Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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28 PRESEASON 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED cess is having the genetic makeup and ability to do it," Parker said. "And man, that room looks good, and they're wired up and working the details. And, of course, they've got a long way to go there. But as far as physical gifts and remaining healthy, you love the way that group lines up right now." THE OUTLOOK Hartman dominated spring ball head- lines. He dominated offseason head- lines. He's dominated fall camp head- lines. It makes sense. Notre Dame has a player on its roster that has thrown 110 touchdown passes. Brady Quinn holds the Fighting Irish career record with 95. Four of Hartman's nine scholarship wide receivers (Braylon James, Jaden Greathouse, KK Smith and Rico Flores Jr.) are true freshmen, though. Smith is likely out for the season because of a summer shoulder surgery. Another wideout is a former walk-on in graduate student Matt Salerno. Another is a player who spent the previous three seasons exclusively at running back in senior Chris Tyree. The three others, juniors Jayden Thomas and Deion Colzie and sophomore Tobias Merriweather, have combined for 662 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns in five total years of football at this level. Moreover, the tight ends are just as inexperienced in pass catching. Or even less so. Junior Mitchell Evans goes into the year as the expected TE1, and he has 4 catches for 60 yards and 1 touchdown in his career. The other five scholarship tight ends (senior Kevin Bauman, junior Davis Sherwood, sophomores Holden Staes and Eli Raridon, and freshman Cooper Flanagan) have combined for 6 catches and 60 yards. That's it. Parker is walking the tightrope of al- lowing his tight ends to grow through ups and downs in practice while simul- taneously examining which are the two or three who deserve the most reps on game days. Evans and Bauman seem like the easy answers going off seniority and the little experience they actually do have — more than the others — but it could still be a volatile experiment that goes well past game one. "If they fail, fail up and do it again," Parker said. "We're not going to be an operation that says, 'Get him out be- cause he doesn't make one play.' We have to let these guys play. We have to let them make mistakes. "I'm going to make mistakes. I do ev- ery day. But I promise you this; we're not going to get outworked. And our guys are not going to feel like we went distant in believing in them. We will have strong belief in our players and our staff." The juxtaposition of one of the most proven quarterbacks in college football coupled with one of the most inexpe- rienced arrays of receiving targets in the country is one of the most intrigu- ing storylines in the country. Hartman has to do what truly elite signal-callers do and elevate the play of the players around him, but there is still only so much he can do in that regard. Parker's play calling has to be legit. The Notre Dame offensive line has to keep him upright and pave paths for Es- timé and his cohorts. The wideouts and tight ends need to get open, otherwise Hartman's arm talent is all for naught. Hartman had three games in which he threw 3 interceptions at Wake Forest. He had two in which he threw 4 picks. He's not bulletproof. Nobody is. But he is really good, almost as talented as any, and the way to get the most out of somebody like that is to make his job as easy as possible. He said he feels like all-around syn- ergy for the Irish offense is where it needed to be early in fall camp, and that was with three weeks left to fine-tune for the season opener in Dublin Aug. 26. "But we're still far away from where we want to be," Hartman said. "Every practice, every week we are going to grow and develop. And I think all of us from the coaches down are learning, developing, growing. I think it's been fun but challenging." Nothing worth working for comes easy. ✦ Quarterback No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 10 Sam Hartman 6-1⅛ 212 Gr./1 18 Steve Angeli 6-2⅜ 211 So./4 8 Kenny Minchey 6-1⅝ 219 Fr./4 Running Back No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 7 Audric Estimé 5-11½ 233 Jr./2 24 Jadarian Price 5-10⅜ 206 So./4 or 3 Gi'Bran Payne 5-9⅛ 208 So./4 or 22 Devyn Ford 5-11 200 Gr./2 or 12 Jeremiyah Love 5-11⅞ 197 Fr./4 Boundary Receiver (W) No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 83 Jayden Thomas 6-1½ 221 Jr./3 0 Deion Colzie 6-4¾ 210 Jr./2 14 Braylon James 6-2⅛ 202 Fr./4 Field Receiver (X) No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 5 Tobias Merriweather 6-4 204 So./3 17 Rico Flores Jr. 6-0⅛ 205 Fr./4 Slot Receiver (Y) No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 2 Chris Tyree 5-9½ 192 Sr./2 19 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 204 Fr./4 29 Matt Salerno 6-0⅝ 199 Gr./1 11 KK Smith 6-0 158 Fr./4 Tight End No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 88 Mitchell Evans 6-5⅛ 251 Jr./2 84 Kevin Bauman 6-4½ 256 Sr./2 or 85 Holden Staes 6-4¼ 242 So./3 or 9 Eli Raridon 6-6¾ 250 So./3 38 Davis Sherwood 6-3 238 Jr./2 87 Cooper Flanagan 6-5⅞ 262 Fr./4 Left Tackle No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 76 Joe Alt 6-7⅝ 322 Jr./2 79 Tosh Baker 6-8 317 Sr./3 56 Charles Jagusah 6-7¼ 330 Fr./4 Left Guard No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 74 Billy Schrauth 6-4½ 311 So./4 78 Pat Coogan 6-5⅛ 303 Jr./3 77 Ty Chan 6-5 308 So./4 55 Chris Terek 6-4 295 Fr./4 Center No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 52 Zeke Correll 6-3 306 Gr./2 70 Ashton Craig 6-4¼ 307 So./4 Right Guard No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 73 Andrew Kristofic 6-5¼ 305 Gr./2 50 Rocco Spindler 6-4⅝ 314 Jr./3 72 Sam Pendleton 6-4⅛ 314 Fr./4 64 Joe Otting 6-3⅛ 264 Fr./4 Right Tackle No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 54 Blake Fisher 6-6 310 Jr./3 59 Aamil Wagner 6-6 288 So./4 75 Sullivan Absher 6-6⅝ 326 Fr./4 68 Michael Carmody 6-5½ 291 Sr./2 FALL CAMP 2023 OFFENSE DEPTH CHART Here is Blue & Gold Illustrated's projection for Notre Dame's 2023 scholarship depth chart after watching some early practices at fall camp.