Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1105789
22 MAY 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY BRYAN DRISKELL I f Notre Dame is going to make another College Football Play- off run — and actually compete for a national title — it will need to make significant production up- grades on offense. The Fighting Irish featured an effi- cient and productive unit in 2018, but their 31.4 points per game average ranked just 42nd nationally. Further- more, Notre Dame has not averaged more than 34.2 points per game (2015 and 2017) during head coach Brian Kelly's tenure. Consider that all but one team to play for a title since Kelly was hired has averaged at least 34.8 points per game (Alabama in 2011). Twelve of those 18 teams averaged at least 38.5 and seven of them were at a mini- mum of 41.2. The lone team to not get that aver- age was Notre Dame in 2012 — and it was blasted 42-14 by Alabama in the title game that season. For the Irish to make the necessary jump forward on offense, they need a number of players to break out. Dur- ing spring practice, numerous figures did just that to varying degrees. Here are our top breakout performances during the spring. SENIOR WIDE RECEIVER CHASE CLAYPOOL A year ago, we used this space to note the outstanding spring perfor- mance of then-senior wide receiver Miles Boykin, who went on to lead the Irish with 59 receptions for 872 yards and eight touchdowns. Boykin was excellent last spring — but Chase Claypool's 2019 spring performance was even better. The senior wideout has always flashed the talent to be an impact player, but consistency and game maturity kept him from being a standout on a consistent basis. We started to see Claypool rise late in 2018, when he hauled in 32 passes for 439 yards in the final seven games. Boykin caught 31 passes for 444 yards during that same stretch. What has stood out this spring isn't that Claypool has made ri- diculous catches, displayed freaky athleticism for a 6-4, 229-pounder or that he blocked effectively. We've seen Claypool demonstrate those skills throughout his career, but this spring we saw him bring a high level Top BreakouT players: OFFENSE Several spring performances have the Fighting Irish on the verge of upgrading in 2019 Junior right tackle Robert Hainsey emerged as a team leader during the winter, and his strong play in the spring has him poised for a stellar season. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL