In December, Mike Denbrock gave the Notre Dame football program and its second-year head coach, Marcus Freeman, a perceptual lighting bolt that keeps on jolting … and giving.
The hiring of the 60-year-old offensive coordinator away from former Irish head coach and current LSU program head Brian Kelly for a third tour of duty with ND emphatically pushed back on the notion that Notre Dame was unwilling to compete and pay for top coaching talent.
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In the bigger picture, it began to coalesce the vibe felt across college football that the Notre Dame administration was no longer being dragged reluctantly but finally in step with the Irish keeping up with or getting ahead of the curve with the seismic evolution in the sport.
In the NIL space. In committing to facility upgrades. In finding a happy medium with the incoming transfer policy. In recruiting-philosophy flexibility. In keeping coveted defensive coordinator Al Golden on board with a lucrative contract extension. And more.
Perhaps the biggest perceptual boost was Denbrock’s proclamation that his return was prompted by his own belief that Notre Dame could win a national title in football — something Kelly’s exit narrative late in 2021 suggested he, himself had ceased buying into. And that Kelly’s former sidekick would make his mission to help the Irish do so under Freeman.
On Wednesday, when Notre Dame kicks off its 2024 preseason camp with a 9:30 a.m. EDT non-padded practice, the reality of Denbrock’s addition starts to overtake the perceptual gains, however that plays out.
And that’s why he tops the 10 people to watch during camp and the on-ramp to Notre Dame’s season opener Aug. 31 at Texas A&M.
While the Notre Dame offense set a school record for total points (509) and touchdowns (66) in a season in 2023, along with the highest average scoring per game (39.2) since 1912 and the sixth-most total yards (5,619) since the Irish took up football more than a century ago, there was something essential missing.
That being a counterpunch against elite defenses and/or defensive coordinators that led to cratering offensive inefficiency in those games under then-first-year offensive coordinator Gerad Parker, now the first-year head coach at Troy.
Quite simply, it’s what most separated the Irish from contending for a playoff spot instead of romping past Oregon State in El Paso, Texas in the consolatory Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
It’s Denbrock’s history since leaving ND the last time, after the 2016 season, to have the ability to minimize the offensive production dips when challenged the most during runs at Cincinnati and LSU. It’s his charge to do it with the Irish.
And the details are formidable. They start with evolving an offensive line, with two ongoing position battles and the prospect of featuring at least four starters — and quite possibly all five — who have less than a full season of starting experience on their résumés. Let alone working together.
They continue with designing and running an offense that will push Duke transfer quarterback Riley Leonard and a deep-but-largely-untested wide receiver corps toward high ceilings the way his offense brought out the best in 2023 Heisman Trophy-winning QB Jayden Daniels and wide receivers Malik Nabors and Brian Thomas Jr., all of whom were first-round NFL Draft choices three months ago.
Daniels’ pre-Denbrock pass efficiency rating was 136.2. It went to 144.5 in year 1 under Denbrock, after transferring in from Arizona State, and an NCAA-record 208.0 last season. His rushing stats spiked from 710 yards to 885 to 1,134 in the same time frame.
Nabors and Thomas made similarly dramatic gains (28 receptions to 72 to 89 for Nabors, 28 to 31 to 68 for Thomas).
Denbrock also provides another veteran presence on the staff to help Freeman evolve his gameday operations, which leads up to No. 2 on the list:
2. Marcus Freeman: Freeman begins traditionally defining year 3 as a head coach at Notre Dame ahead of the curve as a leader, more than adept as a program spokesman, able to attract and retain talent on his roster and better than most of his recent predecessors at assembling a staff that can both develop talent AND recruit it.
Where Freeman must show growth is in his in-game decision-making, in-game operations and being able to win big games on the road.
3. Riley Leonard: The senior has yet to be named the starter, but there were enough whispers and rumblings this summer — and a healthy twice-surgically repaired right ankle, to boot — to reasonably assume that Freeman won’t try to pretend there’s an open competition in training camp.
It’s then on Leonard to take the snippets of growth he showed working with former NFL QB Philip Rivers and winning the Air It Out competition at the Manning Passing Academy into a consistent evolution of a QB who can combine his proven elite running skills with better accuracy and a better command of the deep passing game.
