Twenty-one fresh faces have signed, 5 are already on campus, there may be another body arriving (more on this below), and we now have a good idea what the 2017 Fighting Irish will look like this fall. Before we get to the current depth chart first here’s who is gone from last year:
S- Sebastian
LB- Onwualu
CB- Luke, Butler
DL- Jones, Rochell
WR- Hunter, Holmes
TE- Matuska
OL- Harrell, McGovern
QB- Kizer, Zaire
RB- Folston, Brent
LS- Daly
Amazing, isn’t it? It seems like far more players left the program recently (to be fair 16 bodies isn’t a small amount) but looking at that collection you get the idea why plenty of people will be forecasting a turnaround for Notre Dame in the fall. Just how big of a turnaround varies on the outlook.
If you missed any of the recent news McGovern is taking a grad year at Virginia and Matuska is currently finishing up his degree but will not be coming back to play football in 2017.
7-Month Early Depth Chart Prediction
Let’s Get it Over: Rover
Elko’s defense is bringing the Rover position a hybrid linebacker/safety that’s going to be talked about so much that by the spring game you’ll be sick of reading about it. Many believe Tranquill will start at this position, but I think he fits better at safety for two reasons. One, I think he’ll struggle big time covering receivers in short bursts near the line of scrimmage. He’s been burned quite a bit over his career in these situations. Two, safety needs way too much help to move him from that position. In the end, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tranquill plays a bit of both spots.
The other issue with moving Tranquill is that we have 4 linebackers who played a lot of snaps last year and it’s difficult to imagine only 2 of them getting decent snaps in 2017. With Morgan a lock to remain at middle linebacker it would seem one of Coney/Martini/Bilal get the call at Rover, the latter who seems like the best fit, a rangy linebacker with safety skills.
Perry will be covered in an upcoming Reviewing the Redshirts and is another player believed to be moving to Rover. He’s technically listed second here but I don’t think he’ll actually be a backup just yet with Tranquill possibly involved and other linebackers rotating in, as well. New linebackers coach Clark Lea has already mentioned incoming freshman Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoah is a great fit at Rover and I believe everyone here at 18S is very, very high on his potential.
Shuffling Safety
During the NSD festivities corners coach Todd Lyght mentioned that Studstill and Elliott could flip-flop positions from last year. That makes some sense as Studstill is a touch bigger and has been at his best coming down in run support. However, if Tranquill were to remain at safety that would mean Studstill is the odd man out which isn’t absurd except it’s difficult to see Elliott coming right out of the gate as a full-time starter over someone with more experience.
Lyght also mentioned that Ashton White and Nick Coleman will get a look at free safety this off-season. Let’s go ahead and say it’s Coleman who makes the move? He’s a little bigger and could really use a change of scenery after a disastrous 2016 at corner.
Would both corners move, though? The depth at corner would seem to suggest that’s not really possible. Yet, you look at the backup options at safety and that’s not making anyone feel great, either.
Healing Corners
A nasty broken arm injury gave Watkins a redshirt last year–not the worst thing in the world given the season and everyone wanted him to sit out as a freshman anyway–and I’m not sure why I have him coming in and claiming a starting spot. Perhaps as an elder statesman he’ll finally break out? Still, he’s played so little football over the years.
Shaun Crawford is nursing his second-straight season-ending injury and as much as we’ve all hyped him up (and his recovery is going great) I don’t know if we can 100% count on him to be a starter. Or to be put it another way, to stay healthy in a starter’s role. Hopefully, like Tranquill a third time’s a charm coming back to the field from injury.
Keeping Up With the Jones’
Both Jamir and Jonathan Jones could either be very close to playing time or still really far away from an impact. The former was technically a backup to Onwualu last year and now there’s a question of where he fits in this new defense. He’s always been someone who could grow into a lineman (although curiously listed at just 225 last year about 25 pounds lighter than I would’ve predicted) and Coach Lea said he’ll do everything he can to keep Jamir away from Coach Elston.
Jon Jones was really picking up steam in August while grabbing some second-team reps before ultimately taking a redshirt. Is that enough evidence to believe he’s the heir apparent in the middle? His big fault is that he’s small (pretty much Joe Schmidt-sized) and many will have a difficult time believing he’d pass an in-state Top 150 linebacker so quickly in Josh Barajas.
Living on the Edge
This is it for Trumbetti, it’s either a breakout senior season or he could perhaps end up falling far down the depth chart. I’m really hesitant to check him off as a starter after last season’s utter lack of productivity which means we should get a heaping amount of Daelin Hayes in 2017.
