While Florida State's players have been focused on their own development for most of preseason camp, the Seminoles now are beginning to turn their attention to preparations for their Sept. 5 season opener against Notre Dame.

In just 10 days, the Fighting Irish come into Doak Campbell Stadium ranked No. 9 in the nation and fresh off two blowout wins over FSU, in 2018 and last season.

As camp has progressed, the depth charts for both teams have begun to take shape. Here's a quick look at some of the storylines for the Irish so far, and what FSU will be up against to start Mike Norvell's second season.

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While Norvell and company are not ready to name a starting quarterback, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has already shown his hand and tabbed senior Wisconsin transfer Jack Coan as his starter.

Coan beat out former Rivals250 member Drew Pyne, a redshirt freshman, and another heralded recruit and 2021 signee, Tyler Buchner. Experience and accuracy won out over younger talent, and Kelly called Coan the “most consistent” of the bunch.

The former Badgers QB has big shoes to fill. NFL fourth-round draft pick Ian Book was a three-year starter and team captain each of his final two seasons.

“I think we all took Ian Book’s performance here for granted because he was a very accurate passer. But Jack Coan kind of picks up where Ian left off in terms of accuracy,” Kelly told reporters earlier this week. “We’ve gone through practices now and we feel really comfortable with that part of his game.”

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Coan played in 22 games for Wisconsin, and after he pushed Alex Hornibrook to transfer and join FSU, Coan tossed 18 touchdowns against just 5 picks to go along with 2,727 yards in 2019. He did not play in 2020 due to injury but ranks third in Wisconsin school history in completion percentage (68.0) and pass efficiency rating (144.7).

“The accuracy is really good,” Kelly said. “He’s smart. He knows the offense really well for just coming [in during] the spring.”

Perhaps the biggest topic for Notre Dame's offense this preseason has been retooling a decorated offensive line that lost four of five starters.

While that's usually not a good omen for a college football team, the Irish have plenty of talent returning and they have added a high-profile transfer whose name will be familiar to FSU fans.

Former Marshall All-America guard Cain Madden chose Notre Dame over the Seminoles this summer and is considered one of the top college transfers in the nation. After 31 starts in his Thunder Herd career, Madden has come in and nailed down a spot at guard.

He will line up next to Notre Dame's lone returning OL starter, senior center Jarrett Patterson, while the other guard will be junior Zeke Correll, who has seen limited action off the bench the past two seasons.

At right tackle, another senior and a part-time starter in 2019, Josh Lugg, will step in; according to Pro Football Focus, he ranked second on the team two years ago with an 83 pass-blocking grade.

Notre Dame's other tackle will be heralded true freshman Blake Fisher. Fisher was the No. 1 player in the state of Indiana and one of the most sought-after lineman in the country as a five-star recruit.

Now that former Irish lineman Dillan Gibbons will be pairing garnet with his gold and will suit up for FSU in the opener next Sunday, the sixth man role he occupied the past few seasons is open.

The top contributor to fill that spot may be sophomore Michael Carmody, who Kelly singled out last week as a player who “has been impressive” so far in camp. According to media at practice, Carmody was the first lineman off the bench when Fisher was injured with a concussion a few weeks ago (Fisher has recovered and is expected to be full-go next week).

Notre Dame fell victim to the coaching carousel this offseason and lost defensive coordinator Clark Lea, who became the head coach at Vanderbilt. The Irish replaced Lea with Cincinnati defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman, who was a standout linebacker at Ohio State from 2004 to 2008.

It appears Notre Dame will be implementing some slightly different defensive schemes under Freeman, and the Irish will be breaking in those changes during the opener against FSU.

The Irish lost some big-time defenders, including Butkus Award winner and consensus All-America linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, but Freeman has plenty of returning talent to work with. One key piece will be junior safety Kyle Hamilton (76.7 PFF grade in 2020), who had eight tackles in Notre Dame’s win over FSU last season. St. Thomas Aquinas alum Drew White is the senior standout among the linebackers.

Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa (75.0 PFF grade in 2020) is the veteran on the defensive line and their top projected player up front. Cornerback TaRiq Bracy also tied for the team lead with eight tackles against FSU a year ago but only graded out as a 64.7 PFF overall defender overall last season.

After earning a measly four carries as a freshman, running back Kyren Williams made a name for himself with over 1,100 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2020.

That included a dominant 19 carries for 185 yards and two touchdowns at home against FSU in the third game of the season. Now in 2021 with a new quarterback, the Irish will likely rely heavily on Williams to carry the offense.

Notre Dame and Kelly affirmed their belief in Williams when they named him a team captain on Tuesday.

“I definitely never thought I would get to this point in my life and now that I'm here,” Williams told reporters this week. “I worked for every single bit of it. I know I deserve it. Now I'm just going to keep leading this team the way that it's needed so that we can come out on top of everything."

Even though he had a huge year last season, Williams explained that he has made improvements this offseason.

“It's the little things such as blitzes and little things I'm trying to get detailed on to take my game to the next level and being able to recognize holes before they're even there and knowing where am I going to go, where am I going to bounce when I run it,” Williams said.

The talented back admitted that the Notre Dame offense isn’t as experienced as last season, but Kelly has confidence in Williams to help pick up the slack.

"He's wired that way," Kelly said. "We test our kids, their central nervous system, on a day-to-day basis, and his fitness level was off the charts. And he's just wired that he's high energy. With that high energy, it has to be pointed in the right direction."

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