Notre Dame Football: Offensive outlook for 2016

The Fighting Irish are set to lose key producers on offense, but the cupboard is not bare so don’t expect that big of a drop in 2016.

Notre Dame football saw great strides on the offensive side of the ball in 2015. Since coming to South Bend in 2010 Brian Kelly finally had the offense he envisioned having, which is an offense that can play fast, run the ball and control the line of scrimmage.

The Irish are losing some key producers from the 2015 squad, such as Will Fuller and C.J. Prosise who declared for the NFL Draft. Luckily, Kelly has done a great job of accumulating and developing top talent on the offensive side of the ball so the losses of the top offensive players might not be as devastating as the loss of ND’s top defenders.

For the first in the Kelly era, the Irish averaged over 200 yards on the ground, which a trend in the right direction. Seven of the last eight national champions have averaged over 200 rushing yards a game. The only team not to average 200 yards was this year’s Alabama team which ran for 199 yards per game. Having a strong game is key to being a championship caliber team. Losing Prosise does hurt, but if he had stayed there would have been a logjam at the position.

ND does have standout freshman Josh Adams coming back and you cannot forget about Tarean Folston. Adams set the Notre Dame record for rushing yards as a freshman in 2015 with 835 yards. He also showcased big play ability, so Adams’ presence and continued development should soften the blow of losing Prosise.

Folston was the starter coming into the year, but a knee injury in the first quarter against Texas cost him all of 2015. He led the team in rushing in 2014 as a sophomore. The Irish should have a solid backfield again in 2016 with the 1-2 punch of Adams and Folston.

The Irish will return three of the five starting offensive linemen next season, but the two they are losing were perhaps their best in center Nick Martin and left tackle Ronnie Stanley. If there has been one offensive unit Kelly has been able to reload at it has been the offensive line.

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Notre Dame lost Zack Martin to the NFL after 2013 and they were able to replace him with Ronnie Stanley who will be a first round pick. Mike McGlinchey, who was the right tackle this past season, could make the move to left tackle or the Irish could look somewhere else on the roster. Alex Bars and Hunter Bivin are both guys who could slide into one of the tackle positions and they are bringing in highly touted offensive lineman recruits in Parker Boudreaux and Tommy Kraemer. Losing Martin and Stanley does hurt but it is not an impossible task to replace them, especially with the depth Kelly has built on the o-line.

Will Fuller was one of the most productive receivers in Notre Dame history. Over his three year career Fuller hauled in 144 receptions, 2512 yards and 30 touchdowns. Not only do they lose Fuller they are also losing Chris Brown who was the second leading receiver in 2015. It’s hard to not to think, “how is Notre Dame going to replace all that production?”

The Irish have a few candidates in Equanimeous St.Brown, Corey Robinson, Myles Boykin and Corey Holmes. St.Brown was a 4-star recruit in the 2015 class and possesses many of the same qualities as Will Fuller, except he’s much bigger. Brown stands at 6’4″ 220 pounds, but also has big play speed so look for him to be one of ND’s big-play threats on the outside next season.

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Robinson had a great sophomore season in 2014, but he fell off drastically this past season. It has been said that Boykin possesses Michael Floyd-like abilities, so there is no shortage of talent at the wide-out position. Torii Hunter Jr. saw his role expand this past season at the slot position, so look for him to make an even bigger leap in 2016. Despite losing Fuller and Brown, the Irish still have a talented group of receivers. Now can they be as productive? Only time will tell.

Since the loss of Tyler Eifert after the 2012 season, the tight end position has not been a featured position in the Irish offense. If not for Durham Smythe being lost for most of 2015, the tight end probably would have played a bigger role. Smythe came back for the Fiesta Bowl, so he should be ready to go and produce next season. Alize Jones looks like he’ll be a stud, but he still probably needs a little more time developing his blocking skills before he becomes ND’s next big thing at tight end.

Many are expecting a quarterback controversy between DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire next season, but I have a different take on that. Kizer did nothing to lose his job or warrant a quarterback competition in 2016. He put up great numbers, throwing for 2,884 yards and 21 touchdowns and was great in the clutch.

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Kizer never let the spotlight of being the starting quarterback at Notre Dame get to him. Yes, there were times where he did look a first-year starter, but you have to expect that. Kelly is not afraid of playing two quarterbacks as he played both Tony Pike and Zach Calleros while at Cincinnati, so Kizer and Zaire could begin in a timeshare situation but its Kizer’s job to lose.

All in all, don’t expect that much of a drop in production from the Irish offense. Yes, they lose some great players, but they also have great players behind those guys ready to step in. If Kelly stays committed to the run, gets strong quarterback play and the unproven players develop into the players we think they will be, Notre Dame should have a very good offense in 2016.

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