Notre Dame Football Spring Practice Report - Offense Edition

Analysis and observations of the offense from today's Notre Dame spring football practice

Notre Dame held another spring practice today and the media was given access to the entire practice. The Irish went outside today, so we get a lot of team action. Here is my practice observations and report from the session, beginning with the offense.

OVERALL

This was a heavy nickel/dime period for the defense, which meant a lot of blitzing. So when you hear about the offense not dominating keep that in mind. At this point in the offseason if the defense isn't having the better team periods when you're bringing heavy pressures that's a major problem.

Offensively, the Irish had a tough time handling the pressures. There were some good moments, but the defense had the better day during the team periods. The offense was much better during 1on1s (WR vs DB, OL vs DL) and during the 7on7 period.

QUARTERBACK - RUNNING BACK

Junior Tyler Buchner worked with the first team most of today's practice and senior Sam Hartman worked with the second group. Buchner had a strong overall practice and was the sharpest of the quarterbacks. Timing is a very important part of success against a blitz heavy defense, and Buchner showed he's much more locked in with his receivers at this point, which is to be expected.

Buchner showed good poise during the team periods, and his footwork allowed him to quickly set his feet and get rid of the football. He also used his legs to avoid some pressures, but it was him being in good position in the pocket and playing with clean mechanics that allowed him to quickly step away from pressure. Buchner showed good release point consistency, which allowed him to be pretty accurate during the practice period. Buchner also showed good power on deep balls, getting the ball over the top of the defense and he threw a number of well-placed back shoulder throws. He wasn't as sharp in the final team period, missing twice on deep throws up the seam, but overall he had a quality performance. Buchner seems to be developing a nice rapport with Deion Colzie on the outside. Buchner threw a gorgeous post route to Colzie during 1on1s but the ball was dropped.

Buchner showed good timing with his reads during 7on7s, and as stated he showed good accurate over the middle. When Buchner had some misses it was throwing out cuts, especially to his right, but overall he had a good day.

Hartman was very good during 1on1s and 7on7s. He threw with good velocity and timing during these periods. Hartman had a couple of really nice over the middle reads during the 7on7 period, hitting wideouts in tight windows and getting guys the ball on the move. Hartman wasn't as sharp with his timing or ball placement during the team period. Hartman did a good job buying time to get throws off during the team period, but you could tell he wasn't quite as sure where receivers would be. It looked as though the wideouts weren't breaking routes off enough on a few reps as well. Moral of the story is Hartman and the wideouts weren't as much on the same page as they were with Buchner. Hartman also threw a few too many balls off his back foot, which caused a few out throws to sail. Both Hartman and Buchner missed long on downfield throws.

Hartman had arguably the best pass of the team period and it came very late. He threw a perfectly timed deep out throw to Chris Tyree, who exploded out of his break and got open on the sideline.

I didn't get a chance to see a ton of Kenny Minchey, but what stood out was how good he was at changing arm angles. There was one particular throw during 7on7 where it looked like he was about to throw out to the sideline (that's where his feet were pointing) but he quickly snaps off an in cut that was well placed. The ball jumped out of his hand better today than it did the last practice as well.

We didn't see a ton of the running backs carrying the ball today due to the nature of the practice, but I did notice that Notre Dame was using Audric Estime a lot out of the backfield, including having him line up outside and run some routes. His footwork on those routes was actually pretty good, and he's very quick and explosive this spring.

WIDE RECEIVER - TIGHT END

Sophomore Tobias Merriweather had a strong practice. Merriweather is a sharp route runner and he showed good downfield speed. He is able to get good separation on stop routes, but he does need to attack the ball a bit better. On one particular rep he beat Jaden Mickey on a stop route but the ball was thrown a second late. Merriweather waited on the ball, and Mickey recovered and was able to reach around and make a good break up. Merriweather was about to beat Mickey badly on a corner route but he slipped. I loved how he attacked Mickey off the line with speed, he had a hard lean to the post that Mickey jumped and Merriweather had him leaning hard inside. If he doesn't slip it's a big play.

I liked what I saw from Deion Colzie outside of one rep ..... sort of. Colzie had the best route rep of the day, but he didn't finish. Colzie absolutely destroyed Benjamin Morrison on a post route, acceleration away from Morrison and he had him beat by three to four yards, at least. Buchner threw a perfect ball but Colzie dropped it. Outside of that he caught the ball well. Colzie had two really impressive back shoulder catches from Buchner. His ability to stop and break back to the ball on back shoulders was impressive. On one particular play, the ball from Buchner was low, but Colzie was able to stop and actually go low to make the catch on the back shoulder.

