11 overall), Brock Vandagriff (Bogart GA, Georgia commit, #12 overall), J.J. McCarthy (Nazareth IL, Michigan commit, #14 overall), and Kyle McCord (Philadelphia PA, Ohio State commit, #22 overall).
Need Numbers
Running Back
Defensive Tackle
Wide Receiver
Offensive Tackle
If it happens that Will Shipley (#20 overall) commits to Notre Dame you could surely convince me that he’s the only running back needed following up Chris Tyree last year. However, just to be safe–and with lots of uncertainty at this position in general–I’m leaning heavily towards two backs for 2021.
You always want a lot of defensive linemen, although there’s probably room for only one more on the interior to join Gabriel Rubio.
The loss of Colzie stings badly although Lorenzo Styles remains a cornerstone for the skill-position players in this class. My guess is after 2020 there’s going to be quite a shakeup at receiver (as many as 5 could be gone if there’s early graduation options available) and at least 2 more bodies should join Styles.
Offensive tackle seems fine, honestly. Eventually, a couple guys who are projected to tackle will move inside but for now there are 5 tackles for the 2019-21 cycles. Adding another one for 2021 isn’t a big deal either way.
Need Talent
Offensive Guard
Defensive End
Linebacker
Corner
Safety
Even with the recent verbal of Pat Coogan the interior offensive linemen depth chart doesn’t look great. There were no players added from last year and just 2 the prior year. This spring would’ve been a big one for a few players to see if they are potential starters down the road but now we don’t know.
At least one more defensive end is needed, hopefully of the pass-rushing variety.
As of this writing it has been 519 days since Notre Dame received a verbal commitment from a linebacker. It’s difficult to criticize the job Clark Lea has done in any facet since taking over but he still has so much work to do adding talent and depth to his linebacker corps.
In that one spring practice, true freshman Ramon Henderson was with the corners which means there are no safeties from the 2020 class. At least a couple corners for 2021 is a good idea while I’d focus on 2 more safeties to join Walters. The defensive backfield as a whole feels really shaky and whenever that’s reality it’s a good idea to throw numbers at it.
This was supposed to be such a chill offseason. Coming off 11-2 and a third straight 10 win season. 3rd year returning starter at qb and plenty of pieces elsewhere to talk myself into next year. A manageable start to the season with two huge games on the schedule. Plus a really solid start to a top 7 recruiting class combined with kelly’s change in attitude had me hoping for a fun recruiting offseason with like 5 top 50 offensive players. The biggest question was how long it would take me to talk myself into how Rees is actually an upgrade (probably the spring game).
Now I would be surprised if we see any college football in 2020. And I know it seems small right now but just kind of sucks.
“Now I would be surprised if we see any college football in 2020. And I know it seems small right now but just kind of sucks.” Well said & would just like to add that just because it sucks, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It feels weird & many wish it wasn’t so, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
Also, kudos to CBK for staying above the fray recently and not falling to the likes of Gundy/Leach/other dummies.
I know, it does suck.
Eric, I really appreciate your football posts during the quarantine. This has been a huge bummer time, and missing the spring game was super lame too, but having these nuggets on the site makes my day, so thank you!
Question: would it be possible to get an 18 stripes post mortem breakdown of the michigan game? As painful as that one was, it escapes me how the hell it shook out the way it did, on a motivational level and an X’s and O’s. I feel like it’s the one blemish on an otherwise stellar resume for Coach Lee, and my hunch is that was the true death rattle of chip long, but I’d be interested to read your thoughts/see your analysis.
Stay safe, stay positive to everyone, i wish you all well!
Why oh why would you want to relive that game right now? Do you not have enough things bumming you out? Don’t make poor old Eric do that, He’s already had to furlough 2,000 employees and forgo a large chunk of his $30mm annual salary
From an academic standpoint, it was such an apparition; michigan was not 45-14 good, there were external factors at play, outside of the weather. And if you dont understand where you came from, you’ll never know where you’re going.
What bums me out more is how nebulous that whole game was: the lack of explanation to account for 300+ rush yards allowed and 45 points surrendered to probably the greatest defensive mind in college football (hot take, but I’m a Clark lea fanboy)
If I can stomach it I may take a look…..
Please, for my sake, don’t have a stomach
Maybe instead, try to break down how a BVG-led defense shut-out Michigan?
