How Notre Dame plans to deal with NC State QB Brennan Armstrong
Notre Dame remembers its last loss all too well.
The Irish traveled to Los Angeles on Nov. 26 to face USC, where they ran into a quarterback finalizing his Heisman Trophy campaign. Not counting two sacks for a combined 16 yards, then-sophomore Caleb Williams ran seven times for 51 yards and three touchdowns. When he torched Notre Dame through the air, he often did so by extending the play with his legs.
For the first time since then, excluding those who operate the triple option, Notre Dame has to contain a running quarterback this week. At least one Irish player has watched the USC tape to pick up some tips.
“Absolutely,” sophomore Vyper Joshua Burnham said Tuesday. “It definitely helps to see, especially for that USC game, the areas to improve on for the scrambling-type quarterback. Going into this year, we definitely feel more comfortable with it.”
Burnham didn’t play in that game, and defending an elite athlete at quarterback is easier said than done, but he saw several areas where the Irish can improve from last season. Keeping your eyes on the quarterback and getting off blocks is important, but a never-ending motor might be even more so.
“If you’re back side, just being able to come back and not taking a play off, jogging,” Burnham said. “Everyone has to do a part in running to the ball. By the time they do all these jukes, you’re right there and you can be the one that ends up making the tackle.“
He’s not Williams, but NC State graduate quarterback Brennan Armstrong is a dangerous runner in his own right.
Not including a four-yard sack, the Virginia transfer rushed 18 times for 100 yards and two scores against UConn this past Thursday. He’s fast — NC State coach Dave Doeren said on ACC Network that Armstrong registered 20 miles per hour on the team’s GPS during the spring — but there’s more to his game than speed.
Armstrong’s experience shows when he runs. If there’s an open rush lane, he will find it, and he knows whether to pull or give on a zone read. He’ll put one of those jukes Burnham talked about on a defender if they’re not careful, and he’s not afraid to take a hit.
“Patience and poise jump off [Armstrong’s tape],” Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden said. “Doesn’t get rattled. Has enough arm strength to get the ball down the field, but he has the legs to create, and obviously [he’s] a problem in the run game. … He’s big. He’s strong. You’ve got to wrap him up or get two hats to him.”
What makes Armstrong difficult to deal with, Golden said, is that even if the coverage is good — as it often was against USC last season — he can still create positive yards on the run. And if the defense allocates an extra player as a quarterback spy, there will be a “vacancy,” as Golden put it, somewhere else on the field.
He obviously won’t disclose the game plan, but Golden said one thing he’ll have to do hide that gap in Notre Dame’s coverage.
“How you mask [the vacancy] depends on the coverage or what you want to play behind it,” Golden said. “But there’s no doubt he’s a challenge. And anyway that’s what we signed up for, man. This is great. It’s a great opportunity for us.”
Golden also noted the designed run game that can pose a challenge for Notre Dame. NC State will run Armstrong on zone reads, draws, or even QB power with a lead blocker. Armstrong can visually sift through traffic to find space in a defense’s front as well as anyone.
Armstrong won’t be the last mobile quarterback Notre Dame sees this season, and while no one inside the Guglielmino Athletics Complex will say it out loud this week, he won’t be the most dangerous, either.
Obviously, there’s Williams again. Duke’s Riley Leonard showed how lethal he can be Monday night against Clemson. On the other side of that game, Cade Klubnik is a great runner. Even Central Michigan’s two quarterbacks, Bert Emanuel Jr. and Jase Bauer, were the Chippewas’ two leading rushers in Week 1.
A reporter asked Golden about the slate of rushing QBs on Notre Dame’s schedule.
“I’m just trying to get through a Tuesday,” Golden said, laughing.
That game-by-game mindset is a big part of why Notre Dame started the season as well as it did. But the way the Irish handle Armstrong will say a lot about how they might fare in some of their big games down the line, for better or for worse.
The post How Notre Dame plans to deal with NC State QB Brennan Armstrong appeared first on On3.
