Blue and Gold Illustrated

May 2019

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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28 MAY 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY BRYAN DRISKELL T he driving force behind Notre Dame's 12-1 season in 2018 was the defense. It emerged as one of the top units in the country, ranking ninth Index among Power Five teams in efficiency, according to the Fremeau Efficiency, and 10th according to the S&P+ ratings, both sets of analytics coming from Foot- ball Outsiders. Gone from that group, though, are three All-Americans — one on each level — and a two-time team captain who was an anchor for the unit. The positive it that the Fighting Irish will need to more so reload than rebuild on that side of the ball, and there are pieces in place to achieve that. Notre Dame returns arguably the best defensive end group in the country, led by seniors Julian Ok- wara, Daelin Hayes and Khalid Ka- reem. The safety tandem of seniors Alohi Gilman and Jalen Elliott also is a strength, and senior cornerback Troy Pride Jr. played at an All-Amer- ican level in the final six games of the season. If defensive coordinator Clark Lea is going to get his troops to play at a similarly high level — or possibly even improve — a number of stand- outs will have to emerge in the fall, and the highly skilled sophomore class will have to grow up a lot be- tween the end of spring and the fall. We saw varying degrees of break- out performances this spring, and the following five were at the top: SENIOR DEFENSIVE END ADETOKUNBO OGUNDEJI If not for the presence of his more experienced classmates at end, there would be a lot more talk about the emergence of Ogundeji. I am hav- ing a difficult time thinking of which 2019 Notre Dame opponent Ogundeji wouldn't start for, and the West Bloomfield, Mich., native built on his quality 2018 performance with an outstanding spring, making this list for the second straight year. Both Kareem and Okwara had their reps monitored all spring, and the later practices saw both receive limited snaps. That opened up an opportunity for Ogundeji to get more action, and he responded with a number of dominant performances. Whether it was a team period or a one-on-one drill, he made his pres- ence felt whether an observer was focusing on him or not. Ogundeji is an exceptionally rangy athlete who has filled out his body well, looking much thicker than his listed weight of 250 pounds. His hands are extremely strong, and during the spring we saw Ogundeji flash much improved technique. Combined with his quickness off the ball and length, Ogundeji was able to use his hands to dominate at the point of attack. Sophomore linebacker Jack Lamb showed off his top-100 talent during the spring, raising optimism at the position. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN Top BreakouT players: DEFENSE Notre Dame's front seven was bolstered by a number of impressive spring performances

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