Notre Dame Spring Practice Report - Offense

Analysis of the Notre Dame offense from the first practice of the 2024 spring

Notre Dame held its first practice of the 2024 spring today inside the Irish Athletic Center. Irish Breakdown was there to check out all the action. We'll begin with a look at the Irish offense.

When Notre Dame took the field on offense the first team looked like this

QB Riley Leonard
RB Jeremiyah Love
Z Kris Mitchell
F Jaden Greathouse
X Jayden Thomas
TE Cooper Flanagan
LT Charles Jagusah
LG Pat Coogan
C Ashton Craig
RG Billy Schrauth
RT Tosh Baker

Here is what the second team looked like:

QB Steve Angeli
RB Jadarian Price
Z KK Smith
F Jayden Harrison
X Deion Colzie
TE Jack Larsen
LT Sullivan Absher
LG Sam Pendleton
C Joe Otting
RG Ty Chan
RT Aamil Wagner

Here are our thoughts on the Notre Dame offense by position:

QUARTERBACK

Transfer quarterback Riley Leonard had a quality first day for the Irish. Overall, Leonard wasn't as sharp as you want, but that's expected for practice one in a new offense with new teammates. Early on his timing and ball placement was a bit inconsistent, but as he got deeper into practice both areas improved. 

Leonard showed a willingness to be aggressive attacking down the field, which was good to see. The Duke offense was a very conservative pass game that focused on quick game and some intermediate throws, but it didn't attack vertically much. Leonard missed on a couple of early go routes, but as he got deeper into practice he hit those throws and was aggressive hitting deep ins and overs. 

From a movement standpoint he looked quick and healthy, showing no lingering impact from his offseason ankle injury.

Junior Steve Angeli was a bit up-and-down today, but when he was up he made some impressive throws. He hit Kris Mitchell on an outside vertical route that beat Jaden Mickey for a long touchdown during 7-on-7. Angeli's downfield vertical throws were good, but he was less accurate on corner routes and comebacks. Angeli has a long release, so he'll need to speed up his decision making a bit more than we saw today in order to prevent balls from getting broken up.

Angeli focused too much on the quick game and short throws during team, to the point where he was locked in on those routes and missed some downfield opportunities. What I liked about him team performance is Angeli doesn't allow the pass rush to phase him at all. He's very poised in the face of pressure.

Sophomore Kenny Minchey has elite arm speed, there is no doubt about that. He gets the ball out exceptionally fast, but he doesn't sacrifice zip for speed, which makes him an effective passer. He dropped a dime during 1-on-1s to Jack Polian for a big completion on a go route. Minchey made a good read during 7-on-7 to hit Cam Williams over the middle on an in route. The timing and accuracy allowed Williams to catch the ball on the run and get upfield.

Freshman CJ Carr is obviously behind the other quarterbacks from a reading standpoint, which is expected. At the same time, he looked poised for a rookie and and the ball looks different coming out of his hand. Carr had arguably the best throw of the day, dropping a go route over the outside shoulder to Micah Gilbert, who was actually covered well on the play. Carr threw it to the only place it could be caught.

Carr showed a willingness to fit the ball in on in cuts and comebacks, and he got really good zip on those throws.

RUNNING BACK

The Irish running backs, as a group, showed excellent explosiveness and athleticism today. It's day one and they didn't have pads on, but the speed with which this group attacks the line of scrimmage and gets to the second level is very, very impressive. This group, as a whole, also caught the football extremely well. I would much rather be in the running back room watching film of the RB vs LB one-on-ones than I would want to be in the linebacker room.

Sophomore Jeremiyah Love showed improved patience as a runner today as the Irish focused mostly on their zone runs. Once he saw the hole, however, Love showed off his special burst and ability to get to daylight. It's hard to evaluate the run game too much on day one since they didn't have pads on, but Love's overall footwork was efficient.

Love did a lot of damage in the passing game during the day one practice. He beat Jack Kiser on a wheel route for a big gain during 1-on-1s. He also easily beat Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa on a quick out route from the backfield. Later in practice he caught two quick throws behind the line and get vertical for quality gains.

Junior Jadarian Price looks to be fully back to his pre-injury form. During today's practice he showed the same vertical speed we saw from him last season, but he looked more sudden with his change of direction movements during today's practice. Price was decisive as a runner, caught the ball well out of the backfield and like Love he has cleaned up his footwork since the fall. But his vertical burst is the thing you constantly noticed today during drills and team work.

Freshman Kedren Young is an impressive physical specimen. He's by far the biggest back on the roster, but he's very nimble and athletic for a player his size. Going through drills his agility and quickness really stood out, especially considering his size. Young was very impressive catching the ball, which was a pleasant surprise. He wasn't used in the pass game in high school, but Young showed good route running ability and he constantly attacks the ball with his hands.

WIDE RECEIVER

The most impressive thing I saw all day was the work of the wide receivers. Overall the unit was very impressive, whether it was drills, 1-on-1s, 7-on-7s or team, the unit looked very good during practice. It begins with position coach Mike Brown, who is constantly instructing his players. Brown's drills are all built on precision and are practical in their application. There aren't any strange clinic drills that really don't apply to playing football. All his drills break down individual parts of route running and they build. This includes route drills and ball drills. His unit looked very sharp and you can tell they have taken quite well to his coaching.

Sophomore Jaden Greathouse was quite impressive during the first practice. Greathouse was constantly the first receiver going through drills. He was smooth in drills, showed very good body control and his agility has improved. During 1-on-1s he badly beat Xavier Watts on an in breaking route for a big gain on a throw from Leonard. 

The ball didn't come his way much during 7-on-7 or the team period, but Greathouse was constantly getting open. Against man he showed impressive separation ability out of his top ends, and he was quickly working into open areas against zone looks. Good first day for the young Irish wideout.

Transfer Kris Mitchell turned some heads during his first practice with Notre Dame. Mitchell has really, really good speed, and he had that on full display all practice. His get off was a bit inconsistent at times, but when he comes off with purpose he can quickly get on top of and by cornerbacks. You could tell the corners weren't really prepared for his speed, and Mickey had a really tough time running with Mitchell. He blew right by Mickey on multiple occasions, and he even got a step on Christian Gray on a go route.

You could tell Mitchell is still learning the offense as well. A few times he wasn't quite sure about the angle of attack on a vertical release and got caught between moves on top ends. That's expected on day one, but overall he was very impressive. He outplayed Mickey on a contested throw for what was the highlight play of the day.

Fellow transfer Jayden Harrison also showed really good speed off the line. He's not an overly refined route runner, and that will definitely need a lot of work, but he's a well built player and his speed flashes. Even in just one practice you could notice the two transfers added a big speed improvement at wideout. 

Sophomore KK Smith caught my eye today. He was playing mostly outside, and his smooth athleticism was on full display. Smith is an interesting athlete, at least based on what I saw today. He's so smooth and efficient that you don't realize how fast he's actually running, and then he's getting separation and getting open. He caught the ball well and his route running was sharp. He even got the best of Gray on a couple of 1-on-1s. 

I didn't focus much on Jayden Thomas today, but he did have a really good downfield win against Benjamin Morrison. The coverage was great but Thomas outplayed him for the well thrown ball for a big play. He slowed up on an over route from Leonard that resulted in it being incomplete, but the next time the two had a chance on that same route he accelerated to daylight and Leonard hit him in stride.

Freshman Micah Gilbert had a good first day, showing good vertical speed and advanced route running for his age. Gilbert is well built and smooth, but his vertical burst is what caught my eye. He catches the ball very well when he doesn't take his eye off it too soon, which got him in trouble during some drills and 1-on-1s. Classmate Cam Williams has filled out well and he shows a really, really good burst off the line. When he gets out of breaks he is a problem for the defensive backs, but his overall lack of feel as a route runner limited him a bit today. You could see the tools, and they are excellent, he just needs to learn the finer points.

OFFENSIVE LINE/TIGHT END

Since they weren't wearing pads I didn't focus much on the offensive line. What I did see, however, was the first team line doing a really good job getting a push during run periods. They were coming off well, keeping their pads low, driving through contact and opening up some big lanes at times. Charles Jagusah and Billy Schrauth caught my eye multiple times for their ability to drive defenders off the ball.

Tosh Baker got whipped badly on two speed rushes by Jordan Botelho, but he was good outside of that. He will need to limit those bad reps, however, and get out of his stance with more consistency from a quickness standpoint.

I didn't see much from the tight ends today, but as expected freshman Jack Larsen has really, really good hands. The only route I saw from Cooper Flanagan was a sharp corner route where he beat Adon Shuler by several yards for a big play.

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