Chat Transcript: Tracking Irish O-line buzz, spring surprises
Eric Hansen: Welcome to the first Notre Dame Live Chat of spring football.
A quick programming note:
► If you missed this week’s live episode of our weekly offseason Notre Dame Football YouTube show, Football Never Sleeps, you can catch up anytime on YouTube. In our latest episode, Tyler James and I share our observations from Notre Dame's first spring football practice Wednesday morning, discuss the news revealed at head coach Marcus Freeman's press conference and answer questions from viewers.
As for this chat, please remember to include your name and hometown along with your question(s).
No 17-part questions. No manifestos.
Here are the rest of the rules:
Let's dive right in.
Mike from Rochester NY: Happy spring football, Eric! Has Joe Rudolph indicated whether he follows the Harry Hiestand model of “find your 5 best linemen, then decide where they play”? Or the more traditional model of 2 best tackles, 2 best guards, and best center? Either way, should be an interesting competition for the two deep spots with all the talent in that position group.
Eric Hansen: Hi Mike and Happy Spring Football. It felt like a national holiday yesterday except the part about going to work, which I'm not complaining about. Fun day. To your question, I asked Joe Rudolph that very question recently when the media had a chance to meet him for the first time. I'm curious about it too. His answer was best five as a rule. That's why you see tackle Michael Carmody competing for a starting guard spot out of the gate. If you'd like a little more depth about this, his other philosophies and his connection to Harry Hiestand and Joe Moore, I'd suggest this piece to read: How Joe Rudolph plans to build upon Notre Dame's rich O-line culture.
Frank from Royse City, Texas: Do you share my concern that with the injuries at TE ND has only 2 pass catching TE’s. Should ND look in the portal for some depth?
Eric Hansen: Frank I don't share that concern. Ideally, they'd like more healthy bodies this spring, but when fall camp opens, they'll have six tight ends if everything goes right. Six. That's a big reason Cane Berrong hit the portal after the season.
Marie from Atlanta: Hi Eric. I hope you had a great week. It must be so fun to be back at spring practice. Short question for me today, what were two or three of the biggest surprises for you at the first practice yesterday? Also, which players do you think made the biggest transformations in the weight room this winter? As always thanks for your great insights, and for hosting the chat.
Eric Hansen: Hi Marie. Except for the getting up early part (Tyler and I are both night owls), it's one of the fun days of the year. Full disclosure I spent way more time watching offense than defense, and more time watching the quarterbacks than the other positions on offense. We also do not yet have the latest updates and heights and weights, so that would lead to better questions about strength and body-mass gains. Having issued a disclaimer longer than your question, I'd say freshman WR Rico Flores surprised me with his speed coming off a foot injury. I'd also classify Michael Carmody getting first team-ish reps at guard surprised me a bit as well. We've got a full practice viewing coming up a week from Saturday, and I promise a more detailed and updated answer to your questions at that time.
Denny from Beaverton, Ore.: Hi Eric; I just read Tyler James' article about the 6 players no longer on football scholarship. My question is about the 3 who did not receive a medical type scholarship. Would Marcus have told them that there was no room for them on the roster and thereby terminate their scholarship or was it the players choice to seek playing time somewhere else. When a football scholarship is given will the player be allowed to graduate if he chooses even though he doesn't crack the depth charts on the team? Love the Irish but my other love is playing UCLA tonight and I am already nervous. I so look forward to your chats.
Eric Hansen: Hi Denny and thanks. So, you're talking about Caleb Johnson, Philip Riley and Josh Bryan. With those three, and all the rest of the players with returning eligibility, there's good communication in November and December between the coaching staff and the players about where they stand heading into the next season in terms of prospects for playing time. That way, they can enter the portal in December/January or stick it out for a while and see if things change in winter workouts or spring football. The only time players in good standing wouldn't be invited back is if they already have obtained their ND degree. Otherwise, it's more like a dance than an edict, figuring out what's best. And yes, there are players who graduate having never come close to cracking the two-deeps. Ositadinma Ekwonu is a recent example. He's now in grad school and playing football at Charlotte.
Jack Strongsville Ohio: Hi Eric. I watched you and Tyler on your Football Never Sleeps podcast last week. Always informative and interesting. You mentioned acquisition NIL. What is that? Sounds like an employee contract between the school and athlete. Thanks for the great work.
