Notre Dame Football Spring Wrap Up

Spring summary

Those who follow the program closely spent the 2013 Spring Practices taking a long look at the roster and wondering who is ready to step into the bigger leadership roles, specifically on defense. Outsiders are probably more interested in whether 2012 was a merely a good Irish team with great luck or a sign that Notre Dame is ready to return to the game’s elite.

Neither party should make a decision off a collection of practices, but we learned more about what the 2013 Fighting Irish should look like after the defection of All-Americans Tyler Eifert, Manti Te’o, and quite a few other players who played major roles in the surprising run to the BCS National Championship Game

Spring question marks resided mostly with the offensive line, running back, wide receiver and safety. The Irish left the Blue & Gold Game with a good idea of how the rotation at these positions will fill out. The 2013 recruiting class did feature 5 Star players at RB (Greg Bryant) and safety (Max Redfield) – it seems the door remains open for them to find a niche during the upcoming season.

Potential breakout players

Running Back George Atkinson III is the offensive player most likely to emerge on the national stage for Notre Dame in 2013. Over 300 carries from 2012 seniors Theo Riddick & Cierre Wood have gone up for grabs and most expect Atkinson to become Brian Kelly’s first “feature back” in his four years at the helm.

Atkinson may possess the greatest combination of size and speed in the Irish backfield in over a decade. At 6’1”, 215 lbs, Atkinson adds elite level track speed (his fastest 100m in high school bested Oregon’s D’Anthony Thomas) to an offense that lost 50% of its touchdowns scored.

While concerns remain over his ability to be a “complete back” in terms of pass catching, blocking, and ball security, he will get every chance to become a dark horse Heisman contender early this fall.

Another player that seems primed to break out is Sophomore Defensive End/Tackle  Sheldon Day. In 2012 he surprised most Irish fans by cracking the defensive line rotation as a true freshman in Week 1 and playing an important reserve role during the undefeated regular season.

Day is set to grab the lion’s share of snaps vacated by 2013 starter Kapron Lewis-Moore (6th Round – Ravens) and an injury to Junior DE Chase Hounshell only makes his presence more important.

Other players to watch: WR Davaris Daniels, TE Troy Niklas, ILB Jarrett Grace & S Elijiah Shumate.

Position group grades

QB – B+   Everett Golson needs to show better leadership and grasp of the offense in his second year at the helm. Few teams in the nation can be as confident in the 2nd string signal-caller, but Tommy Rees is a veteran, proven commodity.

RB – B+   Plenty of talent & excitement but this is an inexperienced unit.

OL – B+   3 high quality returning starters. The Irish’s LG (Chris Watt) & LT (Zack Martin) enter their third year starting next to each other. The Irish also add 5 freshmen OL to battle the depth issues Notre Dame struggled with the last few seasons.

WR – B   TJ Jones & DaVaris Daniels both need to step into bigger roles if QB Everett Golson is to take a step forward. Lack of an explosive playmaker is a concern.

TE – B    The Irish lose the best pass catching TE in school history to the NFL’s First Round, but a diverse & gigantic lineage remains in South Bend. 6’7” Troy Niklas is on pace to be the next great Irish TE and high NFL Draft choice.

DL – A    Proven depth only thing preventing an A+. Louis Nix III is the best returning DT in America and Stephon Tuitt is among the nation’s elite ends. This group looks ready to dominate the trenches for the 2nd year in a row.

OLB – B   Inconsistent at times in 2012 but has the parts to form a balanced, if not great group.

ILB – C+    Manti Te’o is gone along with his 100+ tackles & 7 interceptions. Jarrett Grace is the heir apparent but the production will fall off. 5th Year Seniors Carlo Calabrese & Dan Fox complement each other well but have glaring weaknesses that have been exposed.

SEC – B   Mathias Farley was possibly the biggest surprise for Notre Dame in 2012. He is now the veteran leader of a deep, talented but inexperienced group.

Do the Irish have anymore “surprises” for 2013?

Offensively the surprises will roll with the development of Everett Golson. If his numbers improve like many think they can, then Troy Niklas & DaVaris Daniels could be All-America candidates while opening up the running game for George Atkinson III to become a household name.

Brian Kelly made his name at Central Michigan & Cincinnati with high octane, quick score attacks. The pieces are there in 2013 to make his calling card a reality in the blue and gold.

If Notre Dame takes a step forward offensively and a step backward defensively, could they find themselves in the Championship race again? Hard to tell.

The public view of Notre Dame post-Alabama is that of “lucky overachievers” who didn’t belong, but that isn’t the case. Brian Kelly has built a program with exceptional depth and recruited star players at positions of need.

Playmakers reside all over the roster and when a National Championship finalist returns 8 starters on defense and 6 on offense – the building blocks of success are already in place.

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Steve Herring of Herring Bone Sports provided the information for our Notre Dame Football 2013 Spring Wrap Up. For more Fighting Irish  football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Steve on Twitter @ManCaveQB.

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