Notre Dame Football Practice Report

Notre Dame held another practice today, and it was a full padded practice. Notre Dame had its most competitive practice as well. Vince and I were joking beforehand about how we wouldn't see much, but we were wrong! Here's what we saw during the first five periods:

They had a one-on-one period where the whole team basically watched it. It was a red zone WR vs DB period, and the two sides were really getting into it.

Tobias Merriweather beat Cam Hart for a touchdown on the first rep, but Benjamin Morrison broke up a pass intended for Jayden Thomas on rep number two. Thomas Harper played an in cut by Chris Tyree very well and broke up the pass, which was a bit behind Tyree. Clarence Lewis had good coverage on Matt Salerno, who almost hauled in a touchdown on a diving play, but the ball was a bit long. Rico Flores used a great stutter release off the line to beat Jaden Mickey on a fade route and then hauled in a perfectly thrown pass for a touchdown. Jaden Greathouse then beat Christian Gray on a fade for a touchdown and again, the release was excellent and he positioned his body perfectly to make the play.

At that point Freeman stepped in and said it was tied 3-to-3, so they had a "best on best" rep. Thomas lined up against Hart and released on a fade. It was good coverage by Hart, but Sam Hartman threw a perfect back shoulder throw that Thomas made a great play on for a touchdown, and a win by the offense.

Tyree was the only player that didn't run a fade (he was in the slot), so the defense knew what was coming. That meant it was just about competing. In a drill like that the offense shouldn't win, but today they did for a few reasons. Great releases, good body positioning and perfectly thrown balls. I loved the way both sides competed, and it really came down to the freshmen wideouts making big plays and then the perfect Thomas-Hartman connection for the win. Great period for both sides of the ball.

You can see the final play here:

Push to your maximum effort #GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/9sqKP2IRGf
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) August 5, 2023

I spent the next several periods watching the defensive line, and here are some thoughts.

*** They broke things down to defensive ends working together and defensive tackles doing another drill. Al Washington worked with the ends and Ashton Derico worked with the defensive tackles. They worked get off drills inside, both vertical and then working on stunts. The ends were working on a drill where they would come off the edge, engage with a blocker, and then properly get off the block and get to the quarterback.

*** I continue to be impressed with the quickness with which Rylie Mills moves, and just how big he is. He's a massive player and he still gets off the line as well as anyone they have inside. In fact, during a later stance and start period, he was getting off as quick, if not quicker, than some of the ends (Jordan Botelho and Josh Burnham weren't there for that period, they were at special teams). Jason Onye is another player that impressed with his quickness off the line. I also liked that today I saw him coaching up the young DTs on mistakes they were making, which is a good sign. Shows he's confident enough in what he's doing to speak to the young players.

*** Freshmen Devan Houstan and Armel Mukam are quick athletes off the ball as well, but they are still works in progress. Houstan was corrected multiple times for his pad level. and you could see it every time he came off the line, he would lift up his back and play high. Mukam is very twitchy at 280, but he's still learning the technical aspects of the position.

*** Freshman end Brenan Vernon is a really big young athlete. He's tall and even longer than I expected him to be. He moves well on the edge, showing a good first step off the line, his lateral quickness is better than I expected he has heavy hands. He has the physical look of a veteran player. The other freshman - Boubacar Traore - is the skinniest of all the rookies and he's actually playing Vyper. He looks a lot thinner than he did in high school. He moves well enough where I'd give him a shot at Vyper early on, but he has a massive frame and could quickly outgrow that position.

*** I liked what I saw from Aiden Gobaira and Tyson Ford today. Gobaira is playing with more confidence and he's starting to fill out his frame. He showed a really nice first step off the line, and he had a couple of my favorite moments today. First, Coach Washington asked for someone to step in as an offensive player instead of them using a dummy for the drill they were working on. Gobaira immediately jumped over there and took over. The next time he got a rep playing end, he came off the line and took the wrong angle going at the offensive player. He stopped, yelled, and hustled back over to the front of the line and took the rep again, this time doing it right. I loved that he immediately recognized he made a mistake, and that he wanted to do it over and get it right. That shows an engaged player that's starting to figure it out. Ford shows really impressive athleticism for his size. I'm still not sure what his best position is, and he's a bit inconsistent with his get off, but when he flies off the line he is really explosive for his size.

*** The linebackers and running backs spent a period working on blitzes vs. blitz pick ups. During that period JD Bertrand had one of the best plays of the day. He blew up sophomore running back Gi'Bran Payne on a blitz. The next time they went together Payne held his own a bit better, but there is still a lot of work to be done from a BPU standpoint with all the backs. Audric Estime was probably the best, as he uses his size and strength to hold up. Sophomore linebacker Jaylen Sneed shows really impressive downhill speed when he came off on blitzes. His block destruction is still being developed, but his athleticism really impresses.

*** The offense and defense worked through a half-field read period, where one side of a formation (usually three players) run a route combination against a linebacker, safety and cornerback. During that period I was really impressed with the timing of the safeties. As a group they did a good job showing patience in their pedal, making quick open and run decisions and they played over the top well. There were very few instances where the offense had much of a window to attempt a deep ball because of they. They also did a good job making reads where they would plant and drive downhill on crossing routes.

*** In certain coverages a defense will have what is called a "no cover zone," which is essentially the line of scrimmage and slightly beyond. If a back runs a swing or a player runs a quick slide, they'll keep the route in front of them. That's where you get check downs. Something I was impressed with today was how well the corners and backers read those throws and quickly drove downhill to make stops on the pass catchers for very minimal gains. They also got a lot of hands on passes during this period, which is a good sign.

*** Linebacker Marist Liufau was late reacting to a couple of crosses/ins, which allowed openings on in breaking routes, although Mitchell Evans dropped a pass on one of those routes. Evans did make a nice grab on a slant route later, and he looks a lot quicker than he did early in camp. I noticed he looked to be laboring a bit in the first couple of practices, but he was moving well during today's practice. Sophomore tight end Holden Staes impressed during this period. He was running mostly short to intermediate routes, but he quickly recognized zone and was able to use his speed to get into open areas and the quarterbacks found him each time.

*** Speaking of running backs, Jadarian Price made two really impressive downhill grabs during routes on air. One particular throw was on a deep throw up the sideline and he had to track the ball over his head and he hauled it in clean. Transfer back Devyn Ford also showed good ball tracking skills down the field today.

*** Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph continues to mix and match his linemen. Aamil Wagner was back at right tackle today, Andrew Kristofic was back at guard and Pat Coogan was getting first team reps today at left guard as we were leaving the field. We'll likely see more of this over the next week or so before they settle in on the starting lineup and where guys are going to play.

*** At quarterback, Kenny Minchey is still working on his decision making, but he's throwing the ball with a lot of confidence and zip. His shoulder seems to be completely healed and the ball was really jumping out of his hand today. Sam Hartman is also getting more and more comfortable with his receivers from a timing standpoint, but he looked to have a little bit of "camp arm" today, so his accuracy and zip wasn't quite as good as it normally is. This is something that happens to every quarterback in camp at some point in the first week or two.

*** Freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse continues to impress with his savvy play. Despite being a rookie he knows how to find spots spots in the zone, and he made multiple grabs in traffic today. He also shows the ability to separate in man situations thanks to his feel for the game and route running prowess.

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