Fighting Irish report: Notes, quotes

March 26, 2008
The Sports Xchange

Notes, quotes · Inside slant · Strategy and personnel

SPRING OBJECTIVES
In the absence of a quarterback battle, the offensive focus could fall to the tailback position. Junior James Aldridge and sophomores Robert Hughes and Armando Allen are the main competitors. Aldridge rushed for a team-high 463 yards on 121 yards last season. Allen gained 348 yards on 86 attempts. Hughes came on late with 100-yard efforts in the last two games, finishing with 294 yards on 53 rushes. Going hand-in-hand with this will be the competition on a revamped offensive line.

BUILDING BLOCKS
Jimmy Clausen is the quarterback of the moment and the future. He played better in his final three starts as a true freshman, but he has a lot of growing to do. He ended up starting nine games, completing 138 of 245 passes for 1,254 yards, with seven touchdowns and six interceptions. He has the arm, but he will have to develop poise and decision-making for the Irish to be successful in 2008. He loses his top target -- tight end John Carlson -- but a young receiving corps of Robby Parris, Duval Kamara and David Grimes -- should help the passing game improve.

SCHEDULE SITUATION
Notre Dame has four of its first five games at home, starting with the opener against San Diego State. Game 2 should be interesting as new Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez brings the Wolverines to Notre Dame Stadium. The season-finale at USC (Nov. 29) is the toughest game on paper, but each game presents a reasonable degree of difficulty. Ten of the 12 games are against BCS-conference opponents; the others are SDSU and Navy. There should be enough wins on the schedule to get back to a bowl, but Notre Dame can't take any weeks off.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I don't want to pigeonhole the offensive staff, and I think that some of the creativity that comes in offense sometimes gets stymied when you have a domineering head coach that happens to be an offensive guy. I'm trying to cut this cord. Really, it's not the easiest thing to do. I'm trying to do that." -- Coach Charlie Weis, on taking a step back from running the offense.