Midweek Musings: Is The Notre Dame Offense Close To Breaking Out?

Thoughts on Notre Dame football, Fighting Irish recruiting and other college football topics. This week the focus is on the Irish offense and defensive line recruiting.

OFFENSE IS CLOSE TO BREAKING OUT

For most of the last five years, there is no doubt that Notre Dame has had a defense that was good enough to win a championship. The defense must get better than it was in 2022, that's for sure, but the biggest issue for Notre Dame in recent seasons has been its offense.

Notre Dame has shown flashes over the years, but it has never been able to put it all together for an entire season. Looking at the Irish roster and what it could look like in 2023, and looking at the current makeup of the staff, the 2023 offense could be in position to be the best Notre Dame has seen in some time. That kind of jump is needed if the Irish are going to manage a very challenging 2023 schedule and make a run at the College Football Playoff.

So why the optimism after what was a rough 2022 campaign for the offense? Well, I have some reasons.

1. Coaching Staff - The current Irish offensive staff is as good as its been in a long time, and I would argue in its current form it is the best staff we've seen. Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees still has to prove he can develop an elite offense, but there have been moments where it seemed he was ready to take that jump. We'll see if 2023 is that year, and I'm optimistic it can happen.

But the staff around him is excellent, and that's important for any offensive coordinator. It's not coincidence that Notre Dame's run game become the force it did with the return of Harry Hiestand. Year two should be even better for the Irish as the young linemen get another year of tutelage from Hiestand and Chris Watt.

Deland McCullough did an outstanding job coaching the running backs in 2022, and their all-around game was top notch. Yes, there is talent (I'll get to that), but despite having a young backfield the unit was one of the more fundamentally sound Irish backfields in years. Wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey got his unit to improve throughout the year, and he too was working with a very young group. His lineup of mostly sophomores and a freshman was more technically sound and savvy than veteran groups of the past. Tight ends coach Gerad Parker got his unit to play good football in 2022 as well, and not just star Michael Mayer. But getting Mayer to improve his game as much as he did this season is a sign of a good coach, and a good student.

You all know I believe coaching is vital to success for Notre Dame, and the offensive staff that Rees and Marcus Freeman worked to assemble is top notch. I believe we will see that truly show with the 2023 team.

2. Dominant Offensive Line - Notre Dame's offensive line was dominant at times in 2022, but in 2023 and beyond (as long as Hiestand is around) it should be even better. A dominant line is a must for Notre Dame to have a great offense, and the combination of size, talent and coaching should allow Rees to have a much, much better line to work with than he's had his first three years running the offense.

3. Loaded Running Back Room - It wasn't that long ago (2019-20) that the running back room was a major question mark for the Irish. It was a strength of the team in 2022 and it's going to keep getting better. Sophomores Logan Diggs, Audric Estime and Chris Tyree combined for 2,186 rushing yards this season and 18 touchdowns this season, and did that without much of a pass game to take the pressure off them. Speaking of pass game, the trio also combined for 484 receiving yards, giving them 2,670 total yards this season.

Notre Dame also has talented freshman Jadarian Price, who was the team's best running back in the spring before injuring his Achilles over the summer. Price is extremely talented, and if former four-star Gi'Bran Payne can get healthy he gives them even better depth. Notre Dame added a big-time talent in Jeremiyah Love, who will arrive in the summer. This will be arguably the most talented and deepest running back room in South Bend in over 20 years, and will be arguably the best backfield in college football.

4. Skill Talent Is Getting Closer - Obviously Notre Dame doesn't have the skill talent at wide receiver that Ohio State had in past seasons, or that Alabama had in some of its better offensive seasons (2018-20), but the Irish are certainly upgrading at that position. Notre Dame's freshman and sophomore class is very talented, and the Irish staff just landed one of the nation's best groups of receivers in the 2023 class. Notre Dame also landed wide receiver transfer Kaleb Smith, who led Virginia Tech in all receiving categories and was a honorable mention selection in the ACC.

Notre Dame is always loaded at tight end and the running back room has quickly become one of the nation's best. If the wide receiver room catches up this offense could be very, very good.

That all depends, of course, on the quarterback position getting where it needs to be.

DEFENSIVE LINE RECRUITING MUST IMPROVE

Notre Dame defensive line recruiting has been a bit problematic over the last year. When Al Washington was hired, Notre Dame already had Top 100 defensive ends Keon Keeley and Brenan Vernon in the class, and the Irish were arguably the leaders for Jason Moore and Devan Houstan. Keeley and Moore were without question the two best players on the board.

When it was all said and done, Keeley de-committed and Moore picked Ohio State. Notre Dame was able to rally a bit and flipped Boubacar Traore (Boston College), and then added sleeper Armel Mukam, but Washington was not the primary driver for Mukam to join the class. It's a strong defensive line class when it's all said and done, but it wasn't nearly as good as it could and should have been, and Washington wasn't the primary driver of the class's success.

You can't blame Washington for everything, but the reality is the Irish defensive line coach didn't land the kind of class he should have landed. Things got worse in the offseason when Western Michigan defensive tackle Braden Fiske - a native of Michigan City, Ind. and a seemingly ideal fit for Notre Dame - instead chose to go to Florida State.

Notre Dame also saw defensive end Brandon Davis-Swain, the first player to commit to the Irish in 2024 class, de-commit. The Irish have also faded with top 2024 defensive linemen like Justin Scott, Elijah Rushing and Nigel Smith.

It's been one hit after another for Washington, and it needs to change in hurry. Notre Dame cannot afford to have defensive line recruiting drop this much this quickly. Washington needs to figure things out in a hurry, or Marcus Freeman needs to figure something else out.

DON'T TELL ME BOWL GAMES DON'T MATTER

I'm so sick and tired of hearing from fans and media alike that bowl games don't matter. They might not matter to you, but don't tell me they don't matter to the players and coaches. So many people focus on the opt outs, but the number of players that have opted out is dwarfed by the number of players that decided to play.

It can be frustrating to see so much of our conversation obsess on the few, or the negatives, instead of what makes these games so great. That's why we get the current portal and NIL rules that we have, the few are benefitting far, far greater than the many with these rules.

Don't tell me this game didn't matter to the Notre Dame players and South Carolina players that battled for 60 minutes. Did you see the energy and emotion both of those teams had? It mattered to them a great deal.

Don't tell me bowl games don't matter to the players at North Carolina and Oregon, who played in a hard fought, emotional game that was a ton of fun to watch. Did it not look like it mattered to the players at Pitt and UCLA, who played yet another barn burner of a bowl game? Of course it did.

How about the Cheez-It Bowl battle between Florida State or Oklahoma? Or the Liberty Bowl battle between Arkansas and Kansas? What about the Cotton Bowl between Tulane and USC? Does anyone want to tell me that game didn't matter to those players?

Of course it did.

The problem isn't with bowl games, the problem is with us and our perception. It matters to the players, a lot.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

The video from Notre Dame about the Gator Bowl is excellent, just excellent. Check it out.

We do this 🐊☘️#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/3meYSxCCdu
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) January 1, 2023

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

We had a lot of fun breaking down the Notre Dame victory over South Carolina in the Gator Bowl. Our Upon Further Review video was our final show on the win.

Irish Breakdown Fans be sure to get your Notre Dame tickets from SI Tickets HERE

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Irish Breakdown Content

2023 Scholarship Chart
2023 Football Schedule

Notre Dame 2023 Scholarship Offers
Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Offense
2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Defense

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