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Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Last Year: 7-6)
2009 College Football Season Preview:
Star Players:
QB Jimmy Clausen, RB Armando Allen Jr., WR Golden Tate, WR Michael Floyd, TE Kyle Rudolph, T Sam Young, G Eric Olsen, DE Ethan Thomas, DT Ian Williams, OLB Brian Smith, CB Raeshon McNeal, SS Kyle McCarthy, FS Harrison Smith.
Draft/Graduation/Transfer Losses:
FB Asaph Schwapp, WR David Grimes, G Mike Turkovich, DE Justin Brown, OLB Scott Smith, OLB Maurice Crum Jr., ILB Steve Quinn, CB Terrail Lambert, FS David Bruton.
2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Offense:
Jimmy Clausen returns for his junior year at Notre Dame, and for the first time in a long time, the Irish have some hope offensively. Clausen has some experience under his belt and the hype is building in South Bend. Will Clausen make a Matt Stafford-type junior season or falter in his junior year like Drew Stanton?
I talked with a few Notre Dame insiders from IrishEyes.com at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, and they told me redshirt freshman Dayne Crist will emerge has a competitor for the starting quarterback gig after being the No. 1 QB in the country as a recruit. They think Crist is more of a leader than Clausen, but we will just have to see how it all plays out. I doubt Clausen loses to Crist considering his experience and the fact that Charlie Weis is on the hot seat.
Clausen will need to improve his production (YPA and TD-INT ratio) if he wants to be a first-round pick in 2010.
First-string tailback junior Armando Allen returns and he might be in line for a breakout season if the offensive line play can improve. He is a good receiver and is slippery athletic. Included in the running back stable is junior Robert Hughes and senior James Aldridge. Somebody from this pack needs to emerge as a big threat on the ground as opposed to just a couple average backs.
The offensive line is big up front and should be improved this season. Senior Paul Duncan returns at left tackle after sitting out last season with an injury. Senior Eric Olsen might emerge this season as a draftable prospect at left guard with his toughness and footwork. Sam Young is a dominant run blocker at right tackle. Sophomore Trevor Robinson has some upside at right guard.
The Notre Dame offense ranked 71st in the country last season in yards per play and 66th in scoring offense. Saying this program has underachieved on this side of the football is quite an understatement.
2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Defense:
Irish fans are hoping the defensive line can live up to the talent level that recruiting services such as Rivals rated them as. They are filled with 4-star players, but really haven’t been better than just average.
The player in line for a breakout season is sophomore Ethan Johnson. He has great size at 6-4, 275, and played well last year as a freshman. He had 3.5 sacks and is looking to capitalize on that number next season. Scouts said coming out of high school he should be a dominant run defender at the next level so that is also something to watch out for.
Defensive tackle Ian Williams is a run plugger in the middle, but needs to disrupt more plays in the backfield. Hafis Williams will compete with Emeka Nwanko at the other tackle position. Rumors are the coaching staff likes the athleticism in sophomore Kapron Lewis-Moore, so look for him along with Johnson to make an impact on the outside.
The linebacking corps is solid, but doesn’t seem to have much upside. Hopefully, they prove me wrong. Junior Brian Smith has some playmaking ability on the weakside and sophomore Darius Fleming should be a more productive player next season as he was thrown into the fire as a true freshman last year. Senior Toryan Smith needs to hold off superstar recruit Manti Te’o next season in the middle.
Notre Dame’s defensive backfield is by far the best unit on this defense as they have both experience and playmaking ability. Junior Harrison Smith is a stud at free safety. He had 57 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and seven pass break-ups last season. Senior Kyle McCarthy is back again at strong safety as he led the team in tackles last year with 110. Sophomores Robert Blanton and Raeshon McNeil are an athletic duo at cornerback. If the Domers can generate a very good pass rush this season, the backfield will find a way to turn the ball over back to Jimmy Clausen.
2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Schedule and Intangibles:
Notre Dame’s schedule is very weak this season and this team should reach double=digit victories in the regular season. If they don’t, it will be a disappointment.
Nevada, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Washington all better be wins to open up the season. I highly doubt this team is talented enough to beat USC even if the game is at home. Boston College is not nearly as good as last year (with the loss of B.J. Raji, Ron Brace and Mark Herzlich) and should be an easy win. Washington State is a cupcake. Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Stanford might be games that give the Fighting Irish trouble at the end of the season.
The special teams for Notre Dame are pretty mediocre. Kicker Brandon Walker was 9-of-18 from outside 30 yards last season.
It will be interesting to see if Golden Tate is still returning punts. Even still, he had an 8.3 average with zero touchdowns last year on 14 returns. The Fighting Irish have several highly recruited athletes and they need somebody to emerge in this area to improve field position.
This coaching staff, and not just Charlie Weis, hasn’t impressed me at all. I only say that because Notre Dame has recruited so well since 2006, but their assistant coaches haven’t done much to develop the talent. Sure Sam Young, Tate and Harrison Smith have been playmakers, but this isn’t good enough.
2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Positional Rankings (1-5 stars):
Quarterbacks |
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Offensive Line |
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Secondary |
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Running Backs |
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Defensive Line |
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Special Teams |
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Receivers |
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Linebackers |
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Coaching |
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2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Analysis:
Despite a very impressive projected record on paper, this team just isn’t the elite of the elite. To me, it all depends not on how many wins the Irish get, but how they do it. Are they blowing out the teams they should blow out? Are they not coming close to covering the spread against average opponents? If they are playing to their potential, I will never rate them highly. I think this team will lose to USC and an opponent such as Pittsburgh or Connecticut, which is a big improvement over last season. If they can win 10 games, they will be in a BCS Bowl Game because Notre Dame gets big ratings on television. Not that they deserve it…
Projection: 10-2
More 2009 College Football Season Previews
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2025 NFL Mock Draft - Nov. 20
NFL Power Rankings - Nov. 19
Fantasy Football Rankings - Sept. 4
