5 Reasons Why Notre Dame Will Be A Playoff Team In 2015

Yes, it’s another football season and another call for a “return to glory” for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. Not exactly a hot take and Sports Illustrated has somewhat stolen my thunder by ranking the Irish #4 and put them on the cover of their magazine. It’s also not outlandish in the sense that others see Notre Dame as a top 10-15 team–the preseason coaches’ poll has them ranked 11th–and I’ve seen some magazines have them as high as 7th. The last time Notre Dame received this much pre-season hype was in 2006, Brady Quinn’s senior year. That team finished 10-3, was shellacked at home by Michigan, was destroyed by USC in the season finale, and was eviscerated by LSU in the Sugar Bowl. In short, not great. But for those who only follow Notre Dame via Sportscenter and College Gameday, here is a news flash: This is the deepest and most talented Notre Dame team since the 1993 squad that finished 11-1.



Author’s note: Shortly after submitting this piece, it was learned that starting nose tackle Jarron Jones tore his MCL and is out for the season. Obviously, that changes what was written in describing the defense in point #4. However, Notre Dame has experience behind him and a freshman in Jerry Tillery who enrolled in the spring and participated in spring practices for Notre Dame. Coach Brian Kelly had this to say about him during those early practices. As I noted in the defensive section, because Jones was hurt last year, players were forced into action and gained a ton of quality experience. Add a blue-chip talent like Tillery to that group and Notre Dame should recover from this very effectively.

For the standard college football fan, this can all be easily dismissed as the usual Notre Dame hype, and to be fair, Notre Dame gets a ton of hype from the national media year in and year out. Let’s face it, Notre Dame moves units, gets clicks, and brings viewers. Mark May made an entire career out of bashing Notre Dame. The thing is, every now and then, the hype is warranted, and 2015 is one of those now and thens. Don’t believe me? Let me drop 5 bits of knowledge on you that will bring you to the light.

5.) 2015 will be the season of Jaylon

The best player on Notre Dame’s football team is linebacker Jaylon Smith. He signed with Notre Dame in 2013 as a 5 star player out of Indiana, and has been a starter since the day he stepped on campus. He is a pre-season first team All-American and the hype machine around his greatness has been going on all summer, led by NFL analyst and former pro scout Daniel Jeremiah, who called him the “best linebacker prospect since Patrick Willis”. Then he dropped a series of vines displaying Smith destroying souls and crushing dreams. In 2014, as a sophomore, he led Notre Dame in tackles, tackles for loss, and tied for second in sacks. He did all of this while playing out of position at Will linebacker, and this year Notre Dame is going to move him all over the field to confuse defenses, send him after the quarterback and allow Notre Dame multiple personnel groupings. How big of a season will he have? Think Manti Te’o in 2012, sans the catfishing scandal. He’ll be a top 15 pick in the 2016 draft.

4.) The defense returns 11 starters

You are probably saying to yourself “you mean the defense that was crushed by Northwestern, Louisville and USC?” And actually no, I don’t mean that defense. I mean the defense that started 7-1 and came within a controversial (see: poop) call at Florida State of starting 8-0. In September and October of last season, Notre Dame was ranked 38th and 28th in total defense nationally, not amazing, but they were showing improvement weekly under first year defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder. Notre Dame was destroyed by injuries on defense in the final 4 weeks, led by team MVP, linebacker Joe Schmidt, defensive linemen Sheldon Day and Jarron Jones, and starting corner Cody Riggs. The unit subsequently saw their total defense plummet in November to 116th nationally. Those injuries exposed the biggest weakness for the 2014 defense: depth. Already without projected starting end Ishaq Williams due to season long suspension, the injuries caused 10 freshmen to see significant game action on defense in 2014. That inexperience got Notre Dame crushed to end the year, but the lessons learned will be invaluable for the youth in 2015. Should another rash of injuries occur, Notre Dame won’t be turning to players who were in high school just months earlier, but instead players who have been through the wars and have a full year of weight room time. And in fact, all of the injured starters in 2014 return in 2015, with the exception of Cody Riggs (who will be replaced by KeiVarae Russell, which I will get to in a minute). Additionally and most importantly, the talent is there. Phil Steele has four Notre Dame players on his pre-season All-American teams: Smith, Day, Russell and safety Max Redfield, one at each level of the defense. That list doesn’t include linebacker Joe Schmidt, who was the MVP of the team last year, and will return this season.

