Notre Dame signed a massive class of 27 freshman for 2018 and just completed an undefeated regular season in which only 4 players were used on any consistent basis outside of special teams. That’s an amazing feat. With the new 4-game rule instituted by the NCAA it’s projected that 20 of the ’18 freshmen will retain a year of eligibility following this season.
This is quite a change from the past. As far back as I can recall, Notre Dame has burned eligibility on roughly 50 to 60% of the freshmen class. Only doing so for 25% of this class puts the staff in an interesting position if they want to continue bringing in larger recruiting hauls in the future.
Here’s a brief breakdown of the freshmen following the regular season:
12 Games Played
LB Bo Bauer, 19 snaps, 10 tackles
Only one freshman participated in every game and it’s Erie’s own Bo Bauer. That would be a big deal if we didn’t see building hype for Bauer during fall camp only to see him relegated largely to special teams. In fact, Bauer only played actual linebacker in one game (Wake Forest). Experience on the field is experience nonetheless but he’ll head into 2019 largely as an unknown.
11 Games Played
DT Jayson Ademilola, 184 snaps, 17 tackles, 0.5 TFL
We can chalk this up as a successful freshman season for Ademilola as he cracked the rotation and was able to do some good things with minimal playing time. The injury to MTA was a bit of good fortune for Ademilola as he was probably on track to play this year and finishes with 150 additional snaps towards his development.
10 Games Played
CB TaRiq Bracy, 122 snaps, 18 tackles
Someone at corner from this class needed to come in and give quality playing time. Once Nick Watkins transferred we knew this was going to happen. Bracy has largely struggled as a small corner playing on the outside but his trial by fire this season should pay off in the coming years.
S Houston Griffith, 185 snaps, 14 tackles, 2 PBU
Most freshmen aren’t ready to fill starting roles and once Shaun Crawford went down with injury again it put Griffith in a tough spot. He’s been beaten a lot as a nickel, and like Bracy, is out there learning as he goes picking up experience that hopefully propels him to greater heights in 2019.
WR Kevin Austin, 119 snaps, 5 receptions, 90 yards
Austin was on track to play in every game this season until #traits left him on campus and off the travel roster for the trips to New York and Los Angeles. Imagine not being able to wear those Yankees uniforms? How can Austin sleep at night? At any rate, this is still a lot of snaps for a freshman who missed 2 games–more than projected summer starter Michael Young.
7 Games Played
LB Shayne Simon, 17 snaps, 4 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 1 PBU
When Owusu-Koramoah went down with a foot injury it thrust Simon into the backup Rover role and presumably meant a lot of seasoning for 2018. Well, that didn’t happen. Simon was able to get some special teams run but otherwise never got a chance to be a true backup to Asmar Bilal.
S Paul Moala, 10 snaps, 1 tackle
Moala is an interesting case because he went from someone completely buried on the depth chart at safety and a sure redshirt to participating in the final 7 games of the regular season. He’s supposedly highly valued by the coaching staff and will be someone worth keeping an eye on in the upcoming spring.
3 Games Played
DE Justin Ademilola, 30 snaps, 7 tackles
With his twin brother playing a larger role and burning a year I thought the staff would be a little more liberal with Justin Ademilola who began getting some snaps in the middle of the season. However, he has been shut out since then and is unlikely to burn a year now with the playoffs coming up.
2 Games Played
QB Phil Jurkovec, 10 snaps, 0 of 2 for 0 yards, 2 carries, 9 yards
Not a whole lot to show for the season but more than we’d normally see thanks to the new 4-game rule.
RB C’Bo Flemister, 3 snaps, 1 carry, 0 yards
As the one back who didn’t enroll early a redshirt appeared highly likely from the beginning.
RB Jahmir Smith, 11 snaps, 6 carries, 28 yards
With a sketchy running back rotation early in the season it seemed like Smith was definitely going to head into 2019 as a true sophomore in eligibility. With Armstrong being banged up it would’ve been nice to see more development from Smith but alas.
WR Joe Wilkins, 10 snaps
A late position switch from corner to receiver actually got him on the field a couple times.
OT Jarrett Patterson, 15 snaps
Already the favorite among the freshmen offensive linemen, Patterson should have a big advantage moving in to the spring.
1 Game Played
CB DJ Brown, 3 snaps
In an ideal world, one of the other true freshman corners made an impact at a position that really needed more depth.
