Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2019 Notre Dame Football Preview
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1133608
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN QUOTABLE: JUNIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE MYRON TAGOVAILOA- AMOSA ON COMING BACK FROM A 2018 BROKEN FOOT AND THE TASK OF REPLACING FIRST-ROUND PICK JERRY TILLERY: "I've got to trust my defense and do my own job before worrying about making the play. I've got Jayson [Ademilola] behind me, so there's a lot of motivation to keep working hard and knowing we need to get each other better." Starter ★★★★ Notre Dame is the lone team in the country that returns two ends who ranked among the top 30 in quarterback pressures last fall. Senior Julian Okwara was fourth nation- ally among ends with 61 pressures per Pro Football Focus, and classmate Khalid Kareem placed 27th with 37. It is also the lone school with two ends to rank among the top 30 in run stop rate for players with at least 200 snaps. Okwara exploded onto the scene last season, leading the defense with 12.5 tackles for loss and tying with second- team All-American Jerry Tillery for the team lead in sacks with eight. Kareem chipped in 10.5 stops behind the line and 4.5 sacks. Relative inexperience at tackle is the factor, at least on paper, that keeps the line from having a national title- caliber rating. Experience ★★★★ Notre Dame returns 3,523 career snaps and 38 career starts at end and, despite a lack of starting experience, there are 1,082 career snaps coming back at tackle. The two-deep is filled with players who contributed meaning- ful snaps during last season's College Football Playoff run. Most also were rotation figures in 2017. What keeps this from being a national title grade is the tackle positions. The interior lineup lacks a player who has been counted on to be a leading man with 40-50 snaps per game throughout the duration of a 12-game regular season. The tackles have rotation experience, but at least one or two must step into alpha roles. Depth ★★★★½ In most seasons at Notre Dame, a starting lineup of Daelin Hayes and Adetokunbo Ogundeji would have Irish fans ex- cited about the position — but they are currently backups. In most seasons at Notre Dame, freshmen such as Isaiah Foskey and NaNa Osafo-Mensah would have been rotation players from day one — but in 2019 they are going to have an extremely difficult time seeing the field. That is the kind of depth Notre Dame has at end. Hayes — who started just one game last fall — ranks seventh in run- stop rate among Power Five ends to play at least 150 run snaps last season, and he added 28 quarterback pressures. Tackle doesn't have the proven quantity as end, but there is a quality talent base with which to work. Overall Grade ★★★★ Notre Dame's tackles had a hard time making plays against the Irish offensive line during the spring, and that has raised questions about that unit heading into 2019. That group lacking a "leading man," and the overall youth of the interior rotation, is what keeps the Irish from having a top-five defensive line for now. Position coach Mike Elston has recruited the inside posi- tions very well since 2017, but his three most talented players are a sophomore (Jayson Ademilola) and a pair of freshmen (Jacob Lacey and Hunter Spears, the latter com- ing off ACL surgery as a high school senior), and his juniors have never been asked to be go-to playmakers. The Irish possess maybe the top defensive end depth chart in the nation. If the interior defenders play to their potential and stay healthy, Notre Dame will field one of the country's superior overall defensive lines. BY THE NUMBERS 0 Career starts returning along the Notre Dame defensive interior at nose tackle and three technique. All 26 starts the past two years during the 22-4 run by the Fighting Irish were made by Jerry Tillery and Jonathan Bonner, with the latter returning for a fifth season in 2018. 10 Starting quarterbacks returning among Notre Dame's 2019 opponents, making a pass rush all the more imperative. Only Bowling Green and Duke don't return an incumbent signal-caller. Among the headline performers are Georgia's Jake Fromm, Virginia's Bryce Perkins, USC's JT Daniels, Michigan's Shea Patterson and Stanford's K.J. Costello. 240 Tackles recorded so far in their careers by the senior end quintet of Daelin Hayes (72), Khalid Kareem (63), Julian Okwara (59), Jamir Jones (24) and Ade Ogundeji (22). They have also combined for 48.5 stops for losses and 24.5 sacks. PRESEASON ANALYSIS ★★★★★ National Title; ★★★★ Top 10; ★★★ Top 25; ★★ Too Unproven; ★ Major Concern 86 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2019 FOOTBALL PREVIEW Junior Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa (left) and sophomore Jayson Ademilola (right) will attempt to fill the void inside left by the graduation of NFL first-round pick Jerry Tillery. PHOTOS BY ANGELA DRISKELL