A lot has been said about the use of freshmen by Brian Kelly and Notre Dame – or the lack thereof. Freshmen have played a vital role in Notre Dame’s run to the Playoffs, though – and we’re talking about true freshmen here, not redshirt freshmen.
The main gripes of Notre Dame fans when it comes to freshmen this year is that Jordan Johnson and Xavier Watts have mainly stayed on the sidelines, when they’ve dressed/traveled, while the Notre Dame passing game at times could have used some additional speed and athleticism. Never was that more apparent than the second Clemson contest.