Oh yes, it's that time of the year. Since the season starts exactly a week (Sep. 4) I decided to create a break-down and analysis of Notre Dame's offense by position. I'll save the defense for an other day.
Offense:
QB: Dayne Crist- A 6 foot 5in sophomore from California is expected to be the starting QB. Even though he has never started in his career at ND, he shows promise of leadership that is expected as being at Notre Dame. He tore his ACL last season, which limited his game experience, but he looks like he's in prime athletic condition now. He doesn't have the accuracy as former QB Jimmy Clausen did, but Crist is much more mobile. My two predictions of Crist this year is first, there will be many interceptions for Dayne this year (averaging about 1.5 interceptions per game) this will happen not only because he's inexperienced, but because he will throw most plays, maybe 50-60 attempts with Brian Kelly's upbeat spread attack. (the more the ball is in the air, the more opportunities there are for interceptions.) Since Crist is mobile, there is more of a chance for Crist to get injured. My next prediction is that Crist will get injured probably towards the middle to end of the season. This means freshman back-up Tommy Rees will take his place. Rees enrolled early this spring, so he had a head start on learning Kelly's offense, which put him in a competitive advantage over Nate Montana (yes he is Joe's son), freshman Andrew Hendrix, and freshman Luke Massa. There is very little experience at the QB position, but the fall practice reports show that Rees is the most consistent over the other QBs, competing for the backup position.
RB: Unlike the QB position, Notre Dame is stacked on running backs. Brian Kelly even turned talented running back Theo Riddick into a wide receiver in the slot position. This means the depth at RB goes: Sr. Armando Allen, redshirt sophomore Cierre Wood, Jr. Jonas Grey, and Sr. Robert Hughes. Allen gets the starting job, but every back has their own unique playing style. Allen is the classic RB that has a lot of experience under his belt, and my favorite aspect of Allen is his ability to catch the ball (he is close to breaking the ND record for catches for a RB) and also his stellar talent for blocking. Cierre Wood brings his quickness and speed. Jonas Grey might not be as fast as Wood, but he has an edgy running style with crazy juke moves to catch the defense off guard. Then finally, Robert Hughes at 245 pounds is the power back for more north to south short yardage situations. I'm excited to see how the running game plays along with Kelly's offense. Maybe the running struggles of the years past, but this group certainly has the ability to break that spell.
WR: Since there is so many WR I could cover, I will only name a few that I think is important. Senior Duval Kamara might have three years starting, but I always worry about his consistency. He has the build of a beast (6-4 225lbs) but he still has the ability of being the number one WR in terms of long yardage statistics. Then you have Junior Michael Floyd at the other end. Kelly originally thought Floyd was overrated when he came to South Bend, due to last year's style of just running like hell and getting just enough space to make a snag, he didn't show crisp route-running. But Kelly's mind has definitely changed since then, as Kelly said of Floyd that he is the hardest working WR out there (which is very surprising due to his aura of being cocky). Then we have sophomore Theo Riddick at the slot position. In the spring, Riddick showed he was having some trouble with the WR technique of catching the ball, we was known for catching a ball as if the ball was being handed off to him, like when he was a RB. But in the fall practice, he jumped ahead of the other competitors for the slot position, and showed stellar ability to catch the ball away from his hands, instead of using his body. Expect Riddick to be a dangerous big-time playmaker after the catch, bringing him back to his running back roots. Out of the non-starting WRs that should have great potential is sophomore Shaquelle Evans. Last year he dropped plenty of passes, but he seems much more comfortable with Kelly's offense. Expect Evans to be a surprise playmaker. My overall prediction of the WRs is the most obvious....there will be a lot of passes thrown to this group, with crazy amounts of yardage being racked up.
TE: This is by far the most stacked position with the most talent. At the starting position there is Jr. Kyle Rudolph, which is rumored to be the best TE in the country. Rudolph had some injuries in the spring and fall practices, which reduced his practice time, but he seems to be getting in great shape for next Saturday. Next in line is So. Tyler Eifert, who greatly impressed the coaching staff in the spring and fall training, moving up in front of talented Sr. Mike Ragone, who surprisingly dropped back behind Eifert.
OL: At OT there is Sophomore Zack Martin and Sr. Taylor Dever. At OG Sr. Chris Stewart and, my favorite Jr. Trevor Robinson. At center, Braxston Cave earned the starting spot over Sr. Dan Wenger, which was a complete surprise because Cave is not as good at snapping well at the long-range shotgun position. I would not be surprised to see that Wenger would steal the spot later on in the season. Due to Brian Kelly's system of spread attack, hurry-up offense, and quick release passes; this keeps the pressure off of the OL much less than a west-coast or pro-style offense would. There is a trend of style on the OL which is not your traditional big fat players that just stand there in push, but rather more trimmed athletic bodies that can move quickly for a quick offensive style. Even though there is not as much experience than last year (losing two great players) this OL has the ability to do their job well, and give the offense just enough time to get the ball off.
Notes: Brian Kelly talked about implementing the wildcat formation and the top two candidates are Armando Allen, who ran most of the Weis wildcat plays, or it might be Kyle Rudolph or Robert Hughes; which is a surprising person to run the wildcat, but Kelly had said he loves big bodies at this position.
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