Recently, the NCAA ruled that players will not lose any eligibility by participating in this post-season of college football. With the amount of opt-outs and transfers growing every year I would expect this to become a permanent rule at some point. For Notre Dame, it won’t change anything since the only true freshman player who could lose a year playing in the Gator Bowl is out long-term with a knee injury.
So, we know the redshirts for the 2022 football season. Starting next month we’ll take a look at the freshmen who saved a year with more in depth analysis. Today, we’ll have an overview of the 2022 class and their status moving forward.
Burned
CB Benjamin Morrison – 12
LB Junior Tuihalamaka – 12
CB Jaden Mickey – 10
TE Holden Staes – 9
WR Tobias Merriweather – 6
Morrison was a freshman All-American, picked off 5 passes, and finished 2nd among the corners with 30 tackles. It was a wildly successful season for the native of Phoenix. There were high hopes for Mickey going into the season and he struggled at times while also dealing with an abductor injury that caused him to miss the Stanford and UNLV games.
Junior’s stats (6 tackles, 4 solo) don’t really show how much the staff believed in his abilities on defense and special teams. In a very good linebacker class, it’s a good sign that Tuihalamaka played so much as a true freshman. He’s been reportedly getting some reps at Vyper during bowl prep but we’d expect him to return to middle linebacker this off-season.
There was probably a scenario where Mitchell Evans came into the season fully healthy and Staes didn’t burn a year. He looks so much like former Irish tight end Tommy Tremble–and despite just 1 catch on the season–was a trusted blocker early in his career just like the current Carolina Panther.
Merriweather also caught just 1 pass and burned a year, too. He had a slow start to the season and wasn’t able to build off that big touchdown catch against Stanford before a concussion forced him to sit out several games.
Played But Saved a Year
TE Eli Raridon – 4
RB Gi’Bran Payne – 3
LB Jaylen Sneed – 3
QB Steve Angeli – 2
CB Chance Tucker – 2
CB Philip Riley – 2
DT Donovan Hinish – 2
LB Nolan Ziegler – 2
LB Josh Burnham – 1
DE Aiden Gobaira – 1
DT Tyson Ford – 1
Raridon tore his ACL at the halfway mark of the season and surely would’ve been the 6th person in the freshmen class to forego a redshirt. With back-to-back knee injuries you wonder if he’ll have a very slow and methodical start to 2023.
The rest of these freshmen were never seriously in consideration to play more than 4 games. Virtually all of these situations where they saw the field were being featured in blowouts late in games. The only rare exceptions would be Angeli being inserted against Syracuse while Pyne was briefly dinged up and Sneed seeing some early action against the Navy triple option.
We can re-visit the decision not to play Angeli against Boston College. There was a really vocal minority who wanted to see the freshman get some work but with Buchner’s injury–and a grad transfer likely coming in soon–it didn’t make any sense to put Angeli in a situation where he’d have to burn a year and be on the same eligibility clock as Buchner.
No Games
RB Jadarian Price
OL Ashton Craig
OL Billy Schrauth
OL Ty Chan
OL Aamil Wagner
P Bryce McFerson
This is a pretty small group and it could’ve been even smaller if Price didn’t tear his Achilles tendon during the summer (all reports point to him being in the mix for running back carries) and McFerson was used on kickoffs, like it appeared would initially be the plan.
I believe Marcus Freeman has already mentioned he expects McFerson to be the starting punter for 2023, and assuming 14 months is long enough to recover, Price should be expected to have a productive redshirt freshman season.
All of the offensive linemen taking a redshirt year is the least surprising roster management decision in college football. There will be 2 starting spots opened on the interior with Schrauth getting a strong look at minimum from this group. There won’t be much discussion about the tackles with Blake Fisher and Joe Alt returning but I’ll be curious to see how the progress with someone like Chan is going, particularly if there’s some transfers at the position from the upperclassmen ranks.
ND brought in a grad transfer punter from Penn, Benn Krim. I’d be surprised if he’s not the punter. Perhaps there will be a competition.
