2016 Notre Dame Football: Did You Know...

Brian Kelly’s career record at Notre Dame is 55-23 for a .705 winning percentage.

Generally the standard a Fighting Irish head coach is measured against is a .750 winning percentage, or three wins per four tries. That is slightly above the football team's all-time winning percentage of .732, which ranks No. 1 on the Football Bowl Subdivision chart. While the career winning percentages of Knute Rockne (.881), Frank Leahy (.855) and Ara Parseghian (.836) are ridiculous and unattainable, Kelly, whose contract runs through 2021, could realistically near the marks of Elmer Layden (.770), Lou Holtz (.765) and Dan Devine (.764), with Layden lasting seven years and Devine six.

Over the past four seasons (2012-15), Kelly is at exactly .750 with a 39-13 ledger — and we believe the best should be ahead for him in the coming years.

Ideally, he could get to .750 this year in one fell swoop. That would require a 14-0 record to win the national title, putting him at 69-23 (.750) overall.

Running backs Tarean Folston and Josh Adams have 2,213 career yards rushing between them.

That represents the most ever at Notre Dame the year after graduating someone who eclipsed 1,000 yards on the ground the previous year (C.J. Prosise totaled 1,032 in 2015). Yet the senior Folston, sidelined last year because of an ACL tear in his knee, has 1,378 yards to his credit, while Adams rushed for a school freshman record 835 yards in 2015.

This is the seventh time the Irish must find a replacement for a 1,000-yard rusher, and only the second time it has more than 1,000 career yards returning among everyone else (never mind more than 2,000). The other occurred in 2004 when senior Ryan Grant (1,705 career yards) stepped in for the graduated Julius Jones.

This is a testament to the quality depth and development that has occurred the past few years, and is expected to continue.

The three wide receiver positions — slot (Z), boundary (W) and field (X) — have one career start returning among them.

That belongs to senior Torii Hunter Jr., who basically was a co-starter at slot last year with Amir Carlisle. Blueandgold.com’s unofficial stats had Carlisle with 412 snaps to Hunter’s 329. Carlisle ended up catching 32 passes for 355 yards and a score, while Hunter grabbed 28 for 363 and two scores.

Nevertheless, what we find interesting is, per our research, the last time Notre Dame had fewer returning starts at the receiver spots — zero — was in 1988 after Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown, Reggie Ward and Ray Dumas all graduated, while junior Pat Terrell was shifted to free safety. Furthermore, the starting tight end, Andy Heck, made the transition to left tackle that same season. It turned out okay when the Irish went on to capture the national title.

Seldom does one return a safety, cornerback and defensive lineman with more career tackles than any linebacker, but that is the case in 2016.

The player with the most career tackles returning is senior free safety Max Redfield with 144 — and he generally played behind early entrant/true freshman Devin Studstill this spring. Next is strong side senior end Isaac Rochell (110) and classmate/cornerback Cole Luke (104). A distant fourth is senior Sam linebacker James Onwualu at 68.

On paper, Notre Dame’s linebacker corps might rival wide receiver as the team’s top question mark of 2016, especially minus 2015 Butkus Award winner Jaylon Smith. That also provides an opportunity for it to be the top perceived surprise during and after the season.

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