Senior Chris Tyree had a good day outside of one drop down the field. The issue with Tyree is his catch radius is small, and there were misses from both Buchner and Hartman on downfield throws in tight spots. But Tyree can absolutely explode past the defense and he's getting better and better with his top ends, which gets him open on out cuts. They use Tyree on all three levels, which is smart. He broke off a great out cut late in the team period that allowed him to get open for the throw from Hartman that I mentioned above.

Junior Lorenzo Styles spent time working with the cornerbacks today, and his best rep actually came on defense. He pressed Braylon James and drove him into the sideline. Styles did a good job with stop routes today, but he didn't get much separation down the field (the corners were really good today) and he didn't fight hard enough for the football. He got out played on a fade ball by Isaiah Dunn, who picked off the ball in the end zone. A penalty was called on the defender, but it was for something that happened earlier in the route. Styles has to battle more for the football than what we saw today, but he runs really well.

Speaking of James, he was a bit rusty today and was wearing a red jersey. His speed continues to flash, but against press coverage you can see where he's still very much a work in progress. James doesn't really have a confident repertoire when he's working against tight coverage and he allowed the defensive backs to get into his body way too easily. When he wins off the line he's incredibly hard to guard because of his length and speed, but his route running and release needs a lot of work.

Freshman Jaden Greathouse looked a lot more comfortable in the offense today than he did the last couple of times we saw him. He was very good working to get open over the middle and his route running was crisp. He almost the catch of the day on a downfield seam throw. He beat Ryan Barnes down the field but the throw from Buchner was under-thrown. I couldn't believe Greathouse even got his hands on the ball, much less initially secure the throw. Barnes landed on his hand and the ball came out great, but the body control and concentration from Greathouse was outstanding. Fellow freshman Rico Flores Jr. is bigger than I thought. He's taller than Styles and he's filling out his upper body. He also needs work getting off the press, but his downfield route running allows him to get pretty good separation out of breaks. He was open on a few outside routes but the balls were either late or off target.

Transfer Kaleb Smith was not at practice and is currently dealing with some personal issues. Junior Jayden Thomas was out there and look good going through drills, but I didn't get a chance to see many of his reps.

Sophomore tight end Holden Staes has to clean up his route running, which hurt him a bit during team periods, but his athleticism really pops. You can see this during 1on1s and 7on7 periods. Staes came off the line with really good speed and he caught the ball quite well. He's filled out nicely and once he cleans up his route running he's going to be a force. Junior Mitchell Evans worked himself open on a few seam routes but the throws were off target. The tight ends weren't on the same page as the QBs for much of the practice, but I couldn't tell who was at fault for that.

Sophomore walk-on Justin Fisher is a really impressive looking athlete at tight end/h-back. He runs really well and he's a big athlete that catches the ball well.

OFFENSIVE LINE

The starting offensive line today was (left to right) Joe Alt, Billy Schrauth, Zeke Correll, Andrew Kristofic, Blake Fisher.

The second offensive line today was (left to right) Tosh Baker, Pat Coogan, Ashton Craig, Rocco Spindler, Aamil Wagner. They mixed up the looks inside with this unit at times, but that's what we saw early.

Early on in the team period the offensive line had trouble getting a body on the blitzers, but they settled in late and gave the quarterbacks a bit more time. The run game battle was back and forth, which is what you want to see. They were able to open up some run lanes outside to the left.

Junior Joe Alt was outstanding during 1on1s and dominated the edge rushers. He overwhelmed Jordan Botelho on multiple reps. His movements are very easy and fluid, and he showed a really good punch today on the edge. He's clearly stronger than he was in the fall and got more push in the run game. I thought right tackle Blake Fisher had one of the better 1on1 periods I've seen from him. He was patient on the edge, allowed the ends to declare before he really popped them. He played with good angles and did a good job keeping the edge rushers on his outside.

Left guard Billy Schrauth had a really bad rep against Rylie Mills (who had a great practice by the way), but he was solid outside of that. His footwork is inconsistent, but when he kept his pads low he showed a lot of power. Right guard Andrew Kristofic was steady throughout the practice, but he needs to show a bit more punch when taking on blitzers.

Right tackle Aamil Wagner had some really quality reps when I was able to see him. He has a lot to learn mechanically, but his feet move quickly and he's really, really long. Left tackle Tosh Baker had some quality wins in 1on1, but during team he tends to get too high in pass sets, which allowed edge rushers to get into his pads.

Freshman guard Sam Pendleton has a lot of work to do technically, but he moves a lot better athletically than I thought he would. He has a very bright future. I did not see Michael Carmody get any reps today, which is the second straight open practice that's been the case.

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