2010 Offensive Preview

Quarterbacks

Hold your breath, loyal IFP readers. The Irish are thin at QB.

Junior Dayne Crist (6-4, 235), highly recruited out of Notre Dame HS in Canoga Park, CA three years ago (the #4 rated QB in his class per at least one recruiting list at the time) takes the reigns from departing three-year starter Jimmy Clausen (2nd Round, Carolina Panthers). How Crist adapts to Brian Kelly’s “warp speed” spread attack is one of a couple major keys to how the 2010 season will unfold in IFP’s opinion; there really are no two ways about it. Crist is the only quarterback on the Notre Dame roster that has taken a snap in a major college football game, going 10-20 for 130 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT last year and appearing in four games before tearing his right ACL vs. Washington State (and from the sad but true department, the Irish did not win another game the rest of the 2009 season after that Halloween blowout over Wazzu in San Antonio). The highlight of Crist’s college career to date, in IFP’s opinion anyway, has to be his 5-for-10 passing performance at Purdue last season where he entered the game in the 2nd quarter, subbing for a hobbled Clausen, and promptly led the Irish on two touchdown drives en route to the 17-7 halftime lead the Irish enjoyed. Crist surprised many by healing quickly enough to be on his feet and under center this spring and word-on-the-street is that he is adapting well to Kelly’s up-tempo approach, that he can make all the throws, etc., etc. But it is pretty much an established fact that successful spread QBs are both accurate AND mobile. Given the knee concerns, Crist’s mobility bears watching.

Junior Nate Montana (6-4, 215), son of Irish and San Francisco 49er legend Joe, exited spring practice as the backup quarterback. Montana was an Irish walk-on two seasons ago, but left to play JUCO football last year (Pasadena City College). And while Montana didn’t start for Pasadena CC last season (31-88, 324 yards, 2 TDs, 5 INTs), he did throw 3 touchdown passes in the Blue-Gold game last April. IFP believes, however, that it is quite possible Montana will not be #2 on the QB depth chart all season and possibly not even to begin the season. Kelly and staff brought in three ‘spread-ready’ freshman QBs as part of their Class of 2014 recruiting effort and all three will get quality snaps before the Purdue opener: Tommy Rees (6-3, 195 from Lake Forest HS in Lake Forest IL, a northern Chicago suburb), Andrew Hendrix (6-2, 230 from Cincinnati Moeller), and Luke Massa (6-4, 215 from Cincinnati St. Xavier). Rees enrolled at Notre Dame in January, participated in spring practice, and was evenly splitting 2nd team offense snaps with Montana as of this week. Hendrix, who threw for 8 TDs and ran for 6 TDs as HS senior and led his Moeller squad to the #5 spot in the final Ohio D-I rankings, chose Kelly’s Irish over Urban Meyer’s Florida Gators. And Massa probably had a more impressive high school senior season, numbers-wise, than either Rees or Hendrix (67% completion percentage, 16 TDs, 1600+ yards passing for the #4 Division I team in Ohio per the final 2009 AP poll --- although, in deference to the never-miss-an-IFP-issue Cincinnati Elder contingent, Massa and St. X did fall to the Elder Panthers in the regional semifinals of the Ohio Division I playoffs a year ago).

Kelly used 2 different QBs en route to an undefeated 2009 regular season campaign with the Cincinnati Bearcats & and an almost unbelievable 5 QBs in 2008 (Jimmy O., thanks for clarifying!), so he’s probably less nervous about his quarterback situation than IFP is. But even so, here’s hoping Crist is both good and healthy this year. Were sure the “kids” can play, but all things being equal, we can wait little while to see ‘em.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Quality and quantity.

Junior Michael Floyd (6-3, 220) is an NFL-caliber talent who has racked up very impressive numbers in two years in South Bend…when healthy. Floyd, who has yet to finish a complete season due to a variety of injuries, caught 44 balls for 795 yards and 9 TDs in only 7 games last year, missing 5 starts due to a collarbone injury. His 85 receiving yards per game average is tops among all returning players in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) this season. This spring, Kelly experimented with lining Floyd up in the slot rather than out wide as a split end (X) or flanker (Y) and word is this may be a permanent switch. IFP would guess that reasons for a move like this might include an interest on Kelly’s part to more creatively get the ball into Floyd’s hands more often as well as to discourage opposing defenses from rolling their coverage toward whatever side of the field Floyd lines up on when split out wide --- something that happened often last year.

Senior Duval Kamara (6-4, 220) will likely start at one WR spot, trading spots with Floyd --- Kamara was often in the slot a year ago. Kamara’s freshman season was a breakthrough (32 catches, breaking Tim Brown’s then-freshman school record, an ND frosh record that was re-broken by Floyd in 2008) but his production was down as a sophomore and junior (20 and 23 catches, respectively). Kamara’s 2009 season started slowly following an August knee scope, but he did build momentum and got more PT as the year went on, particularly after Floyd’s injury. Kamara is the biggest target in the current Irish WR stable and IFP sees a lot of balls heading his way this fall, as defenses focus on Floyd & Rudolph (see below) and adapt to the new-look Irish no huddle attack.

