Fighting Irish football won’t be back on the field for nearly 2 weeks. Before they went into this godforsaken long break the media was able to witness one practice only in shells. In such situations very little can be learned from one isolated practice but here at 18 Stripes we make it our goal to find all the juicy nuggets to talk about. Nothing can hold us back.

#1 Cooks in the Kitchen

In this case, the kitchen being an analyst role. Yes, the former cornerbacks coach and co-defensive coordinator who spent 2010-14 with Notre Dame is back in South Bend and was seen prowling the sidelines on Thursday morning.

It’s a bit of a humbling move for Cooks who at one point looked like a rising star in the profession. After leaving the Irish he spent 4 seasons at Oklahoma on the same trajectory he experienced at Notre Dame: cornerbacks coach and later co-defensive coordinator. Cooks moved to Texas Tech last season as their safeties coach and now adds experience to Notre Dame’s coaching staff for 2020.

#2 Kraemer and Hainsey are Nearly Healthy

Our fears of a patchwork offensive line for spring were overblown! Both starting right guard Tommy Kramer and right tackle Robert Hainsey worked with the 1st-team during tempo work and according to head coach Brian Kelly are very close to full health.

Ian Book won’t have to scramble for his life!

#3 Banks Broken Foot

As rumored, starting left guard Aaron Banks has another fracture in his foot and will be out 5-6 weeks so it’s not all good news up front. The Blue-Gold Game kicks off in just over 6 weeks from this opening practice so it’s likely Banks is done for the spring.

When the offense went into live action, both Kraemer and Hainsey sat out which led to this offensive line formation: Eichenberg (LT), Grunhard (LG), Patterson (C), Dirksen (RG), Lugg (RT).

#4 Austin Wins the Day

The consensus from the media was that receiver Kevin Austin looked the best on the practice field which is a super encouraging sign as he comes back from his suspension. We can’t talk enough about how his presence could really vault the passing game–and the offense as a whole–into a different stratosphere.

Best of all, Kelly didn’t throw cold water on things after day one!

“Kevin was out there and you can see he’s a guy that can make some plays…He’s always had the talent; he’s obviously doing things right, both on and off the field. His development has been one that we’re really pleased with and that’s why you’re seeing a lot more of him on a day like today.”

The fact that Austin opened with the first-team is encouraging in itself. At least on Thursday, the offense worked with Lenzy and Austin on the outside with Keys in the slot. That is an awful lot of speed.

1st-Team Offense

QB: Book
RB: Armstrong/Flemister
X: Lenzy
Z: Keys
W: Austin
TE: Wright/Tremble
LT: Eichenberg
LG: Lugg
C: Patterson
RG: Kraemer
RT: Hainsey

#5 Davis Makes His 37th Position Change

The long and winding road for Avery Davis continues with yet another position switch as the redshirt junior (amazing he still has one more year remaining after this fall) was working in the slot with the 2nd-team offense. Seeing as though Jafar Armstrong (a candidate to make this move) opened with the starting offense it does make sense to clear the decks at running back mostly because…

#6 No Long-Term Injury at Running Back

The Notre Dame community was bracing for some bad news at running back and apparently it’s not coming. All of the running backs participated in practice–and even if there is someone banged up–the injury doesn’t look anything close to long-term.

I suspect someone is dealing with perhaps a nagging, lingering injury so we’ll see how things look when the team returns to practice and starts tackling. Of note, the media won’t see a practice for 3 weeks so there’s plenty of time to rest and get more healthy in the coming days.

#7 Spears Found a New Home

Despite a little better health than anticipated on the offensive line, rising redshirt freshman Hunter Spears was still moved from nose guard to left guard where he worked with the backups on Thursday morning.

2nd-Team Offense

QB: Clark
RB: Smith/Williams
X: McKinley
Z: Davis
W: Skowronek
TE: Takacs
LT: Kristofic
LG: Spears
C: Correll
RG: Dirksen
RT: Mabry

I found it interesting that redshirt freshman Zeke Correll got work as the backup center but preferred walk-on (now on scholarship) Colin Grunhard, who was the backup center last year, stayed with the third-team and worked at left guard with the starters too, as mentioned above. This “competition” for center is something I’m keeping my eye on.

#8 The Deep WR Field Isn’t So Deep

Notre Dame looked like it was going to have to juggle up to 4-teams worth of receivers this spring which might be a record in the 85-scholarship era. However, as things happen the depth chart has been weakened a bit recently.

First, true freshman Jay Brunelle is out following shoulder surgery in late January and isn’t expected to participate this spring.

Secondly, Joe Wilkins missed practice with strep throat.