The strong-side should have plenty of options. In addition to the first three listed on the depth chart there are interior players who could fit on the edge, too. That includes all 3 true freshmen, in my opinion.
Speaking of which, I’m certain Ewell, MTA, and Hinish are going to be coming on strong from day one. We’re still not even sure about the future with Cage and Tillery seems like far from a lock to be a full-time starter for an entire season. The only thing holding me back is that none of these freshmen are EE’s but everyone on the interior better be on notice. If you read our NSD Recap from Brendan you’ll see I think Ewell is the guy to see the field the soonest in this class.
10-3 record, 249.43 pts. 15th ranked class
4-8 record, 249.17 pts. 11th ranked class
College football is weird. pic.twitter.com/ibhBafv83Y
— 18 Stripes (@18stripes) February 1, 2017
Little Apple
Notre Dame will either roll with 9 or 10 receivers depending on what the staff does with Deon McIntosh. You could make a case either way that he should move to running back or remain at receiver. He’s likely to stick at wideout because C.J. Holmes is already on campus and not as likely to redshirt as your typical freshman 4th-stringer.
Based on size, McIntosh is a slot receiver as is incoming freshman Michael Young. With the amount of flex tight ends used it’s pointless to have 4 slot receivers at any point so either guy could get reps at the X position during practice–something McIntosh did a little bit of last year anyway.
Slide Inside
Rumors abound that Alex Bars is moving inside from right tackle to right guard. Further scuttlebutt suggests we’ll see either Kraemer or Eichenberg start at right tackle. Both have been lavished with praise so you can pretty much flip-flop their names on the depth chart above depending on how things play out.
Should the center position remain in Mustipher’s hands I wonder if the staff will give up on Hoge cross-training there and groom him as Nelson’s heir apparent? Boudreaux has always looked like a good option at center and this would give up 2 more years to get ready.
Cognac Attack
Of course, Alize Jones makes his return and I’m hedging my bets that he’ll comfortably slide in as the No. 2 tight end at minimum. I talked about this in the tight end review but I don’t know if we’ll really see a “starter” at this position.
Virtually everyone thinks Brock Wright is going to play early and often and I have him listed 4th here! That does seem crazy. However, it wouldn’t shock me if the top four guys here all get 200 to 250 snaps minimum apiece.
Grad Transfer
During National Signing Day, Brian Kelly mentioned that they’ve set aside a scholarship and feel very good about the chances of bringing in a grad transfer soon. He didn’t mention which position specifically they’re looking for but he did mention which position it’s NOT so that leaves us with these options:
Safety, corner, receiver, running back, or quarterback.
There’s speculation out there about who the player might be but in reality the Irish only really need help in the form of a starter-level player at safety. You could probably convince me at corner too if it’s someone who is really, really good and worth taking away minutes from the likes of Pride, Love, and Vaughn.
Otherwise, we’d be looking at a backup for depth concerns, especially anywhere on offense. In my last scholarship update post I mentioned that 2017 would be an ideal year for a 2nd-string level quarterback transfer but they are so rare. Watch this be the year it actually happens.
Just a note on the depth chart formatting. It is almost impossible to read the black text on the dark blue background.
Thought about that when I switched all to black font. It looked okay on my screen but after being uploaded that’s tough to read. I’ll switch to white next time.
Awesome, thanks.
FWIW, on the Monday II podcast they said that Elko all but explicitly told them Tranquill will be the starting Rover next year. Obviously, that doesn’t preclude him from switching positions back-and-forth throughout the year.
This depth chart also just goes to show how absolutely head-scratching it is that they play Okwara and Kareem last year. Maybe one of them will take the Jay Hayes Memorial Late Redshirt route in 2017.
Did they? I listened and didn’t remember hearing that, but it sounds right.
IMO, it seems like Elko wants more speed at safety.
Something about how he was describing the perfect Rover and it sounded like Tranquill, and they asked and he laughed, IIRC.
If they’re starting Studstill at SS, it definitely seems like speed is the goal.
Then mightn’t Tranquill not have a starting spot. I like Bilal better at Rover too, and Tranquill may have lost a step after his injuries. I don’t like him in coverage anywhere. I feel very good about the linebackers with Bilal at Rover. And I think there’s a lot of room for optimism with Studstill and Elliot at whichever safety spots. The DL and Corners are another story although I feel pretty good about how Love and Vaughn played last year grading on a curve.
Does Elko use much traditional nickel defense? I would think if Crawford can play, he’d be the first guy in at nickel CB.
This was my question, too. Who would be considered the “starting” nickel corner?
Out of curiosity, if a walk-on was to transfer, could he play immediately for another school? Say somebody really needed a slot receiver and gave Finke a scholarship, could he play for them immediately in the fall? (Or in a real nightmare situation, could someone snatch Monty from us and immediately give him a scholarship to be their All-American holder?)
I want to say no, otherwise Alabama would be ruthlessly abusing that rule.
They gave Finke a scholarship in August last year. So now announcers constantly remind us he’s a “former walk-on” and regardless of walk-on transfer rules, he abides by the rules of scholarship players. I guess Monty still has one? So he’d be the same way.
If Kelly is bringing in a transfer and somehow there is no attrition, Finke would revert back to walk-on, because there are not enough scholarships available. I’m assuming Monty is already back to walk-on status because we would be over the limit if he has one. They were both given one-year scholarships (although I guess at this point, the NCAA technically considers all scholarships to be one-year situations).
Yeah, technically, a scholarship player is a scholarship player and all are considered one-year. That said, you’re right about the need for the spot. There is almost always somebody at this point that they know about that we don’t hear about who won’t be around for medical or other reasons. My guess is Monty is probably off scholarship, but you have to think Finke has earned his indefinitely moving forward. He’s more of a proven constant contributor than quite a few recruited scholarship players.
You mention how we don’t lose a lot this year. We could lose even less next year (hopefully).
Starters gone – McGlinchey, Cage, Smythe, Morgan (man his time here went fast).
NFL likelies – Nelson, Adams.
NFL maybes – Watkins, St Brown, Mustipher, Bars, Dexter Williams, Coney, Wimbush, Tillery, Alize Jones.
Assuming we don’t lose many of the last row, we could be quite good in 2018.
True, true.
Next year losses might not be a lot in quantity but will be high in quality when it will be:
A) the LT who was a 3rd team All-American in a relatively disappointing 2016 (and hopefully leaving a bigger hole with a great 2017)
B) the LG who was a 3rd team All-American in a relatively disappointing 2016 (and hopefully leaving a bigger hole with a great 2017)
C) MLB who led team in tackles, sacks in 2016 (and probably at least tackles in 2017) and is clearly the best/most talented player on the defense right now
D) Best HB on team with score-from-anywhere potential
E) Possibly the team’s best other weapon/s if they have great 2017s in ESB and Jones
That’s only 5 or 6 losses, but that’s the absolute best players on the whole team in 2017 that definitely won’t be back for 2018 (possible apologies to Wimbush). It’s a long time from now and we’ll worry about it when it comes but I don’t seem so sure about the 2018 team being really loaded at this point, compared to say the 2015 team that had so much firepower.
I thought Hoge was the center heir-apparent. When did Boudreaux start getting center reps?
This is the 7-month out prediction. No center reps for Boudreaux…yet.
What’s up with Tiassum? If he’s behind the freshmen, then he’s never really playing right?
That’s my guess. As far as I’m aware he’s been the last D-linemen for a while.
I’m hoping against hope the grad transfer is a QB with some starting experience.
The rumor I’m hearing is a mobile kid by the name of Zalike Maire.
The offensive line depth chart is intriguing. Who ends up where is the question I want to see answered the most. I’m kind of bummed that above might be shuffled around to one, or two, years of playing time for ND.
I love the tight end depth. This is a bit RTDB!, but it would be absurdly beautiful to see some 4TE, 1RB sets with Luatua as an H-Back and Tony Jones (or whoever the best power back is) behind Wimbush.
One, bless you for that username.
Two, let’s go all 5 TE’s and snap the ball directly to Jones. Call it RTDB-cat.
I like it, they can get Kmet out there too and he can carve a niche as a freshman and forever be known as the Cole-Dozer
This is probably crazy talk, but any chance they move Alize to WR…say, X? No idea how big he is now, but his freshman year he always struck me as a tad undersized for TE.
PS – apparently you and Brendan really rustled some jimmies over at TOS.
I’ve floated that before too, charlie. Would seemingly make a lot of sense being as other than ESB they could use a playmaker at WR. Use Jones as a hybrid WR/TE Bucky Hodges-Virginia Tech type, opens up more playing time for Wright as a 2nd TE for Long’s sets. And, since Kelly said it’s still his base playbook that allows formations he runs like stacking Jones + ESB + Sanders on one side in a bunch and you’ve got all the screen and pick plays back with optimal personnel.
That would seem the creative choice, but I wonder if the practical side is just to mainly prep and use Jones as an in-line TE set since they’ll run a lot of 2 TE’s anyways, should be plenty of snaps for all. Then hoping that one of Stephersen / Claypool / Boykin can take a big step and help contribute.
