Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2019 59 If Notre Dame is going to make the jump in rush- ing production that offensive coordinator Chip Long desires, it should begin with a hot start against the Cardinals. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. LOUISVILLE PASS DEFENSE The Cardinals' pass defense ranked 40th in yards allowed a game, due mainly to teams having so much success on the ground. However, Louisville ranked 99th in touchdown passes allowed (25), 103rd in yards allowed per completion (13.2), 114th in yards allowed per attempt (8.5) and 120th in pass defense efficiency (160.48). Louisville wasn't able to disrupt opponents' at- tempts to throw the ball, picking off just six balls, breaking up only 21 passes and registering a mea- ger 11 sacks. Love broke up 20 passes by himself for Notre Dame in 2017. Four of Louisville's final six opponents completed at least 70 percent of their passes, and that is part of the reason Satterfield brought Bryan Brown with him from Appalachian State to run the defense. Brown had an undersized but disruptive unit that ranked fourth in scoring defense (15.5 points allowed per game), sixth in total defense (288.0 yards given up a contest) and 14th in third-down defense (31.7 percent conversion rate) last season. Though the Cardinals return nine starters, they will need time to overcome how bad they were a season ago. Brown will have a solid group of athletes to work with and a system designed to compete against superior talent. Notre Dame averaged 290.6 passing yards per game with Ian Book as the starter, and he returns a receiving corps with far more proven production and experience than the one he had a season ago. The Irish pass catchers are led by senior Chase Claypool, who enters the year with 84 career catches for 1,122 yards. Fifth-year senior Chris Finke also returns after catching 49 passes for 571 yards last season. Just how good the Irish pass offense is in 2019 will depend, in part, on the continued rise of those two pass catchers, and players like junior Michael Young, sophomore Lawrence Keys III, sophomore Braden Lenzy and sophomore Kevin Austin will need to make their presence felt. Advantage: Notre Dame SPECIAL TEAMS Notre Dame must replace Justin Yoon, its all-time leading scorer, and Tyler Newsome, one of the most prolific punters in Irish history. The Irish ranked 62nd and 109th, respectively, in punt and kick coverage a season ago, and its punt and kick return units ranked just 57th and 51st. Louisville ranked higher in kick return average, kick return coverage and punt return average. The Cardinals return their starting punter and placekicker, and while neither stood out both have more experience than Notre Dame junior place- kicker Jonathan Doerer and freshman punter Jay Bramblett. Advantage: Louisville COACHING Louisville was turned down by its top candidate when Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm, a Cardinal alum, decided to stay in West Lafayette. It worked out well for the Cardinals when Satterfield ac- cepted the job. He led the Mountaineers to a 51-24 record, in- cluding a stellar 40-11 mark in his last four seasons. He is a program builder that put together a quality staff, but it is going to take a lot longer than one game to overcome last season's 2-10 disaster. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has led the Irish to a 22-4 record the last two seasons, includ- ing his second 12-1 record in South Bend while leading the Irish to the College Football Playoff last fall. Kelly has been able to keep his staff together, and Notre Dame enters its third season running Chip Long's offense and Clark Lea's defense, which was installed initially by Mike Elko in 2017. Advantage: Notre Dame INTANGIBLES Louisville is making its Monday night opener against Notre Dame a "blackout" game — the Car- dinals will be wearing all black uniforms, and fans are encouraged to do the same. Combine that with it being the first game for Sat- terfield and Notre Dame making its first-ever ap- pearance at Cardinal Stadium, and the atmosphere should be electric. However, Louisville will need a lot more than black jerseys and an excited crowd to hang with Notre Dame. Kelly returns a veteran squad at most spots, and the Fighting Irish are used to raucous environments — and those games have been against better opponents than what Louisville ex- pects to be this season, at least early on. Notre Dame's talent advantage and the fact the Irish are now three years into their own staff overhaul give Kelly's squad a major intangibles advantage. Advantage: Notre Dame GAME PREVIEW: LOUISVILLE Offense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. QB 4 Jawon Pass 6-4 239 R-Jr. or 3 Malik Cunningham 6-1 192 R-So.. RB 19 Hassan Hall 6-0 198 So. 10 Javian Hawkins 5-9 182 R-Fr. LT 73 Mekhi Becton 6-7 369 Jr. 50 Jean-Luc Childs 6-3 334 5th-Sr. LG 55 Caleb Chandler 6-4 297 R-So. 71 Joshua Black 6-2 270 Fr. C 66 Cole Bentley 6-3 313 Jr. or 59 T.J. McCoy 6-1 305 5th-Sr. RG 75 Robbie Bell 6-5 294 R-Jr. 74 Adonis Boone 6-5 298 So. RT 60 Tyler Haycraft 6-3 293 5th-Sr. 63 Zach Williamson 6-6 271 Fr. WR 5 Seth Dawkins 6-3 218 Sr. 2 Devonte Peete 6-6 213 5th-Sr. WR 7 Dez Fitzpatrick 6-2 204 R-Jr. 18 Justin Marshall 6-3 212 R-So. WR 1 Tutu Atwell 5-9 152 So. 82 Keion Wakefield 5-10 184 R-Jr. TE 85 Jordan Davis 6-4 255 5th-Sr. 89 Ean Pfeifer 6-4 245 5th-Sr. HB 83 Marshon Ford 6-2 226 So. 41 Isaac Martin 6-1 250 R-So. Defense Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Cl. DE 53 Amonte Caban 6-1 256 5th-Sr. 91 Derek Dorsey 6-3 265 R-Jr. or 57 Dayna Kinnaird 6-3 254 R-So. NT 94 G.G. Robinson 6-4 295 5th-Sr. 90 Jared Goldwire 6-6 286 Jr. DE 18 Ty Tyler 6-3 260 R-Sr. 29 Tabarius Peterson 6-3 252 R-Jr. OLB 49 Boosie Whitlow 6-3 228 5th-Sr. 93 Gary McCrae 6-4 238 Sr. or 11 Nick Okeke 6-3 246 R-So. WLB 9 C.J. Avery 5-11 221 Jr. 7 Monty Montgomery 5-11 214 So. or 43 Damien Smith 6-1 221 Sr. MLB 17 Dorian Etheridge 6-3 231 Jr. 35 T.J. Holl 6-1 203 5th-Sr. or 5 Robert Hicks 6-1 250 So. OLB 10 Rodjay Burns 6-0 197 R-Jr. 15 Quen Head 6-2 205 Jr. CB 3 Cornelius Sturghill 5-11 191 5th-Sr. 27 Anthony Johnson 6-1 187 R-So. or 1 P.J. Mbanasor 6-1 203 5th-Sr. SS 6 Russ Yeast 5-11 196 Jr. 40 Kaheem Roach 6-1 198 R-So. FS 30 Khane Pass 6-1 204 5th-Sr. 20 Trenell Troutman 5-11 188 So. CB 12 Marlon Character 6-1 195 Jr. 2 Chandler Jones 5-10 179 So. LOUISVILLE DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PK 45 Blanton Creque 5-11 190 5th-Sr. 37 Ryan Chalifoux 6-1 185 R-So. P 28 Mason King 6-3 216 5th-Sr. LS 52 Mitch Hall 6-1 203 Jr. 46 Brendan Lowery 6-0 207 Sr. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. H 28 Mason King 6-3 216 5th-Sr. KR 19 Hassan Hall 6-0 198 So. 6 Russ Yeast 5-11 196 Jr. PR 10 Rodjay Burns 6-0 197 R-Jr. 1 Tutu Atwell 5-9 152 So. Special Teams