SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Welcome to Year Three.
Marcus Freeman doesn’t need a reminder of what that means at Notre Dame as Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz all won national championships during their third seasons. Brian Kelly played for one. For every other head coach in modern Notre Dame history, the third year was revealing, too, just in the opposite direction.
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Now it’s Freeman’s turn with a revamped offense running opposite one of the oldest defenses in college football. There’s a new quarterback (Riley Leonard) and a new offensive coordinator (Mike Denbrock). There’s an offensive line that’s very un-Notre Dame with three new starters including a freshman at left tackle. There’s a defense that could start seven graduate students under third-year coordinator Al Golden.
And there’s the new 12-team College Football Playoff to shoot for, with the potential of a home game at Notre Dame Stadium in December. Making that happen starts on Saturday night when No. 7 Notre Dame kicks off against No. 20 Texas A&M (7:30 p.m., ABC).
“We know it’s gonna be a challenge,” Freeman said. “We’re looking forward to it. It’ll be a great environment and we’re looking forward to the opportunity to face another top-20 program Saturday night down in College Station.”
Here are three (non-offensive line) keys to watch, plus a prediction.
How much will Notre Dame run Riley Leonard?
If there’s a tell in Leonard’s box scores at Duke it’s that the bigger the game, the more he runs the ball. In 20 starts the past two seasons, Leonard hit double-digit carries (sacks included) nine times. Last year, in the biggest home game in Duke history, Leonard carried a career-high 18 times for 88 yards against Notre Dame. Against Miami and North Carolina a season earlier, he hit 14 carries per game.
Excluding Leonard’s one-carry performance at Florida State last season — his first game back after the ankle sprain suffered against Notre Dame — his lowest rushing outputs came against UConn, Lafayette and North Carolina A&T.
Texas A&M feels a lot more like Notre Dame or Miami than a Group of 5 school.
But how much is too much with Leonard in the ground game?
“I don’t know,” Denbrock said. “Listen, you don’t want to spend it all in the first couple series of the game. But some of that gets dictated by the flow of the game, quite frankly. And it’s hard to really know.”
If Texas A&M planned to cut and paste Mike Elko’s defense from Duke, this might be an easier question to answer. But Elko hired Jay Bateman from Florida as his defensive coordinator, which meant a deep dive into another scheme, although the Gators ranked No. 122 nationally in yards per play allowed last season with Bateman working as linebackers coach. Will Florida play Leonard as a runner first on the zone read or commit to Jeremiyah Love? Or do the Aggies try to take away both, opening up the quick pass game?
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Either way, Notre Dame knows it has something potentially special with the 6-foot-4, 216-pound Leonard on the ground. He didn’t get to show it during spring practice and Notre Dame’s preseason camp was limited in terms of media access. A national television audience will be something different.
“To have the ability to help design quarterback runs or truly read defenders with a quarterback that can pull it, that’s something that’s going to help our offense have success,” Freeman said.
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Will the Irish go deep at linebacker?
Jack Kiser will have a green dot on his helmet this fall, signaling he’s the defender with the radio link to Golden on the sideline. It’s not that Kiser will be the only helmet equipped to communicate with the coaching staff, but he’ll get the first crack as one player at a time can have the device.
It’s not entirely clear who else will have the communication device, but Notre Dame expects multiple helmets to be equipped with the radio apparatus. When Kiser goes out, another linebacker (or another position) will go in with a green dot helmet. It’s just not clear how much Kiser will go out as Notre Dame has a wealth of experience everywhere but linebacker.
“They’re ready to go. There’s not even a second thought. There’s not a conversation,” Golden said. “They’re going to be tested.”
But how many questions will Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Drayk Bowen, Jaylen Sneed and Jaiden Ausberry get to answer against Texas A&M?
Against Ohio State last season, JD Bertrand and Marist Liufau combined for 130 snaps. Kiser and the rest of the linebacker room combined for 20, 10 each for Kiser and Sneed. Will Notre Dame go that heavy with experience against the Aggies on a hot night? If Golden trusts the linebackers, a rotation would be a boost to the defense long term. It’s just hard to see Kiser rotating much with the youth around him.
“They’re all smart. They’re hungry. They’ve been in the system with the exception of Kyng, but I don’t know if we’d be here if Kyng just got here in June,” Golden said. “I think it’s a good group.”
GO DEEPERWhy they stayed: The seniors who gave Notre Dame its Playoff expectationsDoes Notre Dame have a must-watch punter?
James Rendell’s first punt against Texas A&M will be the first of his football career.
That’s enough to make the 6-6, 224-pound punter appointment viewing. And there’s also the fact he’s a 24-year-old Australian learning American football on the fly while building a following inside the Notre Dame program.
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“The good part is with James, we feel like he has a lot of different things in his toolbox that we can be able to use,” said special teams coordinator Marty Biagi. “Which is great for us because we feel like now we can place the ball anywhere on the field when we want.”
Notre Dame’s two primary punt returners — Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison — both raved about Rendell’s punting during training camp. Not that the import made it easy on the Irish receivers.
“He’s got some weird spin on it and being a returner, I know that other returners are going to have a hard time fielding the ball,” Greathouse said. “He’s got a really strong leg, for sure. It’s interesting. He can put it basically wherever he wants to.”
In a game expected to be low-scoring, Rendell’s potential could feature prominently.
Prediction
Anywhere but Kyle Field, Notre Dame would be favored against Texas A&M as it begins its rebuild under Mike Elko. But in College Station that math changes, especially with an Irish offensive line with six career starts in the starting lineup. Notre Dame has the material to make the College Football Playoff, regardless of what happens on Saturday night.
Opening week of Marcus Freeman’s third season proves to be a rock fight dominated by both defenses. Notre Dame’s offense can’t put it together against Texas A&M as the overload of new faces at quarterback, receiver and offensive line all need time to grow.
Texas A&M 17, Notre Dame 13
(Photo: Ken Ruinard / USA Today)
Pete Sampson is a staff writer for The Athletic on the Notre Dame football beat, a program he’s covered for the past 21 seasons. The former editor and co-founder of Irish Illustrated, Pete has covered six different regimes in South Bend, reporting on the Fighting Irish from the end of the Bob Davie years through the start of the Marcus Freeman era.
