SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The irony is that Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman suddenly could really use another healthy running back for the Blue-Gold Game on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium.
And instead of pulling June-arriving freshman Jeremiyah Love out of the stands, a week after he ran a personal best 10.56 100-meter dash last weekend at the Kansas Relays, Freeman could skip the NCAA repercussions by asking Chris Tyree to at least be a safety net for the Blue team.
The 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior is actually unselfish enough to likely say yes to nose guard if he were asked.
Where Tyree is likely to spend most of his time, though, during the 15th and final Irish spring practice — and the only one to be streamed live on Peacock (2 p.m. EDT) — is at his new position, slot receiver.
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BLUE-GOLD GAME
Where: At Notre Dame Stadium
When: Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT
TV: Streaming on Peacock | Tony Simeone (Play-By-Play), Kyle Rudolph (Analyst), Caroline Pineda (Sideline Reporter), and Kyle Hamilton (Sideline Reporter)
Radio: SiriusXM Channel 380, SXM Internet Channel 970, locally at Sports Radio 960, and a live stream at wsbtradio.com and the free WSBT Radio app | Darin Pritchett (Play-By-Play), Eric Hansen (Analyst)
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In what started as an experiment this spring — and evolved into an exercise in patience, perseverance and humility — is suddenly feeling like home.
“I would say I've had my ups and downs, for sure,” Tyree said earlier this week. “But I've loved every moment of it. I've had a lot of fun since the transition, so I've enjoyed every part of it so far.”
And slot receiver is now loving him back.
“He is miles ahead of what any of us thought,” ND wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey said. “He’s actually pretty natural playing the wide receiver position and learning how to catch the ball different now. I gave him examples of when I was at Clemson, as a quarterback switching to receiver.
“So, I know the things he’s going through. I was used to seeing everything in front of me. Now everything’s kind of behind me as I turn my back to the defense. What do I do and how do I catch it to knife forward? And after we had that talk, he has adjusted so well and he’s embraced it and he loves it.”
Tyree had 56 receptions (for 461 yards and 4 TDs) in three years as a Notre Dame running back, good for eighth place on the career receptions list for running backs.
“It’s a different mindset,” he said of slot receiver.
Different pre-snap reads. Different kinds of routes. Different passing angles. And for good measure, Tyree switched to a different uniform number (was 25, now 2).
He’s about seven pounds lighter than the 197 he played at last year and ran for 444 yards on 100 carries as ND’s third-leading rusher. And he said he feels faster.
“I think it's because I'm running so much,” he said. “Something similar to a track practice. There's so much running, so much volume. So, you have no choice but to work that kind of technique and get back into that speed training. I've liked it so far.”
Actually, Tyree liked the concept of trying a new position when it was first posed to him by the offense staff this winter. Once offensive coordinator Tommy Rees left for Alabama in early February, new offensive coordinator Gerad Parker picked up the idea and helped make it happen.
“Anything that my team needs me to do, I'm going to be able to support it no matter what,” Tyree said.
His departure from the running back room leaves five for the fall, including the top two rushers for 2022 — juniors Audric Estimé and Logan Diggs — along with last year’s Blue-Gold Game breakout star, Jadarian Price, sophomore Gi’Bran Payne and Love, a four-star prospect from St, Louis.
Only Payne and Estimé among them are available and/or eligible for Saturday’s game. Walk-ons Chase Ketterer and Skip Velotta have been scratched as well.
The wide receiver corps will have all eight scholarship options available, plus junior Lorenzo Styles playing both cornerback and wide receiver Saturday. A ninth receiver, Kaleb “KK” Smith, will join the group in June as an incoming freshman.
At a minimum, the coaching staff felt Tyree could give them depth and some production. His accelerated growth curve has turned him into a chess piece.
“Now we can move guys around, so [Jayden Thomas] is not locked into the slot,” Stuckey said. “So, he can play into the boundary or to the field. I think for [Thomas] to grow as a player, being in the boundary or to the field — but not just in the slot, period—is going to excel his game and give us more of an opportunity as an offense.
“If you can get him and Chris Tyree and Tobias [Merriweather] on the field, or a combination of such, then you have all your best players on the field.”
Tyree’s rise also made the notion of Styles — ND’s leading returning receiver — moving to corner on a permanent basis palatable. And Tyree gives credit to former Irish running back-turned-wide receiver Amir Carlisle will helping his ascent.
Carlisle was hired as Notre Dame’s director of player development two days before spring practice started.
“Having him in my corner, having him on staff has been really helpful for me,” Tyree said. “He's experienced things that I've experienced before in this position.
“As a kid, I always grew up watching Tavon Austin, Reggie Bush, guys like that. People that you can just give them the ball anywhere, and they can just make stuff happen. I feel like that's what's expected of me in this position right now, just because I'm going to be in space a lot. There's going to be a lot of opportunities out there. So just me being able to take advantage of it is where I'm working right now.”
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Injured Players
WR Jack Polian
RB Logan Diggs
RB Chase Ketterer
RB Jadarian Price
RB Skip Velotta
TE Kevin Bauman
TE Mitchell Evans
TE Justin Fisher
TE Barret Liebentritt
TE Eli Raridon
TE Charlie Selna
OT Ty Chan
NG Devan Houstan
LB Jack Kiser
LB Prince Kollie
CB Christian Gray
CB Cam Hart
S Thomas Harper
S Ben Minich
S Adon Shuler
S Eddie Scheidler
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