I already broke down the performance of the quarterbacks, which you can find HERE.
Other notes from practice:
- Cole Kmet was not at practice today because of Notre Dame's baseball team is in Raleigh to play NC State
- Nic Weishar, Trevor Ruhland and Drew White were all still out of today's practice. DT Jonathan Bonner practiced but as has been the case all spring he did not take any live reps.
OFFENSE:
- QB/RB/WR Avery Davis had a quality day today. He went 15-of-25 throwing and made a lot of plays with the ball in his hands. He's better on hand offs and short throws where he doesn't have to think about route running. He had two drops on deeper throws, and that's been a bit of an issue. But when he's just handed the ball he's pretty good.
- RB Tony Jones Jr. had the best day of all the backs. He ripped off a couple of long runs today, he was decisive as a runner and he made a couple really nice catches as well. Dexter Williams didn't do much today but it wasn't really his fault. Most of his carries came with the second team line and he didn't have a lot of room to work. Jahmir Smith didn't have any long runs but he was efficient as a runner and he caught the ball better.
- WR Miles Boykin had an off practice last Saturday but he was back to being hard to guard. He wasn't targeted as much today as Notre Dame seemed to be working a lot of the No. 2 skill players in, but when Boykin was targeted he was effective outside of one drop on a 4th down throw.
- WR Chris Finke had another quality day. His route running was good and he caught 7 of the 8 throws in which he was targeted. The only incompletion was on a throw where he shouldn't have been targeted and it was picked off.
- WR Chase Claypool worked mostly with the second team but did get some first team reps. He had an okay day, making catches on all 6 of the targets he had during the competitive periods, although most were on short routes. He caught a slant, a couple of open ins, a hitch route, a slide route and a stop route. On his stop catch he did a nice job working back to the ball when the coverage was tight.
- WR Freddy Canteen beat Shaun Crawford by a step on a deep ball but Book's pass was way under thrown and Crawford broke it up.
- WR Michael Young was back at practice and it was obvious. He plays at a faster tempo than the rest of the receivers. He caught 5 balls on 7 targets, including a post route for a TD in which he beat Troy Pride over the top. It was a great route and a perfect ball. He also beat Pride on a slant route during team for a catch on another well-placed ball from Wimbush.
- WR Javon McKinley had an up-and-down day. He made a lot of plays early and was good until late in the practice. He caught 7 balls, including a team-high 5 during team, but he was targeted 12 times. He had a chance to end the practice with a TD and did a nice job working open on the scramble but he couldn't haul in the pass. He beat Shaun Crawford on a wheel route and also made a really nice sideline catch in which he double-tapped before going out of bounds after a scramble.
- TE Alizé Mack was a force to be reckoned with again today. He caught 7 of the 8 targets, and the only non-catch was an INT after a terrible pass by Book. He caught two deep seam throws from Wimbush and also scored on a deep corner throw during 7-on-7. The best part of his spring, and we saw it again today, is how consistently he is catching the ball.
- TE Brock Wright does a really nice job working the short and intermediate zones and he continues to catch the ball well in those zones.
- The combination of LT Liam Eichenberg and LG Alex Bars was quite good today, and they already seem to be working well together. Eichenberg noted after practice that Bars is doing a lot more talking and communicating on the left side, which has helped the younger blocker. Eichenberg was really good in pass pro today. He forced pass rushers to quit on multiple reps in team. By quit I'm referring to the DE realizing he wasn't going to win the rep so they'd quit the rush and start peaking into the backfield to try to bat down the ball. Their combos got really good movement and the only defender to give them issues today was occasionally Tillery. Eichenberg has been playing at a very high level the last few open practices, and that continued today.
- RT Robert Hainsey was solid in protection today. His technique was sound and he anchored well against power rushers. Wimbush was able to quickly step into the pocket and get throws off with Hainsey riding rushers outside and RG Tommy Kraemer keeping defenders near the line. Kraemer and Mustipher had some issues at times with Tillery and Myron Tagovailoa, but they also won their fair share of battles.
