Notre Dame Football Practice Report - August 19 - Offense

News, notes and analysis about the Notre Dame offense from today's open practice

Notre Dame held its 12th practice of the 2021 season on Thursday and the full session was open to the media. Below are thoughts on the offensive side of the ball.

The final segment of the practice was the most revealing since the scrimmage was live, which means that everyone but the quarterback was tackled.

The defense definitely looked like it was ahead of the offense in this segment.

In the opening set, starting quarterback Jack Coan was gang-sacked by the defensive line on his first play. He was also sacked by Isaiah Foskey in the series. Coan completed both his passes to running back Kyren Williams. The first completion was a second read and he hit Williams down the middle on the second one. Coan was definitely rushed at times during this segment, throwing the ball out of bounds once. 

In the second segment, sophomore quarterback Drew Pyne was 2-for-4. His best play was a slant pass over the middle to wideout Matt Salerno. Logan Diggs finished with a long run on a cutback where he reversed direction. Diggs carried it three times and was stopped for a loss once. Pyne seemed somewhat comfortable handling the pressure.

In the final segment, Coan was 3 for 4. He was also sacked once by defensive tackle Rylie Mills. The highlight of the series was a spectacular diving catch by tight end Michael Mayer on the sidelines in traffic.

All three quarterbacks worked in the one-on-one period that matched a wide receiver against a defensive back.

In the field portion Coan was 5 for 7 with two dropped passes, Pyne was 2 for 5 and Tyler Buchner was 3 for 5 with an interception. This was followed by a red zone one-on-one period. Coan was again 5 for 7, Pyne went 3 for 6 and Buchner went 2 for 2.

Kevin Austin Jr. was strong in that stretch, making four receptions.

In the 11 on 11 scrimmage without live tackling, Coan was 3 of 4 with a crisp sideline pass to Braden Lenzy that split the corner and safety and would have led to a long touchdown had the whistle not blown. Coan also did a good job of dumping the ball off to C’Bo Flemister while under pressure.

Pyne was sacked in his series. Pyne made good yards on a nice mesh play. He broke loose on the outside. Diggs had a long run in that series also.

Tyler Buchner was 0 for 1 in his series. After a good seal from the line, Diggs broke free on the outside for a nice run.

In the seven-on-seven sets, both Coan and Pyne were impressive. Coan completed 8 of 12 passes. In the red zone series, Coan threw two touchdown passes. The only penalty of the game was offensive pass interference on junior wide receiver Conor Ratigan on a pass from Coan in the corner of the end zone.  Coan’s TD passes were to Lenzy and Mayer.  Pyne was 3 for 4 with three TD passes. Kevin Bauman, a 6-foot-5 tight end, made two of those TD receptions. One was a leaping grab and the other was on the sideline.

Overall, Lenzy was really good at using his speed to get open. He had a long run on a reverse in the non-live scrimmage. He did drop a contested pass in the end zone that was catchable in the live scrimmage.

Bauman was surprisingly good. He was singled out by Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly in his press conference.

Mayer played to an elite level. 

The offensive line is still in building mode. Right guard Cain Madden had a rough day, getting beat multiple times during the one-on-one period and during team. Line coach Jeff Quinn got on Madden multiple times with instruction. It’s clear that Pyne is solidly in the No. 2 slot at quarterback. Buchner looks like he’s still getting used to college defenses.

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