Notre Dame wrapped up its 5th practice of spring ball this past Saturday with full media viewing privileges for those in attendance. The Irish will practice twice more this week and then take another week-long break before finishing up the remaining 7 workouts culminating in the Blue-Gold Game on April 21st. We’re about 33% of the way through spring practice and let’s break down the 8 storylines following Saturday’s public viewing.

1) Wimbush Doesn’t Lead But He Kind of Does

Dear friends let the salt flow freely through the spring practice recaps as everyone seeks out as many positives as possible. For example, early in the spring would you believe that Wimbush’s fundamentals are improved! Whatever the reality of such small details there doesn’t appear to be a whole lot going on with the quarterback competition to date and both of the two competitors look quite similar to the way they did in practices during the fall.

One interesting wrinkle thus far–certainly playing out this Saturday in front of the media–is that Wimbush is taking the vast majority of reps with the players, particularly offensive line, deemed as the starters on offense. Fair or not, this smells like the staff giving Wimbush every opportunity to keep his job.

For what it’s worth, Avery Davis spent virtually the entire Saturday practice playing quarterback.

2) Mack & Kmet Creating Separation

If he’s not dropping passes the talent of Alize Mack is pretty evident and that’s been the case this spring. Blossoming into a larger role is Cole Kmet who is becoming the latest dual-sport athlete at Notre Dame to flourish at football while taking up time on the baseball field.

One thing is for certain both of these guys are getting a ton of reps with Weishar and Takacs out with injuries and Wright still working his way back to 100% after off-season surgery. While the rotation isn’t what it would be with the senior Weishar in the mix the pass-catching abilities of Mack and Kmet are offering hope of a return to big plays to the big men through the air.

3) Ruhland Getting His Shot

We’re getting some clarity with the offensive line rotation. It would appear Trevor Ruhland is being given the opportunity to succeed at left guard and as you’d expect for the relatively unheralded recruit he’s being talked about in terms of his smarts and technical ability and less so for his physicality. Josh Lugg is still right there, though. It would make sense if both end up playing significantly in the fall.

At right tackle, it’s still Kraemer with the majority of work with the starters although Eichenberg did get some reps, too. I wonder if this is more of a Chip Long desire (because last year’s time share between Hainsey and Kraemer was very unusual) because we could see two separate positions rotating bodies during 2018 and that doesn’t even factor in Aaron Banks who by all accounts would be one heck of a talented redshirt freshman and 8th body on the line.

4) Boykin as No. 1?

There’s no more pass-friendly environment than spring practice which means it’s the season for hype around receivers. Kelly has mentioned that Miles Boykin has asserted himself as the No. 1 guy although that hasn’t quite translated to the field and could be more of a leadership thing. Boykin, along with Finke and Young, are still receiving most of the first-team reps (Claypool still isn’t quite 1oo% although he’s close).

If you’re into a possible emerging story line it appears Javon McKinley is Doing Good Things™ and at the very least showing he should be part of the rotation come September.

5) Not Anytime Soon for Ewell

If you were holding your breath with redshirt freshman nose guard Darnell Ewell take some air. Very rarely does the media write off someone this early in the spring and sadly this is the case for the Virginia product. In the past we were led to believe it was largely a stamina issue for Ewell and after 8 months on campus most of those problems would be gone, right?

Now, we have comments from staff saying Ewell lacks instincts and didn’t receive very good coaching before he came to Notre Dame. Here’s what I wrote about him after he signed with Notre Dame:

He’s a little slow off the snap and even for 4A Hampton Roads football some of his top plays in high school are against some tiny offensive linemen.

Stamina, instincts, technique…these are not issues you want piling up for someone who was thought to be such a crucial recruit from 2017.

6) Bilal Gaining Comfort

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah wasn’t at the media viewing practice due to an academic commitment (on a Saturday no less, welcome to Notre Dame) which bumped up converted safety Isaiah Robertson to backup Rover. At the top of that group Asmar Bilal has been gaining confidence, and one would think based largely on his experience relative to others, is inching closer to locking down starter-level snaps when the season opens months down the road.

Bilal also saw a bit of time at Buck linebacker which is a clear sign to me that there isn’t sufficient depth at that position but also that they are preparing for the possibility of Bilal working inside at times with Tranquill back to Rover. Most of all, this is a signal that a nickel corner (in place of a Rover) is going to be used more in 2018 than 2017.

7) Freshmen Linebackers Likely Facing Redshirts

Prior to spring practice we didn’t really have a good handle on the depth at linebacker which led many to believe the freshmen (particularly Jack Lamb) would have a great opportunity to come in and compete in the two-deep. Following one of the early practices Kelly said Bo Bauer was physically in good shape but that both Lamb and Oghoufo need to get much bigger and stronger. After Saturday’s workout where all 3 early enrollee freshmen barely received reps we can begin closing the door on them making an impact this fall. Not closing it all the way, but thinking about it.

At linebacker we’re looking at the following: Tranquill & Coney —> sizable step down —> Bilal —> decent step down —> Jon Jones —> tons of questions. If a 5th option emerges (JOK? Simon?) I would imagine it will be on a very limited basis.

8) Rotation in the Secondary

Any attempt to make sense of the secondary pecking order likely won’t happen in the spring. For example, Devin Studstill (thought to be left for dead) was working with the 1st-team and Nick Coleman (safe to say he has the best odds of starting?) was working back on the 3rd-team. Also, both Studstill and Elliott–strong safeties in the past–were working together as a unit.

At corner, Julian Love isn’t always working with the starters which is a clear sign they’re trying to develop more depth. Specifically, developing Troy Pride as an outside corner worthy of starting so that Love/Crawford can cover the slot appears to be a major point of emphasis.