Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2017 77 back — rushed for 1,384 yards and 13 touchdowns. In 2015, Kelly was replaced by drop-back passer Mike Bercovici, who rushed for just 84 yards. Long's starting quarterback at Memphis, Riley Ferguson, rushed for mi- nus-70 yards, but he passed for 3,698 yards and 32 touch- downs. "It's a quarterback-driven offense, we're going to shape it around what they can do well," Long said. "It can change at times, it's not a system of this is what we do and this is how we do it. That's how you can get yourself in a rut. "We pride ourselves on being very multiple. It's a pro- style offense that goes really fast." Long's emphasis on running the football and upping the tempo is likely to be what fires up Notre Dame fans the most. The coach, however, derives his greatest joy from what he inherits up front. From 2012-16, Arizona State had just two offensive line- men selected in the NFL Draft — a fourth-round pick in 2015 and a fifth-round selection in 2016. During that same stretch, Notre Dame has produced a pair of first-rounders, a second-round choice and a third-round pick. "The one thing I'm really excited about is I haven't been surrounded by offensive linemen with the skill and size I see walking on this turf this morning," Long said, refer- ring to his linemen going through winter workouts. "Just the ability to run the ball at tempo will help neutralize a lot of the great defen- sive lines and give us advantages late in the fourth quarter." Having an offensive line with the talent of players like fifth-year senior Mike McGlinchey, senior left guard Quenton Nelson and senior right tackle Alex Bars will provide Long with a weapon he has not had in previous stops. A primary result of that will not only be a greater emphasis on the run game, but then using that run game to build and implement an effective play-action passing at- tack. "The game starts up front, they're won and lost right there, so it gives me the comfort and the ability to take some deep shots in the play-action game," Long said of his talented line. "They're go- ing to be able to hold up longer, and they'll have the play-action behind them to help slow down the pass rush of [the defense] as well. I'm really excited about that group." Being able to use play action and move the pocket is a big part of what Long wants his Notre Dame offense to be about. "I love the play-action game, once again based off the run," he said. "It gets your quarterback moving out of the pocket and changes your launch point a bit so defenses don't know where he's going to be all the time, and it helps your offensive line. "It's part of the game I re- ally enjoy doing, and it gets your tight ends involved quite a bit and really helps g e t y o u r q u a r t e r b a c k breathing; get out there, if it's not there take off and get me 10 yards." Of course, being the tight ends coach as well as the offensive coordinator, Long is going to place a premium on getting that position group more involved in the of- fense. In the past three seasons, Notre Dame's tight ends have averaged 21.0 catches per season, along with 238.7 yards and 2.3 touchdowns. Tight ends under Long's tutelage from 2012-16 averaged 40.2 catches per season, along with 491.6 yards and 5.6 touchdowns. At no point was Long's excitement about coming to Notre Dame more obvious than when he was asked about the roster of tight ends he will inherit. "Really excited," Long said with a laugh and a giant grin on his face. "I recruited a lot of them for the most part. I think at Notre Dame you can go recruit the best offensive linemen, quarterbacks, tight ends, really any offensive position in American. "The group we have coming in is exciting and the group that's here is exciting. They are all play- makers, and I think they're going to really like this offense, how it showcases what they do and puts them in position to be elite guys." Long gave a thorough expla- nation how having talented tight ends in an up-tempo offense is a significant advantage for his side of the ball. "I can be in 12 personnel [one back, two tight ends] pounding the rock and then we can be in four wides with two tight ends in the slots," Long said, referring to his two tight end personnel grouping. "They have to decide do they want to bring in a nickel, or do they want to have a line- backer or possible safety guard- ing an Alizé Jones or Durham Smythe? "It creates a lot of big mis- matches and the ability to do that really fast causes problems for the defense. We're able to play that game and play it to our advan- tage. The ability that we're going to have to possibly run the ball, it's going to be a whole lot of fun." ✦ CHIP LONG Fifth-year senior Durham Smythe led all Irish tight ends with only nine receptions for 112 yards in 2016, but the position will be featured much more under Long. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND "THE ONE THING I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IS I HAVEN'T BEEN SURROUNDED BY OFFENSIVE LINEMEN WITH THE SKILL AND SIZE I SEE WALKING ON THIS TURF THIS MORNING. JUST THE ABILITY TO RUN THE BALL AT TEMPO WILL HELP NEUTRALIZE A LOT OF THE GREAT DEFENSIVE LINES AND GIVE US ADVANTAGES LATE IN THE FOURTH QUARTER." LONG