If you don’t like talking about depth charts for a season kicking off in 8 months are you even a real football fan? This is half the fun!
Before diving into each position group I wanted to take a moment to address the re-build on defense that was projected for 2020. Here’s a brief look at the holes to be filled and positions returning next season:
NEW STARTERS
Strong Safety
Buck Linebacker
Boundary Corner
Strong-Side Defensive End
(W) Wide Receiver
(Z) Wide Receiver
PARTIALLY NEW STARTERS
Free Safety
Weak-Side Defensive End
Tight End
(X) Wide Receiver
Running Back
RETURNING STARTERS
Mike Linebacker
Rover Linebacker
Field Corner
Defensive Tackle
Nose Guard
Left Tackle
Left Guard
Center
Right Guard
Right Tackle
Quarterback
The return of Daelin Hayes (weak-side end) and Shaun Crawford (field corner) really add a nice touch of experience that is greatly needed for the defense. Having to fill 4 positions on that side of the ball instead of 6 feels like a godsend for Clark Lea.
Quarterback
It should be a spring for Ian Book to kick his feet up and relax. Maybe not quite tape himself up in bubble wrap but you know take it easy out there. If last off-season he had a mindset of chasing the NFL Draft boards this spring should have a more tranquil approach focused on cementing a collegiate legacy.
Brendon Clark should be among the most excited players on the team with the transfer of Phil Jurkovec. He’s now in the thick of numerous spring reps, and if they elect to dial things back with Book at times, could really benefit from a large increase in experience before summer arrives.
Drew Pyne also has to be smiling, going from way in the back coming to campus early to at least being on the radar in practice. Especially in the spring, we should be able to get a good look at Pyne in the coming months.
Running Back
The first order of business in the wake of the departed Tony Jones, Jr. is to assess whether Jafar Armstrong should remain full-time at running back. You would think the staff wouldn’t want to move on from both their August 2019 1A and 1B options but there are certainly plenty of other options to explore–and Armstrong’s injury-riddled season bad enough to reconsider.
I have no idea where each of Jahmir Smith, C’Bo Flemister, and Kyren Williams will slot in and how that affects incoming freshman Chris Tyree. Under normal circumstances, even a talented freshman will have a hard time fighting past so many bodies when he doesn’t see a practice until August. Tyree should be different and I’ll predict he’s ascended to third string by late September.
Ask me today and I’d favor Smith and Williams with an increasing dose of Tyree, that’d be my plan for 2020. I like Flemister’s burst and toughness but to date he doesn’t seem as well-rounded as the other backs.
Wide Receiver
There will be a lot of questions at receiver this off-season but also it’s among the most fun groups to project for the future. The incoming transfer of Bennett Skowronek and his 110 career receptions fills a big need at the W receiver position. It maybe be premature to project him as a starter but a lot of that may hinge upon where other bodies can move.
For example, if Kevin Austin is back in good standing and truly one of if not the best receiver on the team and Skowronek is in your top three don’t you move Lenzy to the slot? I have a feeling that will be the Ireland opening lineup when we reach late August.
We’re not sure if Javon McKinley is returning for his final season. He’s more of a W who saw some playing time at X this past year but even if he does return I like incoming blue-chip freshman Jordan Johnson to zoom up the depth chart. Elsewhere, we should see further development from Lawrence Keys–who if Lenzy stays out wide–could be the starting slot receiver. I’m not sure where Wilkins fits in for 2020 although Kendal Abdur-Rahman and Xavier Watts are likely to make some noise from the back end of the depth chart.
Tight End
So we move on without Cole Kmet. I’ve been a big believer in Tommy Tremble and he should move into the No. 1 job rather nicely coming off a 16-catch, 4-touchdown season. Behind him we’ve got some questions.
Brock Wright has never seemed like a legitimate pass-catching option in the offense, although it’s possible this may change with the departure of offensive coordinator Chip Long. Through 2 seasons, George Takacs has had the quietest career for a tight end than I can remember in recent memory. He certainly doesn’t seem like a two-deep option so this will be a huge spring for his career.
The easiest route it seems is to lean on Tremble to catch passes, use Wright as a consistent blocker, and quickly develop incoming star freshman Michael Mayer as a credible backup receiving option.