DT Jamion Franklin, 5 snaps
Franklin’s season ended after 5 snaps in the Wake Forest game due to a quad injury.
0 Games Played
WR Micah Jones
WR Braden Lenzy
WR Lawrence Keys
TE George Takacs
TE Tommy Tremble
OL Luke Jones
OL John Dirksen
OL Cole Mabry
LB Jack Lamb
DE Ovie Oghoufo
CB Noah Boykin
S Derrik Allen
Over a decade ago when I first started tracking the scholarships and eligibility for players the reaction from readers was much different. People did not want to hear about transfers. No way would this player leave! Why would that player leave! His family knows the value of a Notre Dame degree! Even though players have transferred all the time since the beginning of college football there was this strong naivety that existed in which it was reckless and irresponsible to even think about someone leaving the program.
The Brian Kelly tenure seems to have almost completely wiped out this way of thinking. “There will always be room” is a last vestige from this belief system which, if taken literally in the slightest, would mean we could go back to the Knute Rockne days, recruit 200 players each spring, and let them fight it out for first and second-team reps. Let the chips fall where they may!
Today, it’s a simple math problem. Will there be room for that one extra kid several months from now? Yes, there will be. But, there’s a cold hard fact staring the coaching staff in the face heading into the 2020 recruiting cycle. Take the incoming freshmen and the 2019 kids who preserved a year and you have 41 players who will each have 4 years of eligibility remaining. With one or 2 more verbals likely for 2019 that could mean almost half of the scholarships will be tied up in players with freshmen eligibility.
This isn’t sustainable, unless you want a Stanford-esque class full of 11 players in one of the coming recruiting cycles.
This is a long way of saying we will see transfers from the above list of freshmen who did not play in 2018. If I had to bet, there will be at least 3 who will leave Notre Dame before the start of fall camp next August. Such is life in this world of college football.
I was a bit disappointed given the hype of Allen and Lenzy that neither got to see the field. Oh well. I would have thought pre-season that slightly bigger things ahead for Kevin Austin too. Hopefully the “traits” descriptor gets dropped by spring and he’s ready to be more a part of the offense.
Are you saying you think freshmen will leave before the 2019 season? Or one more go ’round?
I think we’ll see 2 leave after the playoffs, and 1 more in June.
Interesting thanks for the insight. That kinda sucks but the numbers are what they are, no denying that.
We are 7 over the limit right now, 8 if you count Bertrand. This is post-Mack announcement. The only obvious 5th year non-return is Wimbush. There will be a lot of discussions.
What do you do with a kid call him X who hasn’t seen the field, and isn’t likely to, if he does not want to transfer? We have a couple who have degrees so it is not as troubling to me if they are ‘pushed’ a little. It is unfair to speculate by name, but we can all look at the roster.
Your comment implies you know something, and if you do, I am sure the coaches do too. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be pushing hard on those last two signees and wouldn’t have taken Liufau or Bertrand.
No insider info.
Mack isn’t coming back, Wimbush is highly unlikely, and I doubt MDT returns either due to being gently nudged and/or finding a good landing spot somewhere else.
I do agree we’ll see some (Studstill, McKinley, Morgan?) who will graduate by June and play elsewhere. You have to think the difference in numbers is going to be 1/3 these players, 1/3 guys turning pro, and 1/3 natural transfers.
I agree with you on the two 5th years. That gets you to 5/6. That puts it to a reasonable number. Crawford is already coming back. I don’t think there will be three freshmen, but there usually are a couple.
Avery Davis seems like a guy that is prime to transfer. I just dont think he’s doing what he really wants nor was expecting to do. He’s already been supplanted as QB3 and this experiment being a RB clearly isnt his forte.
Hmmm, maybe.
The fact that he made the transition AND got to play right away makes me think he’ll stick around and is valued by the staff. That seems to be an entirely different situation than someone like Justin Brent moving positions and never rising above 437th string. Having Davis drop off the map towards the end of this season is a little concerning but also kind of expected given his size and experience.
Also, Dexter came back, pushing him down to 4th string.
You say Mack isn’t coming back, but just you wait 20 years from now he’ll pop up as the head coach for North Carolina.
Over the last couple of years the staff has been extremely frank with kids on their chances of playing time. They’re told that there’s literally no chance they’ll ever see the field in any meaningful capacity. They get to make a choice between playing ball or getting a free ND degree. I’m fine with that – I think it strikes a reasonable balance between education and athletic success, and it lets the kid make an informed decision.
