SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The offensive line battles, injuries, angst and speculation concerning the ultra-scrutinized position group have so dominated the Notre Dame football conversation through the first week-plus of training camp, everything else feels like an afterthought.
Even what’s happening, for instance, at the quarterback position with Duke transfer Riley Leonard and his evolution.
Not that the attention on the big bodies is unwarranted. It’s the most unfinished product on a team with College Football Playoff aspirations and seemingly a roster to fulfill them. … all the more likely if the O-line can get in step.
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But here’s a sampling of some of the other fun, intriguing and/or consequential storylines from Irish preseason camp, now roughly three weeks out from the Aug. 31 season opener at Texas A&M.
Starting with Leonard and how some of his teammates view him.
“There’s one moment that sticks out,” tight end Eli Raridon said of Leonard’s competitiveness. “When we had our testing day here, we were running 20-yard sprints, vertical jump, broad jump, all that. He went up to [wide receiver] Beaux Collins; they wanted to bet $5 for every test, whoever wins.
“After every time, he’d go up to Beaux: ‘What’d you get? What’d you get?’ Beaux was probably the worst person to compete with on that, because he’s probably the most athletically gifted person on the team. I don’t think Riley ended up winning any of them, but he was competitive with that.”
And this from freshman running back Aneyas Williams on Leonard’s leadership:
“I want to say a big thing happened today,” Williams said last week. “Just holding us accountable, no matter what age. Me and Riley had a tempo period, and I lined up on the wrong side. He switched me over, and after he’s like, ‘You good?’
“Just reassured me and checked me through some things. Just the reassurance and holding everybody to the same standard. That’s what you want in your quarterback. He’s a leader, and he’s not going to step down to nobody. Emphasizing the importance of accountability and holding everybody accountable.”
Freshman Kedren Young and his quest to be the big, third-down running back option — but not too big:
“I’m just challenging him,” running backs coach Deland McCullough said of his 6-foot-1, now 227-pound freshman, who looks chiseled at that weight. “What I’ve seen in high school, I want to see translate over here. ‘You were the tackle-breaker, a guy with great feet and a tackle-breaker. I need to see that now. Like, immediately.’
“And it was good to see him come out there and do that. So now the next challenge for him is just running with pad level, because in high school he could just be a big, strong guy and run high. Here, I said, ‘Man, all these guys ain’t going to turn it down, and they’ll run through your chest.' So, we’re going to work on continuing to get his pad level down, but he accepted the challenge of ‘I want to see you right now, immediately, run hard’.”
There was a point, though, shortly after arriving when Young got too big. Literally.
“I gained like 20 pounds when I got here,” he said before missing most of spring practice with a pulled hamstring. “So, I was like 238 at one point. And there were a lot of thoughts of maybe I was like too big. I’ve never handled that weight before. So, when I was running and I turned, that’s when I felt the pull. So, it was probably just the weight. I mean, who knows, but that’s a big factor when I haven’t handled that weight before.”
Director of football performance Loren Landow and associate director of sports nutrition Alexa Appelman helped get Young back on track.
“They helped so much with getting me better and getting me fully healthy,” Young said, with cutting out fried foods and sweets some of the most productive advice. “[When I arrived in January], I’ve never had that much food in my face before. So, I was just … I mean, if it’s there, I’m going to just eat it. That’s what I was just doing, and I looked on the scale one day and I’m like, ‘ohhhh, whoaaaa.’”
Loren Landow’s influence on the program:
Speaking of Landow, when players are asked about Landow’s impact, the responses are universally positive, if not outright gushing about his time in the Notre Dame program, beginning in January.
What’s not universal is the substance of their answers. Because Landow’s approach is so position-specific and even individual-specific in some cases, how they feel he’s improved their game tends to be quite varied.
Raridon probably offered the assessment that was closest to a common experience among the players.
“His lifting program is amazing,” the tight end said. “You can just tell you’re in such better shape. Some of those are fast tempo. He does different power days, where we’re lifting a lot of weight. I can just tell, I feel better right now. I feel really in shape. He’s really smart with what he does.
“He makes sure we all feel good. He doesn’t push his limits, but he gets us to the point where we are going as hard as we can without being stupid. He’s been amazing, in my opinion. He’s done a really good job this winter and summer.”
