Notre Dame Football Practice Report

Notre Dame held practice No. 12 tonight at School Field in South Bend, which means the Irish are almost to the halfway point in practices in preparation for their season opener. We got to see the entire practice. I’ll give some overall thoughts, then talk about the defense, and wrap up with the offense.

OVERALL/SPECIAL TEAMS

*** It was a very, very intense practice. It began from the outset as soon as they got out of stretch. They did a 1-on-1 wide receiver vs. defensive back competition, which was followed by a tackle in space drill between the same groups. Cornerback Jaden Mickey drove Rico Flores Jr. out and forced an incompletion on the first throw, giving the defense a win. Braylon James made a strong catch to beat Eddie Scheidler for a touchdown on rep number two. In the first open field drill, Leo Scheidler beat Luke Talich with an impressive juke move to win his 1-on-1 rep. On the next rep, cornerback Micah Bell showed a good approach in space against fellow freshman Jordan Faison, but Faison stiff armed Bell into the ground and the offensive players went wild after he raced downfield for the win.

*** They ran two goal line plays to finish the competition period. Safety Xavier Watts flew off the backside edge to blow up a shovel pass. It was an extremely impressive play by Watts, who made plays the whole practice. On the second play, veteran wideout Matt Salerno made a great one-handed catch for a touchdown over freshman corner Christian Gray. Gray was in great position but the ball from Sam Hartman was perfect and Salerno made a great catch for the win. Again, the offensive players went wild.

*** There was no let up from an intensity standpoint the rest of the practice. There was a lot of chirping back and forth, but the defense was especially talkative all over. The Notre Dame defensive line was especially talkative and intense. Every time they made a big play on defense they would fly over to whoever made the play, and go wild. There was a lot of physical play on the ball. I don’t know that it was supposed to be a tackling practice, but there were definitely tackles being made, and it was one of the more physical practices I’ve seen in a long time at Notre Dame.

*** A couple of quick special teams notes before I move onto the defense. Transfer kicker Spencer Shrader went 1-3 from 52 yards. He just got underneath the first one and it fell short. His second was a strong kick but he missed right (I believe it was right, but didn’t write that down). His third kick from 52 was right down the middle and he drilled it, and the kick also was going into the face of a light but noticeable wind. Shrader also drilled a pair of 48-yard field goals, with the help of holder Dylan Devezin. The snap went right in front of Devezin and died on the ground. He trapped it and quickly picked it up and placed it perfectly, and then Shrader drilled it. It was an impressive catch and hold by the Irish QB.

*** Freshman kicker Marcello Diomede drilled a 40-yard field goal that would have been good from at least 8-10 yards more. He has clean approach and good leg swing, and I liked how the ball came off for him. He doesn’t get quite as much lift as Shrader and he’s just a freshman, so the strength isn’t there yet, but he showed a lot of promise so far from a power standpoint.

*** Sophomore punter Bryce McFerson had a really, really impressive night. The ball was exploding off of his foot all night long, and he was consistent as well. He was at least 45 yards on every punt I charted, and he boomed a 60+ yarder as well and it was very high, which would have allowed the coverage to get down if they were doing it on that drill. He executed a coffin corner type of kick that was good as well. It was in the middle and not the corner, but it looked like that was where it was supposed to be based on the release on the coverage players. It hung up in there air and was fair caught around the 7-yard line. Really good night for McFerson.

DEFENSE

*** The defense got off to a slow start in the early competition period but they were the more impressive unit for most of the rest of the practice. The defensive line was talking to the offensive line all night long, especially to Blake Fisher. It seemed as they they got into the head of the offensive linemen a bit.

Let’s talk defensive line first:

*** Overall, the defensive line controlled the action. I want to use the word dominate, but that might be a bit strong for a practice. They controlled the action though and were a very, very quick and physical group. Yes, they are an athletic group, especially inside, but they played HARD tonight.

*** I’ll talk about the veterans in a minute, but first I was to start off with some young players that impressed tonight.

*** Sophomore Josh Burnham had an outstanding evening, and the backup offensive linemen were no match for him. His first step off the edge was explosive, and he would constantly win off the snap. When the tackles were able to get a hand on him he showed an improved use of his hands to still win on the edge. Even when the tackles were able to block him they had to work, and were forced to ride him outside, which forced the quarterbacks to step inside. Burnham was especially good in the final team period. He made three huge plays behind the line late. He split two blockers and forced a bounce that was tackled near the line, but he was held on the play so they moved the offense back. He exploded past Aamil Wagner for a sack, and on the previous play he came off with a power move, got in Wagner’s pads and drove him back before putting him on his backside.

