PREVIEW: Early week thoughts, prediction on Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M | Irish O-line, Riley Leonard

Offensive line let's shift gears and talk about notter Dame at Texas A&M the offensive line is set with nap and Pendleton how do you think those two guys entering the starting lineup possibly changed the way Notre Dame thinks about offense against A&M in particular early in the ball game yeah it's definitely an interesting question and I just hope that Notre Dame doesn't approach it like they did Ohio State 2022 and that had nothing to do with the offensive line you felt really s sound and solid in those guys but it had to do with offensive Personnel specifically quarterback Tyler Buckner making his first career start and you you kind of sheltered him and said hey we're gonna adjust our game plan Marcus Freeman explicitly said this going into the game which I thought was an interesting move but he said yeah we're probably not g to put all of our chips on the table and and do some things that we would like to do eventually this season because we don't know if he can do that at Ohio State so now you look at this and say do we know that Anthony knp can block Nick scorton and these other guys that Texas A&M has I'm not sure I think because you have a veteran quarterback you're able to do a you're you're kind of able to do what you didn't do against Ohio State a couple seasons ago and say hey let's roll this guy out let's do the Zone read game uh anything that gets Riley Leonard a little bit more involved with his legs or or maybe some quicker passes we trust him at this point being a senior quarterback to make those accurately I think you feel a little bit better because of that but at the end of the day I think Marcus Freeman learned a lesson from that Ohio State game and said hey we're going to have to play our style of game no matter what that is no matter where it is who it's against these are the guys that we think are the best 11 for us to go out and win a football game two of them like you said nap and Pendleton have never started a game at this level and ail Wagner for that for that uh for that point has never started a game at this level either so that's that's an interesting point as well but I think the confidence is there to just say hey let's let's Let It Go let's let it rip and that comes from Riley Leonard Daren and it also comes from Den Brock I don't think Mike Den Brock's going to pull any punches in this game he says hey let's run what we want to run regardless of the guys up front who are blocking you mentioned Riley Leonard I Riley Leonard think back to the offseason you went back and watched all of his snaps at Duke and put together some great features at Blue and gold.com now he's ready for his first start as Nutter Dame starting quarterback playing at Duke is one thing playing at Notre Dame is something else do you have any worries about Riley Leonard being ready for this particular moment a little bit and here's why and I asked Marcus Freeman about this and he kind of gave a stock answer but he did say hey we have all the confidence in the world in Riley Leonard and you can feel that you could say okay he's not just saying that that's actually what this locker room this coaching staff they all believe that but here's the thing that worries me Darren like you said I did go back and watch all 21 of those starts that Riley Leonard had at Duke and I'm trying to off the top of my head right now because it's been a few months since we did that trying to remember a game of of this magnitude quite frankly and it might be about a year ago on this very same weekend Labor Day weekend when Duke hosted Clemson and and everybody thought that Clemson you know was going to return to being what Clemson has been and and that ended up not being the case but hey that's still a Clemson team that beat Notre Dame I will remind people of that anyway going back to that weekend it was huge and and everyone at Duke felt it and Clemson coming in Davos Sweeney you know all of the lore of that program and Riley Leonard was the star of that show so that makes you feel good that he can rise up to a moment but I'm just Darren I'm having trouble remembering any other moments like that in in Riley Leonard's career I mean played Kansas a couple times in front of 20,000 people probably a Northwestern was a was a home and home on the schedule I believe um it's just it's not Texas A&M week one college game day on the road in front of a 100,000 that's what I'm trying to say so if you do have a little bit of pause for how he's going to come out and play in this game I think that is very within reason and probably pretty valid I felt all off Notre Dame defensive line season this is going to be a more low-scoring game maybe a 2420 type ball game I feel like the notame defense Tyler is going to be ready for the challenge and with all the question marks along the Irish offensive line I feel like the Texas A&M offensive line might have some weaknesses and that plays into the hands of that fighting Irish Front yeah for sure when you talk about that part of the matchup all you have to talk about is what Notre Dame has and yeah Texas A&M I think they are going through some things on on the offensive line right now just like Notre Dame is trying trying to figure some things out basically I mean and that's what Marcus Freeman said earlier today as well was hey we we don't really know what we got or they don't know what they got until we actually go out there and see this thing unfold so there definitely is a lot of that with the Notre Dame or with the Texas A&M offensive line but with the Notre Dame defensive line you know exactly what you got and it's four graduate student defensive linemen two in the middle who probably make up probably I mean for my money a top five pair defensive tackle pair in the country in Howard cross and Riley Mills I think RJ Obin is basically a javante jean Baptist clone and that is exactly what you want if you're Notre Dame because Baptist came in from Ohio State and was perfect I mean led the team in sacks I think it was top five in total tackles played the Run well rush the passer well if you get that out of RJ Obin then that's exactly what you want if you're Notre Dame that's why you went to the portal to get him and then that hper I I really think bubacar trayor is coming and and Jordan Batello if he has if Jordan Batello has the best year of his career which is definitely on the table because he he been a little underwhelming at times then pair that with maybe what you might get in a reserve in bubacar tror rushing the passer Darren we're talking four across the defensive line that Notre Dame would like to go up against anybody especially a Texas A&M offensive line that may be struggling to figure some things out so yeah I mean if you think that Texas A&M is just going to walk all over Notre Dame's offensive line then the Texas A&M offensive line has something coming its way as well for sure any thoughts Tyler on the skill Texas AM offense from the Texas A&M offense yeah I mean I think Connor Wegman it starts there probably I mean you saw DJ young in Florida state Georgia Tech in week zero that's probably the most notable name on Notre Dame schedule in terms of quarterback talent but I think Conor Wegman might be Notre