Notre Dame's Day 5 Practice Report
The Fighting Irish completed their fifth practice of the preseason at Culver Academies Saturday afternoon and will have their first day off on Sunday.
Highlighting the afternoon was the eight series mainly between the top two groups to cap the last half hour of work, with a full officiating crew in place.
Throughout the first half and even 75 percent of the practice session, the offense, led by its veteran line, easily seemed to hold the upper hand against a defense that has been maligned in recent years. In some 11-on-11 work during the first one-third of practice, junior running back Josh Adams broke free for a 50-plus yard run after appearing to be stonewalled on the initial surge into the line. Then on the next play, junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush launched a completion of about 55 yards to classmate Equanimeous St. Brown, hitting him in perfect stride on a pass that traveled about 50 yards in the air.
Led by senior Mike linebacker Nyles Morgan, though, the defense under first-year coordinator Mike Elko regrouped in that last half hour with a vengeance, consistently recording three-and-out series against the Wimbush-led offense, although sophomore backup Ian Book also participated in three series.
“In the spring I thought we dented our defensive line,” said head coach Brian Kelly about the scrimmage work in which the defense shined. “Our offensive line moved them off the ball considerably when we wanted to. Our defensive line has made great strides in the weight room physically. [Defensive line coach] Mike Elston has done a great job with technique. We use our hands so much better.
“There’s a battle there now. There’s a line of scrimmage that exists that I didn’t think quite existed in the spring. The offensive line owned the line of scrimmage [in the spring]; now it’s real physical and a real good battle.”
The pass pressure collectively was effective, and there also were several coverage sacks of Wimbush (although none of the QBs were taken to the ground as a precaution).
Other highlights on defense included excellent coverage by senior cornerback Nick Watkins on another deep ball to St. Brown that was successful earlier. The second group saw junior rover Asmar Bilal break perfectly on a slant that resulted in a near interception, and junior Buck linebacker Te’von Coney also having strong coverage on a running back.
If there was a top storyline from the afternoon, it was the performance and production of the defense in the back half of the session.
Here were some other news items from the practice:
• Junior tight end Alize Mack missed the last half of practice after injuring his hamstring on a one-on-one drill. Mack later could be seen catching footballs from the Jugs machine that was being fed by a student manager.
“Grade 1 hamstring,” said Kelly of the injury. “It doesn’t look like to be a severe one. We’ll take an image of it.”
• Freshman defensive tackles Kurt Hinish and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa have progressed well enough to where Kelly said they will be in the rotation this year, while classmate Darnell Ewell is more in the developmental phase.
“Those guys have what it takes to contribute as freshmen,” said Kelly of the 6-1 ¾, 298-pound Hinish and the 6-2 ½, 293-pound Tagovailoa-Amosa. “[6-3, 321-pound Ewell is] powerfully strong but he doesn’t have some of the technique and things necessary right now. It’s all ‘yet’ right now. He’s going to have it, he just doesn’t have it yet.”
• Offensively, freshman wideouts Michael Young and Jafar Armstrong are putting their hat into the ring for action as well on a deep corps that now includes graduate transfers Cameron Smith (Arizona State) and Freddy Canteen (Michigan).
In the early part of practice, Young hauled in a 60-yard pass from Book, and later Armstrong made one of the best catches of the day with a diving back shoulder grab in the end zone.
“They’re very intentional in what they do, very mature, they have really been impressive in the way they handle themselves on a day to day basis — along with the mid-years,” said Kelly of the two rookie wideouts.
Tight ends Brock Wright and Cole Kmet also have received high marks, and quarterback Avery Davis was praised for his presence and his ability to be “very commanding in the way he stands in front of the group.”
• When asked about surprises among the veterans, Kelly lauded senior Andrew Trumbetti, who will be used at both strong side end (with classmate Jay Hayes) and drop end (with sophomore Daelin Hayes).
“He looks like the guy we recruited out of high school,” said Kelly of the former four-star prospect whose weight is now a more robust 263 pounds. “He was a dominating player in high school, had an edge about him. We did a poor job of developing him until this year. He is at that point where he’s going to make an impact, and it’s going to be fun to watch.
“He’s got a greater relationship with Coach [Mike] Elston, he feels really comfortable with Coach Elko. Sometimes just getting to that point with your last season, all those things come together. Really proud of what he’s done. It’s always been a fight with him in terms of body weight and strength. He’s physically an imposing edge player for us right now.”
