Notre Dame Football: What can we expect from the Irish in 2020?

Is offense good enough to keep pace in ACC?

If there’s a perceived weakness for the Notre Dame offense heading into the 2020 season, it’s most likely the unit’s young receiving corps. For context, let’s assume that the Irish starters include Braden Lenzy, Kevin Austin Jr. (when healthy), and Lawrence Keys III. Throw in Tommy Tremble at tight end and you have a combined 45 career catches between these four juniors. Chase Claypool had 66 last season alone.

While the inexperience should leave Irish fans cautious in their expectations for this group, there’s certainly no reason to temper your excitement. This is a talented unit that showed some serious flashes in 2019 and has the potential to be very productive in the coming year. Just be prepared for some growing pains as they nestle further into their future roles.

Speaking of expectations, they should be at an all-time high for an offensive line unit comprised of five starters encroaching on a combined 140 games played. This is a unit that could, and maybe should be the nation’s best. They say it all starts with the offensive line, which could be a very, very good thing for the Irish this season.

All things considered, the Irish offense is going to be somewhat of a wildcard in 2020. The Irish have a good idea as to what they have in quarterback Ian Book, but is that good enough to take down the ACC’s best? For now we’ll wait and see.