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Chris Wilson breakdown post Blue Gold Game - Offense
The headline of what we’ve learned in spring camp thus far is that if there’s a clear-cut option at quarterback that information isn’t public or even background knowledge. C.J. Carr looked the best early Saturday amid a mildly frustrating amount of called runs ((Throw The Damn Ball, imo) but both Steve Angeli and Kenny Minchey made plays as the afternoon wore on. Considering how many receivers and offensive linemen missed time for various reasons, this has not been an ideal setting for the staff to do a full evaluation but it seems like they all impressed. (Highlight reel if you missed the game.)
“It was a reflection of how the first 11 practices have been,” Marcus Freeman said of his quarterbacks after the spring game. “Those guys have been battling. They’ve all improved. They’re all doing some really good things. It’s crazy to think you have three guys who can all lead your program to a victory and be your starting quarterback. We’ll evaluate it, talk about it and have discussions moving forward.”
Will one of the trio enter the portal and simplify the decision? Maybe. If no one does, this feels like a legit three-person race as we suspected last time we spoke. However, the head coach said his preference would be to cut it down to two by the time August rolled around.
“You would like to be able to kind of go into the fall with a two-quarterback battle,” Freeman added. “It’s really hard with a three-quarterback battle. We have to sit down and have conversations about what’s best for our program and our quarterbacks. And we’ll make those decisions in the future.”
That makes it sound like someone might be asked/urged to transfer? But you could read that as him saying despite preferring a two-man race in ideal times that what is actually “best for our program and our quarterbacks” is having all three compete through the summer. We’ll know what the correct interpretation is soon enough.
Because of when spring camp started and where Easter falls, there will be three more practices, versus most years when Blue-Gold serves as the final “practice.” Freeman said in the postgame press conference that they weren’t actively planning on going to the portal for any additional players but would be monitoring to have conversations if an obvious value add appeared.
Other additional news since we last spoke and perhaps the most important non-quarterback update: They’re selling beer at Notre Dame Stadium this fall. Pretty good The Shirt, too. Font kind of implies we’re putting a party together to kill a dragon and protect the fae but solid shade of green and art.
While quarterback is the most important position, we should look at this team in the macro. Let’s take stock of this roster by attempting to estimate whether each position group will be Better, Worse or roughly the Same as last season. For the purposes here, I’m assuming good health unless there has been a track record of injury. The transfer portal is open for a while longer (and remember that graduates can enter it at any time) but the analysis below assumes no major movement with a couple of noted exceptions. If there are major changes, please make the necessary adjustments. There will be pleasant surprises this summer with players emerging and probably less fortunate news with injuries but we’ll go on our best guesses now.
Quarterback: We’ll circle back to this a bit further down the page.
Running back: Last year Notre Dame had a top three of Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price and Aneyas Williams, which was one of the best running back rooms in the nation. This year they’ll have a top three of Love, Price and Williams, with Love having a firm case as the top tailback in all of college football. Seems good? Kedren Young is a power runner who could find his way in as the short yardage back and will at the very least be fun to watch truck the opposition in garbage time. If Gi’Bran Payne sticks around, this is probably the deepest room in the country and that’s an epithet that likely sticks even if he doesn’t. Heck, four-star early enrollee Nolan James, Jr. had three catches for 60 yards on Saturday.
This is same as a baseline with clear Better upside, and you could get some juice at the margins because new running back coach Ja’Juan Seider is less likely to sub out the Fighting Irish’s best offensive player on key downs. I could see there being a negative effect from not having an A+ runner at quarterback to keep the defense wobbling but improvements in the offensive line should hopefully mitigate that.
Wide receiver: It’s reasonable to assume Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison will be better as juniors than sophomores, especially Greathouse, who was so good against two of the best defenses in the country to close the playoffs. Between graduations and transfers out, there isn’t much left from last year’s rotation other than K.K. Smith, who had three catches in blowouts.
On the rising sophomore front, people were very excited for Micah Gilbert but he broke his hand at the start of spring practice — a minor issue for a receiver — so it’ll be a big August for him. This is giving Cam Williams, a top recruit from his class, more time. It would be a very, very good sign for this program if Williams earned his way into the rotation. There’s also Logan Saldate, and then expecting much from early enrollee freshmen Elijah Burress, Jerome Bettis, Jr. or Scrap Richardson (wonderful nickname that’s being used on the official roster to go with a touchdown on Saturday) is probably a big ask, although Burress was really active in both the Blue-Gold Game and the scrimmage the media saw earlier this month.
Two transfers are certain to be in the rotation. We played a version of this game last April but let’s expand it. These are recent FBS wide receiver seasons.
Player A is Beaux Collins’ 2023 season at Clemson and Player B was Kaleb Smith’s 2022 season at Virginia Tech, which immediately preceded their transfers to Notre Dame. Collins was solid (with some key catches against SEC teams) and Smith never took a snap. Player C is incoming transfer Malachi Fields in 2023 and Player D is Fields in 2024. Fields won’t formally join the team until summer as he finishes up his degree but there’s reason to believe a third time will be the charm with an ACC boundary receiver transfer.Player A: 38 catches for 510 yards and three touchdowns
Player B: 37 catches for 674 yards and three touchdowns
Player C: 58 catches for 811 yards and five touchdowns
Player D: 55 catches for 808 yards and five touchdowns
Wisconsin’s Will Pauling is a smaller slot but had a super productive 2023 (74 for 837 and six touchdowns) before slipping a bit in 2024 with some drop issues and a bad quarterback situation after the Badger starter went down early in the year. That 2023 season came under the tutelage of current Notre Dame wide receiver coach Mike Brown so let’s plan on a rebound.
This is a Better because the combination of a top four of Greathouse/Fields/Faison/Pauling could be very legit but there is a downside with any sort of injury. Looming issue here is a better top four versus last year but no depth emerges to replicate last season's broader rotation. Will need others to step into the supporting roles but there’s potential.
Tight end: This room suffered from injuries last year, as Mitchell Evans wasn’t back to form from the previous season post-ACL surgery* and Cooper Flanagan was dinged up before an Achilles injury in the Sugar Bowl ended his playoff run. Eli Raridon got much better as a blocker as the season went on and if he combines that with his upside as a receiver while staying healthy he has a chance to be a Mackey contender. Transfer Ty Washington (more of a blocker) is coming in from Arkansas and Kevin Bauman is back for his sixth year.
* Evans was rounding into form by the end of the season, with his three best receiving performances coming against the Trojans, Nittany Lions and Buckeyes.
If you want upside outside of the starter, it will likely have to come from one of the younger players (Jack Larsen or James Flanigan). Nice flashes from Larsen and Bauman on Saturday. If Raridon is healthy all season, I think this room will be Better, but any sort of issue with him and it likely nets out to same. Are we really going to go two years in a row without a standout tight end? Doesn’t seem possible, so I’m betting on Raridon.
Offensive line: Last year’s slew of injuries allowed so many guys to get experience that three starters for a 14-win team (Rocco Spindler, Pat Coogan, Sam Pendleton) all transferred out to power schools (Nebraska, Indiana, Tennessee respectively, so two playoff teams) because they weren’t projected to be in the first five. Most of last year’s injuries seemed pretty fluky so let’s pray that was the case, giving us a starting lineup of Aamil Wagner, Anthonie Knapp, Charles Jagusah, Billy Schrauth and Ashton Craig. That has the potential to be one of the best units in the country.
But as we know from last season, some depth is necessary. There was hope rising sophomore and Very Large Person Guerby Lambert could potentially wedge his way in as starting left tackle, but a recent shoulder injury will keep him sidelined for at least a portion of summer. Joe Otting and Sullivan Absher are your interior depth options, and five-star freshman tackle Will Black arrives in June. The conventional wisdom is you don’t want to play freshmen on the line but after Knapp, Joe Alt and Blake Fisher in recent years, maybe that needs reconsidered if they’re ready.
All evidence points to this being an easy Better but injury concerns are flitting around my brain.
Quarterback: I wanted to talk about the offensive line and wide receiver before we discussed the most important position because their success will likely decide how we view this. If those two units take big steps up and we’ve got talented guys getting open while protection is strong amid some slick play-action, then I think the narrative will be along the lines of “Well, Riley Leonard was nice, but it’s great to have a big-time vertical passing game again.” However, if there are any issues with either, you’re going to have a quarterback who has at most one career start trying to make off-script plays.
Let’s say this falls in the middle and this nets out as a Same as far as total production/effectiveness, but the paths getting to that level look very different. There’s also some potential downside here if the staff bungles the rotation, which has happened to far more experienced head coaches over the years. Leonard didn’t just clean things up at the margins but served as a beloved leader and galvanizing force for the team. Can you achieve that with a starter race that seems like it’s going to go into mid-August? If this ends up being a clear better than last season, I’ll see you all in South Bend the weekend before Christmas.