Dame or the best quarterback that Notre Dame is going to face all season and then when you look at the the guys that are around him I mean Darren it's an SEC program you're gonna have sec capable wide receivers and and it's not like you're facing an LSU type team where they have all kinds of talent out there but they have enough talent and uh the running back position I think they went through a big injury so but but it's kind of like you're you're reloading at when you're playing a team like Texas A&M when it comes to who you're facing in the backfield so there there could be a guy who Notre Dame fans the Casual fan has never even heard this guy's name and he could go off for 150 and like I I don't think anybody thought Phil mafa Clemson was going to run for how however many yards he did against Notre Dame last year and and then of course the kid from Louisville as well kind of went off and won that game so what I'm trying to say is Texas A&M has the capabilities to come come up and and get you because there's players on this team and at this program who are are just dying honestly to to go out and have that type of game against Notre Dame but but like I said it starts with Conor Wegman and I mean I I think I know he's dealt with the injuries but last season I think he still had an 18 to5 touchdown interception ratio so he can be prolific and he can take care of the ball and I think like you said in a game that might be lowc scoring take care of that football if he does that in front of his home fans you're talking about a Texas M offense that can do a little bit of damage finally Tyler I want to end with special teams and about 11 12 years ago those of us on the nutre Dame beat at that time we like to call the punt return unit for nutre Dame it was fair catch you because they never tried to return the football John Goodman ball in the air fair catch things have changed you have Dynamic Playmakers Tyler not only on punt returns but also on kick returns I know you have some new parts punter and place kicker but it sure seems like on paper that special teams is going to be a plus for another game this year yeah the punter you mentioned the punting game the punter is 66 and 220 pounds so maybe we'll see something special with him Marcus Freeman in his press conference said probably no trick plays because Mike ELO's defense is so sound but if you remember in the Duke game last year uh Jeremiah love the fake punt I think went for about 30 or so yards and sent Up Notre Dame's first touchdown and boy they didn't score very many touchdowns after that only two in the rest of the game so that that was a huge moment in that game so maybe something with James Randell uh in this game maybe not but later on in the season I think you have something there you definitely have something in Jaden Harrison who's coming in from Marshall All-American kick returner I mean that's a guy that can just change a game on a dime he was one of five players in the FBS last year to have multiple kick return touchdowns one of only two players to average 30 or more yards per kick return so he's Dynamic for sure um you're not seeing him in the putt return game which is interesting inter in though he's more of a kick returner so it's going to be between Jaden great house and Jordan fison in terms of the punt return game I'm not sure if if they have what it takes to kind of change what you said to fair catch you or whatever but you like to think that they do I mean I I am very high on Jordan fais on I know a lot of other people are very high on Jaden greous if you're choosing between those two guys with the football in their hands you're probably in a pretty good spot and then you look at the field goal unit talking about a kicker who at South Carolina and Mitch Jeter made 92 % of his kicks in the last two seasons and is a perfect 20 of 20 from inside of 50 yards if if you you'll take that if you're Notre Dame if you can get inside of 50 yards and say hey we at least have three here that's a spot that you probably weren't at with Spencer Shader last year Blake grupy the year before that or even Jonathan D for two or three years whatever it was before those two guys so in the last handful of Seasons you probably have the most accurate kicker that Notre Dame has ever rostered and that makes you feel good as well so across the board man like you said there's special teams names that have Notre Dame fans very excited does Notre Dame win and do you Prediction have a record prediction for the Irish oh my gosh everyone's going to hate me they've watched these videos and and now I'm gonna have to put this this prediction out there I actually have Notre Dame losing this game and it goes back to Marcus Freeman being five and four on the road in his two-year tenure and I I mentioned that Duke game a couple of times now easily could be four and five I mean that was they were staring a loss straight in the face there so you got to kind of prove it to me that you can go on the road if you're Notre early in the Marcus Freeman era and go win a game like this um if you look at the Mike Elco Riley Leonard thing I think if anything it's it's more advantageous for a head coach to know a lot about a quarterback than it is for a quarterback to know about the opposing head coach because elos had nine months to scheme specifically against Leonard and against Notre Dame and I think that's gonna go Texas A&M's favor and like you said if it's a low-scoring game you kind of like what elco's going to be able to do there but I do have Notre d winning 10 games in a row after that Darren so you lose this one you're going to end up beating Louisville and Georgia Tech and Florida State and all the sudden you're sitting there at the end of the season hey 10 and one we're on the precipice of the college football playoff but I have USC sneaking up and beating Notre Dame in the SE season finale uh and that would be a 10 and two record and that would be um very nervy in South Bend on selection Sunday or Monday whenever they do that now Darren uh just thinking about if not is going to get in the college football playoff I I tend to think 10 and two will still get it done but Texas A&M has to be a good team you have to you have to lose to two good teams Darren if you're gonna lose two games if you're Notre Dame and make the cfp A&M's got to be good and USC has to be good as well so we'll see if that happens uh it's a long long time between now and then but I do unfortunately have the Irish dropping this uh this season opener on the road all right how can people subscribe to blueandgold.com this week you can actually get 50% off an annual subscription for an average value of $4.99 a month so less than five bucks a month it's our kickoff sale kickoff special uh promo code kickoff 24 if you go to uh blue and gold.com and you find the sign up link there you can also go to bgi news on Twitter and we are tweeting that out all day the sign up link and then like I said promo code kickoff 24 and you will get 50% off an annual subscription it's it's our best deal that we run uh we haven't run something like this in quite a while so I would definitely take advantage especially with it being on the cusp of the season and you're going to win to be at Blue and gold.com all season long for the best content on Fighting Irish football [Music]