Irish Look to Get 99 Behind Them
Frank Vitovitch
March 31, 2000

South Bend, Ind - With all the success the basketball team had this season, it will be hard for the football team and Bob Davie not to hear a storm of criticism if the team fails to have a successful season.  They are coming off a season in which they were 5-7 and lost their final four games. For that reason, the team will be anxious to get spring practice started and put the passed behind them.

Last season can best be described as a disaster.   After starting the season 1-3 with close loses to Michigan, Purdue, and Michigan State; the Irish battled back to a 5-3 record.  After that however, the team just collapsed.  It started with the beating Tennessee gave Notre Dame and was followed by defeats at the hands of Boston College, Pittsburgh, and Stanford - not exactly the elite class of NCAA football.

That was last season however, and when the first spring practice starts on Saturday, that will all be behind the Irish as they prepare for what can be a great season in 2000.  The road to success will not be easy however with the loss of their sole captain from 1999 in Jarious Jackson and a few other losses that will leave young players with the responsibility to perform.

Overall Notre Dame lost five starters on offense (quarterback Jarious Jackson, fullback Joey Goodspeed, center John Merandi, and wide receivers Bobby Brown and Raki Nelson).  They will be replaced by Arnaz Battle at quarterback, either Jason Murray, Tom Lopienski, or Mike McNair at fullback, most likely David Givens and Javin Hunter at wide receiver, and Jeff Faine at center.

Of the replacements, all the losses will be accounted for nicely, with the possible exception of quarterback.  Battle is a great talent, but he comes in without ever having started a collegiate game.  Jarious Jackson did that in 1998 and won 9 of his first ten games.  He also had an outstanding offensive line and the school's all time leading rusher to help him however.  Battle will have a better offensive line than Jackson did in 99, but the line Jackson had in 98 had three players on 1999 NFL rosters.  Autry Denson was an amazing runner for the Irish, but Battle might have the edge there since Denson was all Jackson had while Battle will have Julius Jones, Tony Fisher, and Terrence Howard.  All three are prime time players.

David Givens and Javin Hunter are potentially a great duo at wide receiver, they just need to play to their potential and Notre Dame should not miss a beat at wide receiver.  John Merandi was a very good center for Notre Dame, but Jeff Faine has the potential to be down right dominating.  He has All American written all over him.  The loss of Merandi wasn't helpful, but with Faine in the lineup, the line might actually be better.  Joey Goodspeed started two seasons for Notre Dame, but there is a very good possibility that this year's fullbacks will turn out more production than Goodspeed had.  Mike McNair has much more speed than Goodspeed and is a lot better receiver out of the backfield.

On defense the Irish lost DL's Lamont Bryant and Brad Williams, LB Ronnie Nicks, S's Deke Cooper and Ajani Sanders, and CB Deveron Harper for a total of six starters.  Replacing them will be Darrell Campbell and Lance Legree on the DL, Tyreo Harrison at LB, Tony Driver and Gerome Sapp at S, and most likely Brock Williams at CB. 

Campbell has the potential to be a dominating defensive end, but has yet to see real game experience.  Legree will be the veteran of the line and will use his experience to his benefit.  Harrison is a ball hawk who has a ton of potential.  Brock Williams returns from a years suspension.  He got burned often in 98, but he was only a sophomore at the time.  He could play well in 2000.  If he doesn't Albert Poree, Jason Beckstrom, and Donald Dykes will be there to take the job.   Gerome Sapp was the consensus #1 safety coming out of high school and he should be a starter this season along with converted running back Tony Driver.  Overall the defense replacements should be upgrades, but they will still be inexperienced.

Notre Dame will have to solve many problems from last year.   The top priority should be improving the pass defense.  This includes the pass rush, not just the coverage since the two are closely related.  If the pass rush improves, the coverage will look leagues better even if it has not improved.  Getting pressure on the quarterback forces QB's to make bad decisions and forces them to throw before they are ready. The problem in 99 was that opposing QBs were given time to pick the secondary apart.  QB's picked on Clifford Jefferson and made him look bad, but if there had been a pass rush he would have never looked that bad.

The Irish will also need to improve the option.   Jackson was not an option quarterback unlike Battle.  The quarterback running the option could have a lot to do with it, but overall the option did not work well at all.  Jackson and Fisher may have busted a few nice runs here and there, but in general opposing defenses shut it down.  The fullback needs to be utilized more in the option and the quarterback needs to make better decisions on pitching the ball.

There are many areas that need improvement, but these are two that really stick out.  There will be a lot of time during spring practice to pick apart every thing that needs to be done, but this is a start.  It's good to be writing about football again as I am sure everyone is excited about reading about football again.  The team has the potential to be good, but will they?  They need to improve their pass rush but will they?  The kicking game needs to become consistent, but will it?  All these questions will have to be answered, and the answer session starts Saturday.