Notre Dame may have more ways to attack defenses this fall, but Mike Denbrock isn’t interested in turning the Irish into something they’re not.
The veteran coordinator sees the upside in CJ Carr and a deeper receiving group, and he’d love to press more buttons in the pass game. Still, the identity stays the same: run the football, control the line, and build from there.
That balance was on full display during Denbrock’s 2023 season coordinating LSU’s offense. With Jayden Daniels directing the show, the Tigers became a machine through the air and on the scoreboard, averaging 45.5 points per game and 8.4 yards per snap.
Daniels piled up 11.7 yards per pass attempt, completed nearly three out of every four throws, and finished with a 40-to-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He also rushed for 1,134 yards, the most by any FBS quarterback in 2023.
The vertical game made sense because of Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., who gave LSU two receivers capable of stretching everything. The pair combined for 157 catches, more than 2,700 yards, and 31 touchdowns, with each averaging better than 17 yards per reception.
Denbrock would love to tap into that kind of passing ceiling with Carr, who he sees as a quarterback prepared at a high level and ready to work. A deeper, better receiver room gives Notre Dame a chance to open things up more than it has in recent years.
But this is still Notre Dame, and Denbrock knows exactly what that means. Marcus Freeman has made the Irish an “offensive and defensive line-driven program,” and the path to a national title will still run through physical football. If Notre Dame is going to score enough in the playoff to get over a nearly four-decade drought, the passing game has to become more dangerous without losing the toughness that defines the program.
“The core fundamentals of who we're going to be are going to be exactly the same,” said Denbrock when asked about how the ground game would look without the incredible one-two punch of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price.
“We're built around the run game. That's Notre Dame football.
That's my philosophy. That's Coach Freeman's philosophy.
That's who we are. So we're going to have a strong run game, and I believe we've got guys in that room who can deliver on that.”
Aneyas Williams and Nolan James Jr. are the expected replacements for Love and Price. Junior Kedren Young, coming back from a knee injury, will try to “cut back in line” ahead of freshman Jonaz Walton.
Running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider said Walton will play this season and has a chance to play beyond the collegiate level. Freshman Javian Osborne is the fifth back in the mix, and he is back in action after offseason wrist surgery.
That group won’t recreate exactly what Love and Price brought with their breakaway speed, and Denbrock acknowledged as much. Even so, he expects the offense to remain productive, with the upgraded perimeter weapons giving him a little more room to think differently about how the Irish can attack.
“Is it going to look exactly the same as it did a year ago? No, it won't,” Denbrock said.
“Every year it changes and morphs and becomes who you are. I think we're a little stronger in some areas on the perimeter than maybe we have been the last couple years.
“So does that afford you an opportunity to spread the field a little bit more and get after people a little bit more with CJ's mind and his ability to throw the ball? I think that's a piece of it. But we're never going to stray very far from our core belief in having a strong run game and being able to lean on it when we need to.”
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For Notre Dame, the concern is not just what happened in Washington, but what could happen next if the power centers of the sport decide they no longer want to wait on the NCAA. A shift toward self-governance would put the Irishs football independence under fresh pressure, since the school has always needed a structure that allows it to stand apart. The longer this drags on, the more precarious that arrangement looks, even if the program is not ready to give up that status without a fight. [Read more 🡒]
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Brauntae Johnson Sends A Telling Message About His Notre Dame Role
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For Johnson, the change is about more than style. It reflects a player who sees himself differently now, someone growing into a more mature version of his football identity and aiming for a more professional image as a father. It is a small detail on paper, but it says a lot about where he is in his career and in his life. [Read more 🡒]