Sept. 01--Tuesday, Sept. 1: Notre Dame released its depth charts for Saturday's game against Texas. Starters in bold.
Notre Dame depth chart for Saturday's game against Texas
Offense
Quarterbacks
Malik Zaire, DeShone Kizer
Running backs
Tarean Folston, C.J. Prosise
Receivers
Chris Brown or Corey Robinson
Amir Carlisle or Torii Hunter Jr.
Will Fuller, Equanimeous St. Brown
Left tackles
Ronnie Stanley, Bivin Hunter
Left guards
Quenton Nelson, Alex Bars
Centers
Nick Martin, Sam Mustipher
Right guards
Steve Elmer, Colin McGovern
Right tackles
Mike McGlinchey, Mark Harrell
Tight ends
Durham Smythe, Tyler Luatua or Nic Weishar or Chase Hounshell or Alize Jones
Defense
Defensive line
Romeo Okwara, Andrew Trumbetti
Sheldon Day, Jay Hayes
Daniel Cage, Jerry Tillery
Isaac Rochell, Jonathan Bonner
Linebackers
Joe Schmidt, Nyles Morgan or Jarrett Grace
Jaylon Smith, Te'von Coney
James Onwualu, Greer Martini
Cornerbacks
KeiVarae Russell, Devin Butler
Cole Luke, Nick Coleman
Safeties
Max Redfield, Matthias Farley
Elijah Shumate, Drue Tranquill, Avery Sebastian
Special teams
Place-kicker
Justin Yoon, John Chereson
Punter
Tyler Newsome, Jeff Riney
Long snapper
Scott Daly, Hunter Smith or Nic Weishar
Holder
DeShone Kizer, Montgomery VanGorder
Punt returners
C.J. Sanders, Will Fuller
Kick returners
Amir Carlisle, C.J. Sanders or C.J. Prosise
Thursday, Aug. 27: Brian Kelly announced the team's captains for the 2015 season. Senior defensive lineman Sheldon Day and fifth-year senior center Nick Martin earned the honor for the second time. They will be joined by fifth-year senior cornerback Matthias Farley, fifth-year senior linebacker Joe Schmidt and junior linebacker Jaylon Smith.
Kelly also directed some of his attention to Texas, the Irish's Week 1 opponent on Sept. 5.
He said the Longhorns' 3-3 stacked defense "is not the ideal team to play out of the gates because they create a lot of different looks."
Scouting what the Irish assume will be a whole new offense has proven more difficult.
"There's no film other than a grainy, ESPN Longhorn Network game from the spring," Kelly said. "There's not much to go on."
In other news:
--Running back C.J. Prosise has returned to practice after missing time with a hip flexor.
--Tight end Durham Smythe, who once was orally committed to the Irish's Week 1 opponent, Texas, also is back after missing time with a hamstring injury.
--Kelly said freshman quarterback Brandon Wimbush, as of now, will not be a full-time scout-team player and will continue to take reps with the regular team. "We'll send him up to scout team for their "skelly" period, where they're running a conventional offense and then bring him back."
--The Irish are deep at lineback. So deep that Crete-Monee grad Nyles Morgan, who started four games last season, looks to be the odd man out on the 1-2 depth chart. Kelly said Joe Schmidt, Jaylon Smith and James Onwualu are No. 1 on the depth chart and will be backed up by Jarrett Grace, Nick Coleman and Greer Martini, respectively. "Nyles will get in the mix there," Kelly said. "We have some situations that we would move Jaylon around and that could get another player on the field."
Wednesday, Aug. 19: Freshman defensive back Shaun Crawford won't have a chance to finish trying to start thanks to a torn ACL he suffered during practice Wednesday morning that finished him for the season.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly announced the injury to the 5-foot-8 1/2 , 180-pounder from St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio, on Wednesday night.
Crawford is the second Notre Dame player in less than a week to suffer a season-ending injury. Nose tackle Jarron Jones tore his right MCL during practice Friday.
Crawford had been in the running start at nickel back and also had his eye on spot as a kickoff returner.
"The battles that were really fun to watch were some of those young guys -- (Nick) Coleman, Crawford," Kelly said Tuesday.
Crawford was ranked as the sixth-best cornerback out of high school by Rivals.com. The Under Armour All-American helped St. Edward to the Ohio Division I state championship last season, when he had 91 tackles, including eight for a loss, 17 pass breakups, seven interceptions and forced three fumbles.
Crawford will be eligible for a medical redshirt.
The Irish could use freshman Nick Coleman, senior Matthias Farley, junior Cole Luke or senior KeiVarae Russell in Crawford's place.
Tuesday, Aug. 18: Practice focused on the offense, but the Irish defense stole the show in an overcast day in South Bend.
Sophomore safety Drue Tranquill's interception ended red zone drills with an interception and junior safety Max Redfield returned another interception for a score.
Overall, junior quarterback Malik Zaire struggled, especially on longer routes. The offensive struggles had a lot to do with the defense, though. Freshman lineman Jerry Tillery helped lead a group that pressured the QBs.
Other highlights from Tuesday's practice:
--Freshman Justin Yoon made a 46-yard field goal to end practice during end-of-game drills.
--Freshman receivers C.J. Sanders and Equanimeous St. Brown, along with junior receiver Will Fuller impressed.
