Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/705594
UNDER THE DOME THEY SAID IT "Schematically, he does more than double than any of our other oppo- nents. This is hard for us to prepare for, but it apparently is very hard for them to get right as well. Many of the big plays you saw against the 2015 defense on film were from missed assignments in the secondary." An anonymous Power Five offensive coach on Notre Dame defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder (ESPN College Football Preview) "It looks like the Irish will be on another West Coast trip in the final week of the season with a shot at making the playoffs. This team could be better than the one that played in the 2012 national title game." — college football expert Phil Steele in his annual preview magazine "Despite the losses of Ronnie Stanley and Nick Martin to the NFL Draft, I believe the Irish will have the premier college offensive line in 2016. Led by Mike McGlinchey and Quenton Nelson, Notre Dame has the talent to be a dominant group. "I recently took a trip to South Bend to watch practice and workouts, and was amazed by offensive line coach Harry Hiestand's efforts to use the 'KISS' formula. Keeping it short and simple is what the Irish O-line looks to do, and they do it well. "Using an old-school style of running off the ball blended with a modern style zone blocking allows the Notre Dame line to utilize their talent up front to create seams for their talented ball carriers." — Taylor Wright of Pro Football Focus on ranking Notre Dame's offensive line No. 1 heading into the 2016 campaign "[If] they go with [DeShone] Kizer first — if you bench him and [Malik] Zaire flourishes and he plays really well, it could damage the confidence of DeShone Kizer. Who knows if he can rebound from that? "Let's just say … Kizer starts and doesn't play well. Zaire replaces him. And he [Zaire] ends up being the quarterback at Notre Dame for another year or maybe he leaves because he doesn't feel like he was treated right in the first place. Who knows? "But then you've got another guy in Brandon Wimbush, who may be nipping at his [Kizer's] heels, look- ing to beat him out again. Brandon Wimbush has a lot of upside, a lot of ability. "It just doesn't seem like a stable situation and the best way to go about it. In my opinion, seniority PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA