Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2020 31 knee, sustained during football ac- tivities Aug. 4. He is expected to miss the regular season, but could return for postseason. Osafo-Mensah had been working with the third unit at strong-side de- fensive end. The Fort Worth, Texas, native took a redshirt last season, his first year on campus. 3. THE GRADUATES Notre Dame added a school-record four graduate transfers this year, al- though the aforementioned Speights is now out of the mix. However, wide receiver Bennett Skowronek (Northwestern), safety Isaiah Pryor (Ohio State) and corner- back Nick McCloud (North Carolina State) all will vie for extensive action. "When you take fifth-years and a transfer that's coming in with one year — you need to be right," Kelly said. Per the Irish head coach, in vari- ous testing drills to evaluate physical skill level, Skowronek and Pryor fin- ished No. 1 at their position groups. "Pryor had over 1,000 points as a DB," Kelly said. "Among the wide receivers and tight ends, Skowronek edged out Kevin Austin with about 1,200 points." Both Skowronek and Pryor arrived in January, so they went through win- ter workouts at Notre Dame to aug- ment what they had in the Big Ten. However, McCloud — sidelined as a 2019 senior captain of the Wolfpack because of a Grade 2 MCL sprain — has had a longer road to travel. "This was a step up for him in terms of the training," Kelly said. "… He was here to the point where he finished in the 650 [point] range. To give you an indication, 750 was [Kyle] Hamilton's and [Shaun] Craw- ford's [range]. He did really well in making up for some lost time." 4. NUMBER CHANGES There are numerous jersey number changes from last year, almost all in- volving single digits. • Junior wide receiver Braden Lenzy will be wearing 0 — a first in school history and a number the NCAA has permitted players to use this year. He donned No. 25 last year, the traditional "speed" number at Notre Dame that began with the likes of na- tional champions Al Hunter (1973) and Raghib "Rocket" Ismail (1988) as fresh- men. It has now been handed over to freshman running back Chris Tyree. • Senior wide receiver Avery Davis is now No. 3, along with junior safety Houston Griffith. Davis was No. 4 last year, but be- cause Austin — sidelined last year and shelved this preseason because of a broken foot — is also No. 4, Da- vis had to switch so two players on offense don't have the same numeral. • Wearing No. 4 on defense instead will be McCloud. • Sophomore cornerback Cam Hart switched from No. 9 (fifth-year senior defensive end Daelin Hayes also is No. 9) to No. 5. • Sophomore defensive end Isaiah Foskey is No. 7 after getting issued No. 94 last year. 5. POSITION STATUS QUO Kelly confirmed on Aug. 17 that no significant position switches had been made in preseason camp at that point, even an end shifting to tackle, a corner to safety, or an offensive tackle to guard. The main change in the spring was sophomore defensive lineman Hunter Spears aligning at guard on offense. ✦ Sophomore defensive end NaNa Osafo-Mensah sustained an injury to the meniscus in his left knee Aug. 4 and is expected to be sidelined for the entire regular season. PHOTO COURTESY NANA OSAFO-MENSAH/TWITTER On Aug. 24, the Associated Press gave Notre Dame its second-highest preseason ranking in head coach Brian Kelly's 11 seasons. The Fight- ing Irish checked in at No. 10, one spot below the loftiest perch at No. 9 last preseason. The AP included Ohio State (No. 2), Penn State (No. 7) and Oregon (No. 9) ahead of Notre Dame even though both the Big Ten and Pac-12 confer- ences have canceled their fall sports seasons because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is an- ticipated that once the season begins, those not playing football will fall out. Two other originally slated 2020 Notre Dame opponents that had their fall seasons canceled are No. 12 Wisconsin and No. 17 USC. Consequently, in addition to No. 1 Clemson, which the Irish host Nov. 7, the only other Notre Dame foe in the AP top 25 is No. 18 North Caro- lina, where the Irish play on Friday, Nov. 27. Clemson has been to the College Football Play- off five straight years, winning the national title in 2016 and 2018, and the Tigers were the run- ner-up last year to LSU and in 2015 to Alabama. Since its most recent "Golden Age" from 1988-93 when it was 64-9-1 (.872 winning per- centage), including 5-1 in major bowls, a na- tional title and two No. 2 finishes, Notre Dame football has not been quite the same, and it can be partly reflected in the AP poll. In the 26 football seasons from 1994-2019, Notre Dame was ranked 17 times in the AP pre- season top 25 — and the lone year where it finished higher (No. 5) than where it started was in 2018, when it began the year No. 12 and finished No. 5 after a 30-3 loss to Clemson in the College Football Playoff. Conversely, in the nine other seasons the Fighting Irish were not ranked in the preseason AP poll from 1994-2017, they finished in the final rankings five times — including the top 10 in both 2012 (No. 4) and 2005 (No. 9). Those two seasons plus 2018 mark the last three times since 1994 Notre Dame concluded the campaign amongst the top 10. Here have been the preseason AP rankings in Kelly's previous 10 seasons: 2010: Unranked Finished 8-5 and unranked. 2011: No. 16 Finished 8-5 and unranked. 2012: Unranked Finished 12-1 and No. 4 (the highest since No. 2 in 1993) 2013: No. 14 Finished 9-4 and No. 20. 2014: No. 17 Finished 8-5 and unranked. 2015: No. 11 Finished 10-3 and No. 11 2016: No. 10 Finished 4-8 and unranked 2017: No. 28 Finished 10-3 and No. 11 2018: No. 12 Finished 12-1 and No. 5 2019: No. 9 Finished 11-2 and No. 12 — Lou Somogyi Notre Dame Opens No. 10 In AP Poll