Notre Dame Football: Five Problematic Michigan Players

8th ranked Notre Dame football faces rival 19th ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan this weekend.

Here are five problematic Michigan players that Notre Dame football must contain:

Donovan Peoples-Jones, Wide Receiver/Punt Returner

Donovan Peoples-Jones may be the most electric player on either team.  Last year, he led the Wolverines with 47 receptions, 612 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns. In addition to being a force in the receiving game, Peoples-Jones wreaked havoc in the return game, returning 25 punts for 250 yards and a touchdown.

This year, Peoples-Jones was slowed by injury to begin the season, missing the first two games. Since returning, he hasn’t put up dominant numbers in the receiving game, posting a modest 17 receptions for 175 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. Peoples-Jones, a preseason watchlist candidate for the Paul Hornung Award (most versatile player in college football), hasn’t produced a game where he has dominated, but the former five-star recruit certainly has the ability to do so at any time.  Thus, the defense and special teams of the Irish must be cognizant of him at all times, or they run the risk of having him breakout against them.

Lavert Hill-Cornerback

Lavert Hill, a third-team All-American last year, is a playmaker at the cornerback position. The senior out of Detroit, MI is a lock down cover cornerback who will likely draw assignments against Chase Claypool. While Hill’s numbers are not spectacular this year, that is more a product of teams avoiding throwing in his general direction than it is an indictment of Hill’s play.

Despite teams attempting to throw the ball away from Hill’s coverage, he still has two interceptions on the year to go with his eleven tackles. Hill was named to a number of preseason watchlists, including Walter Camp Award (outstanding player of the year), Nagurski Trophy (best defensive player), Jim Thorpe Award (best defensive back) and Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year).

Ian Book must be aware of Hill’s coverage skills when looking in his direction for receivers. If not, Hill has the ability to take an errant pass back for a touchdown in the blink of an eye.

Khaleke Hudson-Linebacker

Senior Khaleke Hudson is one of the best linebackers in the nation, which is likely the reason that he appeared on the preseason watchlist for the Butkus Award (nation’s best linebacker). Last season, Hudson did it all for the Wolverines, recording 44 tackles, two sacks, a pass deflection, two blocked punts and a fumble recovery.

What has he done for an encore this year?

Well, he leads the team with an incredible 64 tackles, 36 of which were solo. That is good for 28th in the nation. In addition, Hudson has added a sack and two pass deflections. The Irish must be aware of Khaleke Hudson, playing in the viper position, as he will likely be making plays all over the field on defense.

Shea Patterson-Quarterback

Senior Shea Patterson came into the season with a great deal of fan fare, landing on a plethora of preseason watchlists, including the Manning Award (nation’s top QB), the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (top senior/fourth-year junior quarterback), Davey O’Brien Award (best quarterback) and the Maxwell Award (player of the year). However, the senior signal caller for the Wolverines has not lived up to the lofty expectations, despite having an extremely talented offensive line and wide receiver corps.

Despite the lack of success from Patterson, the former five-star recruit certainly has the pedigree to turn his fortunes around at any given moment and put together a monster game.

While Patterson has struggled with turnovers at times, he has the ability to throw a deep ball, like few quarterbacks in college football can. In addition, he has the ability to scramble for first downs when needed. The Irish defense must not sleep on Patterson because of his prior struggles, or he has the potential to hurt them.

Dylan McCaffery-Quarterback

With the aforementioned struggles of Shea Patterson, the Wolverines could decide me make an in-game switch to backup quarterback Dylan McCaffery, should Patterson struggle out of the gate against the Irish. If so, the game plan for the Wolverines changes dramatically, something that the Irish must quickly adjust to.

While McCaffery isn’t as adept at throwing the deep ball as Shea Patterson is, he is proficient with short and intermediate passes. In addition, McCaffery, the brother of Carolina Panthers superstar running back Christian McCaffery and son to former NFL wide receiver Ed McCaffery, is a better scrambling quarterback than Patterson. He also is better at getting the ball out quicker and seems to have better accuracy on the short to intermediate throws than Patterson does.

McCaffery’s pocket presence is also praised as well above average.  As a result, Notre Dame must prepare for Patterson to be the starting quarterback and play the entire game for Michigan, while simultaneously being prepared for an in-game shift to the equally talented Dylan McCaffery — something that will not be an easy task for the Irish.