Notre Dame football started to operate a little more like a game week with practice Tuesday afternoon. Media members were allowed to watch the first five periods of practice and will speak to running backs coach Deland McCullough and his running backs after practice.
Let's start with injuries first, because there was a notable one. Center Zeke Correll sat out today's practice with a brace of some sort on his left ankle. Ashton Craig took the first-team center reps in his absence.
My hunch is that if Notre Dame feared Correll would be sidelined for a significant amount of time that would prevent him from playing, we'd see left guard Pat Coogan slide over to center. Marcus Freeman isn't available to reporters until next Monday, so we may not get an official update until then.
I did not see LB Nolan Ziegler at today's practice, though Freeman said Saturday that he had returned to the team while dealing with an off-the-field issue. Freshman OT Sullivan Absher was another player I couldn't locate. Players lower on the depth chart were wearing different numbers for scout team, so maybe I just lost track of him. But I didn't locate him while specifically trying to do so.
Other sidelined players as expected: TE Kevin Bauman (ACL), DE Aiden Gobaira (ACL) and WR KK Smith (shoulder).
Notre Dame started its practice with a tempo drill with the first two units on offense and defense.
The first-team offense included QB Sam Hartman, RB Gi'Bran Payne, WRs Jayden Thomas, Tobias Merriweather and Chris Tyree, TE Mitchell Evans, LT Joe Alt, LG Pat Coogan, C Ashton Craig, RG Rocco Spindler and RT Blake Fisher.
The first-team defense included VYP Jordan Botelho, NT Howard Cross III, DT Rylie Mills, DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste, MLB JD Bertrand, WLB Marist Liufau, ROV Jack Kiser, CBs Benjamin Morrison and Cam Hart and S Xavier Watts and DJ Brown.
The second-team defense threw me for a bit of a loop, which prevented me from getting the second-team offense. The defense included VYP Junior Tuihalamaka, NT Gabriel Rubio, DT Jason Onye, DE Nana Osafo-Mensah, MLB Drayk Bowen, WLB Jaylen Sneed, CBs Jaden Mickey and Christian Gray and S Ramon Henderson. What threw me for a loop was Clarence Lewis lining up in a safety spot and Antonio Carter lining up in either a rover or nickelback position. Usually you see the second-team defense lining up in a similar scheme as the first team, so that may have been a base defense look with guys in surprising spots.
Spencer Shrader had a rough field goal session. I had him 4-of-8 during the period. The yardage is a little bit of a guess because we can't see real well from the end zone, but it looked like misses from 40 twice, 44 and 29 yards and makes from 43, 25, 30 and an extra point.
Like I mentioned previously, players were wearing different numbers for scout team purposes. I was able to take account for the OL and DL switches for some drill work as the scout-team lineman went against the opposite side of the ball. So on the defensive line, these guys were working against the offensive line starters: Brenan Vernon, Boubacar Traore, Tyson Ford, DeVan Houstan and Armel Mukam. Walk-ons Kobi Onyiuke and Cole Aubrey were also used.
As for the offensive linemen going against the top-end defensive linemen: Michael Carmody, Ty Chan, Charles Jagusah, Chris Terek and Charles Jagusah.
Some other scholarship players who were wearing scout team numbers today: LB Preston Zinter, S Adon Shuler, S Ben Minich, CB Micah Bell, CB Chance Tucker, CB Ryan Barnes.
Let's start with injuries first, because there was a notable one. Center Zeke Correll sat out today's practice with a brace of some sort on his left ankle. Ashton Craig took the first-team center reps in his absence.
My hunch is that if Notre Dame feared Correll would be sidelined for a significant amount of time that would prevent him from playing, we'd see left guard Pat Coogan slide over to center. Marcus Freeman isn't available to reporters until next Monday, so we may not get an official update until then.
I did not see LB Nolan Ziegler at today's practice, though Freeman said Saturday that he had returned to the team while dealing with an off-the-field issue. Freshman OT Sullivan Absher was another player I couldn't locate. Players lower on the depth chart were wearing different numbers for scout team, so maybe I just lost track of him. But I didn't locate him while specifically trying to do so.
Other sidelined players as expected: TE Kevin Bauman (ACL), DE Aiden Gobaira (ACL) and WR KK Smith (shoulder).
Notre Dame started its practice with a tempo drill with the first two units on offense and defense.
The first-team offense included QB Sam Hartman, RB Gi'Bran Payne, WRs Jayden Thomas, Tobias Merriweather and Chris Tyree, TE Mitchell Evans, LT Joe Alt, LG Pat Coogan, C Ashton Craig, RG Rocco Spindler and RT Blake Fisher.
The first-team defense included VYP Jordan Botelho, NT Howard Cross III, DT Rylie Mills, DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste, MLB JD Bertrand, WLB Marist Liufau, ROV Jack Kiser, CBs Benjamin Morrison and Cam Hart and S Xavier Watts and DJ Brown.
The second-team defense threw me for a bit of a loop, which prevented me from getting the second-team offense. The defense included VYP Junior Tuihalamaka, NT Gabriel Rubio, DT Jason Onye, DE Nana Osafo-Mensah, MLB Drayk Bowen, WLB Jaylen Sneed, CBs Jaden Mickey and Christian Gray and S Ramon Henderson. What threw me for a loop was Clarence Lewis lining up in a safety spot and Antonio Carter lining up in either a rover or nickelback position. Usually you see the second-team defense lining up in a similar scheme as the first team, so that may have been a base defense look with guys in surprising spots.
Spencer Shrader had a rough field goal session. I had him 4-of-8 during the period. The yardage is a little bit of a guess because we can't see real well from the end zone, but it looked like misses from 40 twice, 44 and 29 yards and makes from 43, 25, 30 and an extra point.
Like I mentioned previously, players were wearing different numbers for scout team purposes. I was able to take account for the OL and DL switches for some drill work as the scout-team lineman went against the opposite side of the ball. So on the defensive line, these guys were working against the offensive line starters: Brenan Vernon, Boubacar Traore, Tyson Ford, DeVan Houstan and Armel Mukam. Walk-ons Kobi Onyiuke and Cole Aubrey were also used.
As for the offensive linemen going against the top-end defensive linemen: Michael Carmody, Ty Chan, Charles Jagusah, Chris Terek and Charles Jagusah.
Some other scholarship players who were wearing scout team numbers today: LB Preston Zinter, S Adon Shuler, S Ben Minich, CB Micah Bell, CB Chance Tucker, CB Ryan Barnes.
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