Notre Dame football update: Riley Leonard, O-line latest, personnel nuggets, more

what is going on Notre Dame football fans I'm Tyler haa that's Jack Soo with blueandgold.com blue and gold Illustrated outside of Notre Dame Stadium where the Fighting Irish 14 days until they kick off kick off against the Texas A&M agies in College Station Texas held a jersey scrimmage today Jack the offense won 42 to 40 the score Marcus Freeman basically said he doesn't even really know how it comes to be the the glaring point in that is that the offense won Riley obviously probably having a lot to do with that we didn't get to watch the Jersey scrimmage so everything that we know about it came from Marcus Freeman Mike Den Brock and Al golden today we talked to all three of those guys but like I said Riley Leonard having a big part of it what did we learn about Riley Leonard from Marcus Freeman today Jack honestly nothing we didn't already know Riley Leonard I I mean Marcus Freeman was asked if Riley if he's ready to name a starter he just said look Riley Leonard's gotten all the reps with the ones I think at this point that's probably the best we're going to get in terms of naming a starting quarterback it doesn't seem like there's going to be a big qb1 announcement but it's going to be Riley Leonard it's pretty clear uh at this point it's been it's been clear for months but it's clearer at this point that Ry Leonard is going to go out as qb1 against Texas A&M uh and in the scrimmage Marcus re mentioned that the defense got two turnovers but they both came against the third team offense uh which is which is some combination of Kenny mchie and CJ Carr so the the first team and second team led by stepen jelly no turnovers great sign uh and Freeman also said where the offense and Riley Riley Leonard specifically have improved improved the most since the start of fall Camp the operation is much cleaner not as many false starts delay of games Mike Den Brock talked about the motion being much more cleaner and purposeful he said it it was basically a disaster in Spring ball I love love talking to den Brock he can be very very blunt I have a lot of great energy there but no it it seems like a lot of positives from the scrimmage today uh the offense regain the blue jerseys yeah so I thought the irony in what Den Brock said today was Marcus Freeman gets up and he said this was the best Jersey scrimmage that I've ever seen since I've been at Notre Dame obviously he's going into his third season as head coach and fourth season overall with the Fighting Irish best Jersey scrimmage that he's ever seen Al golden gets up there his unit loses he Echoes Freeman he said I saw a lot of really good things we're able to rotate in guys at all three levels we'll get to more on that in a second Jack Mike denrock gets up there he's the third guy to speak and he says I'm going to be completely honest with you here's some of that blunt nature that you were alluding to I didn't like what I saw from the Jersey scrimmage today his unit as we just said won uh the blue jerseys back so interesting that I don't I call him a perfectionist but boy is he demanding and he wants a lot out of his group so um some other things that we learned about the offense let's let's stick with that less about Den Brock more about the guys that he's working with let's go to the offensive line Jack that's been the Talk of the Town in Notre Dame fall camp for the last week week and a half now what do we know about the guys up front who's potentially starting at Texas A&M well they have't named a starting FIA which is significant because they talked all offseason about you know the need to do that sooner than later or as soon as they can they don't they don't want to rush it which is why they haven't yet but continuity and communication and chemistry on that among those front five I should say very important but I they they did say they're considering a number of factors couple things that stuck out was that you know the pressure of playing against this A&M front and at this Stadium uh is very much uh you know very much a factor the uh you know the the idea that some of these younger guys might be better week five or six and than they are in week one that might change who the best five are that's a factor but you know Mike demra confirmed that nap and Sam Pendleton a freshman in sophomore at left tackle and left guard have earned the right to compete for these jobs and kind of reading into this what we're kind of hearing is that Pendleton and nap have performed the best at those positions with jagas saww out but the coaching staff is kind of deciding whether or not they can trust them in that in that A&M environment again that's not what they said that's just kind of what where we read into this oh I completely agree with that and I don't want to keep bringing up 2021 but it's going to be another one of those situations where what is the best starting five right now this week and Tosh Baker could still be that answer for week one if Marcus Freeman Mike Den Brock Joe Rudolph if they all get together and say okay who are playing against in terms of experience and the potential and what the Texas A&M pass rushers can do if we want an experienced guy ourselves to go against that you might see Tosh Baker in in the Texas A&M game but based on what we're seeing and like you said we might see Anthony nap in that Texas A&M game as well if things don't go well in that first half Marcus Freeman says it all the time you only get 12 opport 12 guaranteed opportunities I should say this is one of them you've got to juggle and you've got to kind of react and have contingency plans and I think that's what Notre Dame has been doing in Fall Camp figuring out those contingency plans there's a lot I the the honestly my main takeaway from this press conference was like there's a lot that Notre Dame has done in Fall camp with A&M and how important this game is and the environment that they're about to go in like Mike Den brck talked about you know kind of adjusting the offensive game play with the knowledge that they're not going to be able to hear anything at Kyle Field he had a lot of words for Kyle Field loud chaotic hornets nest I believe were some of those yeah and Al golden on the other side like we we we asked him about you know rotating five linebackers and he's like not just at linebackers like at every position group it's a pod of players I think was the word he used that need to be ready because they need to rotate rotate guys in that what what we're expecting I think to be 95 degree heat in in College Station my family lives in Texas I think it's 105 this week so hopefully it cools off a little