Midweek Musings: Notre Dame Must Re-Evaluate Its Redshirt Philosophy
Thoughts about Notre Dame football and its recruiting efforts
RETHINKING REDSHIRTING PHILOSOPHY ON OFFENSE
Notre Dame has been reluctant to play freshmen throughout Brian Kelly's tenure in South Bend. This has been especially true at quarterback and wide receiver. Even at running back it has normally been about a lack of depth that forced a freshman like Tarean Folston, Josh Adams and Chris Tyree onto the field.
With the way the college game is going, and the pending free agency that is about to hit college football, Notre Dame needs to immediately re-evaluate and change its philosophy when it comes to redshirting and playing young players, especially on offense.
In most instances redshirting an offensive skill player failed to result in that player coming back for a fifth season. Quarterback Ian Book and wide receivers Javon McKinley and Chris Finke are the only offensive skill players to play meaningful fifth-year senior minutes, and none were difference makers.
The reality is in the vast majority of instances an offensive skill player that is good enough to be a difference maker as a fifth-year player is not going to return for a fifth-year. In most instances those types of players rarely even return for their senior season, forget a fifth season.
What this ultimately meant for Notre Dame in the past is that it didn't maximize the time on campus from many of its talented skill players. What it could very well mean for Notre Dame moving forward is that young players get less patient sitting on the sideline knowing they can leave and play immediately regardless of the circumstance.
This will be true once the one-time transfer rule is enacted, which is likely going to happen within the next year. I don't support the rule and this it will be a mistake that will hurt the game, but it's going to happen nonetheless.
To make this change Notre Dame needs to work harder to get its best young talents on the field, especially at wide receiver.
Part of that will be making changes on offense that make the offense easier to digest. It's always good for a laugh when a veteran receiver is asked about trying to learn the offense as a freshman. We can certainly point to some exceptions, but the vast majority of freshmen at Notre Dame didn't play as freshman, or played very little.
Having a system that makes it harder for your most talented players to play because they can't mentally grasp the offense says more about the offense than it does those players. This is especially true when it becomes a pattern over the course of a decade.
If Notre Dame makes these changes it will go a long way towards stemming the tidal wave of transfers that is going to hit most programs, and more importantly it will make the offense much, much better.
AIDAN GOBAIRA OFF TO A STRONG START
Notre Dame 2022 defensive end commit Aiden Gobaira didn't get a chance to play in the fall due to the state of Virginia postponing the season due to Covid-19. That means when he committed to Notre Dame it was more about the staff making projections on what they think he could be, since all the tape they had was when he was a very skinny sophomore.
Virginia has started its spring season in the last month, and Gobaira is now two games into his junior campaign. It is just two games, but it has been very, very impressive.
Here are some of my thoughts through two games:
*** One of my concerns about a defensive end class with Gobaira, Tyson Ford and possibly D.J. Wesolak is who ends up as the Vyper end? I wasn't sure if Gobaira could be that player, but his early season junior film shows me a player more than capable of playing the Vyper in the same style we are seeing from Isaiah Foskey and saw previously from Julian Okwara.
*** Gobaira is starting to fill out his frame and looked to be at least 20 pounds bigger than he was as a sophomore, but despite the extra weight the Chantilly (Va.) High School standout showed an even more explosive burst off the line. He was blowing past edge players in his first two games.
*** That improved burst has made Gobaira an even more impactful edge rusher, and even though he's played just two games he's made about as many plays in the backfield as we saw from him as a sophomore for the entire season.
*** Gobaira is playing with more punch in his hands, showing an improved ability to disengage from blocks and he's stronger at the point of attack. There's still a lot of weight room work needed, but he's definitely made a jump.
*** I saw improved foot quickness in his junior film, and more importantly improved lateral quickness, which helps him project a lot better as a Vyper end.
*** OVERALL THOUGHTS: Gobaira was a 3.5-star player based on his sophomore film but he had 4.5-star upside. He's already shot past the 3.5-star ranking and is now squarely in the 4.0-star, Top 150 caliber range. For me that is saying a lot because I rarely jump prospects after playing just two games, but Gobaira has made a significant jump. Kudos to Mike Elston and the staff for seeing the upside from a player that at the time of his commitment was a consensus three-star recruit. I doubt that stays that way for long.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
I know this isn't football related, but it's just too good not to put in this space.
VIDEO TO WATCH
Colorado running back Gavin Sawchuk is part of a "big three" at running back, and Notre Dame needs to land at least one in the class. You can see in these clips why Sawchuk is such a coveted prospect.
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