It would continue the trend of recruiting PWO’s over scholarship players!
I did not realize he was a walk on. Two years of eligibility left.
I was in that minority. Even with the unforeseen NCAA ruling about bowl games not counting towards burning redshirts, it sure would have been nice (even in garbage time and a snow game) for Angeli to get more playing time with Pyne transferring..
My logic was that seeing what you may have with Angeli now >> preserving his eligibility. We know they’re bringing in a transfer and from his public quotes, it doesn’t look like Buchner (whose sister is coming to ND) is going to leave immediately. That adds up to a significant chance Angeli could have redshirted in 2023, or will just have his first year tick away without playing just the same.
And anyways, what are the odds in 2025 anyone thinks, “gee, I wish they still had Angeli for 2026 and didn’t burn his redshirt as a freshman?” He’ll either have washed out by then, or in the small chance he’s a good player, he wouldn’t stay for a 5th year, or likely they will recruit over him (Minchey, Carr) by then.
So basically, his path should be blocked in 2023 and therefore it makes little sense to not have used him more in 2022 to see what he could (or couldn’t) have to offer. And what if Buchner does change his mind and leave ND now and Angeli is QB2 next year? Some game time isn’t going to make or break, but it would have been preferable to get him as much experience and action as possible in 2022, and to me that’s a potential missed opportunity.
Big picture it’s not a huge deal, just more interesting for management philosophies.
It would have been nice for Angeli to get more PT but you wouldn’t have been able to make any judgments about what you have for Angeli in the snow/wind (not just because of the limited snaps but because of the situation in which players are limited by the elements). Hence it would not make any sense to potentially burn a year for that. It would be one thing if he was starting a game and you get to see him – then there’d be a real debate but when you wouldn’t even attain the goal that those who were in favor of burning the year wanted then it makes no sense to burn a year.
And I think it’s more likely then that Angeli for 2026 would be more useful then a dozen or more snaps in which one can make basically no judgment about his future play (even though that’s the whole reason to play him in that game). Good players will still stay for 5th years. Elite ones may not but good players – esp. good qbs who may be able to make more NIL money than in the NFL for a year (I’m thinking like 5th-later round draft picks to undrafted FA).
It would have been foolish to take the chance of blowing a year by playing Angeli in that game. It wouldn’t have been in ND’s or Angeli’s long term best interest. Nothing would have been gained by it. 15? snaps in a blowout game in a snowstorm? Nope sorry, Nothing.
Foolish is a bit strong of a word, but I can see the logic there.
However, if you don’t think that the player would more confident and have a bigger base to build on for the bowl game than having just 7 snaps in the 2022 season? I don’t buy that. There would have been some value in him playing in games like BC, and not just that one my bigger philosophical concept was getting Angeli more involved in general this season, not just the snow game. He could/should have played at the end of UNLV as well (though, with the offense sputtering in 2nd half of Navy, I totally understand why Freeman was stressing the full 60 minute effort).
Still, my bigger point is that it would have been in ND’s interest this season to play Angeli more to figure out what he’s got. Maybe they already know that, and aren’t playing him accordingly and Minchey/Carr will quickly pass him up.
The question was about the BC game and maybe 12-15 more snaps that day. Not what transpired the rest of the year, that’s different discussion. Wasting a year for that game did not make sense and will have next to no value if he plays Friday. From Angeli’s point of view he’s certainly better off with a saved year whether at ND or not.
The question isn’t just the BC game to me, I’m looking at the broader picture of his whole freshman season and trying to prep a new QB thrust into a QB2 role to get him as much experience as possible in case he would be called upon later.
As soon as Buchner got hurt, the concerns about Angeli’s redshirt should have gone right out the window. It’s not a waste of a year when a player is QB2 to get action and playing time, it’s just an unforeseen change of plans causing an important escalation in role. For better or worse, shift it to a possible redshirt in 2023 could be the long-term play to make it right. Does little difference in the big scheme of things, besides the fact that he gets more value in the experience of actually playing more now when it’s known that he could have, versus next year when that might not be the case.
