Friday Five: Notre Dame offensive line deserves some time, patience
There are four quarters and an overtime period worth of evidence Notre Dame’s offensive line will take some time to find itself.
As anticipated.
The Irish couldn’t run the ball at Florida State. They gave up four sacks. They allowed pressure on 26.2 percent of Jack Coan’s drop-backs.
Sounds about right for a line with four new starters that lost its left tackle mid-game to injury. It was a bumpy first outing. But one that was still short of disastrous, contained some good moments and still ended in a Notre Dame win. One that shouldn’t provoke shuffling on the line just yet. Blake Fisher’s meniscus injury has already forced one change anyway.
I’ve mentioned 2018 as a comparison and standard for the 2021 line. The Irish replaced two top-10 picks that year and broke in new starters at the tackle spots. There’s now another similarity: injury. The 2018 group lost guard Alex Bars for the season in late September. Fisher will miss about eight weeks.
Notre Dame’s running backs averaged 2.96 yards per carry in the 2018 opener vs. Michigan. They averaged 4.3 the next week against Ball State, a middling number against a Mid-American Conference defense. In the end, the line blocked well enough for running back Dexter Williams to average 6.3 yards per carry.
Left tackle Liam Eichenberg allowed 14 pressures with three sacks in his first five starts. He surrendered just nine pressures and zero sacks in the final eight games. Right tackle Robert Hainsey gave up 11 pressures in his first four starts and one the rest of the way.
This is a unit that often needs in-season growth. Offensive line coach Jeff Quinn has overseen it before. It’s no lock to happen in 2021 just because it happened in 2018, of course, but the next two weeks’ opponents allow some room for patience.
The in-season run-blocking progress in 2018 is reason to give this group another couple games, especially if you take head coach Brian Kelly at his word about most of the run-blocking issues at Florida State stemming from communication.
Eichenberg and Hainsey’s eventual stabilization is reason to stick with sophomore Michael Carmody for a little while, even after a rough debut in relief of Fisher. Notre Dame liked his growth during fall camp too.
Messy blocking and uninspiring rushing outputs against Toledo and Purdue might necessitate changes heading into a three-game stretch against sturdy defenses that begins Sept. 25 vs. Wisconsin.
For now, it’s all about coaching this group to take a step forward. There’s enough talent to be a passable unit that doesn’t allow its running backs to be hit at the line on 72 percent of their carries or gain 83 percent of their yards after contact.
2. The future at wide receiver
Life comes at you fast.
Thursday’s wide receiver attrition brings Notre Dame to seven scholarship players and zero sophomore or juniors at the position. The Irish have four seniors (including a graduate), three freshmen and zero margin for injuries. They’re fortunate the freshman class has impressed early and is not a repeat of last year, when neither Jordan Johnson nor Xavier Watts were ready to play.
The 2022 picture could be similarly thin. It’s hard to see senior starters Kevin Austin Jr. and Braden Lenzy returning as graduate students if they put forth strong seasons this year. Avery Davis coming back for a sixth year is no lock.
Notre Dame’s 2022 receiver class has three commitments. Watts’ move to rover and Lawrence Keys III’s departure make it even more important to get a fourth, and perhaps a fifth. Notre Dame won’t just take another receiver just for the sake of numbers, but there’s no reason the Irish should find themselves limited to players who are “just a guy” if they need to expand the board.
Help may not just come from the 2022 class. Receiver is the now most logical spot to add a grad transfer this offseason.
It’s possible Notre Dame feels confident enough in freshmen Lorenzo Styles Jr. and Deion Colzie to start next year. Joe Wilkins Jr. would be a prime candidate to start if he returns for a fifth year. A grad transfer would provide insurance if one or none of those happens and would add experience to a potentially underclass-heavy group.
As for Keys’ decision, it’s peculiar considering he has already taken a redshirt. He does not preserve a year of eligibility by leaving now. But he’s acting in what he feels is his best interest and will leave with a degree. I’m not going to pretend to know what’s best for him better than he does.