• There has been no ruling yet from the NCAA on whether sophomore Navy safety transfer Alohi Gilman will be eligible to see action for the Irish this year.
“We’ve been asked by the NCAA to be patient,” Kelly said. “They’re working on it and know we need an answer. They are looking for a little more clarification on some things from the Naval Academy.”
• Last year Notre Dame went 11 straight days in camp without a day off. This year new NCAA rules mandate a day off after five days.
New Media Rules
The Notre Dame media relations department has begun a policy in which some reporting policies will be restricted from practices. They include no referencing to plays run/game strategy, describing formations, personnel groups or non-conventional plays or which players are practicing with individual units.
What is allowed is to report who is lining up on offense during the warm-up 11-on-0 “tempo” drill.
• The first unit featured the usual offensive line left to right with Mike McGlinchey, Quenton Nelson, Sam Mustipher, Alex Bars and Tommy Kraemer.
Mack was at tight end (with Durham Smythe a co-starter) and the first three wideouts for this session were Canteen, St. Brown and junior Chris Finke. Wimbush was at QB and Adams at running back.
• The second group featured a line that left to right featured sophomore Liam Eichenberg, graduate student Hunter Bivin, junior Trevor Ruhland, and freshmen Aaron Banks and Robert Hainsey at right guard and right tackle respectively.
Book was the quarterback, junior Dexter Williams and sophomore Tony Jones Jr. worked at running back, senior Nic Weishar was at tight end and the wideouts featured juniors Miles Boykin and CJ Sanders, plus sophomore Javon McKinley.
• The third group had Davis at QB, sophomore Deon McIntosh at running back, the freshmen tight ends and a receiving unit with Young, sophomore Chase Claypool, and senior walk-on Austin Webster.
The line had left tackle and freshman Josh Lugg, left guard and junior guard Logan Plantz, freshman walk-on center Colin Grunhard, freshman right guard Dillan Gibbons and senior right tackle Jimmy Byrne.
Attitude Trumps Talent
Kelly said after practice that one of the errors from last year he especially regrets was basing playing time mainly on talent more than attitude. He said this camp is about focusing more on intangible traits.
“We’re not going to reward [just] talent,” Kelly said. “I did that last year — it was a mistake. We’ll reward those guys that have an attention to detail, that have a great focus and play with grit. We lost a lot of games last year with guys I did not develop in the right way. We’re going to develop them in the right way.
“If you’re not happy where you are right now in terms of maybe how much time you got, it has nothing to do with your talent. Just focus on those traits and that will get you on the field.”
When asked if that was why sophomore wideout Kevin Stepherson wasn’t seeing much time this camp after a strong freshman campaign that included 25 catches, 18.5 yards per grab and five touchdowns, Kelly replied, “It’s not just Kevin; it’s anybody. … A lot of is attention to detail and some of it is just a matter of learning the new system and things we put in.”
Kelly On Ara Parseghian
Notre Dame will honor 1964-74 Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian, whose funeral will be Sunday at the Sacred Heart Basilica, with “Ara” on the helmet in 2017. Kelly said the idea was presented by Notre Dame vice president and director of athletics Jack Swarbrick and believes it is “awesome.”
“He’s a man’s man, he’s a football coach’s dream in the sense that he represented the toughness of the game as well,” Kelly said of Parseghian. “And to have it on the helmets than cloth, I think that’s just great.”
The eighth-year Irish head coach said upon taking the job in December 2009, he reached out immediately to Parseghian.
“Your first year as head coach at Notre Dame, you know who your call list is,” Kelly said. “You can on Ara and Lou Holtz right away. If Frank Leahy is alive, you call on him too because he’s got more championships than all of them.
“I almost had to beg him to come by [to practice] because he didn’t want to be a distraction. ‘You’re Ara Parseghian! You’re not a distraction!’ I went out of the way to make sure that anytime he wanted to be there — but he wasn’t that [kind of] man. He wanted you to do your thing.”
Kelly also was amazed how humble Parseghian was when he asked him to speak to the team. When Parsegian asked how long, Kelly deadpanned “for an hour, if you would.”
Kelly and assistant athletics director Chad Klunder will represent the football team tomorrow in what promises to be an overflowing Basilica.
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