Notre Dame Football: Week 2 Fall Camp Stock Report

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — As fall camp continues back on campus, Notre Dame football is now within three weeks of its season opener against Texas under the lights at Notre Dame Stadium.

More than midway through camp, let’s take a look at the past week of practice and comments from head coach Brian Kelly and the Irish.

Injuries

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

While much of the news surrounding the Irish in 2015 deals with returns—whether from injury or academic issues—Notre Dame must now move forward with a major personnel loss, as defensive tackle Jarron Jones is out for the season with an MCL injury.

During an 11-on-11 situation at practice last week, Jones was rolled up on—“kind of a freak deal,” Kelly said—and suffered the injury. Jones is scheduled for surgery this week. The 6’5”, 315-pounder from Rochester, New York, logged 11 starts last season before enduring a Lisfranc injury that finished his campaign. Jones racked up 40 tackles, including 7.5 for a loss, in 2014.

“Just one of those things you can never prepare for,” said Kelly, who added that Jones will return next year.

"

385 more days!!! It can be as far as it wanna be but it will eventually come!! You can run but you can't hide. Period.

— Jarron Jones™ (@Who_GotJones94) August 16, 2015"

Kelly said true freshman Jerry Tillery and sophomore Daniel Cage are expected to fill Jones’ void, while true freshman Elijah Taylor will likely be active rather than redshirted. Junior Isaac Rochell will not slide inside in Notre Dame’s base defense, Kelly said.

Tillery enrolled early at Notre Dame and was one of the spring standouts.

“Invaluable to have him here in the spring given the fact that obviously he’s gonna have a pretty prominent role for us on the defensive side of the ball,” Kelly said of Tillery. “That obviously is a big plus for us. He knows the defense pretty well.”

Jones will remain around the team and travel with the squad, Kelly said.

Irish fifth-year linebacker Jarrett Grace, who missed the 2014 season and the second half of the 2013 circuit with a leg injury, said Saturday he had spoken with Jones.

“I told Jarron, I said, ‘Look, man. You can contribute to this team so much still. Just because you’re sidelined, it doesn’t minimize your role. You can really reach out to all these young guys, offer insights to the guys who are gonna be filling in for you,’” Grace said.

For his part, Grace said he truly feels like an athlete again, past the pain that still surfaced in the spring.

“It’s really good,” Grace said of his health. “The spring was awesome just to get my feet wet, but I was working through a lot of pain. But now I feel I can really contribute to this team.”

Senior running back C.J. Prosise is dealing with a hip flexor and missed Saturday’s practice. Kelly said Prosise will start moving around Monday and should be close to 100 percent by Saturday.

Freshman linebacker Josh Barajas (pulled hamstring) is likely out for two weeks, per Kelly.

Malik Zaire

Joe Raymond/Associated Press

As his second career start nears, Irish junior quarterback Malik Zaire has impressed Kelly.

“What I like about him is [he’s] extremely coachable,” Kelly said Saturday. “I like that he’s focusing in on some of the detail areas that are so important at the quarterback position.”

Zaire and the Notre Dame offense logged plenty of red-zone and situational work in practices open to the media in the past week. Kelly praised Zaire’s overall offensive management, red-zone functionality and communication.

Freshmen

Credit: 247Sports

Notre Dame’s freshman class ranks highly among Kelly’s list of key takeaways through the first bulk of fall practices.

“We’ve got great competition,” Kelly said. “That’s the biggest difference with this team compared to any of the other teams that I’ve had here at Notre Dame. We’ve got great competition. A lot of it is built up from last year. Then this freshman class has added a lot to the competition as well.”

Even as far back as national signing day, Kelly has touted the incoming cornerbacks: Shaun Crawford, Nick Coleman and Ashton White. All three have flashed in the fall, and Crawford and Coleman have staked their claim to first-team practice reps.

Crawford struck Kelly as a “football player” for his work on special teams in high school, not to mention his ability at corner. Coleman, meanwhile, possesses “great make-up speed,” according to the head coach.

In addition to Crawford, Coleman and Tillery, Kelly tabbed linebacker Te'von Coney, another early enrollee, as a potential rookie contributor.

On the offensive side, Notre Dame’s depth at wide receiver is impossible to ignore. Slot man C.J. Sanders brings elusiveness and an ability to cut at full speed that Kelly said the Irish “haven’t had…in my time here.” Equanimeous St. Brown is ahead of schedule, per Kelly, and “runs like a deer,” coupling such natural ability with the toughness to return to practice within 24 hours of two separate sprained ankles.

Josh Anderson

When walk-on senior running back Josh Anderson met with head football equipment manager Ryan Grooms on Wednesday, he had no idea how his life was about to change.

“Look, we want you to model this uniform,” Grooms told Anderson. “You’d fit the uniform, and it’d be funny.”

So Anderson agreed to don the Shamrock Series uniform, set to be unveiled Thursday morning.

“OK. I like that,” Anderson replied. “The next morning I put on the uniform.”

What followed?

As shown in the video that has since gone viral, Kelly announced Anderson had earned a scholarship.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Anderson said Saturday. “It was amazing. Oh, man. I can’t even tell you how great I feel.”

Growing up in California, Anderson loved Notre Dame and wanted to attend the university in South Bend, Indiana, just like his father had. A two-time letterwinner at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, Anderson could have played collegiately at the Division II, Division III or FCS levels. He was also accepted to Navy.

But Anderson was admitted to Notre Dame, contacted assistant coach Mike Denbrock and toured campus with the now-associate head coach while visiting South Bend as an accepted student. Anderson joined the team as a preferred walk-on.

After many practices and countless hits from his time on the scout team, all while balancing a pre-med course load, Anderson landed a scholarship.

“I can’t even believe it,” Anderson said. “My parents are still kind of in shock. It’s like life hasn’t been real the past few days. It’s just unbelievable. I have so much great support around me—friends and family. I’m so blessed, so thankful. God is so good. That’s all I can say.”

Anderson called his parents Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET. His father, Joe, back in California, picked up the phone at 5:30 local time. Joe put Josh on speakerphone so his wife, Darlene, could hear the news. Josh called back a few hours later to ensure his parents of the news.

Since the video circulated, Anderson’s phone has been active.

“Friends and family, just about everybody I met ever in my entire life is telling me congratulations and that they’re happy for me,” Anderson said.

Quick Hits

Joe Raymond/Associated Press

Kelly said Thursday that senior cornerback KeiVarae Russell passed one NCAA hurdle and still has one more to go. Ishaq Williams’ situation, Kelly added, is still pending. The head coach had no updates as of Saturday afternoon.

In addition to Notre Dame’s leadership and the play of the Irish freshmen, Kelly singled out linebacker Jaylon Smith as one of the biggest positives.

“Jaylon Smith is remarkable in terms of what he’s doing on the field,” Kelly said. “He is on his game.”

Kelly said junior wide receiver Will Fuller is the leading option at punt returner, though Sanders wowed the crowd Saturday with a lengthy punt-return score. Kelly said he doesn’t necessarily prefer Sanders as the top return man, but the Irish would be fine with the freshman if he emerged as the go-to guy.

Graduate student safety Avery Sebastian, who’s using his fifth year at Notre Dame after arriving from Cal, has earned first-team reps so far this fall.

“We’re pleased with him,” Kelly said. “I thought we were gonna get more of a situational guy, option, box safety, but he’s shown himself to know our defense pretty good. He picks up things very well, pretty smart guy.”

Sebastian said Notre Dame has already exceeded his expectations since the summer transition.

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

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