What to expect out of Notre Dame’s offense with Gerad Parker as coordinator

It wasn’t the sexiest of hires, but Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman found an in-house option in gerad parker as his next offensive coordinator.

Parker has had that role previously, as he held the role for West Virginia for two years in 2020-21. He has some head coaching experience as well, as he was the interim coach at purdue for six games during the 2016 season.

The former Kentucky Wildcat has had a lot of experience working on the offensive side of the ball aside from higher roles, working with wide receivers, tight ends and being a run-game coordinator.

Let’s dig a bit deeper into what the Irish offense will look like with Parker calling the plays.

2020 West Virginia running offense

Stats that told the story

For the running game, as a team they averaged 35 carries for 135 yards. It was mainly a single back, Leddie Brown, logging 199 of those carries for 1,010 yards and nine touchdowns. A solid average of 5.1 yards per carry over ten games.

Alec Sinkfield was the backup, gaining 327 yards on 78 carries with three scores. I would attribute the fact that they used Brown as the workhorse due to lack to depth at the position.

2020 West Virginia passing offense

Stats that told the story

The Mountaineers were decent passing the ball, averaging 227.5 yards per game on 40 attempts. The quarterbacks completed 63.1% of their attempts. That team scored more touchdowns through the air, 17, as they did on the ground, 15.

Starting quarterback Jarret Doege was very solid, not spectacular, averaging just under 7 yards per attempt and threw just 4 interceptions. Total, Doege threw for 2,587 yards on 374 attempts, completing 63.9% of his throws. He accounted for 14 of the passing scores with a quarterback rating of 132.4 on the year.

2021 West Virginia rushing offense

Stats that told the story

For the second year in a row, Brown rushed for over 1,000 yards but just barely like the previous season. Touchdowns went up from nine to 13, so the offense took a nice step forward there.

Tony Mathis was Brown’s backup, but didn’t get much work in, getting just 312 yards on 72 carries and no scores.

2021 West Virginia passing offense

Stats that told the story

With Doege returing, Parker opted to give him more opportunities throwing the ball but the results weren’t nearly what they were the year before. The yardage totals made a jump to 3,048 and his completion percentage also went up to 65.2%. Doege also had a bit of an increase in his QBR, going to 135.9, with five more touchdown passes than the year prior.

That was the good, the bad was that with more opportunities, Doege threw a lot more interceptions. It was three times as many as the year before, with his total jumping to 12.

What to expect running the ball

Breakdown

Don’t expect much difference from what we saw this past season. Parker will have much more depth than he ever had at WVU so the ground game shouldn’t change much. He does like to run inside the tackles, which is where the Irish had a good amount of success this past season. Parker probably shouldn’t try and fix something that isn’t broken.

What to expect passing the ball

Breakdown

When Parker was actually allowed to take over and call the plays for WVU, it was a mixed bag with the passing results. There was a high of 390 yards and a low of 109. Paired with new quarterbacks coach [autotag]Gino Guidugli[/autotag], there is a lot to ask for in this department. [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] expected to be coached by Rees but that ship has sailed. He is a much better passer than Doege, probably the best pure passer the Irish have had in years. Hard to really know what to expect from the passing offense, but Parker is willing to stretch the field. Hopefully a pro-style vertical attack is on the horizon.

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Story originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire