Spring Practice 2023

[stpeteirish]

I am unsure we should take anything from the 1s and 2s as Golden stated they roll out with a different set of 1s every day in practice.

And with a few new faces in the coaching staff, I am sure they are trying to figure out who they want in the starting lineup.

That was a great in-person practice report.
I am curious about one thing: who lined up as "ones" across the OLine, and who lined up as "twos?"
Much appreciated if you remember and can share. Thanks.

ones were Alt-Scrauth-Corral-Kristo-Fisher. Two's were Baker-Murphy-Coogan-Spindler-Wagner. Carmody was #1LG but injured shoulder and is out.

 

[GoIrish41]

Sorry for the delay. I left my laptop at school.

Offense:
Overall, some of the other pay sites pretty much hit the nail on the head in regards to the offense. To say that the offense had a bad day is an understatement. It was VERY apparent that this staff is still trying to learn how to operate with each other. I thought they looked very confused at times and unorganized, especially when they were going live. What worries me the most in this is that the frustration of the coaches was very visible. I get it, a new system per say will take time to implement, but to see so much confusion, especially from the main guy in charge, really was disheartening to me. Not that my opinion matters, but I went into it skeptical about the OC hire and I left convinced my skepticism was spot on unfortunately. I'll get into that a bit more later, but I'd rather dig into the position group breakdowns.

QB's:
On air Hartman is outstanding. The ball explodes out of his hand and is quite confident with his delivery. He did look very shaky undercenter, which will definitely be something to keep an eye on. Buchner looked much more comfortable than the spring before, there's no denying that. With that said he was still a bit shaky throwing the ball intermediate and downfield. Angeli had some nice zip on his ball as well and you can tell he's a year older physically and just confidence wise when he's running the offense. I will say, I'm not upset with them as a unit. They had a bad day, but I think a lot was due to the success the defense was having.

RB's:
Estime is as advertised. One of the few guys I think that looking at him he can play for anybody in the country. He seems to be trying to take on more of a leadership role, which was good to see. He tried to bring some energy throughout practice despite the struggles that the offense was having overall. Gi'bran Payne was a nice change of pace for the offense during practice. He had a pretty solid Inside Run session. He ran the ball quite well out of the Pistol formation and had the only legit explosive play during the whole practice for the offense, busting a long run in the team session. I'm not sure where they can get him touches with the depth we have at RB, but it'll be alright with me if he has to go in to spell or even throw to out of the backfield. Those were the only two scholarship RB's dressed for practice.

WR's:
No other way to put it except this group had a pretty bad day overall. From not getting lined up, to ball security, and the many drops it was just rough overall. I wish I was lying, but I don't have enough fingers to count the number of drops the unit had in drills to 7on and team. I'll admit I came into practice expecting to be happy with this group. However, you can see the group as a whole is still young and inexperienced. Jayden Thomas got tangled up during 7 on and was looked at by the trainer and never really participated after that. Colzie and Merriweather were pretty invisible the whole practice and Tyree is still legit very much in football 101 mode with the position switch. The freshman all showed flashes of brilliance from time to time. I really like Rico Flores. If you asked, which freshman will see the field this year, I'd put my money on him, which I didn't expect going in. He looks to be the most confident pre and post snap. Greathouse physically looks as developed and maybe more than some of the receivers currently in their 2nd/3rd year. However, he got his ass chewed a few times for ball security and even got it punched out after a catch in 7 on. Coach Stuckey was very frustrated most of the practice. I did enjoy some of the drills he had for the unit. I'm hoping I can chalk this up as a bad day, but this group definitely left a lot to be desired, especially considering the lack of production in recent seasons.

TE:
Average at best day, but to be fair there's going to be a drop off there's no doubt about that. Evans is very solid in the run game and they have him as the #1. To be expecting much out of him vertically in the pass game would be setting up for disappointment. Hayden Staes was one player I was impressed with offensively. Physically he's a DUDE. I thought he was quite impressive in vertically stressing the defense as well. He did not get many opportunities Saturday, but IMO if the TE is going to be a threat we need him to win the job and be on the field the most.

OL:
Both tackles are fine. I don't need to go into too much there. I was a little concerned about the middle. Run game wise when blocking duo and gap, they seemed fine. They really struggled on perimeter blocking and pass protection. Defense was blitzing and wreaking havoc, which didn't help, but the QB was under pressure the entire practice. Red jerseys were definitely needed because, they did not have much time throughout. Inside run was relatively even on both sides, which again, could be a precursor to seeing an offense plan similar to last year's. On a side note if there is a thinner offensive linemen in the country than Aamir Wagner, I have never seen him. If he's 280 pounds he holds it phenomenally well. He can't have a body fat % greater than 8. He moves well on the perimeter, but man does he get bullied when he is fit.

Defense:
As worried as I left in regards to the offense Saturday, the defense has much less concerns. You can really see the confidence the unit has overall. Pre and post snap communication and movement was awesome all day. They constantly were in the backfield and left very few holes in the secondary. I imagine this has a lot to do with the continuity of the unit with Golden and the simplicity of when you're blitzing it's pretty much man coverage so no need to be too confused. All 3 levels looked quite solid. The one concern I would leave with is that when there was a bust, like last year, it resulted in an explosive.

DE/Vyper:
We are in a very good spot in this position group. I did not see much if any of a dropoff between the ones and twos. Baptiste is a STUD. I was quite impressed by him in the run game especially. He has a burst off the ball and is not afraid to play in the box at all. He looked great coming around on twist stunts. Botello continues to improve. He holds the edge strong and looks the most confident I've seen him since he's arrived. JT.....great position switch. I thought he already looked comfortable and definitely isn't a concern at all physically. DE showed consistency as well. I'm pretty sure I saw Ford play a bit there and didn't recognize him at first due to the fact he's so much bigger physically. Mills looks the part still and I'm hoping he'll be a breakout at the position.

DT:
Thought the whole group got off the ball pretty well all day. Obviously, the position in general doesn't get much clout and if they're doing their jobs I guess that's how it should be. Onye is exactly what everyone is saying. He is huge. He looks bigger than 6'4" on the field to me honestly. Overall, not much to say here.

LB's:
We lack size at this spot that is very obvious. The experience can be seen with Kiser and Bertrand. Great communicators and for the most part seem to be a step ahead of the offense post snap. I'm not certain if it was Kiser's fault or not, but there was a bad bust during an inside run that resulted in a huge play. Kollie looks more thick in the upper body and when he is demonstrative with his decisions he explodes through the hole when he's filling. Idk how he's not on the field often this year. His speed alone makes him a problem, especially when stunting. I would be interested to see how this group looks on a day where there is less blitzing and stunts. I think that helped slow down the OL climbing to the second level and kept the backers free most of the day.

CB's:
Finally some depth here. We had 4 CB's on the field at one point during team, in 3rd and long, without Cam Hart even on the field. Morrison was invisible most of the day. That's a good thing. Lewis was lining up at nickel again and was outstanding. I know there were talks of him moving to safety, but I think Nickel in today's game is just as important and I have no issue keeping experience at that spot. I was actually impressed with Barnes (#15). I think he was targeted often, but seemed to always be around the ball and made some pretty solid plays throughout the day, even a forced fumble and recovery. I hope I'm not the kiss of death, but I was quite happy with where we are with this unit.

Safeties:
There's no super star in this group, I'll be honest, but I was not disappointed with the group at all. One thing of note is that they actually had Brown playing in the box LB in their dime package, which I thought was a good use of his size and skill set. Watts looks great on the field and I would say physically the best looking safety on the roster currently. Another thing of note is the move of Tucker to the safety position. He's listed a hair under 6', but I didn't think he was even that tall. However, you talk about a heat seeking missile in the run game. He looks great closing alleys and tackling in the open field. He had the best hit of the day torpedo tackling a RB in space saving a TD. Depth alone will force him to see the field imo, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a lot of snaps in week 1 since we're seeing the triple option.

ST:
Was surprised to see that there wasn't really much work on the Punt and PR units. Field goal kickers saw #32 Salerno and #92 Yoakam (both walk-ons) split reps evenly. Of the two, Yoakam was much better and I don't believe missed a single kick out of approximately 10, all be it most were 40 yards or closer.

Sorry for the long spleel again guys. I had fun being there and was treated first class as always. I saw a handful of recruits and could share a few things, but I've talked plenty already.

Outstanding summary. Thanks for the effort and observations.

 

[NDRock]

So we are terrible?

