SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The first 23 defensive snaps of Notre Dame freshman safety Kennedy Urlacher’s college career on Saturday drew considerable buzz on social media.
Turns out the Irish coaching staff had a similar reaction to his debut, following ND engineering the worst loss in Purdue’s 137-year football history, 66-7, Saturday at West Lafayette, Ind.
“Man, he’s a ballhawk,” ND head coach Marcus Freeman said, speaking about the son of NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher during the coaches weekly look-ahead press conference. “He finds a way to find the ball, close space. He’s a really good tackler. I challenged our [coaches], even on special teams: Can we get him out there more?”
And Urlacher, with three tackles and a pass breakup, wasn’t alone among the freshman class in coaxing that sentiment.
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Cornerback Leonard Moore — who had played five snaps previously, Aug. 31 against Texas A&M — was lauded for his play in 21 snaps against the Boilermakers. So was defensive end Bryce Young for his 21 at the injury-diluted field end spot.
On offense freshman O-lineman Guerby Lambert at right tackle played 23 snaps in relief of starter Aamil Wagner, and that caught Freeman’s eye.
In all nine freshmen made their Notre Dame debuts Saturday in either an offensive or defensive role. That included walk-on wide receiver and men’s lacrosse crossover Matt Jeffery. A 10th freshman, linebacker Teddy Rezac, made his first college appearance playing on special teams.
There’s no presumption about how many freshmen, or deeper reserves for that matter, can be seamlessly worked into the game plan this week when 0-2 Miami (Ohio) visits Notre Dame Stadium. Start time on Saturday is 3:30 p.m. EDT on NBC/Peacock.
The Redhawks, after all, were picked in preseason to win the Mid-American Conference, two spots ahead of where current 23rd-ranked Northern Illinois was projected to finish. The Huskies (2-0) are the lone MAC team to take down the Irish in 11 games against that Group of 5 conference, doing so by a 16-14 score on Sept. 7 that Freeman said still resonates with his team.
“It can’t take a loss to have the mentality that we have to have mentally and physically to prepare the right way for an opponent,” Freeman said. “We have to be able to move past the previous game and really start the preparation the right way, starting today, as we meet with them this afternoon.
“As I said last week, we can be a really good football team. We’ve got work to do. Let’s evaluate the film the right way. Let’s come up with a plan to attack and fix the issues that we have and continue to prepare and respect your opponent. And know that at any point, you could beat any team you play and you could lose to any team you play. That’s the beauty of college football. We’ve got to prepare and understand that as we prepare.”
There are some freshmen who will have to prepare more out of necessity. With starting grad senior vyper end Jordan Botelho lost for the balance of the season Saturday with a knee injury, freshman Loghan Thomas’ development becomes more front-burner.
And with junior field end Josh Burnham (ankle) listed as questionable for the second straight week and starter and Duke transfer RJ Oben trying to gain traction in a new system, Young has a real opportunity to reshuffle the depth chart and make an impact.
Then there are players such as Moore, behind preseason All-American Benjamin Morrison at the boundary cornerback, and Urlacher, behind ascending sophomore Adon Shuler at safety, who are playing well enough to make the coaching staff try to figure out how to get them on the field more in higher-leverage situations.
“Leonard Moore continues to improve,” Freeman said. “He had a strong fall camp. You have so much confidence in Benjamin Morrison and Christian Gray and Jaden Mickey. It’s like where can we find a way to get Leonard Moore on the field more? Because he is a talented guy.
“Same thing with Kennedy Urlacher. He played really well. But then you say, ‘OK, you’ve got Adon out there. You’ve got X [Xavier Watts]. You’ve got Rod Heard. It’s: Where can we find a place for those guys?
“But they’re earning it. They’re good football players that we’re going to need to be ready to help us.”
Winning the waiting game
Backup kicker/punter Eric Goins, saw his first game action on Saturday, since the 2015 season when the now 30-year-old walk-on transfer was playing for The Citadel.
His NCAA clock paused while serving seven years in the United States Army as an active-duty officer.
Against Purdue, Goins kicked off three times in relief of Mitch Jeter, with two of those going for touchbacks.
Grad senior tight end Kevin Bauman didn’t have to wait quite that long between games in which he was a participant, but it might have felt that way.
The last game Bauman saw action in was Sept. 17, 2022 against Cal. The last time he had caught a pass was the week before in an Irish loss to Marshall. The last time he had caught a TD pass was his senior season (2019) at Red Bank (N.J.) Catholic High School.
On Saturday at Purdue, he checked all three boxes, playing 20 snaps in ND’s 66-7 runaway win and snagging an eight-yard strike from backup QB Steve Angeli eight seconds into the fourth quarter.
In between his ND appearances, Bauman suffered two ACL tears. And he suffered a near-season-long leg injury in the 2021 season.
“It's great to see him get a reward,” Freeman said, “to see him out there, to see him catch a touchdown and to see the way his teammates celebrate. That tells you a lot about Kevin. Every person on that sideline was excited for him, and I'm happy he was able to achieve that.”
Bauman is one of three remaining Irish players with a COVID exemption-year option in his pocket. The other two are backup offensive tackle Tosh Baker and All-America safety Xavier Watts.
Vyper end Jordan Botelho, out for the season, was using his and could petition the NCAA for a do-over if he so chooses.
Steve Angeli by the numbers
The Steve Angeli admiration society continues to grow after his 2024 season debut Saturday at Purdue. And so does the junior backup quarterback’s statistical prowess.
After coming in for starter Riley Leonard at the start of the third quarter, with the Irish already up 42-0, Angeli went 6-of-9 in passing at the controls of the Irish offense for 100 yards and two TDs.
That gives the 6-foot-2, 208-pound Westfield, N.J. product a career 223.5 pass-efficiency rating covering 11 games, with one of those a start — the 40-8 waxing over Oregon State in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 29.
How that breaks down is a 75.5% completion percentage (40-of-53) for 604 yards and a 9-to-1 TD to interception ratio.
Sophomore Kenny Minchey and freshman CJ Carr each got four snaps Saturday after Angeli’s run was over.
“He played really well, which I knew he would,” Freeman said of Angeli. “We have a lot of confidence in Steve Angeli. He made good decisions, took care of the ball. I know he wishes that he wouldn't have taken those [three] sacks, but, man, I was really pleased and proud of the way Steve played.”
Protracted adjustment
Australian import punter James Rendell’s sensational summer and fall camp hasn’t much resembled his 2024 season to date.
Three games into the season, the 24-year-old sits 70th nationally (37.1) on punting average among the 72 FBS punters who have enough attempts to qualify. And as a team, ND is 94th out of 133 in net punting (39.1).
“James is a guy that has so much talent,” Freeman said. “He can do so many things with the football, and we really have to evaluate what we're asking him to do. It's the same thing we talk about on offense and defense. As coaches, we know the talent he has.
“We haven't put it all together in the games. Let's evaluate what we're asking him to do. I know he can punt across the field. I know he can do spiral punts. I know he can do end-over-end punts. But what we;ve got to do is call the things that he can do in the game.
“That's on us, as coaches. We’ve got to put him in a better position and ask him to do the things that he does well, get experience and then we can have him do all these different types of punts.”
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