Offensive Line
With the return of Robert Hainsey and Tommy Kraemer from injuries the entire opening day 2019 line comes back intact. The only loss from last year is Trevor Ruhland who started the final 6 games after Kraemer sprained his knee in the loss to Michigan. Josh Lugg will be entering his fourth year on campus and will shift back into a reserve role after starting the final 5 games after Hainsey broke his ankle against Virginia Tech.
As per usual, determining the backups will be a mysterious ebb and flow that will take months to sort through. Even more so with the abundance of players available heading into 2020.
Injuries will be updated after the spring practice presser.
Each of Mabry, Kristofic, and Carroll had bright spots during last off-season, the latter particularly before he was lost for the year with a knee injury. Add these players with Lugg and the staff must like the way the future looks at tackle.
Judging the interior talent is a lot more uncertain. We had pegged Zeke Correll as a possible 2019 contributor but he came in listed at 270 pounds as a freshman. Can he put on significant amount of weight and move past Colin Grunhard as the backup center? Will Correll look to move to guard?
Not much is known about the rest of the interior prospects. Gibbons is entering year four and Dirksen year three and they are presumably in the mix due to their veteran status.
Defensive End
Replacing the consistent high-level play of Khalid Kareem could be quite the chore this season, however, the development of Ogundeji this past season has to make Notre Dame feel a lot better. Additionally, the return of Daelin Hayes gives the Irish a nice steady combo on the edges.
2020 will be a season to see some backups grow into larger roles, primarily Justin Ademilola, Isaiah Foskey, and perhaps Ovie Oghofou. You could say nice things about each of those players but they have a combined 36 career tackles to their names.
This could be a massive spring for NaNa Osafo-Mensah who was a highly rated 2019 recruit and might be able to make a big jump up the depth chart. Also, top 2020 recruit Jordan Botelho is already on campus and will be someone else to keep an eye on in a pass-rushing role.
Defensive Tackle
Everyone is back! The two-deep here is definitely one of the stronger units on the defense, if not the whole team. One of the big things for me will be if someone takes a sizable leap into becoming more of a dominant force on the interior. You have to like the depth of this group but one game-wrecker emerging could do wonders.
Mike Elston won’t suffer from lack of options, that’s for sure. Both true freshmen are already enrolled and it allows Notre Dame to go nearly five-deep at the interior positions. It’ll be a dog fight for practice reps.
Linebacker
Late this past season there were whispers that one of the Rovers, either Owusu-Koramoah or Moala, may be moved inside and/or cross-trained inside for 2020. Does that make sense? It’s been a trend in this defense to see the Rover move inside (Tranquill, then Bilal, and Jaylon in the BVG defense prior to that) but it may take some weight gain for either JOK or Moala to do the same. Both are listed at 216 pounds which is terribly light for a Buck linebacker, and Moala is only listed at 5’11” 1/2 which could make it difficult to add 10 to 12 more pounds.
Philosophically, I’m okay with a move like this (the staff has seemed intent on getting Moala on the field more which appears to be spurring these rumors) although it feels like someone else should be able to step up at Buck during the off-season. That could be clouded by Lamb not being healthy for the spring, though. Are we giving up on Genmark-Heath? Will Liufau (213 lbs as a freshman) move back to Rover where he was recruited for or is he big enough now to stay inside? Will a big, physical presence like Ekwonu emerge at Buck or will it be Bertrand?
Despite being a special teams ace everyone seems to believe Bauer can’t be an actual starting linebacker. Is that actually the case? We’ve seen Simon move all over the place in the past and when he comes back healthy will he get another crack at Buck, too?
Corner
As suspected, this position looks scary heading into spring. The return of Shaun Crawford helps things immensely although being paired with Bracy gives the Irish some of the smallest corners they’ve ever fielded. Being able to stay healthy and play physically are going to be major challenges for Clark Lea to navigate.
Establishing depth has to be maybe the biggest project for everyone involved. In fact, it might be a good idea to keep Crawford at bay for large stretches of spring to keep him healthy and challenge the other young corners.
