Between Thanksgiving and the New Year, “roster engineering” is prevalent among college football teams.
At Notre Dame that will especially center on how many of the 11 current seniors eligible for a fifth season in 2020 will return.
Unless there are an inordinate number of scholarships available — which there are not for the Irish — the ones who return for a fifth season are individuals who have already been starters and are projected for a starting role.
The four fifth-year seniors who returned in 2019 — wide receiver Chris Finke, offensive guard Trevor Ruhland, linebacker Asmar Bilal and cornerback Shaun Crawford — all had previous starting or extensive playing experience.