4. Aamil Wagner: The entire offensive line bears watching, because it heads into training camp as the position group that is least resembling part of a playoff team. Wagner, an uber-athletic 6-6, 290-pound (at the start of summer) junior who’s finally approaching the body mass needed for the job, is in a battle at right tackle with grad senior and Sun Bowl starter Tosh Baker.
He has the pedigree, intelligence and talent to overtake Baker this month and become one of the pleasant surprises of the early part of the 2024 season. The Irish, quite frankly, need him to be — and the rest of the O-line as well.
5. Kris Mitchell: In his fourth season as a wide receiver at Florida Atlantic University last season, Mitchell’s elite speed finally translated into a significant spike in explosiveness and production — from 23 catches for 348 yards and 4 TDs in 2022 to 64/1,118/6.
The Irish need those numbers to translate for the grad transfer in 2024 to the big FBS stage. And the more they do at the field receiver position, the more it has the potential to open up the rest of the offense. Think Will Fuller in ND’s 2015 offense run and called by Denbrock in his most recent run at ND.
6. Benjamin Morrison: Freeman said back in June that Morrison, arguably the best player on the 2024 Irish on either side of the ball, wasn’t expected to be 100 percent from spring shoulder surgery until at least mid-August and maybe a bit closer to the Aug. 31 season opener.
In Jaden Mickey and Christian Gray, the Irish have two cornerbacks who could start and excel for most teams, but the depth at the position gets inexperienced very quickly from there — with seldom-used senior Chance Tucker and freshmen Leonard Moore and Karson Hobbs filling out a depth chart hit hard by attrition.
The good news is there’s not expected to be a hiccup in the timeline. And that Morrison, while recovering, has reportedly done a great job of not only helping the other cornerbacks develop, but showing his leadership in doing the same with the safeties and nickels as well — something that should continue into preseason camp.
7. Jordan Botelho: There’s something to be said about the grad senior vyper end’s perseverance over four years — some from self-inflicted adversity, some from being bounced between positions and schemes.
And combined with Botelho’s high pedigree and high motor, maybe 2024 is the season when it shows up prominently and incessantly. He followed a late-season surge in 2023 with a strong spring. If the Sun Bowl Defensive MVP can stack an even better training camp on top of that, he goes from part of an interesting rotation piece, with Junior Tuihalamaka and surging sophomore Boubacar Traore, to perhaps a true difference-maker at ND’s premier pass-rushing position.
8. Jack Kiser: The sixth-year senior linebacker, predictably, helped accelerate the learning curve of a young wave of linebacker talent during the spring and the summer. What’s gone largely unnoticed is how dramatic his own evolution has been, with more size/strength (6-2, 231) than at any time in his career and finally playing the position full-time — weakside linebacker — that plays best to his strengths.
Preseason camp could be another significant step forward for the former high school safety and the rest of the linebacker position group.
9. Jeremiyah Love: The sophomore, and part of a expectedly formidable tag-team sequel to Audric Estimé with junior Jadarian Price, showed intermittent bursts of home-run potential as a freshman backup in 2023 (385 rushing yards, 5.4 per carry).
Not only did those become more consistent and frequent in the spring, Love is becoming more complete. He added 10 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot frame and was at 206 at the start of summer school.
So, now you’re seeing a strong inside game as well as the ability to break tackles on the outside and get into the secondary. He also spent considerable time in the spring and summer cross-training at slot receiver, making him even more versatile and more dangerous. Training camp should provide another checkpoint to see how far that process has progressed since the spring.
10. Mitch Jeter: Like a lot of ND kickers in the spring over the years — when the weather keeps specialists practicing indoors in South Bend’s climate — the South Carolina grad transfer kicker looked a bit underwhelming with his accuracy at times.
But this is a player who has a track record of doing just the opposite when the bright lights are on. He was 23-of-25 on field goals at South Carolina in his two years as the Gamecocks’ top kicking option. And the Irish need him to be that guy this fall.
Predecessor Spencer Shrader had the big leg, setting the school record last season for longest field goal (54), but not the consistency. And at times, that prompted Freeman to go for first downs in some situations where taking a sure three points seemed to be the better option. The 14-10 loss to Ohio State comes to mind.
It’s important for Jeter in August to start to show the kind of form in practice that will give Freeman confidence in close games to test it in those critical situations as well.
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