Depth Chart Implications From Day 1 Of Spring Practice.

There were many interesting positional movements in yesterdays practice.

First thing is first. Where Irish players lined up on the football field on Wednesday won’t necessarily be where they line up against Temple. This much is certain.

Click here for Blue and Gold Illustrated’s Analyst Brian Driskell talk about everything he saw at Wednesday’s practice on BGI’s Irish Huddle Podcast.

However, it was interesting to see where the coaching staff worked out certain athletes during Wednesday’s practice.

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The first team offensive line was interesting. There has been a lot of speculation about how things will shake out on the right side of the line. Yesterday, last year’s starting right tackle, Alex Bars, lined up at right guard and true sophomore Tommy Kraemer took his place at tackle.

I wasn’t as surprised to see Bars line up at guard as I was seeing Kraemer at tackle. That’s not to say that I don’t think Kraemer would do a great job, he was one of the best offensive lineman in the country coming out of high school.

I was thinking that Liam Eichenberg would have been the “next man in” at right tackle but considering he isn’t quite there yet physically, at 294 pounds, Kraemer is the better fit at this time at over 310 pounds and boasting loads of potential.

Durham Smythe did line up with the first team offense despite the emergence of the super talented Alize Mack.

I wouldn’t read too much into this as Jones will be regaining the coaching staff’s trust after his academic debacle last year plus he may not be used as the in-line tight end. Mack will likely play as a part of sub packages, multiple tight end looks, as a receiver and detached tight end looks.

At receiver, Equanimeous was still WR1 which was not a surprise. There was some interesting looks on the other side though. The first team lined up with CJ Sanders at X and Chase Claypool in the slot.

This is a perfect example of the sort of look that Chip Long loves to use. He likes to confuse or overwhelm defenses with mismatch situations. What’s great about this is, when everything is installed and running with a full tank of gas, his offense runs in tempo.

On defense, the cornerbacks were arguably the most impressive positional group on the field. It’s too early to say who will be the starting two cornerbacks in week 1, but it looks like Shaun Crawford and Nick Watkins truly will be ready to roll.

Nick Watkins looked big, fast and polished. Shaun Crawford looked like he was taking some reps at 3/4 speed, but nonetheless, he wasn’t on the sideline which is amazing considering the injury he suffered.

As a result of their bounce-back, there will be a considerable dogfight for the cornerback gigs. Donte Vaughn and Julian Love, among others, look fantastic physically and athletically.

Asmar Bilal lined up with the first team at rover. It wasn’t a surprise at all that he’s being worked out at the position, but it was widely speculated that Drue Tranquill would be the obvious starter.

Instead, it was Bilal and Tranquill lined up as the first team strong safety, or stud.

On the defensive line, there was more intriguing player placements. The first team was Daelin Hayes at the weak side end, Andrew Trumbetti at the strong side, Jerry Tillery at nose tackle and Jonathon Bonner at defensive tackle, or 3 technique.

Trumbetti at strong side end makes a lot of sense to me considering the Irish need sacks and he’s only mustered one in his entire career. Everyone is happy about Daelin Hayes at the weakside and at 255 lbs., he looks primed for a big year in his new ‘drop’ role.

Jerry Tillery played nose tackle in his freshman year when Jarron Jones had gone down with a season-ending knee injury. He played well for a freshman and I think his skill set suggests he may be more suited to play there.

Jonathan Bonner at defensive tackle was definitely a surprise, in my opinion. He has been mostly a strong side defensive end during his career at Notre Dame. He has slid inside at times but certainly hasn’t played significant snaps at defensive tackle. We’ll see how that goes.

Of course, this is a new defense in which every position has new responsibilities. Once they go to full pads, we’ll get a more clear idea of how they perform in their new roles.

At linebacker, there wasn’t any flashy changes. Morgan was at mike, obviously, and Jones lined up with the second team with a beefed up Jamir Jones with the third team. I like Jamir as an athletic depth and future option at mike.

The Buck position was filled by senior captain Greer Martini on the first team and Te’von Coney on the second. There should be a great battle between these two who have contrasting skill sets.

As I mentioned, it’s not a great idea to read deeply into how the personnel was deployed on day 1. Things will change, experiments will be made and players will be auditioned.

In the end, there’s new schemes on both sides of the ball and a significant shake-up is under way.