Rakes Report #187: Make a move extreme, shortcut to your dreams, float straight to the stars on that flying thing
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~optional musical accompaniment~
For a coaching transition that was supposed to be marked by relative continuity from the previous regime, that ended up being a helluva lot of turnover for Marcus Freeman to address in his first hiring cycle running a program. The entire offensive staff swirled around Tommy Rees and there was a surprise hire necessary on the defensive side as well. As far as roster construction, the Irish ended up in the black on NFL decisions, particularly in the trenches. While the coaching staff doesn’t look quite like we expected it to in early December, the program seems to remain in a good place with the start of Freeman’s rookie spring practice looming.
Two general notes as we assess where things stand:
1) It’s unwise to have really strong opinions about assistant coaching hires. There’s so much we don’t know about the context of their previous stops and former colleagues aren’t going to publicly bad mouth them but are usually happy to publicly praise them so some humility in assessing these choices is warranted. When looking at head coach you can have an okay feel, coordinator kinda but less so and by the time you get down to specific position coaches you’re fumbling around in the dark.
2) I’m going to talk about the roster as it is currently constructed, but it’s safe to say we’ll see some Irish players departing and likely some other players coming in via the transfer portal following spring practice. (Those who wish to transfer and retain eligibility for this fall must be in the portal by May 1.)
Will not be discussing Kyle Hamilton or Kyren Williams as they had already announced their departures, but best of luck to them in the draft, where Hamilton has been mocked as high as No. 3 overall which rules.
I do want to gently remind folks that no record books keep track of how many press conferences you dominate and to my knowledge no one has hung a banner for an offseason championship. When fall comes you must go out and win games, and while on paper this staff and roster seems capable of doing that at a very high level, it can, at times, be difficult. Really excited to see how Freeman settles into his new role, but steel your heart for some bumps here and there.
Fair warning: This is a long one, with so many new faces to discuss. I’d suggest treating yourself to an intermission once you reach the defensive line coach section. If you want some of these thoughts in audio form, The Athletic’s Pete Sampson was kind enough to hop on the podcast last week and you can listen to that here. If you’re interested in some merch for the spring wardrobe refresh, that’s here.
In: Al Golden
We’ll start with the most recent development, which is that the Cincinnati Bengals linebackers coach was hired as the Irish defensive coordinator fresh off a Super Bowl run. Golden fell off the college football radar and moved to the pros after getting fired as the Miami coach in 2015, but he had a solid collegiate run prior to succumbing to the snakepit that has claimed everyone associated with Hurricanes football for nearly two decades.
While at Miami, and before that when he was defensive coordinator for Virginia, Golden proved his bona fides on the recruiting trail, meaning he should be able to fit right into the overall Freeman ethos and serve as a great complement to a younger staff with his wealth of experience. More importantly, the guy can coach: Temple went 4-42 in the four years prior to Golden’s arrival, and over his fourth and fifth seasons there he went 17-8, albeit coinciding with the Owls joining the MAC. If you’re concerned about Golden being away from the college game for too long, these comments about his ability to develop young linebackers and simplifying the game were heartening, and it’s not like there aren’t plenty of college elements in the NFL today when you’re drawing up schemes to stop the likes of Patty Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. He also got a stamp of approval from the Bengals’ Khalid Kareem, which doesn’t hurt.
While the initial sense was Freeman wanted a defensive coordinator to run the existing scheme, he said at the press conference last week that wouldn’t necessarily be the case. I’m guessing they perhaps land on a hybrid of Freeman and Golden, as having three completely separate playbooks in three consecutive seasons doesn’t seem ideal for the players, but it is the cost of hiring star coordinators.
(I want to close out the Golden section by sharing this quote from his introductory press conference to do with what you will: “It's always been about the four C's, classroom, community, on the field of competition and then what you do in the complex.” We are always saying that.)
