Can Notre Dame Football Turn Things Around In 2017?
Let’s talk about the state of Notre Dame football.
Must Read: Top 5 Players From The Notre Dame 2015 Recruiting Class.
Last season crushed many Notre Dame fan’s confidence in Brian Kelly, mostly, but also the core of players that are the engine of this program.
There were high hopes after an impressive season put together by big-armed DeShone Kizer and some impressive recruiting classes were stacking up. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned.
The concerns about Brian Van Gorder’s scheme being a poor fit became very real after Texas and their true freshman quarterback torched them for 50 points on opening night.
DeShone Kizer didn’t seem to make that ‘next-step’, instead, he seemed off-base and sporadically inaccurate, frankly. His top target, Torii Hunter Jr., got his bell rung in that game and never seemed to bounce back to full form.
Losing Will Fuller and literally all of his regular pass catchers seemed to be a bigger deal than anticipated by some. Other leaders, Jaylon Smith, Sheldon Day, Ronnie Stanley, Nick Martin and many more, were sorely missed, especially in the fourth quarter.
Another factor that devastated the program was the unexpected departure of Alize Mack, and Max Redfield, two of the most naturally talented athletes they had (both were considered 5 stars by at least one recruiting service).
Play calling, breaking in a new defensive coordinator, injuries, a non-existent pass rush were all other factors that contributed to the depressing outcome that 4-8 was.
Sigh.
The reason I pointed out what most of us wish we could just forget is that with all of the positives I’m about to talk about, we need to keep in mind that this is Notre Dame. Things don’t always go as planned and potential does not always come to fruition.
That said, let’s talk about why Notre Dame could win big in 2017.
Offense
There is a lot to like here.
Brandon Wimbush looked incredible in the first practice of the spring. He looks to be in top notch physical condition, has shortened up his throwing motion and is hitting his receivers with accuracy and velocity.
I spoke with his former head coach, Rich Hansen of St. Peter’s Prep, last week and found some things out about Brandon Wimbush like him throwing for 500 yards against IMG Academy during his Sr. season.
I’ll go out on a limb and say that he is the most naturally gifted quarterback that I’ve seen at Notre Dame since Jimmy Clausen. This kid should be a good one.
Equanimeous St. Brown, Chase Claypool, Alize Mack are all 6’4.5 types that literally look like NFL pass-catchers. We’ll find out if they can play like them.
Chip Long has 5 former high school All-Americans at tight end this year. Long was also a tight end in college and has been a tight end positional coach in his career. He likes to use multiple tight end sets and take advantage of mismatches.
They should do better than a combined 12 receptions for 159 yards as a group this year. A lot better.
The offensive line really surprised me last year with their lack of cohesion. They did not resemble the physical bully that I expected them to be. When Duke pushed them around all day on their way to a victory, I felt foolish for tabbing them the “best unit in the country,” just weeks before.
With the full off season of training and experience returning to the field this year, I expect Mike McGlinchey and Quenton Nelson to truly dominate in ’17. The rest of the line has enough snaps under their belts and certainly have the talent, size and strength to do big things.
If the offensive line doesn’t do what everyone thinks they can do in ’17, I’m sorry, but we’ve all be mistaken about how good they really are. If they don’t go out and absolutely pound Navy’s 240-250 pound defensive tackles into the ground, I’ll be fuming.
You have to love the Irish backfield. Josh Adams is a no-flash chains-mover. He was beat up last year but returns healthy with a ton of experience and a trio of super talented backs beside him. Like the other units, there’s no reason for them to fail. The talent is there, period.
Defense.
Let’s get the defensive line out of the way first.
I love the potential of Daelin Hayes, Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem. They were all very highly ranked recruits and have the size and talent to be successful as well as all got snaps in ’16.
I cannot stress this enough and it is my number 1 concern going into this season – in my opinion, at least one of these defensive ends needs to have a big year for this defense to be successful.
Simple as that. They do not have the talent in their upperclassmen defensive end unit to be productive. There has been too many transfers at that position and Trumbetti has one career sack.
I’m also concerned about the interior of the defensive line. Jerry Tillery absolutely has to get after it this year. Mike Elston is counting on him to produce and so are the fans. Daniel Cage has concussion issues that scare me as well. We’ll see how things shake out.
I don’t like Bonner at defensive tackle and I’m praying Scott Pagano fell in love with the Mid-West charm of South Bend during his visit because, man, could we ever use him.
I like what we have at linebacker. Nyles Morgan looked great last year and I expect him to flourish in a more suitable defense. Let’s face it, Brian Van Gorder’s defense was terrible and may have single-handedly cost Notre Dame a handful of wins last year.
There’s great competition at buck with Te’von Coney, Greer Martini and Asmar Bilal, who will all likely cross-train at the new rover position.
The situation at cornerback is as good as I’ve seen it in years. The three true sophomores returning – Love, Vaughn and Pride Jr. look amazing physically and all bring impressive and intriguing skill-sets to the table.
Veterans Nick Watkins and Shaun Crawford are returning from injury and both look phenomenal as well. I had forgotten how great Watkins’ length is. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started against Temple.
The safety position will have to develop a little before we can have an idea of what we’re in for. Nick Coleman lined up at one of the first-team safety positions during the first spring practice which kind of concerned me as he was exposed at cornerback last year.
I also wasn’t super impressed with the play of highly-touted free safety Devin Studstill last year. Although he was a true freshman, he took poor angles to the ball and I felt he looked a little lost, but let’s face it, everyone looked lost in BVG’s defense.
Must Read: Things To Keep An Eye On In Spring Practice.
Mike Elko’s defense is geared towards creating turnovers and applying pressure via disguised blitzes and gap overloads, among other innovative schemes. We’ll see how it all shakes out. He has plenty of talent to work with, not something he had at Wake Forest.
Chip Long’s offense at Memphis is truly difficult to defend. He runs so many different looks and gets defenses unbalanced all while running tempo. The talent he has at his fingertips is as good as any college offensive coordinator in the country. I expect big things.
That’s it for my breakdown of this intriguing football team. There’s lots to be excited about.
Go Irish.