Drlck, I’ll enter the hypothesis that VanGrundel’s defense had exceptional success against athletic QBs with little anticipation for passing routes (Devin Gardner, I’ll even say Jameis Winston to an extent), via bizarre blitzes that got their eyes from down field to the LOS, and suffered from:
5th year pocket passers who stayed in the pocket and had moderate ability to read a defense post snap (Virginia 2015)
Uptempo spread attacks that stretched the field with simple concepts (ASU 2014, UNC 2014, NW 2014)
Any team willing to test the safeties with trick plays
And on and on and on and on…
Brady Hoke was a “LLLoyd Carrr” kind of guy who desperately wanted to run some version of man ball, but inherited the pieces to be forced into a spread system with a QB that wasnt nearly good enough at assessing coverage, and relied heavily on scrambling to escape any form of pressure. So, non spread coach + spread style offense + reactionary (non-anticipatory QB) + aggressive blitzes = 37-0 remember this 6.
I fully acknowledge these theories are from one dude in quarantine, and could very well be the ravings of a lunatic, but since I’ve developed a near obsession with VanGrundel as the worst thing to ever occur to Irish football, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about those defenses, and what could have been.
Interesting take. Personally, I don’t think there’s that much logic behind BVG. Sometimes it would come together if the stars aligned, sometimes it would just be a hot mess. And then if the game really goes off the rails (like the ’14 Michigan game) it looks glorious, but is more blind luck and an avalanche of confidence/momentum than any coaching input…
..And the flip side is the ’19 game you’re talking about where nothing went right and it went off the rails in the wrong direction and goes the other way. So I don’t think there’s too much to take from reviewing that tape, aside from just pointing out the mounting troubles that caused the issues for that one night.
That’s just how I rationalize it though, not saying I’m right and you’re wrong or anything but different perspectives are interesting.
Hooks, you could be totally right; football definitely has a snowball/momentum effect, and those 2 games could be the most perverse manifestation of that in-game momentum.
My gut in 2019 told me that the defense was in good positions, but the missed tackles killed the Irish, i.e. proper positions, poor finish. My guess as to why the usually dependable defense missed so many tackles? I have no clue, but man, did those skunkbear running backs tear right through A LOT of tackles. It could for sure be that perfect storm of michigan post PSU loss being galvanized combined with ND being flat, or the horrid first quarter just led to a runaway reaction.
Maybe so. I haven’t thought a lot about that game for obvious reasons, but the defensive woes weren’t really my takeaway. Just situational stuff and terrible offense. Looked up the first half for ND: punt, ST muff punt return, punt, 3+out, 3+out, 4-play turnover on down, 3+out. Halftime. 3+out, 3+out, Touchdown, 3+out, 3+out…And the first team was done.
The ND defense did have their woes like you said, but the team asked way too much of them. Modern football you can’t keep putting the defense back on the field and not putting up points. Something bad is going to happen. I suspect it was similar against Georgia, but the defense held that night. It simply isn’t going to hold up every night. Also I believe Michigan’s OL (and especially IOL) had a lot of NFL talent and were getting strong blocks. They got enough bites at the apple that eventually they wore the ND defense down and out. That game was still 17-7 fairly deep into the 3rd quarter, so I mean my focus isn’t going to be on the defensive issues.
I’m still curious how that game turns out if ND doesn’t try to pick up that blocked punt fairly early on. I think Bo Bauer blocked it, but don’t remember who stupidly tried to jump on a wet football for no reason.
Yeah… the offense did a whole load of nothing to help them out. Absolutely 0 sysnergy between the two units that week, and so many parallels to UGA. I had completely forgotten it was 17-7 in the third too.
Follow up hypothesis: I think the 2019 game was chip longs last game truly calling the offense. It feels like he got ousted after this debacle, again, this is all conjecture, does anyone have anything to prove/disprove this? Just in terms of playcalling down the stretch, the offense felt different, even before the ISU bowl game. This might be confirmation bias on my part though, for transparency, I hold chip long in a similar pantheon to VanGoochStain
I may be wrong but, from what I’ve read and heard, I think the Long thing was more personalities than anything else. It seems he rubbed some coaches and players the wrong way and something had to change. He may have known he was moving on but, I think he was play calling until the end. I don’t think you’ll find much difference in play calling the last few games. If there is in the Mich. game, that could be due to the scoreboard.
No pressure, I figured I’d ask, I could always watch it myself, but misery loves company I suppose.