3 Big Questions on Offense
It’s that time of year when college football content has made its way onto television schedules. With only baseball going on and it being months away from their playoffs, everyone is dying for football to the point that people start counting down the days of the first NFL pre-season game.
That’s exactly why you’ll see a ton of coverage of conference media days right now. All they are doing is talking, but they now have something to talk about because football is almost here. Camp is on the horizon.
Notre Dame isn’t at any conference media days (for obvious reasons) so we don’t get to hear Brian Kelly and Notre Dame captains like Sam Mustipher and Drue Tranquill answer questions. If they were there, then chances are that Mustipher would be asked about the loss of two All-Americans on the line and Tranquill would be asked about defensive coordinator Mike Elko leaving. Those would be fair questions to ask the players and Kelly, but those aren’t the questions I would want to know about heading into camp.
The questions I’m most interested in couldn’t be answered at any media days. They’ll be figured out over the course of August during practices before the season. It’s not a surprise that the first one has to do with quarterback.
Will Wimbush continue to improve?
If I had to choose one word to describe how Brandon Wimbush looked in the spring it would be “encouraging”. I wouldn’t go as far as saying he looked like a completely different player than the one we watched last season, but it was a significant step in the right direction.
Now there needs to be more steps taken. Everything has to be heading forward because if there is an indication of regression, then there will be a lot of uncertainty heading into the Michigan. That’s the exact opposite of how everyone will want to feel knowing that the Irish will face an elite defense.
It’s either continuing the progress that we saw and showing more confidence and consistency...or it’s something else.
If it’s something else then the quarterback competition becomes wide open again with Ian Book, Avery Davis, and true freshman Phil Jurkovec all deserving opportunities to compete. While that’s good for them, it may not be best for the offense as a whole as things need to be clicking early given the opponent they are facing.
Is there a clear-cut number one running back?
Even if all things were definitive on where things stand with Dexter Williams, this would still be a question mark because Williams has never proven he can be trusted in all situations. There was going to be competition at the position regardless if he was at the forefront or not.
While they gave reps to all the backs in camp last year, no one disputed that Josh Adams was the number one. Right now someone has to fill his shoes even if they aren’t the same type of back that he was.
Tony Jones Jr. would be the top candidate as of now, but he has to prove he is a cut above. That hasn’t been established yet, even if he is the most versatile option. Can Jahmir Smith, who enrolled early, push Jones? Is it too much to ask C’Bo Flemister to get into the mix after only arriving in June? Will a healthy Jafar Armstrong show he is more than just a situational player in the backfield?
That’s a lot of individual questions that lead into the bigger question, but no one really knows what Notre Dame has in its running backs right now.
If there were odds for who will be the number one back heading into Michigan, “Running Back by Committee” might be the safest choice. Maybe that changes after August.
Is there a skill position star on the roster?
On the other side of the ball, there are potential stars at all three levels for the Irish. On offense it’s a different story unless the narrative changes in camp.
While there have been more more first round picks on the offensive line, Brian Kelly has had a few big time stars at the skill positions for the Irish. Going into this camp, though, there isn’t an obvious choice for the next Michael Floyd, Tyler Eifert, or Will Fuller. There are candidates that could develop into stars, but no one that anyone could say confidently will become one in 2018.
As previously mentioned with the running backs, they need to find a feature back before anyone can talk about any of them being a star. At receiver and tight end there is a group of freakish athletes coming off strong springs, but there isn’t much production to back up that they are ready to have breakout years.
That’s not unheard of, though. Golden Tate went from six catches and one touchdown to 58 and 10 touchdowns. Fuller went from one to 15 touchdowns the next year. It might not be crazy to think Cole Kmet can go two catches to being an All-American candidate or that Miles Boykin could go from 18 career catches to double digit touchdowns. It could happen.
If two pass catchers end up having dominant camps, then it may be foreshadowing to them becoming starts this fall. It usually shows up in practices first and that’s what Notre Dame fans hope to hear about in August.