Practice Report: 8/1

Notre Dame football is back as the Irish opened Fall Camp at Culver Academy on Tuesday afternoon. The Irish practiced for almost three hours and got some quality work in for day one.

Music was back on the speakers, and the song to start practice was ‘Bounce Back’ by Big Sean.

I watched mainly the offense today, so this will be offense heavy.

Observations to Start

- Josh Adams, Greer Martini, Nick Watkins, Mike McGlinchey, Jerry Tillery, Sam Mustipher, Nyles Morgan, Quenton Nelson, Durham Smythe, Drue Tranquill, Tyler Newsome, and Austin Webster lead stretching lines.

- Almost every skill position player carried a football during warmups/stretching

- Notre Dame assistant coaches were wearing shirts with “Attention to Detail” and “Details Matter” printed on the back. Head coach Brian Kelly said the shirt would be different every day and tomorrow’s will deal with attitude.

First-Team Offense
Notre Dame started practice with their tempo drill. The first-team offense looked like this:
QB – Brandon Wimbush
RB –  Josh Adams
WR – Equanimeous St. Brown
WR – Chase Claypool
WR – Cameron Smith
TE – Alizé Mack
OL – Mike McGlinchey
OL – Quenton Nelson
OL – Sam Mustipher
OL – Alex Bars
OL – Tommy Kraemer

Second Team
QB – Ian Book
RB – Dexter Williams
WR – Miles Boykin
WR – Chris Finke
WR – Freddy Canteen
TE – Nic Weishar
OL – Robert Hainsey
OL – Hunter Bivin
OL – Trevor Ruhland
OL – Aaron Banks
OL – Liam Eichenberg

Notre Dame worked on special teams for multiple periods throughout the day, including about 30 guys at once working on technique with Brian Polian.

CJ Sanders, Chris Finke, Equanimeous St. Brown, Michael Young, Kevin Stepherson, and Josh Adams were fielding punts.

The offense then started to run some RPO and run plays against a shell defense before individual drills started for each positional group.

1-on-1 Results

Brandon Wimbush
Complete to Equanimeous St. Brown on a comeback. Julian Love on coverage
Incomplete to Cam Smith. Nick Watkins on coverage
Complete to Freddie Canteen. Devin Studstill covering
Complete to Michael Young. Nicco Fertitta on coverage
Pass breakup by Love on St. Brown.
Incomplete. Chase Claypool held by Studstill
Incomplete. Shaun Crawford jumped route against Chris Finke
Complete. Canteen beat Alohi Gilman
Incomplete. Overthrew Cam Smith
Complete to St. Brown. Troy Pride Jr. on coverage
Incomplete. Donte Vaughn with coverage on Jafar Armstrong.

Ian Book
Complete. Austin Webster beat Fertitta
Incomplete. Crawford covering Finke
Complete. Miles Boykin with a big play on Vaughn.
Complete. Javon McKinley beat Gilman
Complete. Webster beat Jalen Elliott
Drop by Cam Smith.
Complete. CJ Sanders beat Jordan Genmark Heath
Drop by McKinley
Drop by Stepherson
Complete. Claypool beat Genmark Heath
Incomplete. Gilman covering Canteen

Montgomery VanGorder
Complete to Claypool. Elliott covering
Complete. TD on deep ball to Stepherson, who beat Isaiah Robertson
Complete to CJ Sanders on quick slant
Incomplete to Armstrong
Complete. Young beat Fertitta
Incomplete. Love beat Finke
Complete to Sanders on Crawford
Complete to Young on Fertitta
Complete to Finke.

Avery Davis
Complete to Armstrong
Complete. Stepherson with a one-handed Top 10 plays grab
Incomplete to St. Brown
Complete to Webster
Complete to Webster vs Elliott

Notre Dame then broke back into positional work. Lots of blocking drills for the offensive line and tight ends. Receivers were working on blocking, but also coming out of their breaks. Running backs were working on ball security, while the quarterbacks were doing a variety of drills.

Defensively, the linebackers were doing a lot of same things they were doing in the spring. Clark Lea had them doing simple footwork movements to start the day, and the defensive backs were working on backpedals and angle drills. See Jamie’s practice report for a TON of defense.

The offense then went back to running a variety of plays against a shell defense made up of the third and fourth team offensive players. Lots of run game and RPO work was done in these periods.

11-on-11

While it was a far cry from what we will see with pads on, the intensity ramped up a couple of notches when the defense came over to meet the offense for some 11-on-11 work.