Now, if that kid chooses to stay but doesn’t live up to the standards the coaches expect, that’s a problem. Playing time aside, all of them are held to the same standard – make grades, get to meetings on time, get your lifts in, hustle in practice, etc. I don’t know the exact infraction(s), but that’s what led to Brandon Tiassum being dismissed from the team. He decided to stay but, reading between the lines, it sounds like he pretty much checked out.
How do you think it works with 5th years?
If they want to come back even if they won’t play is that allowed or because they have their degree, Kelly would tell them there is no spot for them?
I think if they have their degree and they’re not a meaningful contributor, they’re probably thanked for their efforts and wished the best. But that’s just a guess.
There have been 5th years who have practiced in the spring and then left for just that reason. Depending on numbers you have to be a starter or meaningful contributor. This year, I will bet it is starter. If Lenzy/Keys had seen the field and shown something in the slot, I would think Finke could have been at risk.
Could any of these freshmen surprise and play an increased role in the playoffs after 4 more weeks of practice and not worrying about their red-shirt situation?
I doubt it. I know Kelly talked about adding more speed at receiver, though. I’ll bet someone like Lenzy doesn’t even touch the field against Clemson.
Isn’t this similar to Davaris Daniels in 2012/13 NCG? I remember him seemingly coming out of nowhere but maybe he was more involved during the regular season.
He missed the last 2 regular season games but had 25 receptions earlier that year. Gaudy numbers in the title game, though. Sucks for him that literally no one cared now or then.
I’d hazard the guess that “oh now we can play them without burning their redshirt” is about #10 in the top 10 reasons any given freshman is or isn’t playing against Clemson.
Meaning, if a kid is good enough that you think he’s going to make a difference against a Clemson, he’d likely already be playing AND saving a year isn’t a major concern because he’d be NFL material anyway. Honestly, from a program perspective, it’s kind of pointless to worry about redshirts for guys who are skill position starters, because if those guys are good enough to play early, they’re not staying 5 years (and might not stay for 4), and if they aren’t good enough to play early, sure they might develop but you ought to be recruiting someone in the next cycle that would beat them out. There are always exceptions who might have raw talent but need some time/conditioning/whatever who become really good players in their 4th/5th years, but in general if a guy like Phil Jurkovec’s 5th year status matters then he wasn’t really meeting expectations anyway. It’s a depth move, not anything that keeps a top-level starter around longer.
Put another way, if Lenzy was (strong/fast/knew the offense/freakish) enough that he’d make a significant difference against Clemson, he’d have seen the field in one of our 12 previous games. You play the players who can win you games, and you worry about their redshirt only if they can’t make an immediate impact.
I’m not saying you should just play kids who aren’t ready because 5th years don’t matter–we shouldn’t be stupid about it. But especially for skill position players, it’s more likely that you’re doing the kid a favor and saving them a year they can use to transfer and play somewhere else. Which, if you’re a coach who is genuinely interested in the well-being of your players, is a good thing. RS a kid, then if he graduates on time and has an extra year and isn’t a starter for you, pat him on the back and wish him well as he takes MA-level basket weaving at Miami of Ohio or whatever to get an extra year on the field.
That does NOT apply (in my opinion) for linemen, who generally need more time to physically develop and be ready for the college level. I’m way more concerned if we burn an OL or DL redshirt because that’s generally a bad sign for our line depth.
On that note…did Jay Hayes do anything for UGA this year? Wonder how he feels having transferred from a playoff team to a non-playoff team? (evil laugh)
Edit: 2 tackles against Middle Tennessee and 1 against Ga Tech. But at least he had better weather.
I agree KG if a player would be good enough then he would have been playing already in general and that it wouldn’t make sense that just because of the red-shirt rule now he could be playing. I always thought with the additional bowl practices that sometimes there is a little more practice time for the young guys and that with the additional reps in practice (since there’s 3-4 weeks to prepare for the game) that THAT might be the reason a guy might step up into a higher role. In general, probably unlikely, but I wondered about the particular situation here.
Yeah, hypothetically I could see someone like Austin getting a package as a weapon or something, since they know he can play and contribute. The problem with that specific scenario is that Austin doesn’t really bring anything different than Boykin or Claypool at this point. If Lenzy or whomever were close enough that we’d be putting them in for a special package (the freshman-year Golden Tate/Chris Brown vs. Oklahoma “just run a go route, we’ll chuck it deep” package), we’d have seen them on the field at least once or twice. My larger point above (which you got) is that the redshirt rule doesn’t change any of that, really.