That’s fine, so redshirt him in 2023 when he’s going into the season no better than QB3 and you accomplish the same thing while playing him more.
But the list of QB’s who stay at ND for 5 years is a very short list (Book and pretty much no one else in recent times). Hell, the odds say a QB probably isn’t even staying for 4. Why worry about that extra year that likely isn’t going to happen, when you have a young player who is thrust into QB2? Might as well take the stance from the moment that Buchner got hurt to not care care about Angeli’s redshirt status in 2022 and simply as the new QB2 should have found ways to get him more game action in the case he would be needed in 2022 with way more than beyond the BC game.
(And, as it turns out, he would have been needed in 2022 if not for an almost miraculously speedy recovery by Buchner that may/may not be a good idea).
It’s a transfer world, remember the A&M kid who sat our after 4 games to keep his redshirt because he was transferring?
As you’ve pointed out above, Angeli is a lot more likely to be the QB at Toledo in 2026 than ND. He is likely to appreciate it in the long run.
Maybe there’s some goodwill for recruiting in not being a program that burns years without a good reason?
For the player, I don’t see where it’s more noble to stash him aside rather than to get him into games as a negative. Angeli was the primary backup for games 3-12. Pyne takes a big hit or rolls his ankle and needs to come out for a bit and Angeli is burning the redshirt out of necessity, no matter what the team intended.
It would be smarter to get him beneficial playing time if/when opportunities presented themselves later, in case he was needed. ND is lucky that Buchner is able to go and they don’t have to turn to a kid that they only gave 7 snaps and no pass attempts to this season.
But to the overall idea, I have no doubt the right call is playing the percentages that Angeli playing/getting ready in 2022 is more valuable to Notre Dame than preserving his extra year at the end of his career. Just seeing the list of total QBs in the last 10-12 years illustrates the point that chances are either team and/or player isn’t going to want to there in the 5th year.
I don’t see it as bad on the program for taking that approach. Players commonly opt out before they burn a year when it benefits them (Wilkins, Lacey, etc). If it benefits the team in the circumstance (Angeli as QB2) to get more experience, that’s fair play for all parties.
Jacob Lacey did the same thing.
Yea we never quite heard why he transferred. He was already a contributor and in line to be a starter this year (and probably would have started at least 6 games this year had he stayed the whole year).
He must have just been unhappy with being at ND.
His playing time was too inconsistent. The last game he was on the team (UNC) Lacey only had 9 snaps. Even a “good” game for him was getting ~20 snaps. Not enough to be happy or believe the rest of this season or next season would be different from the last 3+ years, and really, I doubt it would have.
Good player to have for depth but I don’t think was good enough to start at ND, more of a rotational player to be somewhere in the mix.
Is there even a point to redshirting anymore? If a player is really good, they’re gone to the NFL after three years, or they can be poached by other program for NIL cash. If they’re not good enough to start before year four, they’ll probably be recruited over by either high school kids or transfers from other schools, or told to leave and go try their luck somewhere else to open up a roster spot.
Hudson Card chooses Purdue!
Wow, surprising and big bummer. It seemed like most thought he was among the top 2 possibilities. And to lose him to Purdue… Though I had never seen that we were really in it. Maybe we were aiming at others? I’ve heard Armstrong and obviously Hartman.
Sounds like we aren’t getting the WMU DL either unfortunately. He’s headed to FSU.
They have all their eggs in the Hartman basket. I think that’s a very good result if it happens, but man if it doesn’t the vibes this offseason will be *so* bad.
Could make for a nervy week since I assume he wouldn’t be announcing for ND until after the Gator Bowl. Doesn’t seem like a lot of the paid guys are that worried at this point, so maybe Hartman is in the bag, but if he’s not…yeah that’s gonna be bad.
(Though, I wouldn’t really mind Spencer Sanders but not sure if that’s a last minute type of fallback possibility)
I had thought that a couple of sites reported he was going to announce right after Wake’s bowl and he didn’t so yeah I’m kind of already nervous.
Well putting all of our eggs into one basket in terms of recruiting has never failed, so should be good to go.