Staying, mostly: Wide receiver
Kevin Austin is heading to the NFL, which is sad for us because he really came on after finding his sea/number one receiver legs but great for him because he got his degree and finally got to play a full season. Would an additional autumn have helped his draft stock? Probably, but I imagine his four years on campus felt much, much longer than most and he was ready to move on. Hopefully he can pop at the combine and find a good landing spot.
Considering the limited size of the wide receiver room, the Irish are fortunate that Braden Lenzy, Avery Davis and Joe Wilkins are all coming back. Davis and Wilkins are both coming off leg injuries and should hopefully be ready for August camp, but those lingering ligament questions mean that Lenzy’s high-rep role becomes even more important as a complement to what we can pray is a breakout season from Lorenzo Styles. Making life easier on the wide receivers is the continued presence of Michael Mayer and some nasty options coming out of the backfield, but this is a spot where the Irish could use a transfer or two as well as good fortune in the health department.
Out: Del Alexander
In: Chansi Stuckey
Kind of an unfortunate deal for Alexander, who developed players capably but at some point the numbers game catches up with you if you struggle to manage both the roster and recruiting board. Stuckey is a Clemson alum with a limited coaching track record, but he was a grad assistant for his alma mater, coached a year under Dave Aranda at Baylor and comes in with a host of recommendations including Brady Quinn, who played with him in the NFL, and 247 recruiting director Bud Elliott, who has a good feel for which assistants are considered the best on the trail.
Freeman discussing Stuckey’s hire was really interesting, as he noted that much like bringing on Chris O’Leary as safeties coach last year, he wasn’t going to let a lack of experience stop him from hiring someone who checked every other box. (Stuckey by all reports wowed in the interview and impressed Rees with his schematic knowledge.) You probably can’t construct an entire staff that way without repercussions, but for a position like wide receiver where recruiting is such a huge role it makes sense to take the swing on a guy who can boast that he played in the NFL and coached Tee Higgins.
(Stuckey’s hire was my favorite as far as underlining how loony the offseason process can be. For those of you wise enough to ignore the beat-by-beat of assistant coaching hires, usually how it goes is a position comes open and reports will say “It’s likely to be one of these two-to-four options.” Most of the time, no one has ever heard of any of them, but 12 hours later the groupthink has settled on one of them as the candidate Notre Dame absolutely must hire. If Notre Dame then goes in another direction and selects someone the fans have only known about for 12 hours instead of 36, this is seen as a disaster in some quarters. It’s always very funny.)
Out: Brian Polian
In: Brian Mason
Mason comes to us from the Cincinnati Bearcats, where he had experience as both special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator. (For those who like big school experience, he spent two years as a graduate assistant under Urban Meyer in Columbus.) During his press conference last week, Mason stressed that he would be creative and aggressive on special teams, including referring to the “punt block” team instead of “punt return.” He’s highly respected and I have full faith he’ll be a great fit* but faces a challenge with both Jonathan Doerer and Jay Bramblett moving on. The Irish have added a lot of specialists via the transfer portal and I pray the long run of stability in the kicking game (Doerer and Bramblett preceded by Justin Yoon and Tyler Newsome) can continue.
* Special teams coordinator, with limited exceptions, is one of the more thankless roles in sports as things can go fine game after game but a single blown assignment — or perhaps in Mason’s case, a single running into the kicker flag at an inopportune time — brings curses. There’s also a situation where I don’t think most college football fans realize how few punts are returned (play around with yardage here and you’ll find that the last few years under Polian, the Irish were perfectly average — with Chris Finke pushing them into the top 20 in 2019 — despite the general consensus being they’re some staid outlier), so Mason going for more blocks seems like a solid gamble.
