Notre Dame 2020 Christmas Wish List

A look at what Notre Dame should have asked Santa Claus for Christmas

Let me begin by wishing every Notre Dame fan and college football fan a very Merry Christmas! I want to share my Christmas wish list for Notre Dame for 2020.

This list isn't going to be lazy, so you won't see "Beat Alabama" or "Win a championship" on the list. It's the seven things I want for Notre Dame over the next year, and if I get my wishes the results will take care of themselves.

So here we go!

1. One Last Hurrah From The Defense — At the very most, Notre Dame has just two games left with defensive coordinator Clark Lea and standout defenders Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Daelin Hayes, Adetokunbo Ogundeji, Nick McCloud, Shaun Crawford and maybe one more player or two, depending on who else decides to depart.

The Irish defense was the driving force behind the undefeated regular season in both 2018 and 2020, and Lea deserves to go out with a bang. My Christmas Wish is that Lea has two brilliant performances as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator left in him. For that to happen, the veterans need to finish their careers off with brilliant performances.

North Carolina averaged 45.6 points per game, 582.5 yards per game and 8.0 yards per play against everyone not named Notre Dame. Alabama averaged 49.7 points per game, 543.9 yards per game and 7.8 yards per play against its previous opponents. Could the Irish do to the Tide what it did to the Tar Heels? Sure would be fun to watch, and I can’t think of a better Christmas present.

2. Ian Book To Prove Me Wrong — I’ve been very critical of Book for much of the last two seasons, and outside of a four-game stretch to end the 2020 regular season he hasn’t done much to make me back off my criticism. I enjoyed watching Book play as well as he did in the final four games of the regular season, but he regressed in the ACC Championship game loss to Clemson.

What better way for Book to end his career than to make me look bad and put together his two best career performances to end his career. If that happens I will eat crow, and will enjoy every second of it.

3. A Dynamic Defensive Coordinator — When the 2020 season ends it will be the end of Lea’s brilliant tenure as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator. I don’t know who Brian Kelly plans to replace him with, but whoever that is needs to be dynamic as a coach and recruiter. The new coordinator will inherit a quality depth chart, but there is another level the program can and must get to when it comes to the recruiting and on-field defensive product.

This will be an incredibly important hire for Kelly, and he needs to hit a grand slam home run. Notre Dame cannot afford to take even a small step back on defense.

4. Two More Players In The 2021 Class — Notre Dame has an outstanding 27-man haul in the 2021 class, but there are two players left on the board. If the Irish staff can finish off the class by landing running back Logan Diggs and cornerback Ceyair Wright it would make this arguably the best class of Kelly’s tenure.

I’m extremely confident that Diggs ends up in the class, but far less certain about Wright. Adding him to the current cornerback class would be a tremendous haul for the Irish staff. Diggs would be the final and important piece to Notre Dame completely restocking its running back depth chart.

5. Quick Growth At Quarterback And Offensive Line — Notre Dame will lose Book at quarterback and at least three starting offensive linemen. If I had to predict the Irish will lose four starters up front.

When we get to the spring there will be a battle for the new starting quarterback and a battle for at least three starting offensive line positions. If Notre Dame is going to continue its winning ways since the post-2016 makeover it will need the depth chart at quarterback and the offensive line to grow up in a hurry.

6. A Great 2022 Recruiting Class — Notre Dame landed an outstanding 2021 class, and I expect it to grow by at least one in February. Notre Dame absolutely must follow that up with an even better 2022 class. The Irish are off to a good start, but there is a long, long way to go. The staff will have a different look, and whatever it looks like that group will need to get to work building on its playoff run.

7. Fans In The Stands Next Fall — My final wish for Christmas is that we see fans in the stands in 2021. Not only does it make for a far, far, far better game day environment, it would also signify a lot of things going right for the country over the next nine months.

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