Notre Dame held its first annual New & Gold Game today this afternoon inside of the newly renovated Notre Dame Stadium.
The format was similar to that of the spring’s Blue-Gold Game, with the first team offense battling the first team defense in the early going and the second team units matching up. It was a four-quarter format with 15-minute quarters and a halftime.
My thoughts on the offense’s performance:
QUARTERBACK
· Junior Brandon Wimbush had a solid and effective outing. He was quick with his release and accurate, although he did underthrow a deep ball to Chase Claypool, but the ball still got caught. A throw that leads Claypool might have resulted in a score. Overall Wimbush ran the offense effectively, checking out of bad looks and there were no protection check errors that were obvious.
· Wimbush had a pretty deep touchdown to Equanimeous St. Brown called because he it appeared he might have been sacked before he let the ball loose. Most likely what would have happened is he would have been hit right after the ball was let loose.
· The knocks on Wimbush today was at times he would hold onto the ball a bit too long or would be late getting the ball to the check downs. Some of the sacks could have been avoided with quicker check downs. Wimbush also was off target on a couple of screen passes. One particularly bad miss was on an inside screen to Cameron Smith that might have gone for a touchdown had Wimbush not thrown the ball behind his wideout.
· Sophomore Ian Book had a solid day, but there’s a clear gap between he and Wimbush at this point. Book needs to work on anticipating routes a bit better and getting rid of the ball sooner. He did a really nice job side-stepping some pressure and quickly getting up field for chain-moving runs.
· Freshman Avery Davis finished the day off with a gorgeous post throw for a touchdown to sophomore Javon McKinley.
RUNNING BACK
· Notre Dame is absolutely loaded at running back. There have been years over the last two decades where the team’s current 3rd and 4th running backs would be major, major contributors.
· Josh Adams had a typical Josh Adams day. He ran hard downhill, make the most of any creases he had and his pass protection was sound for the most part. At this time last year Adams was not playing with the same burst he did as a freshman due to some lingering muscle pull issues. That is not the case right now, as Adams as shown an excellent burst all camp, and we saw it again today.
· Notre Dame moved Tony Jones Jr. all around today and he had a solid performance. There wasn’t much we saw from Jones that we haven’t already seen throughout fall camp. He did have a protection whiff, which can’t happen.
· Junior Dexter Williams continues putting together an excellent fall camp. I have criticized him in the past for his lack of feel at running back. There is still some of that to his game, but he’s been running cleaner all camp and showing a better feel for his reads and cuts. Williams was at his best today, making quick and decisive cuts and getting downhill with more authority that we’ve seen. He’s always been a home run threat when the holes are big, but today he attacked smaller holes with good authority.
· Williams caught a wheel route for a touchdown, making an impressive leaping grab. If he can become more of a factor in the pass game it will really improve his chances at extra playing time. Like Jones, he has to be better in protection.
The format was similar to that of the spring’s Blue-Gold Game, with the first team offense battling the first team defense in the early going and the second team units matching up. It was a four-quarter format with 15-minute quarters and a halftime.
My thoughts on the offense’s performance:
QUARTERBACK
· Junior Brandon Wimbush had a solid and effective outing. He was quick with his release and accurate, although he did underthrow a deep ball to Chase Claypool, but the ball still got caught. A throw that leads Claypool might have resulted in a score. Overall Wimbush ran the offense effectively, checking out of bad looks and there were no protection check errors that were obvious.
· Wimbush had a pretty deep touchdown to Equanimeous St. Brown called because he it appeared he might have been sacked before he let the ball loose. Most likely what would have happened is he would have been hit right after the ball was let loose.
· The knocks on Wimbush today was at times he would hold onto the ball a bit too long or would be late getting the ball to the check downs. Some of the sacks could have been avoided with quicker check downs. Wimbush also was off target on a couple of screen passes. One particularly bad miss was on an inside screen to Cameron Smith that might have gone for a touchdown had Wimbush not thrown the ball behind his wideout.
· Sophomore Ian Book had a solid day, but there’s a clear gap between he and Wimbush at this point. Book needs to work on anticipating routes a bit better and getting rid of the ball sooner. He did a really nice job side-stepping some pressure and quickly getting up field for chain-moving runs.
· Freshman Avery Davis finished the day off with a gorgeous post throw for a touchdown to sophomore Javon McKinley.
RUNNING BACK
· Notre Dame is absolutely loaded at running back. There have been years over the last two decades where the team’s current 3rd and 4th running backs would be major, major contributors.
· Josh Adams had a typical Josh Adams day. He ran hard downhill, make the most of any creases he had and his pass protection was sound for the most part. At this time last year Adams was not playing with the same burst he did as a freshman due to some lingering muscle pull issues. That is not the case right now, as Adams as shown an excellent burst all camp, and we saw it again today.
· Notre Dame moved Tony Jones Jr. all around today and he had a solid performance. There wasn’t much we saw from Jones that we haven’t already seen throughout fall camp. He did have a protection whiff, which can’t happen.
· Junior Dexter Williams continues putting together an excellent fall camp. I have criticized him in the past for his lack of feel at running back. There is still some of that to his game, but he’s been running cleaner all camp and showing a better feel for his reads and cuts. Williams was at his best today, making quick and decisive cuts and getting downhill with more authority that we’ve seen. He’s always been a home run threat when the holes are big, but today he attacked smaller holes with good authority.
· Williams caught a wheel route for a touchdown, making an impressive leaping grab. If he can become more of a factor in the pass game it will really improve his chances at extra playing time. Like Jones, he has to be better in protection.