Other notes from practice:
- Cole Kmet was not at practice today because of Notre Dame's baseball team is in Raleigh to play NC State
- Nic Weishar, Trevor Ruhland and Drew White were all still out of today's practice. DT Jonathan Bonner practiced but as has been the case all spring he did not take any live reps.
OFFENSE:
- QB/RB/WR Avery Davis had a quality day today. He went 15-of-25 throwing and made a lot of plays with the ball in his hands. He's better on hand offs and short throws where he doesn't have to think about route running. He had two drops on deeper throws, and that's been a bit of an issue. But when he's just handed the ball he's pretty good.
- RB Tony Jones Jr. had the best day of all the backs. He ripped off a couple of long runs today, he was decisive as a runner and he made a couple really nice catches as well. Dexter Williams didn't do much today but it wasn't really his fault. Most of his carries came with the second team line and he didn't have a lot of room to work. Jahmir Smith didn't have any long runs but he was efficient as a runner and he caught the ball better.
- WR Miles Boykin had an off practice last Saturday but he was back to being hard to guard. He wasn't targeted as much today as Notre Dame seemed to be working a lot of the No. 2 skill players in, but when Boykin was targeted he was effective outside of one drop on a 4th down throw.
- WR Chris Finke had another quality day. His route running was good and he caught 7 of the 8 throws in which he was targeted. The only incompletion was on a throw where he shouldn't have been targeted and it was picked off.
- WR Chase Claypool worked mostly with the second team but did get some first team reps. He had an okay day, making catches on all 6 of the targets he had during the competitive periods, although most were on short routes. He caught a slant, a couple of open ins, a hitch route, a slide route and a stop route. On his stop catch he did a nice job working back to the ball when the coverage was tight.
- WR Freddy Canteen beat Shaun Crawford by a step on a deep ball but Book's pass was way under thrown and Crawford broke it up.
- WR Michael Young was back at practice and it was obvious. He plays at a faster tempo than the rest of the receivers. He caught 5 balls on 7 targets, including a post route for a TD in which he beat Troy Pride over the top. It was a great route and a perfect ball. He also beat Pride on a slant route during team for a catch on another well-placed ball from Wimbush.
- WR Javon McKinley had an up-and-down day. He made a lot of plays early and was good until late in the practice. He caught 7 balls, including a team-high 5 during team, but he was targeted 12 times. He had a chance to end the practice with a TD and did a nice job working open on the scramble but he couldn't haul in the pass. He beat Shaun Crawford on a wheel route and also made a really nice sideline catch in which he double-tapped before going out of bounds after a scramble.
- TE Alizé Mack was a force to be reckoned with again today. He caught 7 of the 8 targets, and the only non-catch was an INT after a terrible pass by Book. He caught two deep seam throws from Wimbush and also scored on a deep corner throw during 7-on-7. The best part of his spring, and we saw it again today, is how consistently he is catching the ball.
- TE Brock Wright does a really nice job working the short and intermediate zones and he continues to catch the ball well in those zones.
- The combination of LT Liam Eichenberg and LG Alex Bars was quite good today, and they already seem to be working well together. Eichenberg noted after practice that Bars is doing a lot more talking and communicating on the left side, which has helped the younger blocker. Eichenberg was really good in pass pro today. He forced pass rushers to quit on multiple reps in team. By quit I'm referring to the DE realizing he wasn't going to win the rep so they'd quit the rush and start peaking into the backfield to try to bat down the ball. Their combos got really good movement and the only defender to give them issues today was occasionally Tillery. Eichenberg has been playing at a very high level the last few open practices, and that continued today.
- RT Robert Hainsey was solid in protection today. His technique was sound and he anchored well against power rushers. Wimbush was able to quickly step into the pocket and get throws off with Hainsey riding rushers outside and RG Tommy Kraemer keeping defenders near the line. Kraemer and Mustipher had some issues at times with Tillery and Myron Tagovailoa, but they also won their fair share of battles.
