Aug. 21, 2001
The Notre Dame football players will get a chance to see how far they have come in such a short amount of time.
With about a week of training camp, under their belt the Irish will get a chance to take on each other in a scheduled practice scrimmage. They are scheduled to scrimmage on Sunday evening. It will be the first time the coaches get a chance to evaluate the player in a game-like atmosphere this year.
“The scrimmage is important but what is really more important is everyday,” Davie said. “We are not just gearing everything we do for that scrimmage. We will have two-a-days everyday leading up to it except for Wednesday. On Sunday, we do not expect to see the finished product.”
EFFICIENT PASSING
One thing Davie does hope to see more of is better passing. Sophomores Jared Clark, Carlyle Holiday and Matt LoVecchio have now more repetitions under each of their belts so many expect improved results.
“Our receivers are pretty talented,” Davie said. “The quarterbacks are far ahead of where they were a year ago. I think we can throw the ball more efficiently then we have.”
The team spent a lot of time early on in training camp, throwing the ball. Davie feels that the majority of the rest of the practices will be spent, on the ground game.
GAME CONDITIONS
With the home opener for the Irish slated for September 8, Davie and Co. want to make Sunday’s scrimmage as much like a game as possible.
The coaches plan on using game noise and other distractions to give the team a feel for what to expect in its opener against Nebraska.
“Are we going to be able to simulate what Memorial Stadium, West Lafayette and College Station are going to be like? No,” Davie said. “We will make it as game-like as we can. We will scrimmage Sunday night in the stadium with crowd noise. We are going to do the whole deal.”
The scrimmage is closed to the media as well as the general public.