Wimbush
Incomplete pass to Claypool. Love with a nice pass breakup.
Dexter Williams run
Wimbush kept the ball on an RPO
Check down complete to Williams
Bubble screen complete to St. Brown
Wimbush keeper
Williams big run
Williams run to finish the drive off

Book
Book run off an RPO read
Sack
Josh Adams run
Book run
Incomplete pass to Armstrong
Adams run
Book with another keeper

After the quick 11-on-11 period, the Irish offense and defense did some passing work.
Wimbush
Complete to St. Brown on a comeback
Incomplete to Nic Weishar. Elliott with coverage
Complete to Young on a stick route
Check down complete to McIntosh

Book
Complete to St. Brown
Complete to McIntosh for a small gain
Complete to Mack in the flat
Incomplete. Throw into double coverage

VanGorder
Interception. Drue Tranquill jumped a ball. Pick 6
Incomplete to Mack

Avery Davis
Complete to St. Brown with Pride on coverage
Complete to McIntosh for short gain

Wimbush
Complete to CJ Sanders on a wheel route

7-on-7

After a quick huddle, Notre Dame then broke into 7-on-7 work.
Wimbush
Complete. Big bomb to Boykin
Incomplete to Cam Smith
Incomplete to Armstrong
Completed check down to Williams
Incomplete to Durham Smythe. Pass Interference
Complete to Mack on crossing route
Complete to Boykin on crossing route
Complete to Williams
Complete to Cam Smith on a comeback
Complete to Finke on a beautiful throw from the opposite hash for big play
Complete to Tony Jones Jr. on a check down
Complete to Boykin on a comeback
Drop by Jones Jr.
Complete to Adams
Complete to Adams
Complete to St. Brown
Incomplete deep ball to Armstrong. Watkins with nice coverage

Book
Complete to Claypool
Vaughn interception
Vaughn with a big-time pass breakup against Sanders
Complete to Sanders
Complete to Armstrong on a comeback
Incomplete to Armstrong
Incomplete to McIntosh in the flat
Complete to McIntosh
Complete to Brock Wright for short gain
Complete to Cole Kmet for a short gain
Complete to Webster
Complete to Armstrong

More 11-on-11

The Irish then went back into 11-on-11, and it once again got pretty competitive.
Wimbush
Incomplete. Studstill with a pass breakup
Complete to St. Brown off an RPO read
Complete to Canteen
Complete to Weishar
Wimbush keeper
Incomplete. Crawford with a beautiful pass breakup

Book
Book keeper
Incomplete to Jones Jr.
Jones Jr. run
McIntosh run

Wimbush
QB keep
Williams run
Screen to Jones Jr. for short gain
Complete to Adams on a broken play for a big gain
Incomplete to Cam Smith
Weishar drop

Book
Incomplete to Wright
QB keep
Screen complete to McIntosh
Complete to Armstrong on a crossing route

Wimbush
Jones Jr. with a big touchdown run. 60+ yards
Complete to St. Brown off RPO read
Pass deflection by Nyles Morgan
Screen to Williams. Asmar Bilal might have killed him if the pads were on.
Complete to Weishar.

Book
Complete to Armstrong off RPO. 60+ yard TD
QB keep
Complete to Jones Jr. on check down
Complete to Sanders

Notre Dame then did something they hadn’t done before, and it was a big-time move. Most of the veterans and/or those in the two-deep went to the grass field to do some stretching led by Matt Balis.

While they were stretching, the freshmen and those on third/fourth/fifth team, etc., got some work in 11-on-11 situations. It was quality time for Avery Davis to get some live work with his classmates against a live defense.

In previous years, the youngsters hadn’t gotten a ton of reps with Notre Dame’s practice structure, but they probably banged out close to 20 extra reps if not more in today’s session.

Thoughts

- Wimbush looked good and in rhythm for day one.
- Mike Elston was coaching his guys HARD.
- Daelin Hayes is emerging as a leader. The defensive line was going through the motions early during practice, and Hayes let them know it was unacceptable.

“Wake the **** up! We need to pay ******attention!” Hayes yelled.

- Freshmen receivers Michael Young and Jafar Armstrong were impressive on day one. Young is very smooth and looks the part. Armstrong is an aggressive player and got a lot of reps against the first and second team defense.
- Free safety Nick Coleman was limited today as he is coming back from an injury.
- The coaching staff didn’t ease into Fall Camp. They were pushing the team, and it showed.

Players of the Day

KJ Stepherson looked like a seasoned vet today. He caught the ball well and he has added a lot of good weight. The Jacksonville native looked more explosive in and out of his breaks and he had the highlight of the day with the one-handed snag.

Shaun Crawford is back and it's very clear he isnt' feeling any type of lingering impact from his Achilles injury. The Cleveland native didn't have a limp and was breaking on the ball like we saw a year ago. Crawford was also jumping routes and making plays that no defensive back on the roster has shown consistently. If he can continue to show good health, Notre Dame has a playmaker in the secondary they have been craving.