Thoughts of Gold and Blue

As Notre Dame approaches its annual spring game, I am officially obligated as a blogger to post some sort of preview, so here it goes. First and foremost, for anyone that says the spring game doesn't matter, I'd take a look at OC Domer's spring preview where he makes a convincing argument that anemic offense in the spring game translates to low scoring in the fall (and the sample size is bigger than just last year). Accordingly, I am most interested in watching the offense this year.

Offense

QB

Last year, the four-headed quarterback race lead to a group of under prepared athletes standing under center in the spring game, and the result was 11/24 passing for 77 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs. Clausen has looked healthier and more confident in all of the practice videos I've seen this year, but dropping back in Loftus wearing a red jersey is different from scrambling to avoid pressure in a live game. The spring game should give us a better idea of how far JC has progressed since last season.

WR/RB

Notre Dame returns virtually every contributing back and receiver coming into 2008, so the question isn't who will play as much as who will improve. It would be nice to see Kamara build off of his spectacular freshman year and develop into someone who can break tackles and become a reliable red zone target. Grimes has been having an impressive spring, and like Clausen, it will be nice to see what he can do in a higher pressure situation. Of course the biggest WR question is was coach Ianello able to mold the talented Golden Tate into the playmaking receiver that he can be? Behind the QB, the 3 runningbacks figure to impress for some playing time. My guess is that Allen will fill the role of 'change-of-pace' back, but a standout performance by Hughes or Alldridge may be the difference between playing and sitting at the start of the season.

OL

I personally have high expectations for the GCG combination of Olson, Wenger, and Stewart; the physical play of Olson and Wenger are perfect for the trenches, and seeing Stewart anywhere on the field makes me smile. Also worth watching in the spring game is how comfortable Young and Duncan look at tackle; both have seemed more comfortable on the right side so far, so it would be nice to see one of them settle in on the left. I expect the front five to be able to get a good push on our thin defensive front in the run game, but it will be interesting to see if the group can work as a team to stop Tenuta's tricky blitz packages from reaching the quarterback.

That's it for now, hopefully I can get a post up to preview the defense tomorrow.

Go Blue! Go Gold!