Out: Lance Taylor, John McNulty
In: Deland McCullough, Gerad Parker
It’s not super surprising that Taylor found another position (in this instance, moving up from running backs coach in South Bend to offensive coordinator at Louisville), as he regularly came up in a lot of rumors, but it is a bummer. McNulty departing from his role as tight ends coach to serve as Boston College’s offensive coordinator is more of a surprise and equally a bummer, but a really cool opportunity for him with Phil Jurkovec and Zay Flowers back. (Maybe do not run any of the Good Plays on November 19, kind sir?) It says a lot about how Tommy Rees and the Notre Dame offense are viewed that two of his assistants were brought on as coordinators at Power 5 schools while Rees himself was courted.
As good of a job as Taylor did, McCullough is a wonderful replacement who has an opportunity to make an even bigger impact on the recruiting trail. If you judge coaching hires by how much distress they caused at the former school, Indiana fans were apoplectic about losing McCullough, who has a sterling resume having previously coached for the Kansas City Chiefs and at USC. (Part of the Hoosier concern was that McCullough has two talented sons who were top recruits for them. For now, they’re sticking with Bloomington, but we’ll see.) If you have not read the incredible story about McCullough’s search for his biological parents, do that now.
Parker comes over from West Virginia having checked three boxes: He has experience as recruiting coordinator (furthering the staff’s focus on that area), he has experience as a play-caller (as McNulty did, making him a good potential booth buddy for Rees) and he’s friends with Freeman from their time at Purdue (this was debated a lot during Kelly’s tenure but coaches do sometimes hire people they’ve worked with before). This was maybe the most abrupt of the hires but seems to be a good one as we sit here in February.
Out: Mike Elston
In: Al Washington
The most surprising non-Kelly departure of the offseason was definitely Elston, who gave an impassioned explanation of why he was staying in South Bend in December, saw his opportunity to become defense coordinator fizzle in the desert audition and then opted to depart to his alma mater. Elston established a really, really good baseline of productive defensive line play, but if you look at both input (ranking of the players as recruits) and output (where they were taken in the NFL draft*), there’s still a little room for growth to match the best in the sport.
* Plenty of Irish defensive linemen have ended up on pro rosters in recent years, but only one — Jerry Tillery at 28th overall — went in the first round.
Hopefully taking the position group to that very next level is Washington, who has experience at Ohio State, Michigan (he coached linebackers at both) and Boston College (his alma mater, where he developed second-round pick and Pro Bowler Harold Landry), in addition to two years at beautiful Slippery Rock University. If you judge assistants by the reaction of their previous stops, Buckeyes fans weren’t sad to see him go in their shuffling of the defensive staff, but there’s reason enough to believe their problems started at the top and aren’t necessarily reflective of Washington’s ability. Elston gave him a nice head start on the 2023 class, so his ability to close it will be an early test.
Staying: Defensive line
Monstrous to get Isaiah Foskey and the Ademilolas Jayson and Justin back for one more year. Foskey has the potential to be one of the top non-Will Anderson pass rushers in the nation, as he nearly havocked the Oklahoma State offense enough on his own in the bowl game. Jayson Ademilola is as disruptive an interior lineman as you’ll find and Justin will probably play both end spots considering his abilities and how seldom they’ll want to take Foskey off the field. Having to replace Kurt Hinish, MTA and this trio would have meant a gaping hole in the depth chart so we’re very blessed. As a tradeoff, however, there will likely be a more inexperienced line in 2023, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
I’m starting to get very excited about the front seven (perhaps Rylie Mills and/or Jordan Botelho will take a leap?), as Marist Liafau’s return coupled with another year of development for Prince Kollie and the early enrollment of Jaylen Sneed (both among the top linebacker prospects in their classes) should make life easier for what ended up being a skeleton crew by the end of last season. If they can continue to get pressure on the quarterback, it should make life much easier on the…
In/Staying: Safeties
Notre Dame’s biggest transfer portal acquisition was Northwestern’s Brandon Joseph, who was a star freshman for the Wildcats on their 2020 run to the Big Ten title game but struggled along with the rest of the defense under a new coordinator with a new scheme in 2021. Joseph seems both confident in his abilities and self-aware of how he could have played better last season so I think you can get excited for him to do stuff like this in blue and gold. (I also appreciate in that linked interview that Joseph notes it can be tough on a defense to be down two or three scores all the time. Pat Fitzgerald’s offenses, ladies and gentlemen!)
