At its most fundamental core, football throughout its 150 years always has had two prime tenets despite so many changes: blocking and tackling.
The blocking for Notre Dame in 2020 will feature the most experienced unit in its history with 114 career starts among six returning offensive linemen — tackles Liam Eichenberg and Robert Hainsey, guards Tommy Kraemer and Aaron Banks, center Jarrett Patterson and multi-purpose reserve Josh Lugg.
All eyes will be on offensive line coach Jeff Quinn to maximize the skill set of the veteran crew that last year during an 11-2 campaign was graded out as the No. 1 pass-blocking unit in the 130-team Football Bowl Subdivision.
Meanwhile, while tackling might be one of the most taken-for-granted elements to the average fan, it probably is the single most pronounced area that needs a strong refresher course this August.
Even during the pandemic, quarterbacks and receivers could work on route running and timing, while offensive linemen — especially as experienced as this group — can still understand their own and each other’s assignments.
Fundamentals are best honed through repetition — but nobody volunteers in summer sessions to be tackled. With no tackling drills in the lone non-contact spring practice (March 5) before getting canceled because of COVID-19, the Notre Dame defenders haven’t been involved in tackling since preparing for the Dec. 28 Camping World Bowl, a 33-9 Irish victory versus Iowa State that became a defensive clinic.
“As you can imagine, the one thing that you can’t work on is the thing that we need to work on — and that’s tackling,” head coach Brian Kelly noted in his Monday Zoom conference.
Consequently, when Notre Dame had its initial full-padded practice this past Sunday — the fifth session this month before taking Monday off — and engaged in some 11-on-11 scrimmage work, the rust was rampant.
“There wasn’t anybody that didn't go into that first tackling scrimmage and think we were going to be flawless in that,” Kelly said. “You can’t duplicate tackling if you don’t have that skill down and work on it.
“We know that’s something that has to be a priority for us, and it will be as we continue to move forward.”
The overall conditioning is not the issue, but being in “football shape” is a completely different mechanism. This includes having the mental toughness and football conditioning on sustained drives — such as the 87-yard, 18-play touchdown march that defeated Virginia Tech 21-20 last November, with only 29 seconds left on the clock after the score.
“We’re in good cardiovascular condition, we’re in good shape, but it’s still football,” Kelly said. “It’s sustaining long drives, having the condition to stay at your best when there is a bit of fatigue in the game of football.”
Tackling issues often manifest themselves most with reaching and grabbing rather than getting in a base position or having correct angle pursuit. Kelly said game officials will be brought in next week to provide more game-like conditions, but overall he was pleased with the game-operation aspects.
“You expect maybe a little sloppiness with quarterback/center exchange, offsides, things of that nature,” he said. “We showed great discipline in that sense ‘formationally.’”
For now, there are other issues to tackle.
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