Eric Hansen: Hi Jack, and thanks for watching. And you can actually ask questions if you're watching the show live. I'm happy to answer it here. So there is NIL as it was intended -- players who receive money for their actual name, image and likeness, like signing autographs, endorsing clothing lines, etc. The offensive line even had a deal with something called "Dude Wipes." Acquisition fees is NIL as it was never intended. Basically, a school will pay a player to come to their school without having to actually earn the money. Just an upfront guarantee of cash.
Bill from St Joe, Mich.: Looking very much forward to your and Tyler’s expert opinions on Spring Football! Hopefully I correctly recollect the contents of your first impressions of day 1 of Spring Practice which forms the basis of my question. Do you believe that the “1 guards” had more to do with the fact that they are upperclassmen or that they may be the coaches’ best assessment of the best options to be the starting guards? Put another way, in the past, have the lineman competing for the “open” starting OL positions initially leaned toward upperclassman?
Eric Hansen: Thanks Bill. I would say the depth chart is very much in pencil, especially at those two positions -- left offensive guard and right offensive guard. And I agree with your read about seniority there, with O-line coach Joe Rudolph being new and really not being around for much of winter workouts. That he deems Michael Carmody a legitimate contender, though, is significant. So the four guys having the best chance to contend for and grab those two spots are Carmody, Andrew Kristofic, Billy Schrauth and Rocco Spindler, not necessarily in that order. How Joe Rudolph views and assesses them may not be identical to how a Harry Hiestand-led competition would have worked out.
So that's why it's a more difficult read for me. I wouldn't count out any of them. But to me, the guy with the highest ceiling is Schrauth.
Mike Reeves from Batavia, Ill.: Do you think Marc Spindler could flip to the D line?
Eric Hansen: Hi Mike. Marc Spindler actually played nine seasons in the NFL as a D-lineman. So, I'm assuming your question is about his son, Rocco. He certainly has the size (6-5, 315) and temperament. Not sure about the desire. He's in the thick of a competition for a starting offensive guard spot. Why would he want to flip to defense to be a project or an emergency option? If he doesn't win the spot, I'd think it's more likely he'd try playing OG for someone else than switch positions. If ND is going to add to the D-line, they would do so from the portal for someone with experience.
Jeremy from Goshen: Thank you for answering my question last week about the QB competition. I loed the analogy of "there's a pro wrestling match but we already know who the winner is before it starts." My question is if Hartman is the winner. What does the staff need to do to keep Buchner engaged, developing and not transferring? Does he have a special package like in 2021? Mental reps and watching Hartman isn't the same as live experience.
Eric Hansen: Jeremy, thank you. I touched upon this in my story yesterday: How ND's Marcus Freeman plans to coax the best yet out of QB Sam Hartman. It's not just about creating a positive experience for Tyler Buchner, but also for Steve Angeli and Kenny Minchey. The fact that Sam Hartman has bonded with Buchner and is also trying to help him improve is the best-case scenario for spring. I'm sure the coaching staff will be transparent with him post-spring, because the transfer portal opens and closes quickly (May 1-15). I'm not sure a special package is required. As long as Buchner feels like he's getting better and has a fair shot to be the starter in 2024 -- and being around Hartman is a great start — I think he stays.
Jeremy from Goshen: Sounds to me like Acquisition fees are a fancy way of saying "signing Bonus." Does ND follow this practice? If it doesn't, should it so that it can level the playing field in recruiting?
Eric Hansen: ND does not and most schools do not, and with the ones that have the reputation for doing so, it hasn't necessarily led to a happily ever after.
Kevin from St. Louis: Jack Swarbrick and Fr. Jenkins' wrote an opinion piece in the NYT today (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/23/opinion/college-sports-student-athl...) entitled "College Sports Are a Treasure. Don’t Turn Them Into the Minor Leagues." Do you have any gut reactions? (Personally I thought some of it made sense and other pieces ("If we share revenue with our football program, that would hurt our women's sports") felt disingenuous)
Eric Hansen: Hi Kevin. Someone sent it to me this morning, and I didn't have time to get to it. I just now skimmed it, and I mean skimmed. The message is very consistent with what both of them have been saying for a while, yet they kind of put it in a one-stop shop to perhaps consume more easily. I think the athletes' rights movement was both necessary and unavoidable. What was avoidable were unenforced NIL abuses/violations. It's more difficult now to try to do that retroactively. The NYT piece tugs at the intellect more than the heart, the latter of which is where the average fan is feeling the changes. NIL money in its intended form is good for college sports. NIL abuses, combined with the transfer portal, could change the culture and fabric of college sports forever and for good. So anything that nudges us toward solutions works for me.