Nah. We're the 2000 Ravens.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

I think maybe ISD reported it and may have slow played it some but I've had a buddy at the 2 most recent practices. Said Buchner was worlds better than Hartman during those days. (buddy is a pretty prominent high school coach in midwest)

"kid from California was better in every facet"

"Hartman was short on every deep ball"

"young kid has noticeably more zip on his ball then others"

"the big sophomore is going to be a stud"

I read this as:
Buchner better than Sam in practice

Hartman under threw some deep ones

Minchey has noticeably the strongest arm

Angeli is going to be a stud



Were all of the comments about Buchner?

 

[Luckylucci]

Very much appreciate the recap from rtrn2glory. Based on those observations, I'll say:

1. Hartman came to ND looking for a different experience. Part of that is the offense. So, I think he went into this expecting a learning curve. He's already spoken to that and I think he'll be fully prepared for it. It's part of the growth I think he knows, he needs.

2. The most concerning part would be the visible frustration from the coaches. How the offense lost the day seems to matter here, not that they did.

 

[CoachB]

Very much appreciate the recap from rtrn2glory. Based on those observations, I'll say:

1. Hartman came to ND looking for a different experience. Part of that is the offense. So, I think he went into this expecting a learning curve. He's already spoken to that and I think he'll be fully prepared for it. It's part of the growth I think he knows, he needs.
2. The most concerning part would be the visible frustration from the coaches. How the offense lost the day seems to matter here, not that they did.

The most logical explanation I can think of isn't a great explanation either. Early in the season , in camp, I don't let my defense blitz during installation. I am just trying to get my offensive plays in and learned against base defense first, we definitely are not ready for pressures.

In theory, I could see the offensive coaches being frustrated if the defense just keeps blitzing while they are trying to install. Especially with the added pressure of potentially looking bad in the first open media session. In theory, they could be upset with all the blitzing when they are not to that part of install yet.

The problem with that is if practice is organized correctly, both sides of the ball should be on the same page. For example, telling the defense to just play base, or nickel, or whatever. Or, on the other hand, if it is known the defense will be working on their pressure packages, the offense would be working on their packages against blitzes.

In theory, that would be one explanation for the frustration, but I don't really buy that explanation because that would mean we aren't organized very well.

Just my two cents.

 

[indianamouse]

The most logical explanation I can think of isn't a great explanation either. Early in the season , in camp, I don't let my defense blitz during installation. I am just trying to get my offensive plays in and learned against base defense first, we definitely are not ready for pressures.

In theory, I could see the offensive coaches being frustrated if the defense just keeps blitzing while they are trying to install. Especially with the added pressure of potentially looking bad in the first open media session. In theory, they could be upset with all the blitzing when they are not to that part of install yet.

The problem with that is if practice is organized correctly, both sides of the ball should be on the same page. For example, telling the defense to just play base, or nickel, or whatever. Or, on the other hand, if it is known the defense will be working on their pressure packages, the offense would be working on their packages against blitzes.

In theory, that would be one explanation for the frustration, but I don't really buy that explanation because that would mean we aren't organized very well.

Just my two cents.

Otoh, if you just practice vanilla against each other, are you really prepared for the season? Second half of the navy game they blitzed every down, and we shit the bed. Iron sharpens iron

 

[Luckylucci]

Otoh, if you just practice vanilla against each other, are you really prepared for the season? Second half of the navy game they blitzed every down, and we shit the bed. Iron sharpens iron

See, I think this was a part of the plan, to some degree. Just maybe not to that extent.

I would guess it was part of the plan to get that on tape for the offense. Trial by fire if you will. However, if it indeed looked as bad as many have said it did, I don't think that was. You would think with enough of these guys on the team being vets, there would have been a little more punch from the offense.

 

[indianamouse]

See, I think this was a part of the plan, to some degree. Just maybe not to that extent.

I would guess it was part of the plan to get that on tape for the offense. Trial by fire if you will. However, if it indeed looked as bad as many have said it did, I don't think that was. You would think with enough of these guys on the team being vets, there would have been a little more punch from the offense.

Yes you would think they would handle it better, however they now have that experience and can learn. You don’t learn anything just going through the motions.

 

[Irish4life]

Gotta remember that the offense has new coaches at OC, QB, OL; the three most important position coaches on that side of the ball. It's practice 6 for them, it'll come together.

 

[CoachB]

Otoh, if you just practice vanilla against each other, are you really prepared for the season? Second half of the navy game they blitzed every down, and we shit the bed. Iron sharpens iron

Oh, for sure. But there are definitely stages of installation. If you aren't ready for it week 1, that's a problem. If you aren't ready for it April 1st, it doesn't concern me too much.

