Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2019 33 Book must continue to be his ef- ficient self, but in his second season in charge the El Dorado Hills, Calif., native must become more of a play- maker. That means more success down the field, more success attacking the middle and leading an offense that has more success generating big plays. Support Players Must Shine Senior wideout Chase Claypool and junior tight end Cole Kmet — despite a broken collarbone suffered early in fall camp that will sideline him any- where from four to 10 weeks — are ex- pected to be breakout stars on offense, fifth-year senior wideout Chris Finke is highly reliable, and it wouldn't sur- prise many if junior running back Jafar Armstrong also had a strong season. Building on the known commodi- ties are essential if Notre Dame is go- ing to improve offensively, but more is needed if it is to close the gap on Alabama and Clemson. The Irish offense needs others to not only provide supporting roles, but playmaking ones. That means junior wide receiver Mi- chael Young must become steadier, al- though he too might be shelved at least a month. All the more reason sopho- mores Braden Lenzy, Lawrence Keys III, Kevin Austin and Tommy Tremble must provide home run production. Senior running back Tony Jones Jr. needs to play at his best for an entire season, not just in spurts, and junior tight end Brock Wright must seize his opportunity with Kmet sidelined. A lot of teams are strong from play- ers one through 25, but the champi- ons also excel from 26 through 40 ... and beyond. DEFENSE The Middle Must Thrive Last season, the Irish defense had an All-American at tackle in Jerry Tillery, an All-American at Mike linebacker in Te'von Coney, and a two-time team captain and eventual fourth-round draft pick at Buck line- backer in Drue Tranquill. That is 239 tackles, 29 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks from those three spots last season that must be replaced. The majority of the players com- peting to fill that lost production is quite young. If Notre Dame is going to once again field one of the nation's top defenses, that group will have to grow up in a hurry. Junior defensive tackles Kurt Hin- ish and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa, along with sophomore Jayson Ademilola, have plenty of experience being part of a rotation, but now they must become the playmakers. At linebacker, a trio of sophomores — Jack Lamb, Shayne Simon and Bo Bauer — are expected to provide a playmaking boost. Edge Players Need To Finish Better Pro Football Focus ranked the Notre Dame pass rush No. 4 in the country last season, and the Irish ends fueled that performance. Every end who played a snap last season returns. The presence of seniors Julian Ok- wara, Khalid Kareem, Daelin Hayes and Adetokunbo Ogundeji will fuel the defense in 2019. But for all their success last season, there is still plenty of room for improvement. Compare the Irish defense to that of Clemson and Alabama. Last sea- son, 20 percent of Clemson's op- ponents passing plays resulted in a sack or hit on the quarterback, while 18.2 percent of Alabama's opponents passing plays resulted in the same. Notre Dame had just a 13.3 percent finish rate, a number significantly below that of the teams the Irish are chasing. If the Irish pass rush — which will be led by the talented ends — can have a better hit rate on opposing quarterbacks, it will go a long way toward making the defense once again one of the nation's best. Make More Stops Getting to the quarterback more effectively will result in the Irish defense putting offenses in tougher conversion situations and more turnovers gained. Both lead to Notre Dame improving its ability to get off the field, which was a problem on occasion in 2018. For all of its success last season un- der first-year coordinator Clark Lea, Notre Dame still ranked 45th in turn- overs gained and just 65th in third- down stops. The Irish had to rely on the nation's 11th-best red zone defense to keep the points down, but the 2019 schedule is filled with better offenses than what the defense faced a year ago. Notre Dame will need to do a bet- ter job keeping teams out of the red zone, which means making more early stops, whether it is by forcing turnovers or just putting teams in tougher conversion situations. By comparison, Clemson ranked sixth in third-down defense and 20th in turnovers gained last season. If Notre Dame gets even close to those numbers, it will mean the Irish defense is playing at an extremely high level. SPECIAL TEAMS Do No Harm In 2016, Notre Dame lost six games where special teams snafus had a huge bearing. So when current spe- cial teams coordinator Brian Polian took over in 2017, his first mandate was "do no harm." Notre Dame loses its all-time leading scorer in placekicker Justin Yoon and one of its most prolific punters in Ty- ler Newsome. For now, neither fresh- man punter Jay Bramblett nor junior placekicker Jonathan Doerer will be projected to replicate such production. Special teams might not win games, but it can't afford to lose them. That means converting makeable kicks, not turning the ball over and lim- iting big plays by the opposition. Sub- tract a kick return for a touchdown and a shanked punt in last season's opener, and the odds are Notre Dame has a far more convincing win over Michigan. Those types of miscues need to happen less frequently this year. ✦ Notre Dame needs junior Myron Tagovailoa- Amosa and the Irish interior defensive line to be more than just rotation players this fall. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL