It is a new era for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, as they have a fresh face on the sidelines to guide Notre Dame football. That's Marcus Freeman, who succeeds Brian Kelly as head coach of the storied football program. All eyes will be on Freeman and how we will commander the team. It's not all going to be in Freeman's hand, though. Here are some of Notre Dame football players who have the best potential to break out and help make Freeman's first year in South Bend a success.
3 Notre Dame football breakout stars in 2022 season
3. Cam Hart
Much is expected of senior cornerback Cam Hart in 2022, and he will have to live up to the expectations if the Fighting Irish are going to put up a sturdy product on the defensive side of the ball this year. Hart is entering his third year in South Bend and second as a starter for the Fighting Irish. In his first year as a starter for Notre Dame's secondary, he played 12 games and recorded a pair of interceptions and 41 total tackles (24 solo). At the time, he was patrolling downfield together with safety Kyle Hamilton, who has now taken his talents to the pros after being taken in the first round (14th overall) by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2022 NFL Draft.
With Hamilton gone, the Fighting Irish have a big hole on their pass defense to cover, and Hart will play a large role in ensuring that. It is worth noting that Hart never played cornerback until he came to South Bend. In fact, he was a wide receiver when the Fighting Irish recruited him, but has learned to play his new position faster than Notre Dame could have asked for. Hart surely had his own struggles in making that transition and it showed in some inconsistent play from him in 2021. But now more experienced and more motivated than ever, Cam Hart might just be on the verge of taking that huge leap from being a good cornerback to being one of the best in the nation for Notre Dame's defense that ranked 23rd in 2021 with a 3.50 percent interception rate.
Via Notre Dame football cornerbacks coach Mick Mickens (h/t Douglas Farmer of NBC Sports):
“This was his first true year starting, so I think he was still learning corner play. Some of the things that you would naturally have if you played it all your life …,” Mickens said this winter. “Now he understands corner, where his help is, how his technique can be better to me in better positions to make even more plays than he did this year. He has caught up to the game. Now I think it’s more let’s go dominate.”
2. Chris Tyree
It's not hard to see why Tyree is making people in South Bend excited. For one, he is expected to ascent to the top of the food chain in Notre Dame's ground attack following the departure of running back Kyren Williams. Now with the Los Angeles Rams, Willams leaves behind a ton of touches to be split between the current group of Fighting Irish. In 2021, Williams led Notre Dame with 1,002 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on 204 carries while also playing a significant role in the passing attack, coming up with 359 receiving yards and three touchdown receptions on 42 catches.
Logan Diggs, second among running Notre Dame running backs in 2021 with just 230 rushing yards, is still with the Fighting Irish, but it is Tyree who radiates with more potential to break out, as he is now viewed as the lead back of his team's ground game that produced 143.3 rushing yards per game in 2021 — good for just 79th overall in the nation. Tyree burned rubber for 496 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in his first year the Notre Dame football in 2020. The following year, he regressed with 222 rushing yards and just one rushing touchdown, but he also had 250 receiving yards and a couple of touchdown receptions. But with Williams no longer in front of him, Tyree, who has his name on the preseason 2022 Doak Walker watch list, has the field set for what should be a breakout season.
1. Tyler Buchner
Like Tyree, it is going to be all about taking advantage of an opportunity brought about by a big departure in the position for sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner. In 2021, Buchner backed up for Jack Coan, but Coan is now trying to make the final roster cut of the Indianapolis Colts. Drew Pyne is also still with Notre Dame football, but he doesn't have the explosiveness on the ground of Buchner,who, despite seeing limited action on the field in 2021, still managed to have more rushing yards than Diggs and Tyree. Buchner ran for 336 yards on 46 carries, good for 7.3 yards per carry. His dual-threat capabilities will have a key role in dictating how Notre Dame's offense flow and in defining the first year of the Marcus Freeman era in South Bend.
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