Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1158434
46 PRESEASON 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI T here are several prominent duos that must be replaced from Notre Dame's 2017‑18 seasons that resulted in a 22‑4 output. • Inside linebackers Drue Tranquill and Te'von Coney combined for 410 total stops and 42 tackles for loss the past two seasons as mainstays. • The interior of the defensive line graduated first‑round NFL pick Jerry Tillery and Jonathan Bonner, who both started all 26 games. • Departing from the offensive line were captains Sam Mustipher and Alex Bars, although Bars missed the final eight starts last season because of a torn ACL. Still, he remained an integral leader within the operation. Almost overshadowed by these tandems is the fact that four‑year starters Justin Yoon at kicker and Ty‑ ler Newsome at punter often gave Notre Dame's special teams a "leg up" on the opposition. Yoon finished as the most accurate kicker in school history with a mini‑ mum of 50 field goal attempts (80.8 percent) and as the all‑time leading scorer (367 points), while Newsome's 44.0‑yard career punting average was second only to 16‑year NFL vet‑ eran Craig Hentrich's 44.1. E n t r u s t e d t o f i l l those huge voids that c o u l d d e t e r m i n e t h e outcome of several close en‑ counters will be junior kicker Jonathan Doerer — although challenged in August by freshman walk‑on Harrison Leonard — and freshman punter Jay Bramblett. In both of head coach Brian Kel‑ ly's 12‑0 regular seasons at Notre Dame (2012 and 2018), the Fighting Irish were 5‑0 each year in one‑score outcomes where special teams had to play a significant role, be it with clutch makes on field goals or help‑ ing win the field position battle with the punting. The best such game in the Kelly era might have been the 21‑17 vic‑ tory over LSU in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2018, when Yoon drilled both of his attempts from 46 and 49 yards in rainy conditions, while Newsome's 46.0–yard average, plus hang time that resulted in only four return yards, kept LSU pinned deep and shut off one of the nation's most dangerous return games. After a spotty first two years on kickoffs, Doerer shortened his stride this spring and finished strong. Through the Aug. 17 practice that concluded the first two weeks of training camp, he also might have gained separation in what has been a competitive battle with Leonard for the starting position. The Aug. 17 practice that was open to the media began with Doerer go‑ ing 5 of 5 from 20 to 42 yards, while Leonard also was 3 of 3. Doerer then missed wide right on his next three, the first from 46 yards and the last two from 50, although the lack of power was not an issue on SPECIAL EFFECTS Kicker Jonathan Doerer and punter Jay Bramblett replace four-year starters Heading into his junior year, Doerer is 1 of 1 (a 30-yarder) on field goal attempts and 5 of 6 on point- after tries. PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER