John Carlson Emerging as a Playermaker for Notre Dame

(UHND.com) – As the second string tight end for the Irish a season ago, John Carlson caught seven passes for just 56 yards in 11 games. On Saturday, the senior from Minnesota led the Irish with a career high 98 yards on six catches and two games into the season is establishing himself as a go-to weapon for quarterback Brady Quinn.

Carlson spent last season in the shadow of second round pick Anthony Fasano who caught 47 passes for 576 yards. Fasano’s performance was enough to make him a second round pick by the Dallas Cowboys and if Carlson continues to play like he is, he shouldn’t have much trouble doing the same.

Being overshadowed is nothing new to Carlson. Coming out of high school he was the “other” tight end in the recruiting class of 2003 with the jewel of the class being Greg Olsen. Olsen was the #1 recruit in the country according to some recruiting services while Carlson garnered just three stars from Scout.com. The fact that Carlson strongly considered hometown St. Cloud State had some fans skeptical as well.

With his hot start Carlson is turning doubters into believers and is creating a shadow of his own for the other Notre Dame tight ends to play in.

After two games, Carlson has 10 catches for 134 yards which puts him on pace for a 60 catch, 804 yards season – easily surpassing Fasano’s 2005 numbers. Carlson will have the benefit of an extra game, but even if he had just 11 games as Fasano, he’d still be on pace for 55 catches and 737 yards.

“He’s different than Anthony because he’s a faster, bigger vertical threat. He’s not as polished as Anthony at this point right now because Anthony could do everything pretty well. But he’s a big target now. He’s a big muchacho running down that field,” said head coach Charlie Weis Sunday about his new starting tight end.

Carlson’s blocking is still up to Fasano’s level, but he did have a noticeable improvement in the blocking department from week one to week two. Against Georgia Tech’s blitz happy defense, Carlson struggled at times in pass protection, but he showed marked improvement this past weekend against Penn State.

What has fans and coaches alike excited with Carlson, however, is his speed at the position. Carlson is proving to be hard to cover for opposing linebackers. All American Paul Posluszny had trouble covering Carlson Saturday early on Saturday when Brady Quinn attacked the middle of the field.

Carlson showed some speed at the tight end position that hasn’t been seen at Notre Dame in some time and has the hands to match. Everything thrown his way this season has been caught and with the Irish having trouble developing a third receiver thus far, Carlson’s role in the offense should continue to expand.

Against Georgia Tech the only receivers to catch a pass were Rhema McKnight and Jeff Samardzija. This past week the only receivers to a pass were… Rhema McKnight and Jeff Samardzija – not the kind of pass distribution you normally like to see. A week ago David Grimes was shut out and this week Chase Anasatcio filled in for Grimes, who was banged up, and suffered the same fate.

This inability to get more receivers involved should mean more two tight end sets for the Irish with Carlson a likely target more and more as the season progresses.