This made me laugh. Not celebrating yet, but all signs continue to look good…
Without knowing anything else, one would imagine that a QB like Hartman (=elite), next year is playoffs or bust. Maybe even a playoff win. (Note: I’m not saying this will happen or predicting it. I’m only saying it’s a reasonable potential whereas most years it is not.)
PFF has graded him out essentially as 4th and 10th overall at QB the last two years (passing grades alone: 7th and 5th).
I’m very excited about Hartman – I would view him as the #2 player in the portal this offseason after McCall – but it’s hard to argue he’s really an elite QB. If you watched that Wake bowl game, it actually reminded me of what the absolute best possible version of Pyne would be, if Pyne were 2-3 inches taller.
Meaning: I’m expecting a clear upgrade over this past season and over what Buchner could possibly be next season, but also he’ll be upperclassman-Book-like as one of the 8th-15th best QBs in the country (rather than elite elite). Still, that’s a great pull all things considered if it happens and would put ND in 11-1ish contention next year with a rough schedule.
For comparison sake, PFF ranked QBs:
Book
2020: 39th
2019: 46th
2018: 89th
Yeah that checks out, Book being top 8-15 did not pass the smell test at all.
For all the revisionist history, Book was not actually good. It’s just that Pyne was so, so much worse.
Wow, I previously got accused here of being a hater on Book. If one wants to argue he was never a top-10 QB at any point, I’ll buy that. But come on, never too 35? That’s ridiculous. He was a 4th round pick! (Which itself was silly, but he should have been drafted maybe in the 6th or 7th round.)
If you watched that Wake bowl game, your expectations should be diminished such that you’d get my point that Hartman is not an elite player. He’s very good! And that’s a win, as we do not have a very good QB on the roster otherwise. But this isn’t Caleb Williams or even Jalen Hurts here.
Book had the 23rd best grade among power 5 QBs who took at least 20% of the most snaps any QB took in 2020. There’s also not a huge gap between #18 and #23. Looking at the list subjectively that maybe puts him somewhere between 15-20 (if we assume a non-power 5 QB or two might jump him too).
I was just giving the grade ranks earlier to compare apples to apples – not as a final word about where the QB actually ranks that year.
I do agree that Hartman is not Hurts or Williams athletically. So by elite I didn’t mean something like capable of being a high round NFL draft pick kind of elite. But more like, I don’t know, Jason White who won the Heisman so was clearly an “elite” college QB but never had a chance in the NFL. Hartman maybe has a chance in the NFL these days (as compared to White e.g.) but is not likely to turn into a top draft pick. But I think he can perform at an elite level at ND given his performance at Wake.
In 2021, among the 10 power 5 QBs who received an elite overall grade (90+) Hartman was 4th. In 2022, he was one of the 8 who received an elite grade (7th this time).
McCall
2022: 21st
2021: 12th
2020: 5th
Interesting. If I had to pick, I might take McCall for his size advantage, but the Coastal offense was gimmicky. Betting the PFF grades adjust for the competition, but I’d have to believe that Chadwell’s system being more advanced than what the Sun Belt can keep up with is a very big key to general success.
While sticking with PFF, there’s this which is cool too. I’ll wait until it’s actually set in stone that he’s coming to get much more excited or try to rank it, but if/when ND does add Hartman, that’s about as good as could be expected from the portal.
So I’d actually think that PFF does not adjust grades for the competition. The grades are just meant to be that – grades. How well did X player do in doing his job.
It’s why when they write articles that “rank” players, they don’t simply follow their own grades. They look at context and other factors. So that would make me worry most about McCall because his level of competition has to be the lowest here. Wake Forest is obviously playing some pretty good competition.
On another note: I think the transfer portal will be interesting for seeing how much the system a QB is in matters (and so how good some coaches really are). When QBs have great years transfer up a level but change systems are they still as good as everyone thought they were or not? Or did the coach will put him in great spots to use his skills?
Thanks for the info, that’s interesting.
The transfers are interesting, I didn’t think that much of Jaylon Daniels at ASU and he was awesome for LSU. Bo Nix also finally put things together this year too at Oregon. Probably says good things about the new places.
But then again, I think it’s fair to say others like Kedon Slovis and JT Daniels probably disappointed in their 2022 homes. I guess you never really might know whose fortunes could rise and fall in new places.
Wonder what his heisman odds will be.
Personally, I would rather ND swing for the fences than settle for any other QB in the transfer portal. Hartman is the best transfer out there, and he’s the only one I feel 100% certain would start for us next year. If we had gone and gotten Cade McNamara, for example, then we would have already ruled ourselves out on Hartman.
Armstrong? Seems he would be a quality starter. Also, there are certain to be other go into the portal but we have to have a starter level player so putting all our eggs in one basket is not imo a smart call.
There is no world in which I would have wanted us to recruit Brennan Armstrong, meaning we would be guaranteed to miss out on Hartman.
I get that and I agree with you but to not recruit him means we potentially end up with no transfer QB this off-season or one that is not even a potential ungrade over Buchner.
Look no further than the Dante Moore recruitment. We were very fortunate to get Minchey but what if we hadn’t? How would you be viewing QB recruiting at that point?
It’s not an all or nothing. You can recruit a guy and be honest that you really like him but are recruiting others as well and you just see what happens. That’s so much better than picking your one guy and swinging for the fences.
It would be interesting to see Freeman and Rees’ call logs. I’m guessing they did a lot of due diligence on QBs and players also felt out ND as well.
But as you said, I think you kinda do have to put all the eggs in one basket by nature of the position. From reading between the lines it seemed like that by far the 2 QB’s that ND was most interested in were Pratt and Hartman.
Just a guess, but they probably didn’t pursue Armstrong, Card and others too closely because they felt like it would be Pratt/Hartman (who they probably liked more), which of course has now zeroed onto just Hartman.
That does make for a boom/bust situation, but I think it kinda has to be. There’s only so much time and reason to pursue a Choice C type like Armstrong when the real goal is a different guy anyways.
I know Matt at ISD has been pretty clear ND was not interested in Armstrong. I get it, he had one good year where he tried to do everything for UVA and it’s surrounded by not very good seasons. He’s a lefty and it seems they don’t think he’s all that talented anyway.
Injuries would scare me too (a little like Buchner). Even if Armstrong were very talented, if he’s often unavailable, that’s not that helpful either.
In the last three years, Armstrong has started 30 games and only was out for two (the ND game in 2021 being one of them). UVA only played 10 games this year due to the shooting.
Poor performance in 2022 is definitely a red flag and reason to think maybe he’s just a system QB, but I don’t see reason for health concerns or any comparison to Buchner, who would dream of being as available as Armstrong.
Thanks for the correction. I had thought he had missed a number of games due to injury as well.
I don’t think you can compare Portal recruiting to High School recruiting. Lots of schools recruit 2 QBs in a single high school class. Nobody is bringing in 2 transfer QBs.
But if we are going to compare the two, why can’t we do exactly what we did with Minchey with Armstrong? If Hartman turns us down, why couldn’t we go after Armstrong then?
I guess I would assume it’s too late then. The transfer window seems to be much smaller/quicker than h.s. recruiting.
I also assume that ND would in fact be talking to multiple QBs at once as a result. And spend more of their time going after the guys who are closer to the top of their list and have the most interest in ND.
Fair, I just don’t think there were many guys in the portal at QB that I would have been excited to add for one year. I’m fine with putting all of my eggs in the Hartman basket because he’s the only QB I can see that could potentially elevate us to Playoff level next year.
(I would certainly have been open to taking Card or somebody who could be around for more than one year, but I’m operating under the assumption the school is still not allowing most undergrad transfers)
I agree there is a logic to it as a general matter, but after the clear mistake of not getting a portal QB last offseason they had to get *somebody* who will go into the spring running at least even with Buchner. Getting somebody like Hartman who ends the QB competition before it begins is even better.
Purdue has had success with TX QBs before. Watch out.