Jim Tal Valley Center, CA: How goes it Eric? It's got to be a most interesting time with spring practice and all that goes with it starting up. We've heard some intriguing things about tight end prospect Eli Raridon as it relates to his pass catching potential and skill set. What is his current status concerning his injury situation and do foresee a scenario by which he could be a real factor in the fall and become a bona fide piece of the passing attack? It seems as if he could add a dimension and upside that the other tight ends simply can't. Thanks as always for your efforts.
Eric Hansen: Hi Jim, and thanks. There are a couple of players in each class, it seems, that cause me to have a football skills/football potential crush and Eli Raridon is one of those players. I think he and Mitchell Evans are the two current tight ends who have the best chance to join ND's rich tight end lineage. Raridon and Kevin Bauman are both out for the entirety of spring practice rehabbing from ACL surgery.
So, we're going to see them a lot on the stationary bikes a lot this spring. The prognosis is for both to be ready for fall camp. I have great confidence Eli will be a good receiver. Where he was surprising in crushing it last fall was with his blocking, which is a great sign. There's lot of competition at that position group, but I like where Eli is headed once he gets healthy.
Ryan from Mars, Pa.: Good afternoon Eric how did Michael carmody and Donovan Hinish look yesterday at spring ball and how did the freshman that enrolled early look? Go Irish.
Eric Hansen: No pads, little contact and no competitive/scrimmage periods when we were watching Michael Carmody. I'm eager to see if he's put on mass and strength. We should know soon. In the drills we did see, he held his own. The fact that he's in that guard competition is a very positive development for him. Didn't watch Donovan Hinish to be honest, but I know some of the O-line mentioned him this offseason in a positive way.
Jeff from Phoenix: Good morning Eric, spring football, finally! Regarding your analysis on player development and the lack of ND top 250 recruits translating into NFL draft choices, I want to probe from an angle you didn’t explicitly cover. Do you think that strength and conditioning, both the coaching and approach, need a reboot? Balis seems to be highly touted, but the NFL combine results have generally not been elite and the physical transformations of players seems to be inconsistent. MF has the mantra of ‘challenge everything’ so I assume this area has been addressed? Thanks!
Eric Hansen: Hi Jeff. I think Matt Balis is gold. Remember, his job isn't to make Michael Mayer win the 40 or the vertical leap at the combine, it's to make him a great football player who can stay healthy. He's very tied into sports science, which is a part of his job most fans don't see. He's also been able to build an offseason culture that's very impressive. Keep in mind who was at the Combine this year for Notre Dame. Mayer was the only top 250 recruit among them. Jarrett Patterson was a former three-star recruit he played through an injury. Brandon Joseph, a former three-star prospect, had to deal with a late-season injury. And Isaiah Foskey's numbers were impressive. I do think it's fair to question everything. But this is my honest answer.
Related content: Matt Balis resigns as Notre Dame's director of football performance
Andrew from DC: None of the recently announced portal transfers out or medical retirements were expected to be key contributors during 2023 (or even 2024). Do you expect ND will lose any key contributors in the spring?
Eric Hansen: Hi Andrew, you would expect the post-spring transfers to be players who most likely lost a starting competition.
Michael from Chicago: Hi Eric, thank you for all you do! Can you please elaborate on the rolls some of the known admin names play in ND Football (e.g. Peloquin and Powlus)? Also, Coach Freeman commented that they’re not hiring a GM but filling Peloquin’s former role. Anything to see here or just different terminology between what he and AD Swarbrick said a few weeks ago? Thank you!!
Eric Hansen: Michael, thank you. Because there's been some shifting of personnel and responsibilities recently, I am going to defer the answer until I can include all the new people. You mentioned Dave Peloquin, who should be doing ads for anti-aging shakes or something. He looks exactly like he did when he graduated from ND in 2003 and went to work for Tyrone Willingham. His latest role is as an assistant athletic director directly involved with NIL endeavors for football, as I understand it. He was a longtime director of player personnel, a position Marcus Freeman is very close to replenishing. Ron Powlus is an associate athletic director who directly oversees football. Amir Carlisle was just hired to replace Hunter Bivin as ND's director of player development. Again, once everyone is in place, I'll make sure to put something together on what their primary responsibilities include and how they make a difference.
