The youth movement for the 2016 Notre Dame Fighting Irish continues this week with the official depth chart for the NC State game. Fourteen true freshman have their names on this week’s depth chart. FOURTEEN! There weren’t any real notable changes to the starting lineup, but there was a lot of movement of positions and backups this week.
- Dexter Williams makes his debut on the depth chart at running back listed as a co-backup to Josh Adams along with Tarean Folston. It would be shocking – and inexplicable – if Williams didn’t continue to see his role expand.
- Chase Claypool makes his debut as well as the #3 W wide receiver behind Equanimeous St. Brown and Miles Boykin.
- Khalid Kareem is listed as a DT even though he previously was playing SDE.
- Julian Okwara is listed as a SDE now even though he projects more as a WDE
- Jay Hayes is still listed as a backup WDE to Andrew Trumbetti but it would be surprising if Hayes played less than Trumbetti – especially if Notre Dame plays more 3-man fronts.
- Lots of shake up in the secondary. Tony Pride Jr made his debut last week and is now the backup to Cole Luke. Nick Coleman is now third string behind Pride and Luke.
- Julian Love is listed as the starter opposite Luke with Donte Vaughn his backup. With NC State’s offense though, Luke will be playing a lot of nickel with Love and Vaughn on the field at the outside corner positions.
- Coming off a strong performance against Syracuse, Nicco Fertita is now listed as Devin Studstill’s backup. As a reminder, Studstill does NOT have to sit out the first half against NC State for his “targeting” penalty because the penalty occurred in the first half.
Offense
POS | STARTER | YEAR | BACKUP(S) | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
QB* | Deshone Kizer | JR | Malik Zaire | SR |
RB* | Josh Adams | SO | Tarean Folston OR Dexter Williams | SR SO |
W WR | Equanimeous St Brown | SO | Miles Boykin Chase Playpool | SO FR |
X WR | Torii Hunter | SR | Kevin Stepherson | FR |
Z WR | CJ Sanders | SO | Corey Holmes Chris Finke | JR SO |
TE | Durham Smythe | SR | Nic Weishar | JR |
LT | Mike McGLinchey | SR | Hunter Bivin | SR |
LG | Quenton Nelson | JR | Trevor Ruhland | SO |
C | Sam Mustipher | JR | Mark Harrell | 5th |
RG | Colin McGovern | SR | Tristen Hoge | SO |
RT | Alex Bars | JR | Tommy Kraemer | FR |
Defense
POS | STARTER | YEAR | BACKUP | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
WDE | Andrew Trumbetti | JR | Daelin Hayes OR Jay Hayes | FR JR |
NT* | Jarron Jones | 5th | Daniel Cage OR Pete Mokwuah | JR JR |
DT | Jerry Tillery | SO | Elijah Taylor Khalid Kareem | SO FR |
SDE | Isaac Rochell | SR | Jonnathan Bonner Julian Okwara | JR FR |
WILL | Tevon Coney | SO | Asmar Bilal | SO |
MIKE | Nyles Morgan | JR | Greer Martini | JR |
SAM | James Onwualu | SR | Jamir Jones | FR |
CB | Cole Luke | SR | Tony Pride JR Nick Coleman | FR SO |
CB | Julian Love | FR | Donte Vaughn Ashton White | FR SO |
FS | Devin Studstill | FR | Nico Fertitia Avery Sebastian | FR 6th |
SS | Drue Tranquill | JR | Jalen Elliot Spencer Perry | FR FR |
Special Teams
POS | STARTER | YEAR |
---|---|---|
K | Justin Yoon | SO |
P | Tyler Newsome | JR |
LS | Scott Daly | 5th |
HOLD | Montgomery VanGorder | JR |
KO | Tyler Newsome | JR |
KR | CJ Sanders | SO |
OR Dexter Williams | SO | |
PR | CJ Sanders | SO |
OR Chris Finke | SO |
I look at Kelly as being the equal of Earl Bruce . They use to call him 9 and 3 Earl. A good coach but not elite. Kelly same thing. good coach not elite. I would get rid of him if I was calling the shots. If he is here next year if I was him I would try and find a big time d coordinator and let that guy come in and bring in his own assistant coaches. Next fire Scott Booker and hire a great special teams coach. Next, let Denbrock coach all the receivers tight ends and all, let Sanford have complete control of the offense. Also I think with the talent Notre Dame recruits on offense they would do a lot better running a more pro style I formation offense like Michigan is running under Harbaugh. Kizer and are running backs talent are a better fit for that style of offense. You can still have spread concepts in there but run the quarterback under center too. Finally if Notre Dame cans Kelly I would not be too upset. I like him personally just don’t think he is really that good. Two coaches I would try to get if I’m Swarbrick is Danatonio or Kyle Wittingham at Utah. Both those coaches do a lot better than Kelly with not as good overall talent.
It seems quite obvious that Kizer has two very good receivers in Brown and Hunter, along with Adam, Williams and Kizer the offense should continue to put up large numbers. The defense is q big question mark again this week and will probably be the biggest problem all year. What to do? That’s easy let the offense run up as many points as possible. Let the big dogs eat, because the “pups” on defense are way to young and inexperienced to carry this squad. Go Irish!