--Senior KeiVarae Russell continued to look good at cornerback. Russell was cleared to play for the Irish by the NCAA, coach Brian Kelly said after Tuesday's practice.
Saturday, Aug. 15: A day before the team's first day off since camp began Aug. 7, several Notre Dame players had the Saturday -- and some coming days -- off because of injuries.
Most notably missing from the field Saturday was senior defensive tackle Jarron Jones, who tore his right MCL and will miss the entire season. Jones hurt the knee during practice Thursday.
"Just one of those things you can never prepare for," Irish coach Brian Kelly said. "We wish him the best. He's got a great attitude about it. He'll be back next year and I'm sure he'll give it everything he has."
Backup quarterbacks DeShone Kizer and Brandon Wimbush were live for Saturday's practice, while starter Malik Zaire was not.
The Irish worked a lot of situational things, including special teams.
Other highlights from practice:
--Freshman receiver C.J. Sanders' 90-yard punt return for a touchdown highlighted practice.
--Senior receiver-turned running back C.J. Prosise was held out of practice because of a hip flexor. He is expected to miss 10 days.
--Freshman linebacker Josh Barajas also missed practice with a pulled hamstring. He is expected to return in two weeks.
--Freshman tight end Alize Jones returned to practice in pads but wasn't part of any contact drills. He was out with a neck injury.
--Freshman linebacker Te'von Coney returned after missing practice after he was poked in the eye.
--Freshman receiver Jalen Guyton made several nice catches.
--Freshman running back Josh Adams was impressive. His day included a long touchdown run.
--Sophomore tight end Nic Weishar, a Marist graduate, made several nice catches, including one off a tip.
--Sophomore Andrew Trumbetti stood out on the defensive line.
--Freshman kicker Justin Yoon's first field goal attempt was blocked, ending his streak of consecutive successes at 18.
Thursday, Aug. 13: Practice for Notre Dame's football team returned to campus Wednesday after the team spent the previous five days in Culver, Ind.
Coach Brian Kelly on Thursday praised the leadership of center Nick Martin and the play of the offensive line. He also said defensive lineman Sheldon Day was unblockable during both sessions of Wednesday's two-a-day practice.
--Ronnie Stanley was slow to his feet and limped away from a drill late during Friday's practice. The 6-foot-5 1/2 , 315-pound offensive lineman was shaking his right leg but appeared to be fine.
--Tight end Alize Jones did not dress for practice because of a neck injury. He is expected to return in a couple of days.
--Tight end Durham Smythe was dressed but did not participate in contact drills. He's expected to return in a couple of days.
--Freshman linebacker Te'Von Coney did not practice after he was poked in the eye.
--Freshman defensive back Nick Coleman had some reps with the first-team defense.
--Cornerback KeiVarae Russell still is practicing with the team and has one more NCAA hurdle to clear with the NCAA before he's in the clear to play, Kelly said. Defensive lineman Ishaq Williams still is not practicing with the team and his case is still pending with the NCAA, Kelly said. Both were suspended as a result of an academic fraud case last season.
Tuesday, Aug. 11: Apparently, backup quarterback DeShone Kizer was having some fun on social media during practice Tuesday at Culver Academies. A curious tweet from @NDFootball, the football team's official Twitter account, at 12:26 p.m. said: "DeShone Kizer has had a strong camp this far and will push Zaire for the staring job."
Malik Zaire will be Notre Dame's starting quarterback this season.
The tweet later was taken down and another followed at 12:42 p.m.: "So much for DeShone running the ND Twitter account today, but he has had a solid first 5 days hahaha."
Tuesday's practice was closed to the media.
The Irish return to campus in South Bend on Wednesday to being two-a-day practices. Their season begins Sept. 5 at home against Texas.
It also was announced Tuesday that Showtime Sports will chronicle the team's 2015 season in a series called "A Season with Notre Dame Football."
Friday, Aug. 7: In the end, this wasn't the beginning for which Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly had hoped.
At the conclusion of the first day of fall football camp Friday at Culver Academies, Kelly expressed some reservations about his team's performance.
"I want to start fast. We didn't start fast," Kelly said. "We had a couple guys that didn't pay attention to detail," he said without being specific. "The effort was good, not great. But it's all stuff we can control.
"I told them what I expect from them (Saturday) when we come back."
The Irish will have four more practices at Culver before returning to South Bend, Ind.
They open the season Sept. 5 at home against Texas.
"We think we've got the parts, but he parts have to be running together," Kelly said.
A few observations from the first day of camp Friday:
--New starting quarterback Malik Zaire struggled at times throwing the deep ball but otherwise didn't stand out -- good or bad. "
--Torii Hunter Jr. made several nice catches, including a 40-plus-yard beauty on a perfect spiral from freshman Brandon Wimbush. "He can make all the throws," Kelly said.
--Cornerback KeiVarae Russell returned to the practice field, as vocal as usual, for the first time since he was suspended before last season because of an academic fraud scandal.
--Kelly said he was pleasantly surprised by the performance of his receivers, and singled out freshman Miles Boykin.
--Kelly also praised his defensive backs.
--Along with Zaire, Ronnie Stanley, Quenton Nelson, Nick Martin, Steve Elmer, Mike McGlinchey, Durham Smythe, C.J. Prosise, Chris Brown and Omar Hunter got some work in on the first-team offense.
