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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will return a lot of starters in 2020 on the offensive side of the ball, and Cole Kmet appears to be one of them. According to Pete Sampson with The Athletic, Kmet says that he will return to Notre Dame in 2020.
Tight End Cole Kmet said he plans to return for his senior season at Notre Dame.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) November 12, 2019
Unsure. I asked if he planned to do baseball in spring said yes. Asked if that means he’ll be back in the fall. Said yes. Then asked if he started the season thinking if he was an All-American that he’d leave. Said that was never the outlook and he always planned to come back.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) November 12, 2019
There had been increasing doubt by the Notre Dame beat that Kmet would return for his senior year, and now that seems to be very much the case.
Currently Kmet has 29 receptions for 327 yards and 5 touchdowns. He is tied with Chase Claypool for the most touchdowns scored on the team. After suffering a broken collarbone in training camp, Kmet returned to the lineup against the Georgia Bulldogs and was immediately a factor and helped make the Irish offense better.
In 2020, Notre Dame should return Ian Book, all 5 of its starting offensive lineman, all of the wide receivers minus Chase Claypool and Chris Finke, and could still return all running backs as well.
While this is great news, we should still walk with a bit of caution as things have certainly changed in the past when it comes to situations like this.