Thirdly, redshirt junior Isaiah Robertson wasn’t at practice. Kelly had this to say:

“He’s still with us, still on scholarship. He’s working on some things academically; we’ve given him some time to take care of some things that he needs to work on and he’s coming back from injury, so he wouldn’t be able to practice anyway from that perspective, so we’re just giving him an opportunity to work on some things.”

I mean, that’s not super encouraging. You could look at that in a couple different ways but to me that’s a pretty clear indication a grad transfer is being lined up. There’s no sense taking backup reps away from someone like freshman Xavier Watts and the fact that Robertson wasn’t even in the building for practice signals his career at Notre Dame could be over.

#9 Way Down the Offense

For those of you (like me) who care about such things the rest of the 3rd-team backups featured true freshman Drew Pyne at quarterback, Watts at (X), redshirt sophomore Micah Jones at (W), redshirt freshman Kendall Abdur-Rahman in the slot (Z), and redshirt freshman John Olmstead at right guard surrounded by walk-ons (plus Cole Mabry pulling double-duty). Redshirt junior lineman Dillon Gibbons and redshirt freshman Quinn Carroll are out with injury.

#10 Daelin Hayes is Active

The shoulder recovery must be coming along well enough for 5th-year senior Daelin Hayes to work with the starters during tempo drills. This is an encouraging sign for his off-season health. However, as expected Hayes did drop out once the team went to live action and you’d expect he’ll be limited with tackling for the whole spring.

Stepping into Hayes’ spot was a combination of redshirt sophomore Ovi Oghoufo and redshirt freshman Isaiah Foskey.

#11 Griffith Makes an Early Move

The entire 1st-team defense was just like you’d expect with the exception of Houston Griffith pairing up with Kyle Hamilton at safety. Even with the usual caveats that we shouldn’t take too much away from one practice viewing, the reports on Griffith’s athleticism were really positive.

1st-Team Defense

DE: Hayes
DT: MTA
DT: Hinish
DE: Ogundeji
MIKE: White
BUCK: Genmark Heath
ROVER: Owusu-Koramoah
CB: Crawford
S: Hamilton
S: Griffith
CB: Bracy

Also, redshirt sophomore safety D.J. Brown received a lot of praise from the media. If you’re looking for some bad news it appeared Ohio State transfer Isaiah Pryor didn’t look too comfortable out there. That’s kind of expected as it’s his first spring practice with the team and the no-pads thing doesn’t really suit him but a lack of mobility in coverage is something to be worried about.

#12 Henderson at Corner

Things don’t look as peachy at corner. Already, 6th-year senior Shaun Crawford has a hamstring injury of some sort (far from serious though) and junior Tariq Bracy took the brunt of the damage from Austin & Company in the passing game.

If someone like Houston Griffith is already showing he can be a trusted 3rd safety then it does make sense to keep true freshman Ramon Henderson at corner.

2nd-Team Defense

DE: Foskey
DT: Jay Ademilola
DT: Lacey
DE: Ju. Ademilola
MIKE: Bauer
BUCK: Liufau
ROVER: Moala
CB: Rutherford
S: Pryor
S: Brown
CB: Hart

If there’s an overreaction to be made at corner it’s that both Isaiah Rutherford and the converted receiver Cam Hart worked with the 2nd-team defense over K.J. Wallace. Even more so since Kelly mentioned Hart is in “aggressive shadow” with an injury and they are “pushing the envelope a little bit” by keeping Hart out there but also “very cautious and aggressive” with him. Sure!

#13 Mini-Shuffling Begins at Linebacker

As practice opened on Thursday the 1st-team linebackers included returning starters Drew White (Mike) and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (Rover) with senior Jordan Genmark Heath sliding up to the front of the pack at Buck. For JGH this is basically a do-or-die spring as his veteran status allows him this opportunity to grab a role within the 2020 defense.

Even on the first day, defensive coordinator Clark Lea was trying new things. While redshirt freshman Marist Liufau worked at Buck linebacker he also took reps at Rover. Fellow redshirt freshman Jack Kiser also worked at Rover and Buck. Yet another 2019 commit JD Bertrand worked at both Mike and Buck, respectively.

I’ll go ahead and overreact to the lack of comments on redshirt freshman Osita Ekwonu who seems to be a distant 4th in the pecking order from the 2019 linebacker class which, it needs to be mentioned, was a major selling point for not taking any linebackers in 2020. It was always low-percentage to expect all 4 guys to hit–and at least 2 of the 3 from Liufau/Kiser/Bertrand look poised to have very good careers–so I wonder if Ekwonu eventually gets frustrated from being in the back of the pack.

This should be an interesting positional merry-go-round as Shayne Simon was ruled out for spring while Jack Lamb is a few weeks out from being moved to the “next level of progression” according to Kelly.