Notre Dame Continues Adjusting to In-Season Personnel Losses
Sorry, transaction-obsessed fantasy football owners, but in-season trades aren’t allowed in college football. Nor is there a waiver wire from which to claim talent.
Unable to take advantage of newbie owners (If you’re reading this, Get Goff My Lawn, Jameson Williams is still available for A.J. Brown), college coaches are pretty much stuck with the 120 or so players on their roster at the start of fall camp.
Thus, when a starter goes down, it’s the next man up, even if that means inserting an inexperienced player into the lineup.
Coach Marcus Freeman’s offensive line was dealt a blow in the 31-23 loss to Clemson, with Rocco Spindler (knee), Zeke Correll (concussion) and Andrew Kristofic (high-ankle sprain) all going down with various injuries.
Spindler is lost for the season, while Correll and Kristofic are questionable for Senior Night against Wake Forest, likely moving sophomores Ashton Craig and Billy Schrauth into the starting lineup.
“Ashton Craig did a really good job filling in at the center position (at Clemson),” Freeman said. “I was really impressed with what he did. Now, Andrew (Kristofic) played well. He still has a high ankle sprain and didn't practice much last week.
“But I think if we played today, it would be Aston Craig and Billy Schrauth, and we'll see how Zeke progresses this week.”
Additionally, freshman special teams standout Luke Talich broke his collarbone in practice.
“He had to get surgery,” Freeman said, “and he'll be out for the rest of the year.
What’s Nagging the Receiver Room?
Coach Chansi Stuckey is still in the process of recruiting and developing a wide receiver room worthy of a university that recently produced Golden Tate, Michael Floyd and Will Fuller.
The position took a step in the right direction this season.
Through 10 games, Irish wide receivers have totaled 93 catches for 1,540 yards and 11 touchdowns this season, already surpassing the room’s 1,305 yards and 10 touchdowns on 94 grabs from a year ago.
Still, it’s impossible to ignore what the offensive might’ve done if Jayden Thomas, Jaden Greathouse, Deion Colzie and Matt Salerno were at full go for the majority of the season.
Thomas emerged as WR1 in fall camp, but he’s been hampered by a hamstring injury since Week 4 against Ohio State. He’s totaled 52 snaps in the five games since, including just 17 in the last three.
Even following a second bye, Freeman is still uncertain what Thomas can give the Irish this weekend.
“He came back a couple of weeks ago, then kind of re-aggravated it a little bit, and just wasn't really at a level to perform what we need him to do,” Freeman said. “He's coming back this week, and we'll see as we go through practice if he'll be able to do all the things we need him to do with the wide receiver position.”
Deion Colzie is in a similar position. The 6-foot-4 wideout hauled in 3 receptions for 45 yards and a touchdown in the season opener against Navy but underwent a procedure to scope his knee a few weeks later.
There’s a good chance he’ll suit up again at some point this season, maybe even this weekend, but still at less than 100 percent.
“He's available to play,” Freeman said. “Right now, the mindset is he'll play, but he's not ready after his knee surgery to perform at the level we need them to, so that's still to be determined.”
Lastly, the Irish hope to get Salerno back at some point this season. He’d add a quality blocker to the lineup and enable hobbled players like Thomas to get much-needed rest, especially in obvious running situations.
“He's been doing a little bit more in practice, doing some individual drills,” Freeman said.
I think this week, we'll increase him a little bit more to truly get him game-ready. We'll see how long that takes, but I have confidence we'll get him back before the year is over.”
Don’t Get Wally-Pipped
You can be good, but what if your backup is unexpectedly great?
The most famous example of this is when the New York Yankees’s power-hitting first baseman Wally Pipp missed a game due to a headache in 1925 (one induced by too many shots to the head more than 30 years before the American League mandated batting helmets).
That sparked a historic streak of 2,130 consecutive games played by his replacement, Lou Gehrig.
Pipp finished out his career with the Cincinnati Reds before watching his net worth vanish in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, a catalyst for the Great Depression.
Nearly as tragic, it gave USC a supporter famous enough to rival Notre Dame’s original super fanatic Babe Ruth (who I assume would’ve been a loyal Irish Sports Daily subscriber based on a handful of photos, including the one below).
That’s not to say Craig has the opportunity to push Correll out of the program (my best guess is that Notre Dame would still welcome back the fifth-year senior with open arms).
Seniority matters a bit more in college football, where the physical and mental maturity gap between a 19- and 22-year-old equates to far more than admittance to the Linebacker Lounge.
However, it gives several young, promising players the chance to earn invaluable game reps and gives the coaching staff a chance to better prepare for the future.
Correll and Kristofic are still questionable for this weekend, which gives a third-stringer in Craig another opportunity to show off his potential. He dropped into pass protection 21 times against Clemson without giving up a single quarterback pressure.
Can he do the same against Wake Forest’s less-vaunted defensive front? Is he a capable run blocker? Or will this be exposed as a weakness when Notre Dame runs the ball more than three times with him on the field?
Schrauth should garner starter reps for the rest of the season after losing the left guard battle to Pat Coogan in fall camp.
Notre Dame also wants to see more from its trio of freshman wide receivers: Greathouse, Rico Flores, Jr. and Jordan Faison.
“How do we continue to develop those three freshmen and get the ball in their hands?” Freeman said. “Not just have them out there, but we've got to find ways.
That likely means taking advantage of their individual strengths.
For instance, Notre Dame has lined Greathouse on the outside in recent weeks to fill in for Colzie and Thomas, potentially stunting his production.
According to Pro Football Focus, he’s played out of the slot on 11 snaps in the last four games compared to 66 out wide without catching a pass.
He lined up in the slot 52 times with just three snaps on the perimeter in the first five games, catching 12 passes for 166 yards and three scores.
“There's a reason why they're out there playing,” Freeman said. “Faison, JG and Rico, “We've got to find ways to put them in positions or ask them to do things that we can get the ball in their hands and let them have some success.”