SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Pat Coogan’s words, when put in front of the media on Tuesday night, carried a powerful message about the potential of Notre Dame’s reshuffled offensive line to not only carry on, but to evolve.
Apparently the 6-foot-5, 310-pound senior’s actions so far this week are syncing up. And so are those of fellow senior replacement starter Rocco Spindler.
“We picked up right where we left off, and they did a great job,” Irish coach Marcus Freeman said during his weekly Thursday Zoom call with the media, “and had two really great days of practice this week.
“I know that there's a comfort, obviously, knowing that guy who's inside of you if I’m a tackle, and obviously the communication between the center and the guard [is key]. That is something that there's nothing that can expedite that process but time. But the progress of our entire offensive line, it won't stop. I think it just picked up right where we left off.”
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Coogan will make career start No. 14 on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium for the 17th-ranked Irish (2-1) against Miami, Ohio (0-2), but his first-ever at center and his first at any position since lining up for 13 straight games in the 2023 season at left guard.
Spindler, meanwhile, will start at right guard, the position at which he started 10 games in 2023 before a knee injury ended his season in early November. They’ll be stepping in for center Ashton Craig (left knee) and right guard Billy Schrauth (right ankle), both of whom went down with injuries at Purdue last Saturday in the 66-7 road romp over the Boilermakers.
Start time on NBC/Peacock for the third-ever football meeting between the two schools is 3:30 p.m. EDT.
Craig’s injury is season-ending. Scharuth is expected back sometime next month.
Both Coogan and Spindler entered training camp on July 31 competing for the left guard starting spot. But about halfway through camp, sophomore Sam Pendleton became a contender and eventually overtook them.
When Notre Dame opened its season Aug. 31 at Texas A&M, it had just six collective career starts among the five starters. Coogan and Spindler, sent to the bench, had 23 between them. And grad senior left tackle Tosh Baker, beaten out by true freshman Anthonie Knapp, had four career starts himself.
The new starters played every one of the 129 offensive snaps over the first two games, so Coogan and Spindler were making their season debuts on offense when they got plugged in during the first half at Purdue.
“I have a duty to uphold the standard of the offensive line,” Coogan said, “and me and Rocco have been here for a while, so that’s bred into our DNA.
“When we got in there, it was like, ‘Let's play ball. We’ve been here before. We’ve played a lot of ball together.’ It was not easy, but it was a ‘we’ve been here before’ type situation.”
All the while, during practice following their demotion, they helped the younger players who replaced them grow.
“I took it as an opportunity, as a challenge,” Coogan said once he got past the disappointment. “I told myself I was going to take the challenge head on, show up, and help the guys the best that I could.
“Help Sammy, the best that I could. Help Knapp, the best that I could. Help those young guys, because they needed my help. It’s not easy the position that they were in. They’re young guys playing really talented players across from them, in high-level football games. So, it was helping them and seeing them come along that was a great moment for me too.
“After those games, after those victories, I knew that I was a big part of this team. Obviously, I wanted to be out there, and it sucked not being out there. … Definitely the competitor in me helped me, but at the same time it was a personal decision to keep going. I’m glad I made it, that’s for sure.”
Now it’s about improving as a unit, with lots of room for that. The Irish offensive line has steadily improved in pass blocking, but even so ranks 97th out of 134 FBS teams nationally in that statistical category, per Pro Football Focus’ film grades. ND is 46th collectively in pass blocking.
Miami, meanwhile, has struggled somewhere against Northwestern and Cincinnati this season in gaining the kind of traction it had defensively last season when the RedHawks finished eighth nationally in scoring defense and were strong across the board in the various defensive categories.
They come into the Notre Dame game, under 11th-year head coach and former Irish assistant coach Chuck Martin, at No. 109 in rush defense and No. 108 in team sacks amassed. Louisville (2-0), which visits Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 28, is 25th and second, respectively, in those categories.
“As I look at it, big picture-wise,” Freeman said of the offensive line, “we're going to continue to progress. Those guys are capable starters. They're ready. They've been prepared. It speaks to the maturity of those two to — at any moment — they knew they were going to be thrust into action.”
