Notre Dame football opened fall camp once again to the south of campus at Culver Academy as they begin preparations for the 2019 season. This was the first of 5 straight practices before the Irish return to South Bend to finish up camp and set their sights on Lousville. The media was assembled for the entirety of Sunday’s practice and will be viewing the whole Thursday practice, as well.
Here are the top news & notes following this initial workout:
There were virtually no surprises on offense as Ian Book trotted out with the starters backed up by Phil Jurkovec followed by Brendon Clark making his Irish practice debut. The true freshman looks like he throws a smooth ball and had a steady first workout. At 6’1″ he doesn’t look very physically intimidating but seems pretty well put together. He looks a lot like Ian Book if you ignore the jersey number.
Jurkovec had an inconsistent day, echoing a lot of the reports we saw during the spring. Mainly, he can flash a lot of potential and generally throws well deep but he’s still very up and down on his shorter passes. Is it still a lack of confidence or something far worse that continues to make throwing accurate spirals so difficult on relatively easy passes?
The main receiver backups included Lawrence Keys, Braden Lenzy, Joe Wilkins, and Javon McKinley. That’s a nice bit of news for now for the journeyman McKinley who has yet to make his mark on the field as he enters year four. Although, the receivers generally received modest approval during practice and no one really wowed the collected media. Kevin Austin participated in individual workouts with the receivers but was pushed over to scout team cornerback for the majority of team drills. That doesn’t seem fun.
The backup offensive line consisted of Josh Lugg (LT), Trevor Ruhland (LG), Colin Grunhard (C), John Dirksen (RG), and Cole Mabry (RT). Lugg working at tackle is a bit of a surprise as it was noted in the spring he’s a much better fit on the interior. On Friday, the updated roster showed that Possible Future Starting Center (PFSC™) Zeke Correll is only 270 pounds, as Lugg or Ruhland are known to be options to snap it’s a bit curious to see the walk-on Gruhnard (at only 282 himself) open camp as the backup. We’ll see how things shake out in the coming weeks as per usual this is a veteran-laden lineup right now by default seemingly with the exception of redshirt sophomore Dillon Gibbons.
The defensive front four was as expected throughout the two-deep. Among the backups we will note that Nana Osafo-Mensah was playing at strong-side while Isaiah Foskey was running at Shark (Notre Dame’s new name for the weak-side aka “Drop” end which I will now begrudgingly use in the future) even though Foskey is 1 inch taller and 9 pounds heavier.
With the much anticipated battle at the inside linebacker spots we had Asmar Bilal at Mike and Jack Lamb at Buck come out with the starters. This should be a particularly challenging camp to discern a depth chart for this whole unit as there are 10 players listed at either Mike or Buck to open camp barring position changes. With that in mind, Jordan Genmark Heath backed up Lamb and Bo Bauer mixed in with Drew White behind Bilal with apparently a little of freshman JD Bertrand splashed in there, too. Who knows where this leaves Shayne Simon who was moved to Buck for the first practice. Still, so many questions about what the staff is trying to do with the personnel on hand at linebacker.
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah continues to impress physically and athletically. Ideally, the defense won’t need a nickel corner if he begins to reach his ceiling in 2019. I’m sure Clark Lea would love that but it also means a lot less playing time for some other players, particularly from the defensive backs.
Sunday was a big day for senior Donte Vaughn who opened practice starting at the boundary corner spot opposite Troy Pride. The primary boundary backup looks to be Houston Griffith then freshman K.J. Wallace. Behind Pride was a mixture of Shaun Crawford, Tariq Bracy, Avery Davis, and freshman Isaiah Rutherford.
The return of Crawford raise some eyebrows as he was also seen working as a backup at free safety in addition to nickel. That’s 3 different duties for someone talented enough to make an impact all over the field. However, Kelly mentioned after the practice that they’d like to give Crawford the ability to win a spot at corner. Still, this feels like a good idea to cross-train Crawford and maybe not depend on him for starter minutes straight out of the gate.
Moreover, we’re still not sure the staff loves the depth at safety which could explain Crawford working back there. This has pushed Derrik Allen and D.J. Brown to third-team because sensational freshman Kyle Hamilton was already getting reps at backup strong safety, turning heads with a trio of interceptions off Jurkovec. Someone slow down this hype train!
“Donte Vaughn, starting cornerback” is nightmare fuel.
Counterpoint, he’s generally played pretty well when he’s been on the field.
Counterpoint to the counterpoint, he hasn’t been able to stay healthy and I’m naturally skeptical of tall, big corners being able to play at a high level over an extended period of time.
Apparently we’ll be doing more press this year. BK said he’s a good fit for that, but how much lifting could he do with the shoulder injury?
A lot of press — meaning that the staff favors the bigger corners. I guess this suggests that Crawford is already an afterthought for a starting corner spot. I say keep him at nickel — that will manage his workload (hey, it worked for Kawhi) and allow him to play at a position that seems like a perfect fit for him.
Definitely so.
To Eric, he often looks like he’s in good coverage, but neglects to actually go for the ball. He also quits on plays.
Lugg is like the 6th man, top backup at any position right? The sadist in me wonders if he’s getting LT work to see what they have with him there in case Eichenberg isn’t cutting it. LT certainly seems like the only position to even have a conversation about usurping a starter on the line. (Or maybe that’s reading too much into it)
Also as main Jurkovec defender I’d like to point out reportedly 2 of the picks to Hamilton were off WR’s hands and Jurkovec launched two 50+ yard TD passes. We will be taking no further questions at this time, thank you.
That’s good to hear about Jurkovec. Don’t want to puke in the kid when he hasn’t even played yet, but 3 picks piled on his spring performance makes me pretty nervous about next year. Book should be gone, Pyne and Clark won’t be ready. It has to be Jurkovec for what should be a pretty good offense otherwise.
If I’m kelly I’m at least entertaining the idea of a stopgap qb. Maybe setting up a qb tinder burner account for the off-season, not swiping yet but seeing what’s out there.
Hopefully this year they won’t be messing around and get up like 42-10 (or better) on the Louisville’s and BG’s and New Mexico’s of the schedule to give plenty of playing time in the 4th quarters to see what Jurkovec can do. Garbage time doesn’t mean a lot but it would be good for confidence (and at least reassure the faithful) to see if he’s capable of playing a bit in college.
But I def agree with your point that the 2020 starting QB situation as of now does not feel very firm or safe.
Pick on the kid, not puke.
I thought it was especially harsh that you were puking *in* him. That’s really extreme imo.
My way too early initial guess for the QB situation next year is that we will be hoping that PJ makes a Kizer-like leap when he’s thrust into the spotlight. But if not, Book 2.0 (i.e., Clark) will be there.
My initial reaction was in order to get all non-freshmen with the 2nd-team it was easiest to put Lugg at left tackle.
The picks (for one practice, especially) don’t concern me with Jurkovec, it’s the fluttering inaccurate ducks that have been setting off alarm bells for a while.
Oh good…another highly-athletic QB who throws a strong deep ball but can’t complete 7-yard outs. You can’t have enough of those types.
QUIT CHANGING THE SITE LAYOUT! YOU’RE GOING TO JINX SOMETHING!!!!
Can’t stop, won’t stop.
This is on your hands: https://irishsportsdaily.com/s/10104/notre-dame-ol-quinn-carroll-out-for-the-year/
Knew that was coming.
Fix the damn masthead!
(But honestly, it was nice to have the 18S button at the bottom to get one back to Home. There’s not currently a way to easily get back to basecamp from within an article.)
I know, I’m experimenting with some other options.
Don’t be silly, only the Kmet injury is your fault.