“Take the incoming freshmen and the 2019 kids who preserved a year and you have 41 players who will each have 4 years of eligibility remaining. With one or 2 more verbals likely for 2019 that could mean almost half of the scholarships will be tied up in players with freshmen eligibility.”
Couldn’t this get worked out if many aren’t invited back for a 5th year? Because having them transfer doesnt help get older players. It becomes an issue when because of the older players you would have a small freshmen class.
So assuming a couple transfer along the way, we could still be left with 15-16 elegible for a 5th year and they have to decide to keep like 7 (which I think is the most we have kept in the last few years) so you arent left with such a small class.
It seems we’ve allowed back guys who wanted to come back for a 5th year but at that point we may be pushing guys out the door more or selling on the fact they won’t have much of a role.
Part of the issue is the freshmen class is one of our biggest classes that we’ve had at 27 coupled with the new red-shirt rule. I wonder if the new red-shirt rule will make it so 5th years are treated a little differently because it will be easier to red-shirt.
It’s possible on the 5th years, although it’s a pretty solid group that could come back next year. Definitely have to balance your hand against your wrist there.
But the 5th years you have to balance it against will be in 4 years when this freshmen class could be 5th years. It’s one thing to average 5-6 5th years which makes it so you can take 22-23 guys on average (with 2-3 transferring eventually on average) and another thing to average like 10 or even more 5th years because of the new red-shirt rule. In that case you could take on average around 20 guys (with 2 eventually transferring) – the average could be less if the average 5th years were more than 10 .
So to have a class of 27 makes it especially a risk to have unbalanced classes. In a way it was the worst time to have our biggest class.
There’s always an inherent risk of a small class when you take a really large class. The continued issue will be what to do with all the 5th year eligible players and how much will that have to shrink our yearly average or do we want to mostly jettison the larger class to keep it to a more regular 6 5th year players.
I see what you mean. I had misread I think and thought you were saying someone like Bilal wouldn’t be invited back because we want to develop someone like DJ Brown.
I agree, the 4-game rule came at a bad time to have a huge recruiting class. But, I think what will happen is instead of 2-3 freshmen realizing quickly they’ll never play we may see 4-6 of those similar players from a large class. I believe we won’t see a significant increase in 5th year players down the road, we’ll see a bit more transfers before they ever get to that point.
Pretty insane per snap production for Justin Ademilola and Bo Bauer. Assuming about 700 snaps for a starter at LB, we can conservatively project Bauer to have 300 tackles once he is a full time.
Mark it down.
Because I’m totally heartless: why can’t we force out some of the guys you’ve detailed who appear to be not going anywhere on the field (eg a former four star DT now being moved to offense)? Sure, I get the need for attrition from the freshman, but it would seem even more optimal to generate it from the guys who have been here 2-3 years and not done anything. Some of the freshman *might* be late bloomers.
Turns out those guys have been injured this whole time!
/winks
(But yes I agree we should be discovering some “injuries” for some of those upperclassmen and any clearly going-to-not-be-productive freshmen, and if they decide they want to play through the “injury” then they’re welcome to transfer.)
Probably because we promised these players that instead of paying them to generate revenue for a $100 million program, we’d give them a 4 year degree with a small possibility of parlaying their experience into an NFL career. It would be pretty shitty to beat up on these guys every day in practice for 2-3 years, only to then tell them to gtfo before upholding ND’s end of the bargain (the degree). ND prides itself on generating true “student-athletes.” It would be nice if we didn’t just turn around and tell those guys to screw off. We’re not Bama on the football field, but I certainly hope we never become Bama off the field.
I agree with you in spirit. However, I don’t think the suggestion was kicking them out of school. The whole “undisclosed medical issue” is a cover to continue giving a kid a scholarship to finish their degree without having them take up roster space. So the suggestion isn’t telling them to screw off or gtfo, it’s more thanks for your efforts, we want you to finish your degree, but we both know you’re not going to end up playing significant minutes, so let’s open that up to a younger player.
I’m not sure if I feel that much better about that, to be honest–it’s still a very Bama thing to do that I think is kind of gray area and not sure I want to touch. But I just wanted to clarify that it’s different than completely kicking a kid to the curb.