Len from the Jersey Shore: Hi Eric, We are looking at a great Spring of ND football. Last year was Coach Golden's return to college football. I saw a lot of good things. It seemed to me that he, and by direct correlation, the team was not ready for the slow mesh or any delayed decision RPO. I do not believe this is run in the NFL at all. How is coach prepping for this type of offense in 2023? Since Hartman has run this version at WF, could he help explain the options the QB has and what defensive wrinkles made it the hardest for him to succeed? ?
Eric Hansen: Hi Len, we were fortunate enough to have a chance to interview Al Golden on a weekly basis last season, so there's not a lot of guesswork to this answer that there might have otherwise been. The toughest thing to adjust to was not necessarily offensive styles he didn't see in the NFL but the voluminous inventory of plays, concepts, formations, etc. that some offensive coordinators could flex on a given Saturday and at a well-executed level. I do think a second season at a college program will help. There was also the transition of the players going through a third coordinator and third scheme in three years. All those things contributed. I'm sure he'll explore all the resources in and around his team and outside ones as well to evolve his DC game.
Ryan mars pa: Eric, Hinish is a defensive lineman.
Eric Hansen: Yes, I know he is. It was the offensive linemen who went against him in practice who were singing his praises.
Michael from Chicago: Outside of the medical aspect what is the difference in status of the medically retired players vs the ones that were transferred from football to academic scholarship using the 1st year head coach exemption? Is it correct that all can stay in school to finish their undergrad on scholarship? Thank you if you’re able to answer both of my questions!
Eric Hansen: Michael, I'm not super familiar with the first-year head coach exemption, because I don't think ND has ever exercised it. Having read through both rules, there's one important difference. I'm probably confusing more people here than I am informing, but here goes. The medical hardship is very difficult to reverse. Almost impossible. But if an athlete can do it at the school in which it's been granted, he simply becomes a countable scholarship athlete again toward the 85 in the years he plays. The difference, as I understand it, is if the first-year exemption athlete tries to reverse it and becomes countable again, all the years he was just a regular student must retroactively be counted as well. So if a school was never at the 85 limit during that time, he could pull it off. But if they were at 85, he can't go back to being an athlete at that school. Here's more. In other words, it's way more complicated than the concept of double-secret probation.
Bill from St Joe, Mi: Just a comment, not a question regarding Brandyn Hillman. Really liked how the University and the football program was quiet regarding his situation and more impressed with how Brandyn handled it and ultimately addressed it. He’s the type of person that I wish the powers that are, could have found a way to admit him to Notre Dame.
Eric Hansen: I agree. I like that Brandyn Hillman owned it. Talking generically now, in cases in which student-athletes are giving a condition to meet to gain admission, it's hard for admission to say, "Oh well, don't worry about it, We weren't really serious about meeting that condition." But yes, I would have liked to have seen Hillman give it a shot at ND.
Rui from Ossining, NY: Good day Eric...thanks for taking my question...we all know that ND is a football school but there are stories saying that potential new mens basketball coach has a huge buyout from Penn State...safe to assume that there is a football budget and a basketball budge that have nothing to do with eachother...or is it an "athletics budget"? hope my question makes sense.
Eric Hansen: Rui, your question makes sense. Different budgets via sport within the athletics budget. It's not like the softball team can say, we'd like go to Hawaii for some games and borrow from the men's lacrosse team's budget to do so.
Andrew from DC: Do you think Clarence Lewis will eventually be moved to Safety? Said another way...are there any valid reasons NOT to move him? The Safety depth chart is extremely thin and that's with counting Xavier Watts as a surefire starter.
Eric Hansen: Andrew, I got your question the first time. It depends on a lot of factors: 1) Will there be additional attrition at cornerback? 2) Will Cam Hart come back 100 percent? 3) How does freshman Christian Gray factor in? 4) Is Ryan Barnes a better candidate to move? 5) Is there someone better in the transfer portal, particularly with multiple years of eligibility?
Bill from St Joe, Mi: Will you be in the crowd or in the press box for the Spring game?
Eric Hansen: I have done both before. Most likely in the press box but might be able to be convinced otherwise, especially if it's a nice day.
Eric Hansen: OK, that's going to do it for this week. Thanks for all the great questions. We'll be back next Thursday at noon ET to do it all again.
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