Notre Dame Aspires Toward Fuller Offense Without Will Fuller
Ask any coach on the current Notre Dame staff if he would prefer to have Will Fuller back for his senior year in 2016, and the answer is an overwhelming yes.
How stupid a question is that anyway? Who wouldn’t want the game-breaker with 4.32 speed — and functional football speed, at that — back on the team? Fuller averaged 20.3 yards per catch last season, his 14 scoring receptions were double that of the next three Irish players combined and his 1,258 yards via the air were almost more than the next three combined (1,315). Yet if there is relatively consistent recruiting, like there has been on offense for the better part of head coach Brian Kelly’s seven seasons, team cohesion and chemistry often can supersede a star system.
Over the past two weeks, the Fighting Irish receiving corps has practiced mainly with five scholarship players that have a total of 36 receptions among them — 35 of them by senior Torii Hunter Jr. Minus Fuller, there does not appear to be a get-out-of-jail card for the three returning quarterbacks. There is plenty of speed, led by junior Corey Holmes’ 4.39 this winter. There is also much height with 6-4 sophomores such as Equanimeous St. Brown and Miles Boykin (plus at tight end), and some good hands with early enrollee freshman Kevin Stephenson.
Now it’s a matter of fostering chemistry through the spring and summer months and “forcing” the need to look elsewhere beyond Fuller. Sometimes, that can be a blessing in disguise.
“If there is a marked storyline other than the actual QB competition, I would say that is the most significant,” second-year quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator Mike Sanford said of attempting to build an overall cohesion and teamwork on offense. “Spring ball has been really good for that to kind of get on that same page, not just at Will’s position but all three [receiver] positions, plus the tight end group.”
“We’re experimenting with a lot of different stuff right now and trying to make sure our package is complete enough to take advantage of the athletes that we have,” associate head coach/receivers coach Mike Denbrock said. “The good thing is we’re versatile enough where we’ve got an opportunity to interchange those things.”
There is a long history of Notre Dame thriving the year after one superstar on offense — be it at receiver, running back and sometimes even the quarterback — graduates. One of the best example was the 1957 team finishing No. 10 nationally after posting a 2-8 mark a year earlier with 1956 Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung.
Over the last four decades, here are a half-dozen examples that the 2016 offense can note:
1. Leaving Vagas
1979: Senior Vagas Ferguson rushes for a school-record 1,437 yards (which still stands, without bowl games), finishes fifth in the Heisman Trophy balloting and is a first-round NFL Draft pick … but the Irish finish 7-4 for their worst mark in 16 years.
1980: Neither Jim Stone nor Phil Carter play in the NFL, but the two combine for more than 1,800 rushing yards while the Irish open with a surprising 9-0-1 record, No. 2 ranking and a Sugar Bowl bid to play No. 1 Georgia.
2. Irish Shine With Brown Out
1987: Senior Tim Brown won the Heisman Trophy during an 8-4 season and was the No. 6 pick in the NFL Draft. He snared more than three times the amount of passes than anyone else on the team did, and the mandate was to get him the ball even if double- or triple-covered.
1988: Although no one on the 1988 team caught more than 16 passes — and the top four were not separated by more than three catches — the Irish improved to 12-0 and won the national title.
3. Backfield In Motion
1992: On paper and from an NFL Draft perspective, this star-studded backfield for the 10-1-1 team was the best ever at Notre Dame. It featured No. 2 overall pick Rick Mirer at quarterback, fifth-place Heisman finisher Reggie Brooks at tailback (who was a second-round pick) and junior fullback Jerome “The Bus” Bettis went pro early and was selected in the first round with the No. 10 overall pick.
1993: The far less heralded trio of quarterback Kevin McDougal (undrafted), tailback Lee Becton (undrafted) and fullback Ray Zellars emerged superbly while the Irish finished 11-1 and a debatable No. 2 to Florida State, a team it defeated in November.
4. Numbers Vs. Efficiency
1999: Quarterback Jarious Jackson broke Joe Theismann’s 29-year school record for most passing yards in a season (2,753) and was the second-leading rusher with 464 yards. Alas, the Irish also committed 30 turnovers and finished 5-7.
2000: With freshman signal-caller Matt LoVecchio was thrown into the fire, Notre Dame averaged 74 yards less per game than with Jackson — but it committed an NCAA single-season record-low eight turnovers to finish 9-2 and earn a BCS bowl bid. Efficiency, resourcefulness and team play can trump individual stardom.
5. No Rush To Judgment
2001: Future second-round running back pick Julius Jones led the Irish in rushing for a second straight year, but Notre Dame finished 5-6.
2002: Jones was declared academically ineligible, yet the Irish started 8-0 and shot up to No. 4 in the nation while less heralded sophomore Ryan Grant (who would not be drafted) became a 1,000-yard rusher.
6. The Floyd Void
2011: Two-time MVP and senior Michael Floyd caught a single-season school-record 100 passes and became the 13th pick in the 2012 NFL Draft … yet the Irish finished only 8-5.
2012: Minus Floyd, Notre Dame finished 12-0 and No. 1 during the regular season while averaging just more than 200 rushing yards per game and spreading the wealth exceptionally well among the receivers, with Tyler Eifert and TJ Jones catching 50 passes apiece, running back Theo Riddick 36, wideout DaVaris Daniels 31 and slot man Robby Toma 24.
Where there’s a will, a way can be found. In 2016, it needs to happen without a Will.