Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2017 71 Offensive coordinator Chip Long has talked often about his desire to establish the ground attack. Fifth-year senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey and senior left guard Quenton Nelson anchor what is expected to be one of the top lines in the country. A year of experience under the belts of senior center Sam Mustipher and senior right guard Alex Bars adds to that optimism. Only three running backs in Notre Dame history have had more rushing yards than junior Josh Adams (1,768) through two seasons and he could have a major jump in production this season. Adams will be joined in the backfield by sopho- more Tony Jones Jr., a standout in the spring and fall camp, and explosive junior Dexter Williams. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. TEMPLE PASS DEFENSE From a statistical standpoint, this should be the most exciting matchup of the game. Temple ranked third in passing defense last fall and 13th in pass efficiency defense. The Owls had 40 sacks and return three starters in their secondary, in- cluding standout safeties Sean Chandler and Del- von Randall. Losing three starters along the line will deal a major blow to Temple's ability to get a pass rush with its base defense. Riddick had 10.5 sacks last fall, but he's now in the NFL. Only 9.5 of Temple's 40 sacks were registered by returning players. Senior Jacob Martin is expected to be Temple's next top pass rusher, but Collins will use an attack built around mixing up looks and bringing pressures from all over the field to get after the quarterback. Notre Dame struggled to protect its quarterback last season, due in part to line issues and to a quarterback that often held onto the football too long. Slowing down Temple's pass rush will be key to Notre Dame having success throwing the ball. First-year starting quarterback Brandon Wimbush will be getting his first serious action against the Owls, so keeping him upright is important. Long will have to find ways to get Wimbush into an early rhythm against Collins' multiple looks that will be designed to confuse the first-time starter. Notre Dame's receivers, led by junior Equanime- ous St. Brown, match up well against the Temple secondary. The Irish will also be trying to get tight ends Durham Smythe and Alizé Mack involved in the pass game. Advantage: Even SPECIAL TEAMS Temple sported one of the best special teams units in the country last season, ranking 14th nationally in the Fremeau Efficiency Index. The Owls ranked 21st in special teams the year prior. It makes sense then that the man in charge of those units, Ed Foley, was retained when Collins was hired. Notre Dame is expected to see a major jump on special teams thanks to the hiring of new coordi- nator Brian Polian. Expect his units to play sound football, and the hiring of Elko at defensive coordi- nator should help the overall tackling ability of the team, which in turn helps Polian. Temple still gets the edge in this matchup be- cause of how far Notre Dame has to come with its special teams units after ranking 81st in special teams efficiency last season. Notre Dame does return veteran players at kicker, punter and in the return game, but if the Irish want to make dramatic leaps on special teams it must become a more disciplined unit and its coverage teams must improve. Notre Dame gave up five special teams touchdowns last season, and its kick coverage unit (95th) and punt return unit (123rd) were among the nation's worst. Advantage: Temple COACHING Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly is coming off a 4-8 season in which he called himself an "absentee professor." Despite the failures from last season, Kelly is still a two-time Division II national championship winning coach that led Notre Dame to the BCS National Championship Game in 2012 and directed the Irish to a 10-3 record just two seasons ago. Geoff Collins had a great deal of success as a defensive coordinator at Florida (2015-16) and Mississippi State (2011-14), but he enters his first season as a head coach. Having one's initial game as the lead man on the road against Notre Dame is certainly memorable, but likely not an ideal situation. Advantage: Notre Dame INTANGIBLES Temple has the advantage of having taken a very good Notre Dame team down to the wire just two seasons ago, and several players in the current Owl lineup were either starters or rotation players in that game. With Notre Dame's struggles last season the odds of Temple being overwhelmed by the Irish or the moment are quite low. Temple will be ready to compete in Notre Dame Stadium. Notre Dame still has the vast majority of ad- vantages. With the renovations in the stadium complete, the home crowd is likely to be loud and excited. Notre Dame has more returning starters and its top-end talent is better, which gives the Irish the advantage heading into this matchup. Advantage: Notre Dame GAME PREVIEW: TEMPLE Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. WR 1 Ventell Bryant 6-3 200 R-Jr. 14 Brodrick Yancy 5-10 195 R-Jr. WR 5 Keith Kirkwood 6-3 220 5th-Sr. 13 Isaiah Wright 6-2 212 So. LT 53 Leon Johnson 6-5 325 5th-Sr. 79 Cole Boozer 6-5 295 5th-Sr. LG 70 Jovahn Fair 6-2 300 R-So. 78 Aaron Ruff 6-3 300 R-Jr. C 58 Matt Hennessey 6-4 295 R-Fr. 71 Benson Israel 6-1 295 R-So. RG 55 Brian Carter 6-1 300 5th-Sr. 69 Adrian Sullivan 6-3 295 5th-Sr. RT 77 Jaelin Robinson 6-6 325 R-Jr. 74 James McHale 6-6 300 R-Jr. TE 84 Kenny Yeboah 6-5 238 R-Fr. 85 Chris Myarick 6-5 250 R-Jr. WR 17 Adonis Jennings 6-3 205 Sr. 80 Freddie Johnson 6-1 190 R-Fr. QB 18 Frank Nutile 6-4 225 R-Jr. or 12 Logan Marchi 6-0 205 R-So. or 16 Todd Centeio 6-0 212 Fr. RB 25 Ryquell Armstead 5-11 205 Jr. 21 Jager Gardner 6-2 219 Jr. or 24 David Hood 5-9 190 R-Jr. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. DE 9 Jacob Martin 6-2 250 Sr. 94 Julian Taylor 6-5 280 5th-Sr. DT 95 Dan Archibong 6-6 285 R-Fr. 72 Karamo Dioubate 6-3 295 So. NT 98 Michael Dogbe 6-3 280 R-Jr. 99 Freddie Booth-Lloyd 6-1 325 R-Jr. DE 6 Sharif Finch 6-5 250 5th-Sr. 90 Quincy Roche 6-4 230 R-Fr. LB 35 William Kwenkeu 6-2 225 So. 37 Isaiah Graham-Mobley 6-2 215 R-Fr. LB 23 Shaun Bradley 6-1 225 So. 44 Jared Folks 6-1 235 R-Jr. LB 36 Sam Franklin 6-3 210 So. 22 Chapelle Russell 6-1 225 R-So. CB 16 Artrel Foster 5-11 197 5th-Sr. 12 Kareem Ali 5-10 180 R-So. or 24 Kimere Brown 6-0 170 R-Fr. SS 2 Delvon Randall 5-11 210 Jr. 32 Benny Walls 6-1 208 So. FS 3 Sean Chandler 6-0 195 Sr. 28 Jyquis Thomas 6-1 205 R-Jr. CB 10 Mike Jones 5-11 187 5th-Sr. 11 Linwood Crump 6-0 180 So. or 21 Derrek Thomas 6-3 193 R-Jr. TEMPLE DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. PK 97 Aaron Boumerhi 6-0 195 So. 29 Austin Jones 5-10 205 Sr. P 43 Alex Starzyk 6-3 205 Sr. 18 Connor Bowler 6-3 191 Fr. KO 97 Aaron Boumerhi 6-0 195 So. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. LS 59 Corey Lerch 5-10 200 Sr. 57 Josh Lang 6-0 210 5th-Sr. KR 13 Isaiah Wright 6-2 212 So. PR 3 Sean Chandler 6-0 195 Sr. 10 Mike Jones 5-11 187 5th-Sr. Special Teams