Notre Dame Football: Week 1 Fall Camp Stock Report

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Fifty minutes from Notre Dame Stadium, Touchdown Jesus and the golden dome, Notre Dame football began fall practice Friday at Culver Academies, with the beautiful lakefront beckoning in the distance and horses neighing beyond the practice fields.

The Irish have completed four days of practices in Culver, Indiana, and the squad is beginning to take shape for the fast-approaching 2015 season.

Let’s take stock of the Irish through the first few days.

Malik Zaire

Joe Raymond/Associated Press

Notre Dame’s ever-confident redshirt sophomore quarterback, Malik Zaire, stepped into the starring role when the Irish opened camp Friday morning. But while Zaire’s new, defined role is a hot topic for the Irish, Zaire and head coach Brian Kelly stayed even-keeled when discussing the signal-caller.

“He’s got real good management skills. He communicates effectively,” Kelly said after Friday’s opening practice. “You could see for a first day there’s not a lot of sloppiness from an offensive standpoint in terms of false starts and things of that nature. He’s got a good command, good presence. I think it’s probably what I thought it would be on the first day with him.”

Zaire, for his part, turned most questions about his individual performance and goals into team-wide answers.

“I think in parts we had a lot of good flow and we saw the potential of the team today,” Zaire said Friday.

“We know our expectations heading into the season,” he added. “The expectations we give ourselves is more important than the expectations that are given through outside sources.”

“Being a Notre Dame quarterback, there’s never a clear-cut anything,” said Zaire, when asked about his newfound position as the stated starter. “Coach Kelly does a great job of keeping it competitive and keeping us on our toes, knowing that anything can change at any moment.”

Company lines from an exuberant personality.

While it’s tough to glean much substance, physically, from a pad-less first practice, Zaire’s leadership ability is coming into focus. On Thursday, Kelly praised Zaire’s “natural innate ability” to step in front of a group and lead, adding the first-year starter needs clarity in his messages.

“I wake up with a lot of energy. I just love being out here,” Zaire said. “I love being at practice. I love being around these guys and doing the things necessary. Coach Kelly will tell me if I’m doing a little too much energy and I need to calm it down a little bit. … If I keep my intensity level up, I think we’re going to have better practices day in and day out.”

KeiVarae Russell

Joe Raymond/Associated Press

Nearly one year after his 2014 season spiraled away before it began, Irish cornerback KeiVarae Russell donned the Notre Dame uniform once again.

In Russell, Notre Dame returns a starting cornerback, one with the potential to quickly ascend to the nation’s best.

“He’s obviously a talented player,” Kelly said after Friday’s practice. “You could see that one-on-one. His transition in and out of the transition, you could see why he’s one of the better players at his position in the country.”

Russell, who’s actually three pounds lighter than he was last season, said he’s now stronger and faster, jumps higher and boasts less body fat, fully aware and fully confident in his offseason work.

“Go to IG—Instagram,” the loquacious Russell quipped. “Y’all see what my trainer had me doing. It was second to none. I had some great trainers back home. I was really focused. Everything we did, every single day, was just attention to detail.”

The two-year starter admitted he hesitated at times during Friday’s practice.

“I don’t like saying it’s rust,” Russell said. “It’s more about trust with my abilities. … I gotta get to that point where I just go play fast.”

Joe Schmidt

Joe Raymond/Associated Press

Toward the beginning of Friday’s practice, after the Irish completed their scheduled calisthenics, Notre Dame lined up on one half of the practice field and prepared for push ups and jumping jacks. Center Zack Martin and linebacker Joe Schmidt led the rest of the team.

For Schmidt, Notre Dame’s defensive leader in 2014 as the middle linebacker and the entire team’s MVP, the role seems natural. Of course, Schmidt is completing his return, too, from a November ankle injury that wiped away the end of his breakout season.

Now Schmidt is back, and Notre Dame claims a loaded linebacking corps. But the fifth-year senior stands out.

“He’s our best leader,” Kelly said. “His recall, I’ve never seen anybody that has the immediate recall that he has for what we do. He’s extremely important.”

Schmidt lined up at middle linebacker between juniors Jaylon Smith and James Onwualu during Friday’s drills, all of which were open to the media.

Leadership

Joe Raymond/Associated Press

In addition to Russell and Schmidt, Kelly has lauded a deep stable of capable leaders in the early days of camp.

“I love the emergence of the leadership on this team,” Kelly said simply on the eve of camp.

He’s also praised fifth-year defensive back Matthias Farley, senior defensive lineman Sheldon Day, fifth-year linebacker Jarrett Grace and junior safety Max Redfield as strong forces on the defensive side of the ball.

“Now you’ve got something totally different than what we had last year,” Kelly said, referring to the depleted defense headlined by underclassmen down the stretch in 2014.

Such leadership could be vital to Notre Dame in 2015, as the Irish try to wrap all their talented pieces into a playoff contender.

“We think we’ve got the parts,” Kelly said. “But the parts have to be running together. So the emphasis is really about, we know we’ve got the individuals. It’s about coming together. And emphasizing that has really been the focal point since January workouts. This is just an extension of that.”

Quick Hits

In Friday’s practice, redshirt freshman Quenton Nelson took the vast bulk of the snaps as the first-team left guard, while fellow redshirt freshman Alex Bars worked with the second unit.

Kelly said Friday he was impressed with his wide receivers, mentioning true freshmen Miles Boykin, C.J. Sanders and Jalen Guyton. Third-year wideout Torii Hunter Jr. provided the top highlight on the first day of camp, soaring over Redfield for a graceful grab.

Kelly said it’s difficult to gauge Justin Brent’s early work at running back without pads and tackling. The second-year player is auditioning after spending his rookie campaign at wide receiver.

True freshman quarterback Brandon Wimbush logged reps behind Zaire and redshirt freshman DeShone Kizer.

“He’s got a strong arm,” Kelly said of the highly-touted Wimbush. “He tries to overpower a lot of the stuff. I think some of the things that jump out. He’s using some footwork that doesn’t sync up to some of the things that we’re doing. So we’ll work on some of those things. But he’s so bright, wide eyed, extremely coachable. And that’s the great thing about it.”

Senior defensive tackle Jarron Jones (coming back from a foot injury) looked good and moved well, per Kelly, during Friday’s practice.

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Mike Monaco is the lead Notre Dame writer for Bleacher Report. Follow @MikeMonaco_ on Twitter.