I hope like hell no physician associated with ND would falsely diagnose a player with a medical condition simply so the football program could drop that player from the roster while maintaining his scholarship.
(I didn’t downvote, btw)
I think there’s a balance there. We tend to keep at least a couple players in each class who never ever play and those are the ones who are okay with that, still work hard, remain a good teammate, and want the ND degree.
Then there’s the other group who really just want to play football. I don’t blame them. And I don’t blame the staff if they need to be up front with them about their chances and seeking something on another campus.
Telling them they’re never going to see the field unless something horrible happens isn’t a problem; in fact, I’d really prefer the staff be 100% honest with them whenever possible. I just don’t want a situation where we’re literally forcing someone to either “medically retire” or transfer when they’re healthy and willing to give 100% everyday to ND. If the staff screws up on the recruiting trail or in player development, that should be on them, not the player.
The graduate transfer market 3 years from now is going to be exciting.
Exactly. Now players at all schools have a lot more motivation to graduate in 4 years. In a way, transferring in the normal route is or can be a slightly higher penalty because before you could only play 4 years now you can play 4 years + 4 games. So if you transfer and sit out a year you potentially miss the 4 games.
I know we always wonder about how this will work out, but… Here are the guys eligible for a fifth year in 2019:
Spot Is Held: Boykin, Finke, Ruhland, Bilal, Crawford
Nice to Have: Wimbush
Moving On: Mack, MDT
I don’t see how any of the “spot is held” guys could possibly be turned away (assuming health, of course). Crawford would be our 3rd corner (or 2nd if Love leaves), and everyone else in that group would be a starter. I expect 21 in the incoming recruiting class (one more than we have now and counting Bertrand as a PWO); with all fifth years returning, that would put us at 93. Mack, MDT, and BW moving on would get us down to 90.
I think, like Eric says, you’ll probably see a couple of freshmen transfer, although I couldn’t begin to guess who it might be. I will say that I think some of the fan base’s more frequent assumptions – like Allen – are pretty far off base. We’ll see. Something else to keep in mind, and perhaps why the staff is willing to be so aggressive in recruiting, is that a number of juniors who are buried on the depth chart will get their degree soon. It’s very possible that you’ll see more upperclassmen leave than we’re used to.
Do you know which juniors are graduating soon? How are so many Juniors graduating?
Because they take classes each summer, and generally I’d expect football players aren’t taking classes over and above what they need to graduate.
So all/most of ND’s players graduate after their JUNIOR year? That doesn’t seem right.
Or is it that they graduate after summer classes – which makes it tight to show up for August practice at another school if they wanted to transfer with 2 years of eligibility remaining?
If I’m not mistaken that’s one of the major challenges ND football has over Stanford. ND requires the same type of course load but requires their players to graduate in 3 whereas Stan allows for 4.
No I think the challenge is that ND requires you graduate in 4 years to get the 5th year while Stanford allows 5 years to graduate.
ND requires you to take a full course load as a student athlete, including summer classes. Unless you take too many electives or fail a class (or change majors), odds are you will have enough credits to graduate after summer courses after your junior year. So graduating in 3.333ish years. It’s not rare for that to end up being a December senior year graduation too. Or 3 years flat is possible for early enrollees.
But technically, the requirement is to be on course to graduate in 4 years. So if you do take way too many electives and miss that 3.333 schedule that most players get, you have to be on track for a 4 year plan.
That’s very helpful and makes sense now. So there are two requirements: (1) in order to get a 5th year you must graduate in 4 and (2) when you are enrolled you must take a full load.
Apparently that includes a full load even in summer semesters (which seems a little odd since normal students don’t take classes over the summer).
Either way, that makes sense of many being able to graduate after the summer semester and also of why some many not graduate until Christmas (because they change majors or want to take a few extra electives, etc.).
When does the summer semester end btw? I’m wondering how easy it is to transfer after that and play football the following year.
…? I never said ND *requires* players to graduate in three years. I explained why/how it’s *possible.”
Edit: MikeyB explains the specifics in more detail, but the idea I was getting at is that with taking summer courses and full loads, you *can* finish in 3~31/2 years, depending on the major. If you’re taking a basic business degree and take the minimum classes necessary to get it with no “gosh, I really want to take Prof. KG’s course on 16th century warfare in Japan just for the hell of it” then it’s entirely possible.
