Notre Dame Football: a Position by Position Preview of the 2011 Fighting Irish

With Brian Kelly entering on his sophomore season the expectations are high.  Are they too high?

With a strong finish to last season, including wins over old rivals USC and a Sun Bowl win over the University of Miami, Notre Dame Football enters the season as a program trending upward. The team returns 16 of its 22 starters from last year’s 8-5 team, and Brian Kelly’s outstanding coaching staff has remained intact in the off-season.

The strength of this team will, without a doubt, be their defense.  Although the Irish finished 50^th in the nation in total defense, they were playing their best football in November.  The Irish lose only three defensive starters and have added much needed depth to the line and linebacking corps in the last recruiting cycle.  Coach Bob Diaco has his defense poised to be one of the top performing units in all of college football. 

Coach Kelly’s offensive unit returns eight of its 11 starters as well.  The team enters the season with question marks, though, in key positions: quarterback, running back and wide receiver.  This will all be sorted out in August, which makes many of the Irish faithful very nervous because they open the season with a strong University of South Florida team, followed by games against the University of Michigan and then Michigan State. 

 Although expectations are high, and perhaps unreasonably high, Coach Kelly has the tools needed to return to a bowl game and turn in a very respectable season.

Quarterbacks

Coach Kelly enters this season with a bona fide quarterback controversy.  Dayne Crist started last season 4-5 before suffering a season ending knee injury.  Crist finds himself on several pre-season watch lists, specifically for the Davey O’ Brien Award and Maxwell Award, but he isn't even a sure bet to be the starting quarterback for the Irish this fall.  

Crist led the team in passing in 2010 but lacked consistency.  After Crist’s injury, Tommy Rees guided the Irish to four consecutive wins, which included wins over a talented Utah team, USC, Army and Miami. Statistically, his numbers did not match those of Crist, but Rees showed great leadership and poise in navigating, arguably, the most difficult part of the schedule. 

A third quarterback in the mix is Andrew Hendrix.  Hendrix is reportedly more athletic than
Crist or Rees, and has a stronger arm. If Hendrix can demonstrate an understanding of Coach Kelly’s offense then it may be very difficult to keep him off of the field.  In fact, Coach Kelly has hinted he may be looking at sets for two quarterbacks, presumably, Crist and Hendrix.

Incoming freshman Everett Golson is arguably the best suited to run Coach Kelly’s spread offense, but because of the wealth of talent at this position he is likely to sit this year out. 

It will be very interesting to see how Coach Kelly and his staff manage this delicate situation.  This will certainly be the first, big coaching decision of the 2011 season.

Running Backs

With the graduation of Armando Allen and Robert Hughes and with the loss of Cameron Roberson to injury in the spring, the Irish find themselves very thin at the running back position. Cierre Wood and Jonas Gray will be expected to get the lion’s share of the carries for the Irish this season.  Wood led the team in rushing last season with 603 yards and a 5.1 yards per carry average.

Gray is a strong, tough and talented back with very good potential but has struggled in the past with consistency and the ability to hold onto the ball. Depth, then, will have to come from two incoming freshman, George Atkinson Jr. and Cam McDaniel. 

Both are very talented but it is too early to tell if either can contribute much in their first college season.  Despite this lack of depth, the run game was surprisingly good last season and is expected to figure prominently in the offense in 2011.

Receivers

It is uncertain at this point in time whether Michael Floyd will be part of the team in 2011.  Without Floyd, their leading receiver, the Irish have depth but no real game-changers at the wide receiver position. Theo Riddick, John Goodman, T.J. Jones, and Robby Toma all played last season but only Riddick played well enough to be a sure bet to start in 2011.

Deion Walker, a talented senior and a once highly touted recruit, is expected to contribute something in his senior season but has failed to make a dent in the depth chart up until now.  Daniel Smith, a promising sophomore, and freshman DaVaris Daniels and Matthias Farley may be asked to step in and contribute if others fail to solidify their position by the end of August. 

Tyler Eifert played very well at tight end last season and will certainly play an important role in the Notre Dame offense in 2011.  He currently finds himself on the John Mackey Award pre-season watch list after a very productive sophomore campaign.  Mike Ragone, Alex Welch and Jake Golic are all talented backups who can spell Eifert for moments.  Freshman Ben Koyak, the highly recruited tight end out of Oil City, PA, may also find himself on the field early and often. Expect to see lots of two tight end sets for the Irish in the upcoming season.

