Notre Dame Football: 3 Bold Predictions for 2019
By Chase Eyrich
Special Teams will be the greatest surprise of the season
Tyler Newsome and Justin Yoon are no longer part of the picture. That’s two players who not only performed tremendously on the field, but provided energy and leadership to the rest of the Irish.
It’s not often that your punter and kicker make the sort of impact that Newsome and Yoon made on the Irish. Their departures leave huge voids that need to be filled.
It’s an area that most will overlook. But, special teams will be the biggest surprise of the season.
It’s hard to think of a kicking duo that would be able to even stand to the light that those two left. Yet Jay Bramblett and Jonathan Doerer are up for the challenge.
The talent that these two will bring to the field is something that no one would have been able to expect.
Bramblett’s distance has been in question compared to Newsome. But, he has put that to rest while making up for it with hang time. Keeping punts in the air for the latter part of four seconds and improving his accuracy has placed some much-needed faith in what this special teams unit will be able to do.
Compared to the Spring, Doerer’s consistency has been astounding. He’s becoming a talent whose field goal percentage should mirror that of Yoon’s.
Deeper into special teams, we reflect on the injury to Michael Young.
Young was seen as the top kickoff return, man. Now that responsibility may be handed off to Jafar Armstrong.
While new kickoff rules will likely dwarf this part of the game, Armstrong in that position really makes sense.
He’s a strong back with prolific speed and ability to hit gaps quickly. Even more so, if the ball is kicked away from Armstrong, he becomes one of the most impactful blockers on the field, which was displayed last season.