Notre Dame struggled in short-yardage situations a year ago, and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock spent the offseason making sure that wouldn’t be the case again.
On the surface, the solution might seem simple. Be more physical and move people.
But Denbrock has made some schematic tweaks, and perhaps more importantly, Notre Dame believes it now has the personnel to execute them.
The Fighting Irish expect tight ends Cooper Flanagan and James Flanigan to make an immediate impact in short-yardage packages, bringing a different mindset to the run game.
“Listen, I thought Eli (Raridon) came a long way from where he was,” stated Denbrock. “But these guys are even on a different level when it comes to the physicality that they can play on the edge of our offense with. It makes a big difference.”
That physicality has been on display throughout fall camp.
Notre Dame’s offense has consistently gone against a stout Irish defense, and while Denbrock’s assessment that the offense hasn’t been stopped in short-yardage situations may be a bit aggressive, the work has clearly given him confidence heading into the season.
“I think we're a little more dialed in with what we want to do scheme-wise,” explained Denbrock. “We're a little more consistent with it. We put a big emphasis on it in the offseason and we've done it and done it, and done it and done it.
“We've vetted it to the point where, Good Lord willing, because our defense has done everything you can possibly imagine to try to take it away from us, and they haven't been able to do it yet. So hopefully that bodes very well moving forward here during the season.”
Now, the claim that Chris Ash’s defense hasn’t been able to stop the offense might be a little overblown, according to head coach Marcus Freeman.
“I could say that Denny is a competitive guy,” Freeman smiled. “I don't know if it's a fact that they haven't been able to stop him in short-yardage situations. I think Coach Ash might say something different, but again, it's just to prove the point that our offense has really emphasized short yardage.”
Whether Denbrock has overstated the success or not, Freeman has seen the improvement.
The Irish have spent the last four weeks deliberately attacking an area that hurt them a year ago and Freeman believes the results are evident.
“It's something that we wanted to improve on from last year and they've done a really good job,” Freeman said. “They've done a good job of utilizing personnel, trying some different things, and at the end of the day, executing.
“We have to do it against opponent, not our own defense, but it's been something we've been intentional about working in and it has improved tremendously from last year.”
That improvement could have ramifications well beyond short-yardage for the Irish offense.
Notre Dame has the personnel and scheme to be more physical in the run game, but it also has one of the biggest advantages any offense can have behind center. A quarterback capable of processing what the defense is giving him and changing the play accordingly.
CJ Carr enters his junior season with a level of mental processing that puts him ahead of most quarterbacks, and that allows Notre Dame to get out of bad situations and into favorable ones before the ball is even snapped.
“He's looking for information from the defense and usually that kind of constructs itself for him with the fake claps and the different things that he does to try to see rotation, to try to see linebacker movement, to try to see the line movement if they are moving, whatever clues he can garner from that,” explained Denbrock. “We do a lot of motioning. We do a lotta shifting people around. That's also to help feed him information about the structure of what they're doing and how they're going.”
There is a lot of information coming at Carr in a very short period of time.
The helmet communication system helps speed up that process, too, allowing Denbrock to provide additional information before the communication cuts off.
“We'll give run-pass options,” Denbrock stated. “We'll give pass-to-pass, run-to-run, run-to-pass, pass-to-run, you know what I mean? While he's getting the information, as long as it's not before the 15 seconds runs out, I can help expedite the process by what either Gino or I happen to see from the defense. We're all on the same page with where we want to go.”
And according to Denbrock, Carr isn't just simply capable of handling all that information.
He's among the best quarterbacks Denbrock has ever coached at doing it.
That includes Jayden Daniels, who won the Heisman Trophy at LSU in 2023 while Denbrock served as his offensive coordinator.
“I think Jayden (Daniels) was really good at it, especially in '23,” said Denbrock. “I think CJ has really kind of taken that mantle, to be honest with you. He's as good as I've ever been around, whether that's protecting himself or the run game.”
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