3.) Russell’s redemption

Perhaps the most high profile player involved in last season’s academic scandal was starting cornerback KeiVarae Russell. He was a starter on the 2012 team that lost in the BCS title game to Alabama, and after a strong 2013, was set to be named captain of the 2014 defense. His suspension and subsequent expulsion from school crushed those dreams, but Russell vowed to return. He made good on his promises, returning to his hometown Seattle, taking college credits, and working out like a crazy man, and finally returning to the Notre Dame football team in the summer. Russell was a pre-season All-American prior to his suspension in 2014 and early reports from summer practice are Russell looks to have not lost any of his skills in his absence. Russell’s return will allow Notre Dame to reach elite levels defensively in 2015. Pairing him with fellow corner Cole Luke gives Notre Dame two corners who are excellent in press coverage, which will let second year defensive coordinator Brian Van Gorder be more aggressive with his play calls (which is his forte), send superstar Jaylon Smith on more blitz’s, and mitigate the only supposed weakness on the defense–pass rush. You could very easily make the case that Russell is Notre Dame’s second best player not just on the defense, but on the entire team–although tackle Ronnie Stanley might take issue with that.

2.) Zaire is an unstoppable force

One of my favorite Holtz quotes regarding his teams: “We don’t need to be the best team in the country; we only need to be the best team in the stadium.” What I take that to mean is you are only as good as you play. By most accounts Zaire is not a great practice player. His first three passes of summer practice were all over thrown and incomplete, and this was against air. There was no defense. Yet, when he gets on the field during games, whether it’s a blue-gold scrimmage or a bowl game against LSU, he makes it happen. The kids got zest. He’s got moxie. And if we’ve learned anything about playing quarterback at Notre Dame, it’s not for the weak minded. Malik Zaire is not that. At all. Which isn’t to say he hasn’t got talent. He worked up the LSU defense pretty good in the Music City Bowl last year accounting for 192 total yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers while sharing duty with former starter Everett Golson. His forte is as a runner (he’s run for 187 yards on 33 carries) but he’s got himself an arm as well, and he’s finally got the job all to himself. Make no mistake, Golson is the better quarterback–Zaire might be the better player.

1.) The offense-led by the offensive line-is loaded

The gamer that Zaire is, he is still a first time starter when the job was solely his, and there is likely to be some growing pains. Luckily for him, the strength of this team is its wealth of offensive talent, particularly on the offensive line. They feature what may be the best offensive tackle in college football in Ronnie Stanley, future NFL draft pick Nick Martin (brother of Zach Martin) at center, and 4-5 star talent at left guard, right guard and right tackle. This is the unit that paved the way for Notre Dame to run for 263 yards on 5.2 a carry and three touchdowns against LSU, which was only giving up 152 yards a game on the ground and 4.3 a carry. Notre Dame returns junior running back Tarean Folston, who in his first two seasons sharing time; he’s run for 1,359 yards, 5.1 a carry and 10 total touchdowns. Moving to back him up is converted receiver C.J. Prosise, who has some experience out of the backfield, and has even pushed Folston for first team carries in fall camp. At receiver, Notre Dame returns a core that has 223 career catches, 3,383 yards and 28 touchdowns. That group is led by one of the most underrated players in college football, Will Fuller, who finished his breakout sophomore season with 76 catches, 1,094 yards and 15 touchdowns. He’s a guy who teams, um, had trouble keeping up with. Right, Michigan? Notre Dame is going to look towards the Ohio State model on offense this year, they are going to hit teams hard with the run, and gash teams with their passing game to exploit one on one matchups outside with their immense talent at receiver. This offense averaged 32 points a game last season and only looks to be deeper, more experienced, and with a more dominant offensive line.

Without the rash of injuries defensively, it’s reasonable to conclude that Notre Dame was a 9 or 10 win team that returns 20 starters and was good enough to go on the road and take the playoff bound Seminoles to the brink. In a vacuum, there is no question this is a pre-season top 5 team. But, recent history hasn’t been kind to the Irish, and they have been an 8 win team for the past two decades. It’s hard to look past 20 years of relative mediocrity and predict greatness in 2015. But, Notre Dame hasn’t assembled this kind of talent in the last 20 season either, and head coach Brian Kelly knows that in his sixth season it’s time to make good on what he’s built.