Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2020 Notre Dame Football Preview
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24 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW JUNIOR JUMP Last year, linebackers Jeremiah Owusu- Koramoah and Drew White came out of no- where to become Notre Dame's top tacklers (80 apiece) and prime figures. On offense, one might not have antici- pated tight end Cole Kmet becoming a sec- ond-round pick as a junior after snaring 17 passes his first two seasons. Which juniors might make the dramatic 2020 jump? 1. Wide Receiver Kevin Austin He has five career catches entering this season, mainly because he was on suspen- sion last year but still allowed to practice with the team. Wideout classmates Braden Lenzy and Lawrence Keys began making their presence felt last year with 24 combined catches, but the 6-2, 210-pound Austin's impact could be felt even more at the same position where Equanimeous St. Brown, Miles Boykin and Chase Claypool have been drafted the past three years. 2. Safety Houston Griffith After attempting to find a role at nickel as a freshman and auditioning at bound- ary cornerback most of last year, Griffith was aligned permanently at his more natural safety position — the position where he was the highest-rated Notre Dame recruit in 2017 (No. 43 nationally overall by Rivals). His 104 snaps (about eight per game) in 2019 were only eighth among the Irish de- fensive backs. With captains Alohi Gilman and Jalen Elliott having graduated, his time to shine has arrived. 3t. Linebackers Jack Lamb and Shayne Simon The former top-100 recruits at linebacker (Lamb was listed No. 77 by Rivals and Si- mon No. 48 by 247Sports) have been striv- ing to find a role, and the Buck position provides the chance with the graduation of 2019 starter Asmar Bilal. Lamb began to find a niche in passing situations and dime packages, taking 87 snaps last season in the role before a torn hip muscle versus Virginia Tech Nov. 2 shelved him through the start of spring. He has been besieged by injury setbacks since his senior year in high school. Simon took 90 snaps last year before a dislocated patella against Navy Nov. 16 re- quired rehab through this summer. Who can carpe diem the way Bilal, Owusu-Koramoah and White all did at line- backer/rover last season? SOPHOMORE SURGE Of the 22 freshmen signed in 2019, 19 preserved a fifth year of eligibility. The three exceptions were Freshman All-American safety Kyle Hamilton, starting punter Jay Bramblett and defensive lineman Jacob Lacey. Who among the other 19 are most likely to emerge as more prominent figures as 2020 sophomores? 1. Defensive End Isaiah Foskey Next to Hamilton, nobody in last year's freshman class passed "the eye test" better than the 6-5, 255-pound Foskey. He played the most well-stocked position on the ros- ter that featured five seasoned seniors, two of whom will be back in 2020 as graduate students (Ade Ogundeji and Daelin Hayes). Foskey possesses the size to line up on the strong side, yet the twitch to excel at vyper. His impact was felt when he blocked a Stan- Notre Dame returns practically twice as many career starts on offense (159) than on defense (81). However, there is a huge disparity on offense between the line and skill positions. The Fighting Irish have 114 out of those 159 (71.7 percent) along the line because of all five starters at the beginning of 2019 returning. Meanwhile, the running back and wide receiver positions have 11 combined career starts, but those numbers at the skill positions can sometimes be misleading. 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 technically start. Yet in the course of the game, Lenzy ended up with more snaps (33) than two of the tight ends, Tommy Tremble (31) and Brock Wright (nine). Returning with the most career starts at any posi- tion is someone who actually has not yet suited up for a game at Notre Dame. Northwestern graduate transfer Ben Skowronek has opened 30 contests — all 13 in 2017, all 14 in 2018, and the first three in 2019 before an in- jury that sidelined him and resulted in a medical redshirt. Here are the career starts breakdown on offense, with the parentheses indicating the number of starts in 2019: OFFENSE Player Career Starts (2019) 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) Defensively, no one on the 2020 roster has more than 13 career starts. The unit graduated six play- ers who had a minimum of 21 career starts, with rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and nose tackle Kurt Hinish the only two who came out with the first string in all 13 contests last year. DEFENSE Player Career Starts (2019) NT Kurt Hinish 13 (13) Rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah 13 (13) DE Daelin Hayes 13 (0) DT Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa 12 (12) LB Drew White 12 (12) CB Shaun Crawford 11 (8) 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) Career Starts Returning In 2020 After working at nickel as a 2018 freshman and getting an audition at boundary cornerback in 2019, Houston Griffith was eventually shifted to his natural safety spot and is expected to be- come a larger factor on defense this year. PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER