Notre Dame Football: 3 reasons the Irish will struggle in 2020

2. Uncertainty with Ian Book and the Notre Dame football offense

Part of the DNA of Notre Dame football is a power run game with a complementary passing attack. They’ve recruited to that end the last three years. This season, Chip Long is out at offensive coordinator and Tommy — or Thomas or Tom — Rees takes over.

Is Rees ready to call plays or is Brian Kelly going to puppet him behind the scenes? Not to sound Makeavelian about the situation, but it is a question that needs an answer. If the former Notre Dame quarterback struggles, will Kelly take over?

In the last two years, Ian Book has benefitted from three reliable receivers; Quinten Boykin, Chase Claypool and Kole Kmet. He needs someone to fill that role again this season. If no one takes ahold of that WR1 position the offense could struggle.

Keeping with the subject of “alpha” positions on offense, someone needs to slide into the RB1 slot. The Irish had Dexter Williams then Tony Jones — albeit a surprise. With Jones bolting for the NFL early, who steps up?

Are the young running backs C’Bo Flemister and Jahmir Smith ready to take the next step? Is Jafar Armstrong fully healthy? They bring in graduate transfer Trevor Speights to help with depth, but the Irish need an alpha in that position.

Finally, and most important is speed. They lost to Georgia last season and Clemson two years ago because of their lack of dynamic perimeter speed. Along with a go-to chain mover, who is the Will Fuller of this group?

Can Braden Lenzy be the speedster the Irish need? The Irish cannot compete with any elite program or become an elite program without dynamic playmakers on the perimeter.