Daelin Hayes, Khalid Kareem, and Devin Studstill all enrolled early from the 2016 class. Also, Spencer Perry and Kevin Stepherson both who are longer here.
Winter/Spring 2016
Summer 2016
Fall/Winter 2016
Winter/Spring 2017
Summer 2017
Fall/Winter 2017
Winter/Spring 2018
Summer 2018
Fall/Winter 2018
Every kid seems to be different but after that amount of classes most of the players are pretty close to graduating this time of year. I’d guess the 3 EE guys above are no more than a few classes away. Doesn’t make me feel great about Kareem sticking around if he wants to go to the NFL 🙁
I’m certain Studstill will finish up in Winter/Spring 2019 and then move on. Question for me are guys like McKinley and Morgan who could’ve added a few classes to their load previously and could do the same.
IMO, the ticket for Kareem to come back is if he thinks staying will improve his draft stock (as it no doubt did for Coney and Tillery sticking around for one more year and has been cited at least by Coney as the major reason to return). That more than finishing the degree will be the key, though it certainly is a nice factor as well.
And, I mean he “only” has 5.5 sacks, could easily come back, dominate and improve his draft stock.
Really I just hope one of Okwawa/Khalid comes back and that’s a win enough for me.
I don’t think he projects higher than the 3rd round at best for the 2019 draft, probably more like 4th or 5th. Very talented kid, but he really only has one season of production and some holes in his game – still loses gap discipline every once in a while, that kind of thing. Obviously he’s a tremendous player for us, I’m not saying that, but the NFL isn’t a developmental league and they’re not going to use a high pick on a guy who needs development.
Sort of a similar situation for Okwara, IMO – he’s shown a lot of production in a short time, but physically he’s not ready for the NFL. I think he’d also project to the mid rounds at best, maybe lower.
I think they both have the potential to be 1st/2nd round picks if they come back. 1st might be a bit of a stretch right now, but if they take the step from frequent to consistent domination in 2019 I could definitely see it happening.
Agreed – I think they stand to have the most to gain by coming back of anyone. Conversely, it seems like Love doesn’t really have anything to gain personally other than getting his degree – he’s not going to run any faster at the combine in a year, and he’s shown for three straight years that he’s super fundamentally sound otherwise. I hope that degree means a lot to him…
Finalist (and favorite?) for the Jim Thorpe? I think he’s outtie but that’s just personally.
Pete Sampson said he thought at this point most everyone would return who had draft decisions so I hope he’s right but we shall see
Agreed – I think Daelin Hayes could play either DE position solidly next year, so we just *need* one of the two back. But getting both back would be quite nice. Having all three in on all 3rd and longs (with Kareem moving inside) as seniors would be not great for opposing teams!
So Eric, the idea is that most players are regularly close (and maybe regularly graduate at Christmas of their 4th year). Then if they are motivated because they intend to transfer they are able to take extra classes in the spring and maybe in an early summer semester to graduate. Whereas most other players just take the regular amount during those two semesters and can take a light 4th year then at ND if they are staying.
Do we not have a scholarship Center in the entire Jr or Sr class this year? Am I right on that? I think we need to BEG Ruhland to stay
There must be someone else in line to play center, but I’m not sure who that is. Right now it’s Musiphar and Ruhland so I’d expect Ruhland to start at center next year unless there is someone else more talented we’ve been grooming all along that I haven’t heard about. Is there a 3rd string center at the moment?
I can’t recall, who it is, but I believe the lineman from Arkansas is a center prospect. I think his dad played center, too, if I remember correctly (too lazy to look it up right now.)
OK, I checked and that was Luke Jones, but he’s listed as a tackle, so I may be thinking of someone else.
I’ve seen Luke Jones projected as a center by someone for next year. So you are probably thinking of the right guy even though right now he is listed as a tackle – not sure if it’ll stay that way or not.
I don’t believe there is a 3rd string center at the moment, or one that gets a lot of work in anyways. I thought all along pretty much the plan everyone was on board with is that Ruhland is the starting center next season.
After that, who knows, but the ND o-line has enough talent I’m sure they’ll groom some 4* guy who probably has a shot at an NFL future for it.
Poor Jamion. We know his thighs are proportionally of equal length to everyone else on the roster, so I just don’t know what possibly could have caused his quad injury. Certainly not disproportionately short legs….
The Kool-Aid Man tipped over.