Notre Dame football: 5 returning players who’ll lead Irish reload in 2021

Dec 5, 2020; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly leads his players out of the tunnel before the game against the Syracuse Orange at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 5, 2020; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly leads his players out of the tunnel before the game against the Syracuse Orange at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
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Notre Dame football
Notre Dame football cornerback Clarence Lewis. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

Cornerback Clarence Lewis

Another defensive back that is going to help the reload in the 2021 college football season for Notre Dame football is sophomore cornerback Clarence Lewis. This is a kid who came out of nowhere to become one of the top cornerbacks on this roster, and will now attempt to lead a new crop of talented youngsters coming in.

The group coming in consists of Ryan Barnes and Philip Riley, two guys who enrolled early at the school, and have already gotten a jump on their athletic, and academic careers. They bring a very bright future to the cornerback spot, and being a guy who started as a true freshman last season, Lewis can teach them a lot about the college game.

Chance Tucker is also a true freshman coming in, and he was a highly-recruited player coming out of high school, and so was JoJo Johnson, who could also play cornerback. Overall, it is a solid young group, but Lewis is going to have to make the change from starting as a true freshman to taking over the cornerback room, and I feel he is more than up to the challenge.