Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/110553
Under the Dome Charting The Irish Does enrolling early help freshmen get on the field sooner? Since Notre Dame started allowing football players to enroll during the spring semester before their freshman year, 29 players have come to South Bend early — including the five that arrived on campus this January. They show up in hopes of getting a jump on assimilating into college life and presumably to get on the field as soon as possible. Strictly speaking, early enrollees haven't had a leg up on their fellow freshmen in early playing time. Thirteen of the 24 freshmen who enrolled early from 2006-12 saw the field. That's only a slightly higher rate — 54.2 percent compared to 49.4 percent — than the overall number of freshmen who played during that time span. 2006 Early Enrollees: 66.7 Total Freshman: 59.4 2007 Early Enrollees: 66.7 Total Freshman: 61.1 2008 Early Enrollees: 50.0 Total Freshman: 45.8 2009 Early Enrollees: 33.3 Total Freshman: 45.0 Percentage of Early Enrollees and Total Freshman that played in year 1 Nearly one-third of early enrollees (seven of 24) transferred or left school before making a significant impact on the Irish, and two others — quarterback Gunner Kiel and safety Chris Badger — are still waiting for their chance. Notre Dame has had a quarterback enroll early in each of the last four years. Four freshman quarterbacks have started for the Irish in the past 20 years, and two of them (Jimmy Clausen and Tommy Rees) were early enrollees. The team's current starter, Everett Golson, also started a semester early and took over after one season on the sideline. 2010 Early Enrollees: 60.0 Total Freshman: 42.9 2011 Early Enrollees: 60.0 Total Freshman: 35.7 2012 Early Enrollees: 33.3 Total Freshman: 58.8 Early Enrollees By Position Linebackers 1 Quarterbacks 5 Secondary 7 Offensive Line 4 Specialists 1 Receivers/ Running Backs 7 Defensive Line 4