Blue and Gold Illustrated

CHALK TALK BRYAN DRISKELL ecute whatever run play is called, and the perimeter players will execute a specific route combination. Run/pass reads are incredibly flex- ible because the offense is not tied to specific schemes or route packages. The offense can combine a wide variety of pass routes with almost any run con- cept it wants to put into that specific game plan. ZONE-ORIENTED RUN GAME After the 2011 season, Notre Dame adjusted its run-game philosophies. Kelly's desire was to go to a more power-oriented run game that attacked downhill and was more physical at the line of scrimmage. In the two seasons prior to this change, the Irish averaged 143.5 yards per game on the ground. Since the ad- justment, Notre Dame has averaged 177.6 rushing yards per game. ND has also seen its yards per rush jump from 4.4 to 4.8. The first change made was to hire Harry Hiestand as his offensive line coach. Hiestand's NFL background fit with the changes Kelly wanted to make with his run game. The second change was a shift in the type of offensive linemen Notre Dame recruited. Beginning with the 2013 class, Notre Dame shifted to linemen with greater size, power and positional versatility. This fall is the first where the offen- sive line is made up of more players recruited by Hiestand than the previ- ous line coach, which partially explains Notre Dame's jump in run-game pro- duction. Beginning last fall, Notre Dame be- gan using the power read concept, something that has become a staple of the 2015 offense. Notre Dame has also had a great deal of early success using counter plays, which was the call on se- nior running back C.J. Prosise's 91-yard touchdown run against Georgia Tech and 57-yard touchdown run against UMass. Kelly has stated a desire for a quar- terback with the ability to beat teams with his legs, so the read concepts will continue to be a part of the offense as long as Notre Dame recruits dual-threat quarterbacks. When Zaire was the start- ing quarterback, the designed quarter- back runs and the run/run concepts were utilized at a high level. Those ap- proaches are still used with Kizer as the starting quarterback, but the emphasis has now been shifted more to designed runs, again showing the value of offen- sive flexibility. HORIZONTAL-STRETCH PASS GAME Kelly likes to be aggressive in the pass game, with a desire to create big plays when his quarterback drops back to throw the football. Each week, the offense will look to find ways to get the ball downfield. Notre Dame has implemented a number of top-down reads in the 2015 season, with wide receivers running routes on different levels: one deep, one medium range route (around 12-15 yards) and a short route. The quarter- back will execute a high-to-low read, which will tell him what level route to throw to. While the Irish have had success

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