Reconfiguring the WR rotation?
Irish sophomore slot receiver Jaden Greathouse’s season-low 12 offensive snaps, Saturday at Purdue, was an unintentional confluence of circumstances after he logged a combined 91 against Texas A&M and Northern Illinois.
Fellow sophomore KK Smith’s career-high 43 was decidedly not an situational outlier, but intentional spike from the three he received against Northern Illinois the week before and the zero snaps he played back in his home state of Texas against Texas A&M in the Aug. 31 season opener.
Smith hauled in the first two catches of his career on Saturday, good for 13 yards — 12 of which came after the catch.
“I think KK is an up-and-coming talent that we've got to utilize,” Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said Tuesday night when asked about Smith’s increased opportunities. “I think he can stretch the field. I think he can break people down. He reminds me of a young man who played here a few years ago that ended up with the Texans [Will Fuller].
“I don't know if he's quite got the speed, but when he runs, the fluidity that he runs with. And it doesn't look like he's running really fast, but he kind of is.
“He reminds me a lot of Will, and so I hope he continues to develop the way Will did. And we’ve got us something pretty good going on there.”
FIU transfer Kris Mitchell is also at that outside receiver position, competing for playing time. And sophomore starter Jordan Faison has been practicing this week as he returns from an Aug. 31 ankle injury.
Greathouse’s reduction in playing time, Freeman said Thursday, was a combination of ND wanted to use multiple tight ends early in the game — taking the slot off the field — and rotating in other players later when the score quickly got lopsided.
Eleven players were targeted and nine of them had at least one receptions among the 18 completions in the game. The four tight ends who played accounted for eight of the 18 catches.
“Just the way to try to attack their defense that we thought would give us the best chance to have success,” Freeman explained of the heavy tight end packages. “But [Greathouse] did a great job with the opportunities he had in the first half. I know he had the 25-yard catch that was negated by the holding penalty. So Jaden did exactly what we asked out of him.”
Facetime for freshmen at RB
On Saturday, Notre Dame running backs coach Deland McCullough faces the program, in Miami, where he became the first player in school history to be named MAC Freshman of the Year in Football (1992) as a first-year college running back.
His job now is to advance the freshmen he coaches, behind talented headliners in Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price along with sixth-year utility player Devyn Ford.
Both of the freshmen shined in limited opportunities Saturday against Purdue. Aneyas Williams played seven offensive snaps and had a nine-yard run on third-and-8 from the Purdue 46 during ND’s second scoring drive of the game. Williams also returned a punt for five yards.
Kedren Young, meanwhile, played his first 10 snaps of his career on Saturday, and got four carries for 25 yards.
“I'll start with Aneyas,” Freeman said Thursday. “He’s done a really good job of all those things that we've asked him to do — to be one of the most trusted guys we have on third down. To be in there to put the ball in his hands in crucial situations speaks to really the job he's done and the trust that he's earned in his coaches.
“Kedron played really well in his reps on Saturday. He gives you something probably that not every back we have here gives you — that big, powerful thumper-type runner. Probably simulates Audric [Estimé] more than anyone. But again, he is getting better. He is going to do great things for us, and we'll see really how this season progresses in terms of the workload he'll get with our offense.”
Cleats for a cause
Saturday is Notre Dame’s “Cleats for a Cause” game benefiting five local organizations. Each player will wear special-edition Under Armour Slip Speed shoes during the team’s traditional walk from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart to Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, ahead of the game.
An online auction will run prior to and after the game for the shoes. In addition, custom game-worn cleats inspired by select Notre Dame football players will also be up for auction. The beneficiaries are the South Bend Center for the Homeless, the Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Indiana Corridor, the Casie Center (Child Abuse Services Investigation & Education), Cultivate Food Rescue and the Logan Center.
Proceeds from the auction will be distributed equally between the five charities, and the five charities will each be represented on an equal number of shoes spread across the roster.
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