Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1143622
28 AUGUST 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI J un ior n ose tackle Darn ell Ewell's football career has ended following a surgical pro- cedure that resulted in not get- ting medical clearance to play. He will remain enrolled as a medi- cal hardship case to take care of his school finances. One of the top recruits in Notre Dame's 2017 class — he was rated as a four-star talent and the No. 139 overall prospect nationally by Ri- vals — the massive 6-3, 340-pound Norfolk, Va., native Ewell did not see action his first two seasons while first working on defense, shifting to offensive guard as a sophomore and then returning to defense this spring. In December 2017, he also became a father to a baby daughter, and an- nounced on Twitter that, "She is the reason why I'm never going to quit!" Recent predecessors at nose guard — Tony Springmann and Daniel Cage — also had their football ca- reers truncated by injuries, but still earned their degrees after going the medical hardship route. The past several years following National Signing Day, Notre Dame's scholarship count has been 89 to 91, or beyond the 85-man limit by the NCAA. Because attrition — via medi- cal, academics, discipline, turning pro early, opting to be a graduate transfer elsewhere, etc. — is inevitable, the coaching staff "over-signs" and fac- tors in such potential margin of error. Prior to Ewell, several other schol- arships opened up with graduate transfers such as quarterback Bran- don Wimbush (Central Florida), de- fensive tackle Micah Dew-Treadway (Minnesota), safety Devin Studstill (South Florida) and rover D.J. Mor- gan (Connecticut). All either received his degree or, in the case of Morgan, will earn it this summer with a final round of classes. Morgan did it in only three years, which then allows him to have two years with the Huskies. Consequently, a nerve is struck with the Fighting Irish staff when there is an assumption that players are "run off" in an effort to reach the 85-man scholarship limit. "The players in our program grad- uate from Notre Dame," head coach Brian Kelly emphasized. "There's a difference between the two. When you run somebody out, you force them out of your program. We don't force anybody out of our program. "Everybody is welcome to stay and there are never conversations about 'you must leave.' If a young man doesn't fit or a young man is not doing the job necessary in the classroom, then obviously changes are made there. The guys who leave graduate — and that's a good thing." That is not to say tough conversa- tions do not occur between the staff and a student-athlete. On occasion he will be told that his chances for play- ing time could be slim to none, and then have to make a choice on what path he wants to take. Other times, it is the student-ath- lete who initiates the contact, which then allows the staff to plan its re- cruiting chart accordingly. "They vet that out with us prior to that," Kelly said. "We know in- ternally that, 'Coach, we're proba- bly going to move on after this year. We've had a great run, we don't see much playing time, we'd like to give it a shot somewhere else, but we're going to get our degree.'" A case in point was Wimbush, who received his accounting degree in De- cember and recognized that Ian Book was going to remain the starter in 2019 after his strong 2018 campaign supplanted Wimbush from the start- ing spot. "Brandon knew his situation, but we keep that internal and between us until the appropriate time," Kelly said. "We knew there were some medical situations as well that were pending. We're not going to disclose those things publicly." AARON BANKS RECOVERING FROM FOOT SURGERY Junior Aaron Banks, who started the final six games at left guard last sea- son, underwent foot surgery in June but is projected to return to action at some point during training camp, which begins Aug. 4 in Culver, Ind. One of the most improved players last season, the 6-6, 325-pound Banks played in all 13 games and eventu- ally was inserted as a starter after a season-ending injury to fifth-year senior captain Alex Bars versus Stan- ford in game five (Sept. 29). Current fifth-year senior Trevor Ruhland was the initial choice, but then he was temporarily moved to right guard in place of Tommy Krae- mer when the coaching staff made the decision that Banks was too good to not start. Kraemer and Banks fin- ished the year as the starting guards. If Banks still requires some rehab during camp, 6-7, 310-pound class- mate Josh Lugg, who has also taken snaps at tackle and center and is the "Swiss Army knife" on the line, per head coach Brian Kelly, would be the next option. ✦ NATURAL ATTRITION Notre Dame reaches the NCAA's 85-scholarship limit after another medical casualty Junior nose tackle Darnell Ewell underwent a sur- gical procedure that resulted in him being unable to get medical clearance to play this season. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL