Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1220706
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com APRIL 2020 21 BY LOU SOMOGYI H urry up … and now wait. Notre Dame opened spring drills without full pads and in shorts on a sunny morning March 5 at the new Irish Athletics Center. Because of the school spring break from March 7‑15, the team won't practice again until March 17. The 15 allowed practices will con‑ clude April 18 with the Blue‑Gold Game in Notre Dame Stadium (with NBC Sports Network expected to provide coverage again). With a 33‑6 record the past three years that ranks the sixth best among 130 Football Bowl Subdivi‑ sion teams, head coach Brian Kelly, his staff and the Fighting Irish don't believe it's necessary to display false bravado about who they are. It's more about continuing the upsurge and goal setting. "What we see out here today is manifested by how they do things on a day‑to‑day basis in the locker room, in the community, in the class‑ room," Kelly said after the first prac‑ tice. "You don't need a lot of guys out there yelling because they've set a standard as to how they want things to be accomplished." The 2020 Notre Dame team re‑ turns practically twice as many ca‑ reer starts on offense (159) than on defense (80). On offense, there is particularly a huge disparity between the line and skill positions. The Fighting Irish have 114 out of those 159 returning starts (71.7 percent) along the line because of all five starters from the beginning of 2019 are back. Meanwhile, the running back and wide receiver positions have 11 combined career starts, although the number of "starts" can sometimes be misleading at the skill positions. For example, in the Camping World Bowl versus Iowa State, Notre Dame opened with a three‑tight‑end alignment while sophomore wideout Braden Lenzy did not start. Yet in the course of the game, Lenzy ended up with more snaps (33) than two of the starting tight ends, Tommy Tremble (31) and Brock Wright (nine). At running back and wide receiver especially, it's more about snap counts than starts. Defensively, no one on the 2020 roster has more than 13 career starts, and the unit graduated six players who had a minimum of 21 career starts, three of them in the secondary. Rover Jeremiah Owusu‑Koramoah and nose tackle Kurt Hinish were the only two who came out with the first string all 13 contests last year. Yet maybe the defender with the best chance to earn postseason hon‑ ors is sophomore safety Kyle Hamil‑ ton, who actually had only one start last season. Still his 421 snaps were not far off from the 477 by 12‑game starting defensive tackle Myron Ta‑ govailoa‑Amosa. Tackle and safety are vastly dif‑ ferent positions with distinct roles, but it also shows how the number of starts sometimes don't always tell the whole story. HEALTH UPDATES The lone starter from 2019 who will be sidelined this spring is senior left guard Aaron Banks, who is recover‑ ing from a foot fracture. In the opening team drill March 5, senior Josh Lugg was at left guard in Banks' place — and converted sophomore defensive tackle Hunter Spears was behind him. Lugg started the final five games (and basically six) at right tackle when an ankle in‑ jury sidelined Robert Hainsey. Later in 11‑on‑11 work, Hainsey and fifth‑year senior right guard Tommy Kraemer (knee injury Oct. 26 at Michigan that shelved him) were taken out to rest. The No. 1 line then was comprised of Lugg at right tackle, junior John Dirksen at right guard, junior Jar‑ rett Patterson at center, senior Colin Grunhard at left guard and fifth‑year senior Liam Eichenberg at left tackle. In other injury news: • Both junior linebackers Jack Lamb (hip) and Shayne Simon (sur‑ gery on dislocated patella ) are side‑ lined while recovering from their No‑ vember injuries. Lamb could be back by the end of March, per head coach Brian Kelly, while Simon is expected to be ready for August fall camp. • Two cornerbacks, sixth‑year se‑ nior Shaun Crawford (hamstring) and sophomore Cam Hart (shoul‑ der), also were monitored carefully while somewhat limited in drills. That allowed sophomores Isaiah Spring Forward Notre Dame opens drills determined to build on 2017-19 success Head coach Brian Kelly will be looking for his fourth straight campaign with double-digit wins in 2020 after producing 10-3, 12-1 and 11-2 results the past three seasons. PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER OFFENSE LT Liam Eichenberg — 26 (13) RG Tommy Kraemer — 26 (7) RT Robert Hainsey — 25 (8) QB Ian Book — 23 (13) LG Aaron Banks — 19 (13) C Jarrett Patterson — 13 (13) TE Tommy Tremble — 7 (7) OL Josh Lugg — 5 (5) RB Jafar Armstrong — 4 (2) TE Brock Wright — 4 (3) WR Lawrence Keys — 3 (3) WR Braden Lenzy — 2 (2) WR Javon McKinley — 2( 2) DEFENSE NT Kurt Hinish 13 (13) Rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah — 13 (13) DE Daelin Hayes — 13 (0) DT Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa — 12 (12) MLB Drew White — 12 (12) CB Shaun Crawford — 10 (3) CB TaRiq Bracy — 2 (2) LB Jordan Genmark Heath — 2 (1) DE Ade Ogundeji 1 (1) S Kyle Hamilton — 1 (1) S Houston Griffith — 1 (0) MOST CAREER STARTS Returning with the most career starts at any position is someone who actually has not yet suited up for a game at Notre Dame. Northwestern graduate transfer wide receiver Ben Skowronek has had 30 — all 13 in 2017, all 14 in 2018 and the first three in 2019 before an injury that sidelined him and resulted in a medical redshirt. Here is the career starts breakdown on offense and defense at Notre Dame exclusively, with the parentheses indicating the number of starts in 2019: