Instant Reaction | Blue-Gold Game
The first rule of spring games is to not overreact to the spring game.
The second rule of spring games is to not overreact to the spring game.
I’ll try my best not to do that in the instant reaction, but I won’t deny that there were some exciting flashes today from several players. That’s all you can hope for on this type of day.
- Let’s start with Tyler Buchner because no one will have people talking like he will. It’s bound to happen when he has the most exciting drive of the day and his offense was the only one to put the ball into the end zone (twice).
He had a few impressive throws with a few not as impressive throws mixed in. In other words, he looked like a freshman.
His impressive throws were as good as anything we saw on the day.
Does this mean he should be in the mix for the starting job this summer? I have no idea as that was the only practice we saw from Buchner and the rest of the team. He certainly didn’t hurt himself of having a shot, though.
- Jack Coan had a better day than Drew Pyne, but both players looked good when getting the ball out in rhythm. It was out of rhythm where things weren’t as clean for them and neither was good on 3rd downs. Pyne struggled more when pressure was in his face and Coan had better pocket movement.
The offensive line did not create a good pocket against only a four man rush on those 3rd downs and that was a huge reason the offense was up and down.
- I like what I saw from both freshmen offensive linemen. Blake Fisher really got good movement in the running game and Rocco Spindler had a strong game overall despite getting walked back into Pyne on back to back plays by Kurt Hinish and Rylie Mills.
- One word sticks out after watching Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa at end: active.
Active hands. Active counters. His motor was revving and I liked what I saw from him there.
- Chris Tyree looked much more decisive as a runner and if teams don’t set the edge, he’s going to get the corner every time.
Both lines run blocked better than I expected them to and looked better as the game went along.
- Five catches for 115 for Lawrence Keys and 5 catches for 88 yards for Braden Lenzy and the key with both of them for me was confidence. They look like confident players and it showed with their production.
- I guess he’s not moving to tackle, huh? Yes, it’s only the spring game, but Mitchell Evans made my grade on him look good with what he did after the catch. He looks like he can help this season.
It will be tough to crack the lineup with the kind of depth Notre Dame has a tight end. It’s still nice to know there is another option. We’ve heard he had a great spring.
- It was an encouraging game overall for the defense on all three levels.
We saw Shayne Simon play faster than he has at any point in time and he came up with a pick against Kyren Williams in coverage. We saw Marist Liufau playing dowhill with two tackles for loss and Jack Kiser looking like he fits at Rover with some good tackling in the open field.
They weren’t even blitzing much and didn’t have to because the defensive line was getting after it. The secondary flashed with several plays on the ball as well.
I really like competition at most spots on defense and fall camp is going to be really fun to watch to see who emerges.
- No Michael Mayer, no Kyle Hamilton and no Jarrett Patterson in the Blue-Gold game and still there was plenty of talent on display.
Yes, spring games are days when people tend to be overly optimistic, but I think there are reasons to feel that way with the 2021 Fighting Irish. They are still plenty of questions heading into the summer, but Notre Dame did find some answers this spring.