*** I was also impressed with a pair of freshman ends tonight. Boubacar Traore had several big plays, including against the second team. His first step is really good, and although I think he might out-grow Vyper, he looked very active and disruptive playing Vyper tonight. Sophomore Ty Chan had no chance when blocking Traore 1-on-1. He beat him with a speed move and knocked the ball out of Kenny Minchey’s hand for a sack, and then used his inside arm to drive Chan deep into the backfield before planting him on his backside. I also liked what I saw from Brenan Vernon from a power, effort and quickness standpoint. Vernon is the most physically impressive big end, even as a freshman. He’s quick off the line and he’s very, very powerful. He tossed Charles Jagusah down on a pull, he drove the tackles back and he showed a lot of hustle. His technique still needs a lot of work from a block destruction standpoint, but he’s really impressive physically.

*** I didn’t see much from Jordan Botelho or NaNa Osafo-Mensah (mainly because I was focusing on other players), but there were two really good edge sets by Osafo-Mensah that were hard to miss. Botelho had one of the better reps during special teams to make an open field tackle. Sophomore Aiden Gobaira had a pair of really strong back-to-back plays. He’s playing with confidence right now (in this practice) and he’s really quick off the line. He had a really impressive sack against the third-team offensive line and also had a really good pressure on a screen that forced a bad ball.

*** Inside, the Irish offensive line simply could not block Rylie Mills all practice long. He constantly won off the ball, and the one time I saw the line knock him back a step, he anchored, battled, forced the guard to the ground and clogged up the run lane. His game today was all about power, and he was impressive. Junior Gabriel Rubio also had a good night, showing the ability to split blocks and get into the backfield. They did a lot of 2 vs. 1 drills tonight so some of his wins were against the “starting” offensive line. On one particular outside run, Rubio and Mills were both on the field and they both blew past the first team guards, blowing up the running back for a big loss. Rubio beat Pat Coogan badly a 3rd-and-1 and likely blows the play up if they didn’t blow it dead because of a false start. Rubio also whipped Coogan on a couple of inside run snaps. Junior Jason Onye also had several impressive plays during various periods. His quickness during the inside run periods allowed him to constantly win at the point of attack, and he perfectly read a receiver screen and made the stop near the line of scrimmage. He blew up a toss play for a tackle for loss. Sophomore Donovan Hinish had a really good finish to the practice as well. I didn’t see much of him early in practice (didn’t look for him), but late in practice I keyed on him a bit more and he was active. He won often with pad level, he showed good block destruction and finished on multiple plays in the backfield.

*** I don’t have many notes about the linebackers, as I was keying on other positions, but there are a few notes. For one the linebackers got beat a bit in the 1-on-1s with running backs, and there was a blown coverage on a wheel route during team but the quarterback didn’t see it. Other than that they were solid.

*** Advice to offensive football teams, don’t run screen plays anywhere near JD Bertrand. Just not a good idea. His ability to read screens, beat blockers to the ball and make plays is impressive.

*** Senior Marist Liufau had several quality plays during the team period. He shot the B gap for a tackle for loss, read a screen well and was physical at the point of attack in the run game. He clogged up run lanes multiple times in the team periods. Solid practice for Liufau.

*** Sophomore Jaylen Sneed had a tale of two practices. When Sneed has to flow to the ball or make a read he struggled, both in the run and pass. He was late making decisions in the pass game and constantly got beat outside. Devyn Ford also made him miss badly in space for a touchdown to end a team session. He also has to work on being more physical at the point of attack in the run game when he’s not triggered. Now, when Sneed is triggered he is very impressive. On one of the last plays of the practice he absolutely exploded past Tosh Baker, who barely touched Sneed, for an easy sack. His burst off the line and closing speed around the edge was elite. Sneed also had two very impressive plays behind the line on run stunts where he was sent downhill, and the linemen were not quick enough to get to him, he was downhill that fast. He’ll need to be more decisive when playing off the ball and be more physical, but right now the staff should be able to find ways to allow him to attack, but he’s really hard to block when turned loose on the ball.

Let’s move onto the secondary:

*** Senior safety Xavier Watts was all over the field tonight. He did a very good job getting over top in coverage. The defense worked a lot of zones during 1/2 field read periods, and Watts covered a lot of ground and was active. The offense often avoided him in the pass game. When he came downhill in the run game or screen game he was quite good. He blew up the shovel pass near the goal line that I discussed, and he also blew up a screen pass to Rico Flores for what would have been a short loss/no gain type of play.

*** Senior Ramon Henderson got beat badly by Jaden Greathouse early in a pass period, but I thought he was much better the rest of practice. He was confident, looked decisive and did a great job playing underneath a post route, which allowed him to pick off Hartman on an under-thrown ball.

*** I was impressed with what I saw from freshman Adon Shuler. He looked quite comfortable during the 1/2 field read period, he was active and near the ball and he gets downhill in a hurry.

*** Freshman cornerback Christian Gray was brilliant in this practice. With some older corners out, Gray spent the whole practice working with the second team, and he was outstanding. Even on the early touchdown he gave up to Salerno, he was in great position, it required a great ball and catch to beta him. Later in the practice he completely stuffed Tobias Merriweather off the line and forced an easy incompletion. He worked a vertical route against Jayden Thomas, and he rode Thomas to the sideline and forced an incompletion. They tried to throw a quick post against him to Salerno, but Gray broke it up. He was really, really good on every rep I saw him take, especially during team periods.

OFFENSE

*** The offense was sloppy for most of the practice. I thought the line battled and the backs impressed when given room, but they just got beat a lot. There were a couple of bad starts during team, the pass game wasn’t in sync and there were too many missed opportunities. The defense played great, but the offense also had some chances they didn’t take advantage of. There will be overreactions to this practice, but I can assure you in my year of playing college football, coaching college football and covering Notre Dame for over a decade there are practices like this. It was obviously a great practice for the defense, and tonight they were better than the offense, and we were there to see it. If the offense dominates tomorrow’s practice we won’t see it, so it won’t be discussed. That’s how it goes when we only get one full practice with the team in full pads. The point ….. don’t overreact.

Now, onto the offense:

*** It was a rough night for all the quarterbacks, and the ball wasn’t really coming out of their hands well, the timing was off and there were too many off target throws. There’s an expression that quarterbacks know well, it’s called “camp arm,” and it was clear the quarterbacks were battling that tonight. For example, Sam Hartman underthrew two deep balls, including one that got picked by Ramon Henderson. Throwing the deep ball is the last thing I’m worried about with Hartman, just how it goes in camp. Hartman did have a couple of nice back shoulders that his receivers couldn’t haul in. He had a great head’s up play that set up a touchdown against the first defense. He kept a RPO and ran around the left side, looking to throw. The wideout (Jayden Thomas) was covered, so Hartman dropped his arm and started to run. The defender planted and started to run at him, so Hartman quickly flipped the ball over his head to Thomas, who was now open for a big gain that set up a Hartman to Mitchell Evans touchdown on a bootleg on the next rep.

*** Steve Angeli feels the rush a bit too much, and he’s got to learn to let the ball loose with a bit better timing. He had some scrambles where he needs to get the ball out sooner, and he wasn’t overly sharp. That’s part of the learning process for a young quarterback, especially considering at times he was running the No. 2 offense against the No. 1 defense. He did have a good seam throw to Holden Staes for a big play. Freshman Kenny Minchey had arguably the best throw of the practice. He was running to his right and threw a rope about 20 yards downfield that Jaden Greathouse caught impressively on the sideline. His timing still needs a lot of work and he was pressured quite a bit working with the third team offense.

*** The running backs didn’t have a lot of room to work, and we saw a lot of Jadarian Price and Devyn Ford. Price was really good in 1-on-1s against the linebackers, using his speed to get open. If this practice is any indication, Price is still getting his timing back from a decision making standpoint. Ford was a bit cleaner and more decisive, which is why he had two of the three better runs tonight. Ford also had a really impressive make-you-miss play against Jaylen Sneed for a touchdown to finish a team series.

*** The Irish wideouts had a rough night in a lot of ways. Outside of the open period, they just didn’t compete well enough for the football. They got pushed around at times by the defensive backs and just didn’t play with a lot of fire. Perhaps they are in that heavy leg period that can happen to wideouts around this time (and other positions, see the QB camp arm discussion), but even if that’s true, that’s when you have to really dig deep and compete. Jayden Thomas and Tobias Merriweather both had chances to make plays on back shoulder throws, but both times they got out-fought for the football. For Merriweather, on his rep he did a great job beating Cam Hart off the line, he got open, he just didn’t finish on the ball. Thomas was getting beat at the line way too much tonight, which is a bit of a concern because that’s the issue I had with him last year as an outside player. When teams press he doesn’t get off the line as well, which is partly why he was so good in the slot. Getting pushed off the line by Gray was a bad rep for Thomas, but he did work free when Hartman was running, which allowed him to get open for a big play on the flip.