I liked K.J. Wallace coming into last year and he’ll be someone to keep an eye on as a third corner. I’m not sure I see a big future for Cam Hart at 6’2″ 1/2 and 208 pounds after his move from receiver last season. They need size but that’s perhaps too much for someone without a ton of defensive experience.
Don’t forget Caleb Offord is already on campus, too. I’m super high on Landon Bartleson but he won’t arrive until summer.
Safety
Now we truly enter the Kyle Hamilton era at safety as the freshman All-American’s presence softens the blow of losing both starter captains in Alohi Gilman and Jalen Elliott. The 2019 season for Hamilton should set up massive expectations next fall following 41 tackles, 4 interceptions, and 6 passes broken up.
With the lack of proven depth at corner it becomes a pressing need to find a capable starter to play alongside Hamilton. We’ll project it’ll be Ohio State transfer Isaiah Pryor who joined the program during bowl practices and will have a nice head start going into the spring. He’s at least made some starts for the Buckeyes and brings a lot more experience than any of the other options at safety.
A reminder that Houston Griffith has also moved back to safety again after a disappointing sophomore season. Griffith saw the field regularly in 2018 in primarily a nickel role making 14 tackles and pretty much disappeared from action last fall with only 5 tackles. Additionally, keep an eye on incoming freshman Ramon Henderson who committed/signed with Notre Dame back on ESD. He projects to safety and has some freakish mixture of size and speed in addition to being on campus already.
Special Teams
I’ve made the mistake several times already believing Doerer has two more years remaining but 2020 will be his last for the Irish. After going from a seemingly massive liability to one of the better kickers in the country it feels disappointing that he’ll be gone so soon. Notre Dame does have preferred walk-on Harrison Leonard (who briefly appeared to be winning the job in August) with 4 years of eligibility remaining and are kicking the tires on some 2021 prospects, as well.
Jay Bramblett will be entering his sophomore season following a little bit of an inconsistent but overall nice first season in South Bend as the punter.
Taking a look at the kick return game, Lenzy finally got his shot in the bowl game against Iowa State and looked dangerous enough while averaging nearly 24 yards on his 3 touches. You’d think he’s the biggest weapon and will win the job this off-season.
Punt return is a big question following the departure of Chris Finke who leaves behind a sneaky good 602 career yards on special teams. In a couple of the early season blowouts, Joe Wilkins got a couple reps and might be the heir apparent. We’ll also go ahead and slot incoming running back Chris Tyree into the mix with his blazing speed.
A two-minute offense of Austin, Skowronek, Lenzy, Tremble, and Mayer/Armstrong/Johnson could give defenses a really difficult time, despite the lack of proven production from that group thus far.
Great write-up, and good to have somewhere with this all in one place.
To be honest, this (preliminary) roster overall looks very similar to the 2019 team: much deeper than in the past, but lacking the top-end elite talent that would make the team a presumptive playoff contender. It’s unclear if the junior or senior classes have any first or second round picks among them. Somebody will probably jump up to that level (maybe Austin or Lenzy, or ideally both; also Wu could), but right now it’s not obvious who that might be.
Given all that and the lack of returning offensive production, it will be interesting to see where ND’s preseason projections are. I’ll bet we’ll be just outside the top 10 of the SP+ preseason projection, which I think is a better indication than the preseason polls (e.g., the SP+ preseason projection had Texas as #31, which was a lot closer to where they were than the top-10 team they were billed as after last year’s Sugar Bowl).
I think that’s a good assessment and prediction on the preseason SP+ rating. The one thing that sticks in my mind in 2018 was how confident with the guys returning we were the defense would be really good – safety was a bit of a question mark but everyone was returning + Gilman giving a pretty high floor and they obviously exceeded expectations. It’s really hard to be playoff caliber without one elite unit and both the offense and defense feel a couple pieces away.
The things that I think would have to go right – Book make the mini-leap expected this season despite losing Claypool/Kmet, which means a big year from Tremble + Austin + Mayer/Johnson/Tyree. The run game also has to take a big step forward in consistency.
