JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat Sept. 30, 2020

Notre Dame Football Live Chat Sept. 30, 2020

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Ray From Mishawaka

12:25

Hi Eric, I get the Tribune and look forward to your writings and the whole sports department writings for that matter. On the covid issues that the team is currently having, what is the thinking about where the student/athletes got the virus prior to attending a pregame meal. One or more had to been exposed prior to the meal. Was it their families, other students or other outside issues? It's an unfortunate situation and I hope they can continue playing football as scheduled. I like seeing games and gives some sense of a partial return to normalcy. I feel bad for the kids and the whole situation.

Eric Hansen

12:24

To get to 1,000 yards, he needs to be healthy for all of Notre Dame's games and they need to play 12 (11 regular season and a postseason game) or 13 (reg. season, ACC title game, postseason. Even then, because of the other options in the backfield, the number of carries in some games might not be there. But here's the math: He needs to average 83.3 yards a game if ND plays 12 games and 77 if the Irish play 13. He has averaged 87 in his first two games. My sense is there's too much balance to produce a 1,000-yard rusher this year. As far as the O-Line, the expectation is that the line should be one of the top 3 nationally, if not No. 1. A lot of good lines haven't played yet, but so far Pro Football Focus rates ND's line as the nation's best.

Joe from Toledo, oh

12:13

Eric, thanks as always for the outstanding work. 3 part question. With all the depth at running back this season do you think kyren Williams gets to 1000 yards rushing this season? Will he even get enough carries to reach that mark? And last, if the O-line health remains intact do you believe that this is a top 3 O-line, possibly number 1 in CFB?

Eric Hansen

12:13

Michael, thank you. It's interesting, because during the latter part of Lou Holtz's run as coach at Notre Dame, then-athletic director Michael Wadsworth really hammered Lou for attrition. There's been a slow, but decided, evolution away from that thinking, especially with the advent of grad transfers. A large number of ND's defections, if you will, are grad transfers who leave with an ND degree in hand. But even conventional transfers are more accepted as part of roster management. A player buried on the depth chart who leaves, opens a spot in a recruiting class ... or for ND to import a grad transfer. Sometimes a scheme change can cause multiple players to go elsewhere, and that was the case when Brian VanGorder was replaced by Mike Elko. A lot of players who were recruited as safeties were no longer schematic fits. There have been talented players who have left the roster for various reasons, but there hasn't been a talent drain or a disturbing trend that is tripping the dives into the transfer portal.

Michael from Atlanta

12:04

Love these chats. Just read your article on ND transfers. Anything we should read into the large number of transfers from ND program wise? Or is this just the way things are these days. Keep up the good work!

Eric Hansen

Let's get started.

12:03

Here are the rules.