Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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76 MARCH 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Chip Long will bring a faster and more versatile offense to Notre Dame BY BRYAN DRISKELL F or the past three seasons, Notre Dame's offense has bordered on being an elite unit. It showed flashes of brilliance, but its overall inconsistency kept it from really taking the leaps forward it needed to compete with programs like Clemson, Ohio State and Alabama. What the offense needed was an attitude adjustment and enough of a change to get the unit clicking on all cylinders without having to overhaul what has otherwise been a suc- cessful operation. "What we don't want to do is create a whole new offense for our guys to have to learn," head coach Brian Kelly said about his search for a new man in charge of his offense. "… We're not going to change the entire offense and teach a new system to this group, but you're going to see some things that you've never seen from this offense before." Enter Chip Long, the former offensive coordinator at Memphis (2016) and offensive assistant at Arizona State (2012-15). "Chip is going to bring some things that I want, that we've already brought in that we did not have," Kelly explained. "So you're going to see some things that we didn't have as part of our offense that I was looking for. … Part of hiring Chip is that I wanted these elements that are in the offense that he's become accustomed to, I wanted them added into this offense." So what does an offense made up of what Long and Kelly want look like? Long answered that very question during his introductory press conference Jan. 30. "We're going to be a run/play action, which is going to start with our physicality, and we're going to go ex- tremely fast," the 33-year-old offensive coordinator said. "Quarterback-driven that showcases playmakers and put- ting those guys in position to make one-on-one plays. As a coach that's my job, to get you in a one-on-one [matchup]. "It's a very player-driven offense," he continued. "We don't call plays just for the sake of calling plays, we try to get our guys in the best positions to be successful. Very aggressive, we're going to take a lot of shots downfield." The quarterback is the centerpiece of Long's offense, which is easily adaptable to the specific skills of whoever is behind the center. From 2012-14, Arizona State quarter- back Taylor Kelly — who was more of a running quarter- Expect a different tempo from the Notre Dame offense with new coordinator Chip Long in charge. Head coach Brian Kelly said Long will call the plays. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN CHANGE OF PACE OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR