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Notre Dame Football

Practice Report: Day One

March 8, 2017
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Notre Dame started spring practice on Wednesday morning, and it was a technique day, so not much was seen regarding competition in the portion we were able to view. The intensity from the coaching staff was there, which at times in the past, they weren’t as vocal.

Todd Lyght was walking through stretching drills screaming “Attention to Detail” over and over.

The offense was at the opposite end of the field of the media, so there isn’t a ton to report regarding what I saw from that side of the ball.

First-Team
QB: Brandon Wimbush
RB: Josh Adams
WR: Equanimeous St. Brown
WR: Chris Finke
WR: Looked like CJ Sanders
TE: Durham Smythe
LT: Mike McGlinchey
LG: Quenton Nelson
C: Sam Mustipher
RG: Alex Bars
RT: Tommy Kraemer

On defense, the opening period of skeleton drill work looked like this.

First Group
Drop: Daelin Hayes
DT: Jon Bonner
DT: Jerry Tillery
DE: Andrew Trumbetti
Buck: Greer Martini
Mike: Nyles Morgan
Rover: Asmar Bilal
CB: Nick Watkins
CB: Julian Love
FS: Nick Coleman
SS: Drue Tranquill

Second Group
Drop: Julian Okwara
DT: Elijah Taylor
DT: Micah Dew-Treadway
DE: Jay Hayes
Buck: Tevon Coney
Mike: Jonathan Jones
Rover: Rob Regan
CB: Donte Vaughn
CB: Troy Pride Jr.
FS: Devin Studstill
SS: Jalen Elliott

Third Group
It was a mess of players, but the front looked like this
Drop: Ade Ogundeji
DT: Brandon Tiassum
DT: Pete Mokwuah
DE: Khalid Kareem
Buck: Josh Barajas
Mike: Jamir Jones

Daniel Cage rotated in with the third group.

The linebackers were working on footwork in terms of making their first step. Clark Lea was coaching a variety of first steps and then transitioning to follow the football.

The defensive backs were also working on footwork. At first, the concentration was proper footwork coming off their man to make a tackle. Then the focus turned to coming out of a backpedal and breaking on the ball carrier.

On the defensive line, it was normal defensive line work. The guys were doing a variety of hand placement and shedding blocker drills. They also worked on staying low and working gap responsibility.

Mike Elston was a dominant voice on day one as some of the notable quotes were:
“Get your sh*t right.”
“Get your eyes up!”

Brian Kelly spent at least two full periods observing the defensive line group.

During the last period, we were able to see, Notre Dame did a few 1-on-1 reps, and it went like this.

Wimbush
- Complete: CJ Sanders vs Jalen Elliott
- Complete: Chris Finke vs Devin Studstill
- Complete: WR beat Nick Coleman
- Incomplete: DJ Morgan beat Chris Finke
- Complete: CJ Sanders vs Troy Pride Jr.
- Complete: Equanimeous St. Brown vs Nick Watkins
- Incomplete: Overthrew Webster. Pride on the coverag e

Book
- Complete: Equanimeous St. Brown vs Donte Vaughn
- Complete: Austin Webster vs Troy Pride Jr.
- Incomplete: Chase Claypool vs Nicco Fertitta – bad throw
- Complete; Kevin Stepherson vs DB
- Complete: Durham Smythe vs Jalen Elliott
- Incomplete: Chase Claypool vs Spencer Perry
- Complete: Miles Boykin vs Donte Vaughn
- Complete: Chris Finke vs Devin Studstill

VanGorder
- Incomplete: Durham Smythe vs Drue Tranquill
- Complete: Miles Boykin vs Nick Watkins
- Incomplete: Deon McIntosh vs Julian Love
- Complete: Brock Wright vs Drue Tranquill

Notes

- The early enrollees looked impressive. Offensive linemen Robert Hainsey and Aaron Banks looked the part. Hainsey has bulked up, while Banks has continued to shred bad weight for good weight. Isaiah Robertson looks bigger than I thought he’d be at this stage.

- Drue Tranquill, DJ Morgan, and Spencer Perry were all working with the defensive backs.

- I wouldn’t take anything position moves as significant or even meaningful after day one. Elko has stated that he wants to see what guys can do and that’s exactly what he is doing.

- Brandon Wimbush threw the football with a lot of pop and was very accurate on day one. While we only saw a limited number of reps, Wimbush wasn’t rusty and was extremely sharp.
 
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