Going into summer practice, the third WR spot will be manned by freshman Tai-Ler “T.J.” Jones (5-11, 185), who was probably the biggest surprise of the spring. Jones, the son of former Notre Dame defensive end Andre Jones who played on the 1988 national championship team, enrolled in January and literally burst onto the scene. He worked with the first-team offense just about all spring and caught 4 passes for 56 yards and an 18-yard touchdown in the Blue-Gold game, while earning widespread praise from coaches and teammates alike for his speed, playmaking ability, and how quickly he asserted himself in the new offense. Jones played in spread offense in high school (Gainesville HS, Gainesville, FL).

Sophomore Theo Riddick, who came to South Bend from New Jersey as a heralded running back recruit and rushed for 167 yards as a freshmen, has been moved to wide receiver and will very likely be the in the WR rotation as well. Riddick played in every game last year as a back-up running back and kick returner; he might be the quickest player on the roster. IFP believes that Riddick’s position swap bears watching; recall that Golden Tate started his Irish career as a running back.

The tight position will be manned by junior Kyle Rudolph (6-6, 265 from Cincinnati Elder), another Irish passing game fixture who will very likely play on Sundays in the not too distant future. Rudolph, arguably the best returning college tight end in America, has started 22 games in 2 years for the Irish. He caught 33 passes for 364 yards and 3 TDs last year and was one of eight John Mackey Award finalists in 2009 (and the only 2009 Mackey finalist returning to college ball in 2010). Seventeen of Rudolph’s 33 catches (52%) resulted in first downs for the Irish a year ago. IFP doesn’t think it is a stretch to assume that Rudolph will see even more balls thrown his way this year. Rudolph missed the Pitt and UConn games in 2009 due to a shoulder injury, had off-season shoulder surgery, and was limited for precautionary reasons in spring practice.

Senior Mike Ragone (6-4, 245) will back up Rudolph. Ragone led all receivers with 6 catches for 75 yards in the April Blue-Gold game.


Running Backs

Remember us?

Sure, most of the Notre Dame-related chatter since the Kelly hire has been about how his UC Bearcats maximized snaps and threw the ball all over the yard out of their no-huddle spread, and justifiably so, but the quality and depth of the Irish stable of 2010 running backs should not be forgotten. Kelly and the Irish offensive staff appeared to settle on a four-back rotation coming out of spring practice: senior Armando Allen (5-10, 200), senior Robert Hughes (5-11, 235 from Chicago Hubbard), junior Jonas Gray (5-10, 220) and sophomore Cierre Wood (6-0, 210). Allen, who had a great spring, rushed for 697 yards and 3 TDS in 2009 (4.9 ypc) and is the likely option #1 from this group heading into the fall. Hughes ran for 416 yards and 5 TDs in 2009. Gray and Wood likewise played well in the spring, per published reports, and both had noticeably productive Blue-Gold games (Gray rushed for 54 yards rushing on 8 carries including a 38-yard TD run and Wood ran for 110 yards on 10 carries and 2 TDs). Gray, from Detroit, got more playing time as a freshman two years ago than as a sophomore last year and is clearly looking to reassert himself. Wood, the #2 high school running back in the nation per The Sporting News following his senior year at Santa Clara HS in Oxnard, CA, redshirted last year.

Allen will likely be the primary punt returner for the 2010 Fighting Irish. Wood and Riddick will return kickoffs.

One interesting note related to the Irish running game in 2010 and beyond: in three years at Cincinnati, Brian Kelly only had one running back average more than 10 carries/game over the course of a season. IFP suggests we all keep in mind that Allen caught 28 passes out of the backfield last year.


Offensive Line

Change for the better?

The 2010 Fighting Irish will feature only two returning starters along the offensive line, 5th year senior left guard Chris Stewart (6-5, 345) and junior right guard Trevor Robinson (6-5, 300). Stewart graduated last spring with the class of 2009 and is now a first-year Notre Dame Law School student, making him a likely favorite among the many loyal IFP-reading NDLS graduates. Robinson started 11 games at right guard a year ago, was temporarily moved to tackle during spring practice, but has returned to his guard slot.

Heading into the summer, sophomore Zack Martin (6-4, 290 from Indianapolis Chatard HS) will line up next to Stewart at the all-important left tackle spot and senior Taylor Dever (6-5, 295) should start at right tackle, replacing oft-criticized Sam Young and Paul Duncan who have moved on to the NFL. Martin did not see any playing time as a freshman; the IFP staff will be monitoring him closely. Dever has played in 18 games during his ND career.

Senior Dan Wenger (6-4, 295) and junior Braxton Cave (6-3, 310 from Penn HS in Granger, IN) battled for the starting center spot this spring and will continue to do so this summer. Wenger missed some time this week with concussion symptoms, setting him back a bit.