bit in the next two weeks but you never know man it it it might be triple digits that day and like you said 90s that night so like when when we talk about the competitions between like a Don Schuler and Rod herd and Christian Gray and Jaden Mickey the five linebackers the 12 defensive linemen that that once Gabriel Rubio is health healthy that they've said they might be comfortable with like they're going to need all those guys in College Station because they can't just stick with 11 guys and play them like they would you know an October game at notame stadium absolutely so let's let's go back to Golden's group we talked a lot about Den Brock's group what did you learn from him in the Press conference to I think the most interesting thing was playing with pods and whatnot but another thing was and again I guess I will bring this back to den Brock he kind of lit up in his you know you could see on his face when he was asked about going against Mike Den Brock's offense every single day I think those two guys really like the challenge of I mean they they've been at this for a long time uh both College uh for for Golden college and NFL and and for Den Brock all over the college game it seems like they really enjoy the uh you know the back and forth that they have in practices yeah I think Notre Dame's got a really good group of coordinators I or pair of coordinators I should say and I think both coordinators recognize that Den Brock's offense is going to be hard to defend for a few reasons number one Riley Leonard the way he can beat you with his arms and his legs you know The Talented running back room an offensive line that it's is Young it could be very young week one it probably will be by by mid-season I at least from from what we can read into it but I mean it's a it's a talented group a group of wide receivers that when we asked Mike Den Brock about it was like you know there's probably not one Alpha guy like a Bonafide number one wide receiver but there are a lot of guys who can beat you in a lot of ways and you know there there are two outcomes uh when when an offensive coordinator makes a state like statement like that preseason number one is that you know he's just kind kind of trying to dress over the fact that the receiv receiver rooms week uh number two is that it's a really good diverse group of guys that that might not have a guy go over 800 yards but is going to have a bunch of guys go over 500 and honestly the vibe getting from this group and from what we've seen in practice it's the ladder I I I I think I think it's going to be a good group yeah and den Brock kind of alluded to that that he knows he hasn't been here the last couple of Seasons but he knows the narrative that Notre Dame has just had a heck of of time trying to figure out the wide receiver position and he's trying to rectify that and there's I mean he inherits this Personnel right there's only so much he can do and he coaches the tight ends which I want to talk about them in a moment but he also sees what's going on every single day and I think he sees a group that probably is unlike the previous couple that Notre Dame has had so again on the tight ends Mitchell Evans did not participate in today's Jersey scrimmage that's kind of been status quo for him we see him moving great without a knee brace in individual drills routes on air it looks like he's fine they're just holding him out of these 11on 11 semi you know contact where where he can take contact you don't want him to take a lot because you know that can be a detriment to that that healing knee of his if this was Texas A&M game day he would have been playing same thing with Howard cross held out on the defensive side of the ball he's dealing with that hamstring If Today Was Texas A&M game he would have played chance Tucker went down with a lower body injury undisclosed in today's Jersey scrimmage but that was really kind of the only Health concern that Marcus Freeman gave us today this team is is is at a really healthy spot Jack how much do you think that is beneficial to Notre Dame going into A&M in in two weeks oh it's huge and I think they're being smart about it too like holding I you know we we've seen Benjamin Morrison and we've heard that he's doing everything they're comfortable with with him really being a full participant but you know being very cautious with with Howard cross in his six fall camp with Mitchell Evans they know what he can do they're going to be cautious with him I and I think you know we we see a lot of training camp injuries around the country A&M isn't immune they lost one of their running backs Ruben Owens I want to say so I mean it's it's it affects everyone and it looks like you know knock on wood Notre Dame I is going to be pretty healthy heading into that A&M game let's finish this with who we started with today Marcus Freeman is there anything that you can think of from his press conference today that we haven't talked about that needs to be talked about I know we heard a lot from Al golden and Mike Den Brock but anything that kind of you you left that press conference saying yeah that that's kind of a striking Point certainly a lot to take in I think the the offensive line points I mean that's certainly what he was asked about the most was the most interesting I did ask him I who is stepped up as someone who might not be a starter but can really rush the passer on third Downs the name you mentioned was bubacar trior uh he's going this the sophomore number where number five he switch from 51 is going to have a big role on defense this year I I I think we've kind of assumed that over the offseason but hearing it straight up from Freeman is is significant I mean in terms of specifics got to go back through the transcript I mean it it was a lot we we we had a lot of good information today and you you can read about it in the next 24 to 48 hours on blue and gold.com yeah that full transcript will be at Blue and gold.com and I guess I'll I'll kind of end it on a light note I think one of the funnier parts of the press conference today as it starts to rain here in South Bend we're going to get out of here Marcus Freeman asked about Jaden Thomas comparing Riley Leonard to both Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson and all Marcus Freeman could do was kind of laugh and he says I don't think that Riley Leonard is Lamar Jackson NFL MVP Lamar Jackson but he is all we need and I I sat there thinking all right that's that's Notre Dame's qb1 even if Marcus Freeman or anyone else in the Notre Dame room will not say it explicitly so that is qb1 that's Jack soel I'm Tyler haa we're blue and gold.com blue and gold Illustrated [Music] [Music]