Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1359205
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MAY 2021 19 reasonable to conclude the Irish are searching for only two starters despite having four openings up front. "Zeke [Correll] is slotted in at that center position," Kelly said. "Josh Lugg is going to play at tackle, but most likely will slide into the guard position when the season starts. You're going to see a big battle for one of the tackle positions and one of the guard positions." How can that be when Notre Dame lost both starting tackles from last sea- son in Liam Eichenberg and Robert Hainsey? If Lugg and his eight career starts are filling a guard spot instead of tackle, the presumption is senior Jar- rett Patterson will kick out from cen- ter to take over one of those tackle jobs when he returns from foot sur- gery later this offseason. None of the other tackles on the roster have started a game or had any claim to the job when spring practice started. Sliding to the edge is an anticipated move for Patterson, who started 21 games the last two seasons at center but was recruited as a tackle. Correll has worked only at center since his January 2019 arrival and started twice in Patterson's place after the injury. The candidates for the two open spots are all light on experience but mostly former blue-chip recruits. The first-team group in the first two practices was sophomore Tosh Baker at left tackle, fifth-year senior Dillan Gibbons at left guard, Correll at cen- ter, senior John Dirksen at right guard and Lugg at right tackle. The second team was freshman Blake Fisher at left tackle, freshman Rocco Spindler at left guard, junior Andrew Kristofic at center, junior Quinn Carroll at right guard and sophomore Michael Car- mody at right tackle. In the third practice, Kristofic (guard) and Fisher (tackle) earned chances with the first team. Carroll also worked at tackle with the second team, while Carmody played center. "You're going to see a little bit of everybody," Kelly said. THE JEREMIAH OWUSU- KORAMOAH SUCCESSION PLAN The first step in replacing Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is understanding that you do not simply replace him. Not beyond position designation, at least. Notre Dame will have someone in his vacated rover linebacker spot, which defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman is keeping from predecessor Clark Lea's scheme. That player won't be an athlete on his level, be expected to match the production or perhaps even have the on-field demands the 2020 But- kus Award winner did. In fact, Notre Dame might turn to multiple players to help fill the void Owusu-Koramoah leaves. "We're going to do things that al- low us to get another linebacker on the field," Kelly said. "I don't know that we're replacing the kind of player that we had with Owusu. You're going to see a combination of players out there. "If it were strictly a rover situation, you'll see [Isaiah] Pryor, you'll see [Paul] Moala. You're going to see [Jack] Kiser out there. At times, you might see three linebackers. It's a combina- tion of all those things." Reading the tea leaves there, one wonders if rover will not be the ev- ery-down position that it was with Owusu-Koramoah manning it the last two seasons. He made the rover a sta- ple as much as the role made him one. Owusu-Koramoah slid between duties as a slot defender, a traditional linebacker, a blitzer and a nickel back, meaning Lea rarely had to substitute for him. Last season, he played 328 snaps in the slot, 215 in the box and 88 on the defensive line, per Pro Football Focus. The 2019 distribution was simi- lar: 352 in the slot, 218 in the box and 107 on the defensive line. Will Freeman's takeover and the lack of a spitting image of a probable first-rounder change the vision for the position? Will Notre Dame find a player at rover it trusts to wear all the different hats Owusu-Koramoah did? A committee involving the three players Kelly mentioned seems like a plausible direction, with each play- ing in situations that highlights his strengths and then leaving the field in areas where he struggles. WHERE TO GO AT BOUNDARY CORNER The Irish opened 2020 spring prac- tice without any clarity at boundary corner, hoping they'd get some from the group of underclassmen fight- ing for the job. They never had the chance. Heading into fall camp with little grasp on the position was un- comfortable, so Notre Dame plucked former North Carolina State corner Nick McCloud from the transfer por- tal. He slid into the role and gave the Irish reliable play as a one-year bridge. The position is in the same spot once again. Junior Cam Hart, a 6-2½ converted receiver, was McCloud's backup, but rarely saw the field out- side of garbage time. As of the first week of practice, senior TaRiq Bracy and sophomore Clarence Lewis are still field corners. A host of freshmen and sophomores look like the pri- mary competition for Hart. This is the quintessential spring battle. It's a chance for young and unproven players to demonstrate they can be trusted and earn a non- scout team job. Save for Hart (and perhaps Bracy), most everyone com- peting at boundary corner hasn't had that opportunity previously. Where do sophomores Caleb Of- ford and Ramon Henderson fit after anonymous redshirt seasons? Could early enrollees Philip Riley or Ryan Barnes make a strong impression like Lewis did in 2020? How far ahead of them is Hart? He has been the first- team boundary corner when the po- sition is visible in every video from the first three spring practices. Notre Dame likely won't answer all of these questions in 15 practices. Still, it needs to have an idea if its in-house candidates will suffice at an important position, or if it will need to dip into the grad transfer market again for some security. ✦