Kicker Mitch Jeter gets into the swing of things:
While trying different holder and long snapper combinations this summer to maximize his kicking swing, the South Carolina grad transfer kicker still had time to work on his golf swing …
To the point, in fact, that a university donor mistook him for a member of the Irish men’s golf team when they happened to get grouped together for a round at Notre Dame’s Warren Golf Course.
Now, Jeter had been playing golf since age 7 or 8, and was on two North Carolina state championship teams at the Cannon School in Concord, N.C. And yet …
“It was kind of random,” he said. “I was trying to get a single tee time, and they paired me with Mike Golic and two of the other donors. They asked me if I was on the team on the second tee box. I was, ‘Yeah, I’m on the team.’
“And they’re like, ‘Oh, nice.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, the football team.’ That was kind of the difference-maker there, where they realized I was not on the golf team.”
As far as his football prowess, Jeter was 23-of-25 on field goals during his time at the University of South Carolina. He also happens to be one of the few players or coaches associated with the ND football program who have played at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field. And he’s done so twice, in 2021 and 2023.
“It’s a great place to play,” he said. “I would rate it [with] anyplace you should go and play as any team. It’s a great atmosphere. It’s a great environment.
“I try to go out there and do the same kick process that I have in practice, even on my own, in every single game. I try to go out there, no matter where it is, whether it’s on the practice field or the biggest stadium we’ve ever played in. I want to go out there every time and just execute and do my job, and I feel like I can do that with my mindset.”
Why Jayden Harrison came to Notre Dame:
Harrison’s speed easily translated for him to special teams at his former school, Marshall. The grad transfer wide receiver was second nationally in kickoff return average at 30.7 per return on 23 of them in 2023, with two touchdowns.
But given the buzz he’s created with his speed as a slot receiver in practices, both in the spring and even more so in fall camp, Harrison’s usage and production in that area (28 catches, 410 yards, 1 TD in 2023) at Marshall seems strangely untapped, or at least under-tapped.
Why?
”Coaches coach and players play,” Harrison said with a smile and a shrug.
But his desire to be more than just an elite special-teamer, Harrison admitted, led him to Notre Dame.
”I came here, because Mike Brown is an established receiver coach,” he said. “He’ll help me hone in on my skills and focus on the details to become more polished as a receiver.”
Arizona State transfer Jordan Clark, for one, has taken notice. Clark is Notre Dame’s starting nickel and regularly has to defend Harrison and the other slots in practice.
“Jayden Harrison is just insanely fast,” Clark said. “He’s an insanely explosive person. Yeah man, and he works on his game too. For this summer I think he was really crafting, working how to run routes and how to get open. I think he’s been doing that. He’s really good.”
Why Devyn Ford stayed at Notre Dame:
Ranked as the No. 40 prospect overall nationally in the 2019 class per Rivals, former Penn State running back Devyn Ford is not only the highest-ranked running back in a Notre Dame running back stable stocked with former four-star recruits, only freshman tackle Guerby Lambert (37) had a higher ranking among all offensive players on the ND roster coming out of high school.
And yet the big numbers anticipated of him at Penn State never happened. Nor did much playing time come his way in 2023, beyond special teams, after Ford transferred to Notre Dame ahead of the ‘23 season.
He garnered just 12 offensive touches — eight carries for 44 yards and four receptions for 34 yards and a TD.
And yet he came back for more, accepted a spring move to safety, and then happily accepted a summer move back to running back after Gi’Bran Payne tore an ACL in the Blue-Gold Game in April.
And with smiles all the while.
“I didn't know what to expect necessarily coming to Notre Dame,” he said. “Last year, I think it honestly exceeded my expectations in terms of what this university had to offer. I thought I had everything coming from a big institution like PSU, but I didn't have it all.
“When you come here, you realize there is a lot more to grab out there in the world. A lot more things to continue to learn and grow as the person you truly want to be.
“I think coming here definitely made me fulfill all those aspects of my life. It helped me carry that good mojo, mentality and the appreciation to play this game again. Coming from Penn State, coming here, it made me appreciate the season, players, staff and everything around me. I found more love for it."
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