Defensively one of Daelin + Ade + Foskey or whoever needs to become a “game wrecker” as BK puts it. the DL will have a super high floor as well but not sure to your point without a 1st/2nd day talent they will be able to lift the ceiling. And last but not least the secondary – Hamilton will make a lot of guys look good, but finding difference makers back there seem like a tall task, and they’ll be needed against Clemson and USC.
Agreed with all. IIRC, in 2018 we were in the 7-10 range preseason (and frankly that’s probably where we were overall during the year too). I don’t think we’ll be that high going into the season – and, reflecting that, I think our expectations should be lower than that year.
I did think that if we could get Kmet/Jones/Gilman back, it would have been reasonable to expect 11-1 or 12-0, but I don’t think we’re going to be there without them. Outside chance at 11-1; basically next to no chance at 12-0; 10-2 or 9-3 by far most likely. Just like 2017 and 2019.
Question about receiver positions/terminology — in our offense, X = field, Z = boundary, and W = slot?
W – Also referred to as the split end, usually the biggest receiver physically, and often attached to the line of scrimmage.
X – Also referred to as the flanker, usually the receiver with decent size and great speed, often lines up off the line of scrimmage.
Z – Also referred to as the slot receiver, usually the smallest receiver.
Thanks — I noticed the chart after the window to edit my post passed.
Hey — it’s …FUN! Thanks!! I was feeling kinda blue, not knowing whether to get up at 0230 for the Natty, with a good friend being one of the major Clemson figures and he is in New Orleans, and we (ND) are not. ,So I am hyper jealous. We won a Natty there in ’73, and Jerome Bettis smashed the Gators there, and both times witnessed incredibly good ND parties. So… this comes at a perfect time to help me focus on the future.
To business — I thought Henderson might be possible at corner? Or not? Clearly a tad more concern there than at safety.
What could be the way ahead for Jafar A? Is he salvageable at that position?
We’re thinking Henderson might be a little too big to play corner. He’s listed at 6’2″ and looks pretty close to that size compared to most recruits who might say they are that tall.
I saw his height, but (1) I was struck by your remark about the shortest pair of corners we’ll have fielded in a while; (2) how much of a big deal BK made repeatedly about “length” during the signing day, so did one of the asst coaches; (3) this concern about height seemed to have recently evolved even to the point of giving more minutes to our not-so-great but taller corner (just graduated, forget his name).
So I was thinking maybe they are relooking height guidelines?
Length and height are different, remember!
Corner is one of those positions where height is always talked about and often lied about. I remember seeing an article a while back about all the height inflation for corner recruits. For example, for 2020 12 out of the top 15 corners are listed at 6’0″ or taller and 7 of them are listed at 6’1″ or taller. A lot of those guys are going to be 5’11” or slightly taller.
Also, the pool of successful taller (6’1″ and above) corners at Notre Dame is really small. Very rarely does anyone with that type of size stick around at corner and be very effective.
Anyway, Henderson looks pretty tall and like someone who is going to put on a decent amount of weight. I could see him starting at corner (offense is an option too). But, probably safety eventually.
All good points, and thanks!
OT — who you got this evening? I have that hope that Clemson rolls into the Stadium next year riding a 38 game winning streak… but that’s kind of the only idea I have, other than I like to think Venables might have something up his sleeve.
Seems like we have a lot of potential at WR and with some studs coming in this year (Johnson) and next year (Colzie, Styles) but not as much potential game breakers at CB or Safety. Any thought about Watts, who by all accounts is a ridiculous athlete, shifting over the CB or Safety. I’ve heard that he is great on both sides of the ball and it seems defensive backfield could use a lift…
I forget where I read it but I’m almost positive his recruiting pitch was “come here and play offense” which is what he wanted to do, and a big reason he chose ND over other schools who were recruiting him for defense. Perhaps that will change if he can’t find the field in a year or two, if it comes to that. But I’d think the path starts for him on offense.
OK that’s fair. It’s at least nice to have a guy who has experience on the other side of the ball in case offense doesn’t work out.
So it looks like “load management” has finally arrived at ND! Despite the term being thrown around (sometimes in a snarky manner), I agree that Crawford should have his reps limited as a way (1) to keep him healthy, and (2) to give the younger guys opportunities to learn.