Notre Dame football now forced to adjust as they gear up for the blue-gold game

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman says the offense pulled out a two-point victory over the defense in today’s scrimmage.

Newly converted wide receiver Chris Tyree had a 20-yard play setting up quarterback Sam Hartman for the go-ahead rushing touchdown.

He says it was a clean scrimmage on offense with only one fumble in 90 plays and no interceptions.

Freeman says Hartman and Tyler Buchner are both playing like starting quarterbacks right now. 

While he’s not ready to announce a starter just yet he does not plan to drag the competition out into the season.

Transfer wide receiver, Kaleb Smith, made a surprise announcement today that he has decided to medically retire from football.

He says after countless hours of prayer he has come to the decision that his time playing the game of football has come to an end, and he would now like to focus his attention on life after football and his mental and physical health.

Kaleb and Sam Hartman have a long-standing connection with their dads having played college football together, and themselves nearly teammates at Wake Forest.

Kaleb and Sam were both looking forward to playing together this season.

Kaleb came to Notre Dame from Virginia Tech where he had 74 catches for 1,143 yards and 7 touchdowns for his career.

Marcus Freeman stated, "I want to just before we open up for questions just address the, you know, the Kaleb Smith situation and he's retiring from football. We wish him all the best. It was what's best for him and ultimate as a head coach, all you care about is he made the decision that this was probably what's best for him as retired from football. And I think he put out a statement and you know, went into details on his reasons why but we wish him all the best and what we're grateful for the time we had with him and wish him the best moving forward."

New offensive coordinator, Gared Parker, says they have depth in the wide receiver room this spring.

Parker added, "I think the development of Chris Tyree is certainly something that's going to be a factor for us and as he learns how to play that position, Tobias has taken necessary steps JT, as he continues to work, what it means to be able to play every down and really force himself to be in shape to do that is really taken steps. Those three kinds of veterans if you will, kind of show up in different ways which has been great."

Another position change we could see become permanent this spring is wide receiver, Lorenzo Styles, moving over to cornerback.

Marcus Freeman says that Lorenzo was a talented defensive back in high school and he's a great athlete, so they're experimenting this spring, a decision he says Lorenzo is on board with.