 

[bobbyok1]

So what we're saying is that Notre Dame's offense is a . . .

 

[indianamouse]

Oh, for sure. But there are definitely stages of installation. If you aren't ready for it week 1, that's a problem. If you aren't ready for it April 1st, it doesn't concern me too much.

I say throw the kitchen sink at the offense, that way they don’t worry about any surprises

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

So what we're saying is that Notre Dame's offense is a . . .

Dumpsterfire Flooding GIF - Dumpsterfire Flooding Fail - Discover & Share GIFs

Click to view the GIF

tenor.com

 

[bobbyok1]

Thanks 🤣 Finally figured it out.

 

[arrowryan]

We’re getting worried because the coaching staff showed frustration during a practice in April?

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

We’re getting worried because the coaching staff showed frustration during a practice in April?

Pretty much the season is lost now, Freeman will be fired and Golden will be interim coach. Was a hell of a report.

 

[Giddyup]

Joe Rudolph was an OC/O Line coach for 7-8 years. You would think he would know how to help organize practices.

Unless Parker is trying to install novel drills.

 

[dublinirish]

Loy very high on Gray and Flores in todays II pod


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[allenm5333]

Loy very high on Gray and Flores in todays II pod


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Would love to see Gray play safety this year. Get your best dbs on the field. Jalen Ramsey did it as a freshman

 

[Luckylucci]

Loy very high on Gray and Flores in todays II pod


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Here I go overanalyzing short video clips but I think Flores looks very good.

I've been forever short Cali skill players at ND. But, I might have to cover that position soon.

 

[GrangerIrish24]

I’ve seen multiple spring practices throughout the years. This is normal. I’d be more concerned if the offense was far better than the defense.

 

[rtrn2glory]

That was a great in-person practice report.
I am curious about one thing: who lined up as "ones" across the OLine, and who lined up as "twos?"
Much appreciated if you remember and can share. Thanks.

From what I can remember. Not totally sure on the guards.


1's left to right:
Alt carmody(until he got banged up) Correl kristofic Fisher

2's left to right:
Baker shrauth (moved to ones after carmody, replaced by a walk on) coogan Spindler and Wagner.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Thank you. Most interesting.

 

[Classic Irish]

although I'm perpetually a doomer about the prospects of ND football, I'm unaffected by any of the bad news coming out of spring camp just because if all the news coming out of spring practice were incredibly positive and reports that this squad was 1988 reborn I wouldn't credit any of it, as I don't think ND-on-ND spring practices tell us anything at all.

and if we go 9-3 this season we need to full on start agitating for Marcus's head to roll and get Deion or Lane on the line to finally bring some swagger back to south bend.

Fire a coach after two 9 win seasons in his first two seasons? Seriously? Deion or Lane at ND? With their baggage you know that will never happen.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Pretty irrelevant thought by me, but I wonder just a little as to why when the OLine was adjusted post injury, they inserted a walk-on rather than say Ashton Craig at second team LG. He seems like a potential interior lineman, so ...

All the rest of the OLine alignment honored "seniority" regarding time already played. We've seen this almost universally at this stage (plus the first weeks of Summer practice during the Kelly era.

 

[Luckylucci]

Loy very high on Gray and Flores in todays II pod


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CANONIZEFATHERSORIN]

Fire a coach after two 9 win seasons in his first two seasons? Seriously? Deion or Lane at ND? With their baggage you know that will never happen.

I mean it would be more of the mediocrity the admin loves and an indisputable regression from the Kelly years Freeman was supposed to build on, so he should at least be on the hot seat. And tell me Coach Prime at ND wouldn't be fucking amazing. He honestly doesn't really have any bad "baggage" in the sense of arrests or major controversies besides the dumb Prime Academy stuff, which seems like something well-intentioned where he just got in over his head.

 

[Irishdrunk]

Fire a coach after two 9 win seasons in his first two seasons? Seriously? Deion or Lane at ND? With their baggage you know that will never happen.

Yea I agree...I don't see that happening. I think Swarbrick likes how he can be the more experience figure in the room against Freeman and dictate to him all of ND's spending concerns.....

 

[Irishdrunk]

On one hand I like the swagger but on the other hand it kind of underscores how empty our WR room is that a Freshman can post this on social media. Maybe I might be wrong, but I bet OSU WR Freshman don't come in with these types of social media posts!! LOL