I recall one of our big recruiting pitches when we flipped him was that we would use him as an in-line TE, and all the other schools wanted to split him out wide as a jumbo WR. Now I’m not saying we can’t go to him and say “look, we tried you in-line but we decided it’s best for you and the team to use you as a WR at least some of the time” but this has always been a concern with him.
Our Fan Club at NDN is growing. Warms the cockles of my heart.
I wonder how ACross stalks me on Twitter? Is he a hypocrite who actually has a handle? Does he follow me and I don’t even know it? Or, does he type my handle into Google every day? Maybe he has my Twitter page saved in a folder of favorites? Maybe his new best friend Bruno types out my tweets and sends them to him via AOL?
You are moving up the list!
LOL, yes!
Where might this sort of stuff have evidenced itself? I avoid NDN except to check out the linked stuff – though once in a while I go scroll though R’s H to sniff the stench of sour pessimism and colere. Too bad how all that energy and presumed devotion to Our Lady’s University has turned so nasty. That said, because emnity from their leading jerks would be quite the tribute, I went on there and scrolled down a ways. Didn’t find anything about Eric M nor 18 Stripes?
Completely off topic – what happened to Michael Floyd at the Patriots? Last I saw he had played a good game at the end of the season, now nada. Did he get injured or fall quickly into Belicheck’s doggy house?
Thread titled Daily Porpda or something akin to that. Not Pravda…I guess Porpda is the “new” joke.
Thanks. I guess. What a complete lot of crud. This ACross guy, whoever he is, seems like one of the biggest jerks ever. I never thought I would quote a certain particular former VP, but I think that thread defines “nattering nabobs of negativity.”
Thanks. I literally never venture over to NDN and it’s sad that they can’t see well-researched football writing for what it is.
That said….I’ve already stated I’m not as high on the recruiting class as the writers are. So I don’t think NDN is totally off their rockers – they’re just children when it comes to making a point.
I vastly prefer E, Brendan, Larz, Alstein, JoeSchu, and all of the other contributors to virtually every other ND site there is. So thanks for the quality content, even if I do think you’re wearing Blue-and-Gold-colored glasses sometimes.
Ha, thanks man, much appreciated. Eric sent a link to that thread and I almost, almost felt the urge to post something in righteous indignation, but let it go. My problem wasn’t that they disagreed – as you said, you disagree too and that’s fine. My problem is the sneering condescension borne of arrogance and ignorance.
They were upset, I would assume, that the class didn’t get an F from us. We can quibble about whether it was really the 11th class or more like a 15th-quality class, but even at the low end it’s far from an F. Ty had a non-transition class that ranked 38th. That’s an F. There was incredulity that no players were graded as a “reach” (Bruce Heggie territory, which I don’t believe we’re even close to in this class) and that I gave the class a B+ for “Wow Factor” based on Wright, Lugg, and Kmet, because there are no five stars. Which presumably means (a) the only way to get an A- or better is to have multiple five stars, which limits it to about four teams every year, and (b) they’re completely ignorant of how good Wright and Lugg in particular are.
As for “Daily Porpda”… Way back, someone (I think Cross, not sure now) referred to ND press releases and, later, sympathetic analysis as the Daily Pravda, likening them to the USSR’s propagandist reports. Clever. These threads are started by PorpoiseBoy, which I’m guessing is behind the tweaked name.
If anyone from NDN is reading this now, know that I’m not a newbie – I used to post there as manor98 for years, and was active in that circle almost back to the beginning in the mid-90s on the IRJ. I haven’t posted there since 2013 and I lurk maybe two or three times a year, simply because I can’t take the cesspool it became. It’s impossible to have a reasoned conversation – there’s a “with us or against us” mentality that colors everything. I also take significant offense to the idea that I can’t possibly care as much about the program because I don’t share their opinions. I’ve moved on to more neighborly climes, where people can have open debate and differing opinions and not act like kindergarteners.
Floyd was a healthy scratch against the Steelers and the Falcons. He had a really strong game against the Dolphins in week 17, looked to be his coming out game. Then in the divisional round against the Texans he had a ball go through his hands that lead to a pick. Another factor is that Malcolm Mitchell, who was coming on very strong, missed a couple games, but then got healthy.
He has told reporters he wants to stay in NE (but that’s a pointless question to ask someone during the playoffs), and I for one really really want him to (ND players never seem to last long here for some reason, looking at you, Jonas). But, considering we have Hogan, Amendola, Edelman, and Mitchell, and Bennett will probably be a high priority FA due to Gronk’s health issues, he would have to sign a VERY team friendly deal. I would guess he ends up being a top 5 WR FA this year, and signs a better deal elsewhere.