Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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10 APRIL 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME As he does heading into every Leap Year, Notre Dame fencing coach Gia Kvaratskhelia had the cards stacked against him to start this season. This four-year down cycle has nothing to do with calendar dynamics and everything to do with the Summer Olympics — this season in an- ticipation of the 2020 Games in To- kyo, Japan, during July and August. One of the occupational hazards Kvaratskhelia faces after coaching his program to two national champion- ships in the last three fencing seasons is that every Olympic cycle, the top Irish athletes take a season off from colle- giate competition to train and compete for a place on an Olympic team. That was the case again this season when Notre Dame lost four of its top athletes, three of whom were top- three NCAA finishers during the last two seasons. Kvaratskhelia admits the growing pains were evident early this season without his stars, but as the fencing season reaches its "thick of the woods" with NCAA qualifications and then the national championships, Notre Dame is hitting its stride with a series of impressive performances and event victories, including a sweep last month of the women's and men's titles in the ACC Cham- pionships in South Bend. BGI: How tough was it starting a season minus your top four athletes? Kvaratskhelia: "We were kind of at a disadvan- tage from one perspective, but in the long run, it's beneficial for the program because those athletes come back a year later with more experi- ence, and hopefully they do make the Olympics. "But either way, they're more ma- ture in every way and they can con- tribute greatly to the team's success in the future." BGI: Not many other coaches face what's kind of an overnight roster de- pletion. How do you deal with that? Kvaratskhelia: "It's not the first time. The pre-Olympic years are al- ways hard for us. For better or worse, and we usually show the worse in the pre-Olym- pic year, because we have kids pursuing the great goal to make the Olympic Games and possibly medal over there. "They have to take the year off." BGI: How did that translate into the start and approach to this particular season? Kvaratskhelia: "Other athletes had to step up and take their place, and elevate their game. And us coaches, we had to look at this season in a different way. We started pretty slow because developmentally we were behind but as the sea- son progressed, we started competing pretty well. Overall, I think things are progressing in the right direction." BGI: The team's slow start has evolved into a No. 5 national ranking for the men and No. 3 for the women, and some great momentum. How has that happened? Kvaratskhelia: "We started believing in our- selves. Confidence is everything in every sport, in anything you do. The deeper we got into the season, all the kids started developing their own games, started trusting their skills, so the confi- dence continues to grow and we hope that leads to more positive results." BGI: So what's the state of the union as the NCAA qualifiers and championships approach? Kvaratskhelia: "All these top-tier teams we lost to at the beginning of the year [Penn State, Ohio State and Princeton] somehow, some way, we generated a victory against them later, so that builds the confidence and has them believing that their skill level is good enough to compete against the best of the best." — Todd D. Burlage No Passing The 'Buck' Here By Lou Somogyi In Clark Lea's three seasons at Notre Dame, the last two as defensive coordinator, his linebacker corps has flourished, especially with the resource- fulness he's achieved at the Buck position that is separate from the middle linebacker (Mike) and the hybrid rover spot. In 2017, Lea had a productive tandem at Buck with Te'von Coney and Greer Martini, who com- bined for 191 tackles. In 2018, Drue Tranquill shifted from rover to Buck and had a superb year to become a fourth-round pick. Then in 2019, As- mar Bilal likewise made the transition from rover to Buck as a fifth-year season and thrived while becoming one of the team's most improved players. This spring it doesn't appear Lea will move either the playmaking Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah or Paul Moala from rover to succeed Bilal. Meanwhile, rising juniors and former top-100 recruits Shayne Simon (No. 48 according to 247Sports) and Jack Lamb (No. 77 per Rivals) are rehabbing from November injuries. Lamb was in passing situation packages last year. Senior Jordan Genmark Heath has a chance to make his mark there this spring — although sophomore Marist Liufau could be a standout in the making. Classmate Jack Kiser, another former rover, took reps at Buck in the opening spring practice. When Lamb and Simon return, the competition will be unrivaled in terms of quality options. At running back, wide receiver, tight end, defensive line and the secondary, snaps can be divided. At Buck, maybe not as much, mak- ing it the hottest single spot entering the 2020 campaign. Packed Depth Chart Makes RB The Toughest Call By Todd Burlage Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly bristled some March 5 following his first spring practice when it was suggested in a media gathering that his running game underachieved last season. "There seems to be a narrative out there that we weren't very good at running the football," Kelly countered at the suggestion. "We were a pretty good offense last year." The Irish ranked No. 45 in the country running the ball at 179.2 rushing yards per game. Not bad, but still the program's second-worst production in the ground game during the last five seasons. That brings us to 2020 when Kelly and the Irish need a reliable running back to emerge in the way C.J. Prosise, Josh Adams and Dexter Williams did in recent seasons. But who will that be? The three leading candidates all had similar production last season — pe- destrian at best — in terms of carries and yardage. Jahmir Smith led this trio in 2019, but that was with only 180 rushing yards. Opening-day starter, Jafar Armstrong, was injured and managed only 122 yards on 46 carries. C'Bo Flemister added 162 rushing yards on 48 carries, though he did lead this group with five touchdowns. These three combined for 464 yards on 136 attempts (only 3.4 yards per carry). Can the redshirted Kyren Williams help? Add incoming freshman Chris Tyree, a top-100 recruit, and that's what Kelly has to sort through to find a starter, making this the most competitive and confusing position group to predict. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHAT WILL BE THE MOST COMPETITIVE POSITION IN 2020 FOR A STARTING SPOT? LB MARIST LIUFAU RB C'BO FLEMISTER Five Questions With … NOTRE DAME FENCING HEAD COACH GIA KVARATSKHELIA KVARATSKHELIA