College Football

Notre Dame

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 5:49 p.m. ET

Sports Illustrated

The list of what’s settled is a lot shorter than what’s in question for the Fighting Irish this spring. The coaching staff under head coach Brian Kelly is mostly new as is the starting quarterback and much of the defense. After a 4–8 season, change is probably a good thing, but Notre Dame fans will be eager to learn some answers to indicate Kelly has the Irish back on track. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Wimbush steps in to replace DeShone Kizer under center and learn new offensive coordinator Chip Long’s scheme. Wimbush has plenty of hype after Scout.com ranked him the No. 6 quarterback in the 2015 recruiting class, but remains unproven. The defense will have to adapt to new coordinator Mike Elko’s 4-2-5 scheme, which helped Wake Forest finish No. 22 in defensive S&P+ ratings last season. In short, expect the Irish to look a lot different when they open spring practice, but they’ll need to adjust quickly.