Notre Dame Football Practice Report - July 31

Analysis and observations from the Notre Dame football practice

Notre Dame held its fifth practice of fall camp this morning, and it was the first in full pads. The media had access to the first five of the five minute periods. I spent most of the time evaluating the offense. Here are my observations from today's practice.

*** Spent some time watching the wide receivers today. Looking at the growth from practice one to now, there is already some improvement happening with the wideouts from a route running and release standpoint. We got to see a few one-on-ones as we were walking out of the stadium, and there is still work to be done there, especially when it comes to taking better routes on their stems.

*** Sophomore Tobias Merriweather is really athletic and he catches the ball extremely well during drills. He had a really good route vs. Cam Hart. Merriweather used a good stutter move to get a step on Hart, and he kept Hart on the backside. The ball from Sam Hartman was underthrown and Merriweather did a great job coming back to the ball. Like we saw earlier in camp, however, Hart did a great job knocking the ball out at the last second. We only got to see the one rep, so for all I know Merriweather won the battle the next time. He's doing a really good job of beating Hart and getting on top, which is a very good sign, but on the contested throws the fifth-year senior is out-muscling him for the football. There are two ways to look at this. One is that Merriweather needs to do a better job finishing on those types of balls, and two is Hart is doing a really good job of making plays on the football, something that was an issue for him a year ago.

*** Speaking of Hartman, he really likes throwing the ball to Chris Tyree. During the drills where the quarterbacks go four at a time and throw to a different receiver, Hartman tends to move around in a manner that allows him to throw Tyree whenever the former RB is running a deep route. On one particular route - a deep wide fade - Tyree went a bit too wide on the route, but he made a very good play on the ball. Those two are developing a strong early relationship.

*** Tyree caught the ball extremely well today, on deep and short routes. Not only did he made a good grab on the deep ball from Hartman, but he also made a clean catch on a corner throw from Steve Angeli. Tyree still needs a bit more work on his releases from a stem standpoint. On the one-on-one we saw, he was going against a safety and running an out cut, but when he got to the top end, Tyree was still inside and the safety was able to easily stone him and keep him from getting to his route.

*** Freshman Jaden Greathouse is an exceptional route runner already. Not just for a freshman, just in general. He's had the three best routes I've seen from a Notre Dame receiver so far, and he's doing it against veterans. He's such an incredibly confident player. He ran a route against Xavier Watts that involved Greathouse released wide and then making a quick stop to break outside. His combination of using the release to get Watts turned, the efficiency with his top end, the quickness in which he broke outside, and his ability to get separation was elite. He does this consistently, and he also catches the ball very well. Freshmen Braylon James and Rico Flores Jr. both made excellent grabs today. James snatched a ball about three inches off the ground and stayed up, while Flores made a diving catch during one-on-ones.

*** Sophomore running back Jadarian Price had the catch of the day, however. During routes on air, the quarterbacks all go at the same time and there are four or five players running a route at the same time. The quarterbacks made a mistake and two different quarterbacks threw the ball at Price. He snatched the first one, then kept locked in, reached his left hand out and made a one-handed grab. His teammates were very excited to see it, that's for sure. The impressive thing is it wasn't a drill where you're catching two at a time. He just did it. Price continues to impress with his burst and explosiveness. All the backs caught the ball clean today, and fellow sophomore Gi'Bran Payne continues to look very impressive in drills and catching the football.

Here's a picture of the Price catch:

Angela Driskell, Irish Breakdown

*** I spent a lot of time looking at the offensive line today. Joe Rudolph is constantly coaching and correcting and encouraging. He's very demanding, but it's a different style. Rudolph spent a lot of time focusing on proper initial footwork and using hands correctly. He's a stickler, which is a lot like the previous OL coach, which is important. Even little things, like a slight raising of a player's butt, would get him to step in and correct. He wants efficiency and proper foot placement. Rudolph also spent a lot of time focusing on finishing properly with their hands.

*** Freshman Charles Jagusah moves well for his size, but he is still learning how to use his hands. Rudolph spent a lot of time correcting him on this, and my observation is Jagusah has to learn to use his hands to be more physical. He didn't really show force with them, and that's something he'll need to work on. Fellow freshman Sam Pendleton is really sound for a rookie. He constantly got praise from Rudolph about his efficiency, footwork and hand placement. Sophomore Ashton Craig is still a bit of a work in progress technique wise, but he moves at a different speed than the other linemen. His quickness off the ball in drills is outstanding. Classmate Billy Schrauth is playing with more technical confidence now than he did in the spring, by quite a bit. Rudolph corrected Rocco Spindler on his angle of approach on an inside run, and after he was done veteran Zeke Correll stepped in and offered some advice as well. Spindler corrected it on the next rep and earned praise from Rudolph. Correll is very vocal and showing a lot of leadership. He's the only offensive lineman whose voice I heard today.

*** Rudolph did some cross-training today. He had Andrew Kristofic working a bit at tackle and Aamil Wagner working at guard. Wagner's overall technique is still a ways away, both from a steps standpoint, and he has to be more violent with his hands. 

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