 Offensive Line

With the loss of only one player on the offensive line, the Irish appear to be in very good shape heading into the 2011 season. Trevor Robinson and Zach Martin are expected to have very good years. Martin finds himself on the Outland Trophy Award pre-season watch list and is one of the most talked about lineman in the country.  When the Irish surged at the end of last season it was due in part to great line play opening up huge holes for the Irish’s talented backs.  Expect much of the same from this unit in 2011.

Defensive Line

The defensive line of the Fighting Irish played well and improved a great deal over the course of last season.  Ian Williams anchored the line at nose tackle and is the only player on the line lost to graduation.  Sean Cwyner, Brandon Newman and Louis Nix look to fill the void left by Williams and although the Irish will miss Williams’ leadership, the depth they have in this position should make his absence not so noticeable.

Ethan Johnson and Kapron Louis-Moore look to step their game up another notch from last year.  Kona Schwenke, and a slew of talented freshman (Aaron Lynch, Stephon Tuitt, Anthony Rabasa, and Troy Niklas) will add depth and playmaking ability to a line that should be very good in 2011. 

Linebackers

Manti Te’o will be the player to watch in the linebacking corps in 2011.  He appears on a number of pre-season watch lists and is arguably one of the top players in the nation at his position.  Because the program lost Brian Smith and Kerry Neal to graduation his supporting cast will have to be determined in August.

The inside linebacker position next to Te’o is not settled at this point in time.  Carlo Calabrese, Anthony McDonald, Dan Fox, and Kendall Moore all look to challenge to line up beside Te’o. Darius Fleming is certainly a lock at outside linebacker but there appears to be a three way race between Danny Sponds, Prince Shembo, and the very talented but inconsistent Steven Filer for the other outside backer spot. 

This group is the most talented the Irish have had in some time, and they have real playmaking potential.  With the addition of some talented freshman (Ishaq Williams, Ben Councell) the linebacking depth appears to be solid going forward.

Defensive Backs

The defensive backfield was one of the most improved units in the defense last season and with all returning but Darrin Walls they look to make even greater strides in 2011. Harrison Smith, Gary Gray, and Robert Blanton all are solid performers and should be consistently good this season. Harrison Smith finished the season with an outstanding performance in the Sun Bowl which undoubtedly landed him on the Jim Thorpe Award pre-season watch list. 

Jamorus Slaughter, Zeke Motta, Dan McCarthy and Austin Collinsworth will all compete for the other safety position while Lo Wood, and Bennett Jackson will compete to land as the fifth back in nickel situations.  This unit is not outstanding but they are physical and improving. 

Special Teams

David Ruffer returns as one of the top kickers in all of college football.   This Lou Groza Award candidate will handle the field goal and extra point duties for the Irish.  Nick Tausch and freshman Kyle Brindza will battle it out for the starting job as kickoff specialist. Brindza and an inconsistent BenTurk will battle it out for the punting position. 

The Irish were one of the worst teams in the nation at returning punts, and weren't much better returning kicks.  Coach Kelly is looking to make the team more dynamic in this area, but it's anyone’s guess who will provide that spark. With an influx of outstanding skill players in last year’s recruiting class, Kelly may be handing the job over to an incoming freshman. 

Synopsis

Irish fans are expecting great things in 2011.  However, it may be too early for such lofty expectations.  Few would deny that the program is definitely heading in the right direction but the Irish don’t appear to be ready to deliver double digit wins, especially given the holes that need to be filled and the very difficult schedule they will face.  If the Irish survive the first three games and are 3-0, this could snowball into a special season, but that is a very big “if.” 

Last Year’s Record: 8-5

Projected 2011 Record: 8-5

2011 Football Schedule

S03 SOUTH FLORIDA 3:30pm NBC

S10 @ Michigan 8pm ABC/ESPN

S17 MICHIGAN STATE 3:30pm NBC

S24 @ Pittsburgh

O01 @ Purdue 8pm ABC/ESPN

O08 AIR FORCE 3:30pm NBC

O22 SOUTHERN CAL 7:30pm NBC

O29 NAVY 3:30pm NBC

N05 @ Wake Forest

N12 MARYLAND (FedEx) 7:30pm NBC

N19 BOSTON COLLEGE 4pm NBC

N26 @ Stanford 8pm ABC/ESPN