Joining Joseph in the defensive backfield are Houston Griffith and D.J. Brown, who both announced they’d be returning for a fifth year. Griffith remains puzzling, a top prospect who’s received plenty of snaps but just hasn’t really produced, while Brown did solid work in the aftermath of Hamilton’s injury. Could they both take steps forward as grizzled veterans? Perhaps. Combine these two with Joseph and the promise of both Xavier Watts and Ramon Henderson having another year of development (plus any surprise contributions for underclassmen not yet on our radar) and you can start to talk yourself into the position being in solid shape.
Staying: Offensive linemen
The last potential NFL prospect to announce he was returning to the Irish was Jarrett Patterson, who will enter the season in contention for honors as the nation’s top center. Would the Irish have been okay replacing him with Zeke Correll? Maybe, but having Patterson back makes life so much easier for everyone, particularly a young quarterback who will likely need a hand keeping things running smoothly. Josh Lugg is also returning and has been very open about his willingness to move inside, which is wise with Joe Alt and Blake Fisher looking like lynchpins at tackle for at least the next two years. There have been some concerns expressed about Lugg blocking some of the younger players (particularly Rocco Spindler), but I think he serves as a great bar for any right guard to need to clear to attain playing time. If Lugg is your second-best linemen, as he was at times early last season, that’s probably no good, but as your fifth-best lineman? That’ll do. Hopefully everyone is playing better up front under the tutelage of…
Out: Jeff Quinn
In: Harry Hiestand
I am not sure I’ve seen such universal approval for an assistant hire as there’s been for Hiestand’s return. It lines up on paper: An uber-talented depth chart of large gentlemen ready to be molded by a master technician who’s made his former pupils tens of millions of dollars in the NFL. Hiestand is old school and doesn’t necessarily gel with the vibe of Stern But Benevolent Uncles by which Freeman is defining his program, but if he has his own fiefdom of willing participants, it could be an appropriate amount of salt added to the stew. Of all the assistant coaches mentioned here, Hiestand is the one whose hire could pay the most immediate dividends this fall.
The coverage of Hiestand has been interesting, as he was written about in hagiographic language over the previous four years because it made it easier for many to impugn Quinn, who I respect for never once saying “I’m going to trade some inside info so I am not trashed at every opportunity.” Hiestand’s lines featured All-Americans and first rounders but always had a hole or two, and you can tick through the list of disappointing performances (Georgia and the final third of the season in 2017, most of 2016 but particularly the NC State game, Clemson in 2015, and so on and so forth, issues that have been Eternal Sunshined away since his departure). You can make reasonable cases that those failures came down to coordinators, quarterback play and/or running back talent/health/depth and it seems like the whole “He stopped recruiting in his final year” factor — not a minor one in regards to the line issues last season — has been addressed as well. I hope that the former players and media members touting his return as the surest possible thing are correct in their assessment as I would love to consistently mash the opposition.
Oof, that really did go long, but thanks for reading this far if you did. I imagine the next edition will be post-Blue Gold, unless something very exciting (or bad) happens in the interim or I do an entire edition on Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron and Blake Wesley that a dozen people actually read. If you have any offseason requests, send them my way. I’m going to spend a bit of time digging into NIL possibilities, particularly the collectives a lot of schools have already established, so if you are or know of Irish fans getting involved with this, hit me up.
Since the last newsletter, a few other podcast episodes were published that you might enjoy, including some big picture college football stuff with Jessica Smetana and a really interesting discussion on how modern Fighting Irish myths are made with Notre Dame professors Christine Becker and Katherine Walden, which also features some behind-the-scenes info on the much-loved Freeman videos from December. Leaving ratings on Apple and/or Spotify is always appreciated, as is sending this to other people in your life afflicted with ND fandom.
Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other.
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