Posted: Tuesday, November 3, 2015 6:03 pm | Updated: 11:53 am, Thu Nov 5, 2015.
Notebook: Brian Kelly considers juggling Notre Dame personnel Eric Hansen South Bend Tribune ehansen@ndinsider.com @EHansenNDI ndinsider.com | 2 comments
- Posted on Nov 3, 2015
by Eric Hansen
Last year at this time, Irish head coach Brian Kelly was forced into some unpalatable ones in November when injuries mounted, particularly in the depth- and experience-poor defensive front seven. The upshot was four straight losses to end the regular season.
This year there are some personnel shifts he’s pondering that would be voluntary. They include getting sophomore defensive end Andrew Trumbetti more involved in the pass-rush mix and perhaps some others, situationally, for the same purpose, to boost the team’s No. 83 national ranking in sacks.
The ND coaching staff is also pondering whether to broaden roles for backup quarterback Brandon Wimbush and running back Josh Adams, both true freshmen and both impressive during what playing time they’ve received.
With Wimbush, it’d be about saving some wear and tear on starter DeShone Kizer in the running game. Kizer has 318 yards rushing on 72 carries, but 54 of those 72 carries have come in the past four games. At that pace (13.5 per game), he’d finish a 13-game season with 140 carries.
That would be the second-most by a Kelly-coached quarterback in his 12 seasons coaching on the FBS level. Kent Smith amassed 157 carries for Kelly’s Central Michigan team and finished with 443 rushing yards in 2005.
And with a run of strong rush defenses continuing, including the nation’s top run defense — Boston College — coming up on Nov. 21, the temptation to have Kizer running to take pressure off the traditional running game would seem to be greater, moving forward.
“We've given it some thought,” Kelly said of using Wimbush more. “It's been a discussion. Is there a time and place we can use him in some of the run-game scenarios that we have?
“It's certainly not out of the question, and we're going to continue to work with him if, in fact, we feel there's a need to run the quarterback more, especially in those kinds of defenses that are playing a lot of man coverage, that we would get him ready for that.”
Adams, meanwhile, could be added as a short-yardage option, something that’s also increasingly falling on Kizer’s shoulders.
“We throw (these questions) around just like you do,” Kelly said. “On Sunday when we get together as a staff, ‘Should we get Josh more carries? Big, physical kid in the red zone?’ All those things are things that we're going through as well.”