*** Junior Deion Colzie had some issues as well. He had a really impressive catch on a low throw during 1/2 field reads, but he also failed to sit in the open zone during that period, had another miscommunication on a 1-on-1 reps late in practice, and he had a drop of an open comeback route that he simply needs to make. Colzie was visibly frustrated at different points in the practice. Freshman Rico Flores Jr. also had a tough time getting off the line tonight against a corner group that was really good in practice.

*** Senior Chris Tyree and freshman Jaden Greathouse were the two best wideout tonight. Tyree only caught one pass (a cross), but he was open multiple times. He beat Clarence Lewis on an in cut that if Hartman can hit him he might outrun Lewis for a touchdown, but Hartman was pressured and missed. Tyree did have a great catch of a fast, high throw during 1-on-1s. Both Tyree and Greathouse did a good job finding open spots against the zone during 1/2 field reads, and Greathouse was open twice up the seam but the QBs missed. He also made the great aforementioned sideline grab from Minchey. Greathouse also caught a screen pass and made Jaden Mickey miss to pick up good yards. Flores also had a body on Mickey for part of the rep which made it harder for Mickey to get a solid tackle attempt, and at that point he had no chance at bringing Greathouse down. Freshman Jordan Faison had some good moments as well, including beating Micah Bell on an out cut to convert a third down. He’s a very quick, sudden athlete.

*** Freshman Braylon James might have had the catch of the night as well, it’s between him and Greathouse. Minchey was late throwing a stop route to James, and the DB was hanging all over his back, but James powered his arms up and snatched the ball out of the air. He has the tools to be a really good pass catcher when he’s confident in what he’s doing, and he was that tonight. On top of the win during the early compete drill, he also worked himself into a very small window on a quick snag route and caught a short pass as two defenders drilled him.

*** The first team line had a rough practice against the D-line. They struggled to get any kind of push, and the few times they did get a push it was against the No. 2 defensive line, but even then I would argue the No. 2 defensive line had way too many wins against the starters. Again, this was one practice, it happens, but it’s worth pointing out how much the defensive line beat them. The good news is that the offensive line competed hard, and they never got beat because of lack of effort, at least from what I saw. They just got out-played, the timing wasn’t always great and they are still working to get on the same page, which isn’t abnormal at this point in camp.

*** Junior Rocco Spindler had a solid practice and he was clearly the best right guard today. It wasn’t really close. I think I get why the staff is putting Pat Coogan with the first team. He’s a hard worker and he’s steady, he does his job. The issue is he just doesn’t really move people like you’d want, and he’s just not overly athletic. When he’d get beat, he would get beat because the defenders were just too quick for him. When he’s head up and guys try to run through him he does well. Sophomore Billy Schrauth easily had the most impressive blocks I saw from the guards, but you can tell he also will make a few more mistakes. My personal opinion is I’d rather see the younger, more talented player that dominates get the work and work out those kinks, but at least for this week, the staff is working him with the second group. When he was on, he was really good today at getting a push off the line. He just has to be more consistent with his pad level and execution.

*** At tackle, sophomore Aamil Wagner had a rough night. He got driven back a few times by hard charging defensive ends, which makes it obvious he is still a bit of a work in progress from a weight/power standpoint. You could see the potential tonight, and when his feet are good he shows good quickness, punch and his length impresses, but the edge players gave him a lot of problems. Ty Chan had a really tough time handling the speed on the edge. He needs to be an inside player if he’s going to have a chance. He’s a pretty tough kid, but he doesn’t move well enough to play on the edge.

*** With the freshmen, Charles Jagusah and Sullivan Absher are very, very raw and don’t really know what they are doing. The positive, when they get a body on guys they drive them off the ball. They have a lot of talent, they just need a lot of technical work. Sam Pendleton competed very hard tonight but his hand play was a bit inconsistent. He had some really good moments though. I didn’t see much of Joe Otting tonight, just wasn’t able to get eyes on him much in practice. In drills I saw him moving around a bit, and he moves very well, he is

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