3. New-look linebackers
Life comes at you fast, Part 2.
These were Kelly’s first remarks of fall camp about the Irish’s linebacker unit: “We're so deep at that position. I’ve asked [defensive coordinator] Marcus [Freeman] 10 times, how are we going to get all these guys involved?”
One month and two days later, the linebacker depth chart lists a just-converted wide receiver (Watts) as a co-starter at rover and a freshman initially expected to redshirt (Prince Kollie) as the No. 2 Will linebacker. JD Bertrand, the No. 1 Will linebacker, was originally the No. 2.
In that span, Notre Dame lost three linebackers to season-ending injuries. Junior Marist Liufau suffered a lower leg fracture on the last day of camp. Senior Shayne Simon (torn labrum) and senior Paul Moala (torn Achilles) were injured in the opener at Florida State.
The depth luxury is gone. But it’s also on display right now. Notre Dame can field a skilled and largely effective linebacker unit even after losing Liufau, Moala and Simon. Liufau appeared primed for a breakout season. Moala was one of three co-starters at rover on the opening-week depth chart. Simon was a backup and the No. 3 Will before Liufau’s injury, but an experienced one who had a good offseason.
Kollie’s timeline is accelerated and Watts’ move is sudden, but their opportunities will likely be small roles. Simon played just eight snaps before his injury. Moala did not see the field on defense.
Notre Dame is comfortable leaning on its starters. Bertrand played 70 of the Irish’s 76 defensive snaps at Florida State and made a team-high 11 tackles. Mike linebackers Drew White and Bo Bauer combined for 77 snaps. Rovers Jack Kiser and Isaiah Pryor totaled 68. That’s still five seemingly dependable players — about the normal size for a linebacker rotation. Kiser has cross-trained at the middle linebacker spots too.
4. Peacock
Yahoo! Sports Pete Thamel wrote an informative story on what Notre Dame and NBC hope to gain by placing Saturday’s game against Toledo on Peacock Premium.
In essence, NBC — which proposed the idea — is giving up a TV ratings asset for one game to see how Notre Dame fans respond to the idea of paying to watch their team. It could be valuable information when NBC negotiates its next contract with Notre Dame.
As Sunday’s Notre Dame-Florida State game confirmed, the Irish are a ratings magnet. It drew an average of 7.75 million viewers. Notre Dame’s home game vs. Clemson last year drew more than 10 million. That’s a lot of potential pay-per-view money.
To make customers pay for something that has been free, though, there must be some kind of value addition or enhancement. That appears to be the pregame kickoff show Notre Dame announced this week. The show will include clips of Kelly mic’d up, a Jack Swarbrick interview and more items not on the regular NBC pregame. NBC understood it can’t just take the same telecast people get for free and throw it behind a paywall.
I’m not sure this game will make up NBC’s mind with how to pitch its next coverage package to Notre Dame or give Notre Dame a definitive conclusion about streaming as an option for its next media rights deal. This is Notre Dame vs. Toledo. Not the Irish vs. Clemson or USC. But both sides — and college athletics as a whole — will eagerly await the numbers.
5. J.J. Starling
Mike Brey picked up four-star 2022 La Lumiere (Ind.) guard J.J. Starling in a Ferrari last week to take him to his Notre Dame official visit. Thursday, Brey and all three Notre Dame assistants visited Starling on the first day of the fall open recruiting period.
If that didn’t make it clear, Starling is the Irish’s top 2022 target. They’re pitching him on being the face of their class — which has a lot riding on him.
Notre Dame won’t host four-star Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic guard Rodney Rice on a visit this month after all. A couple other guards it offered committed elsewhere recently, which I don’t think Notre Dame saw as crushing news.
It’s Starling or bust at guard in a class that needs to be sizable and needs a lead guard. Notre Dame has to beat out Duke, Syracuse, Northwestern and Stanford for him. The Blue Devils sent soon-to-be head coach Jon Scheyer to see him Thursday as well.
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