Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 10, 2020 45 as the understudy to second-round draft pick Cole Kmet, Tremble also displayed an aptitude and appe- tite as a blocker. Pro Football Focus graded him out with a strong 82.8 score as a run blocker despite getting stereotyped with his lanky frame as more receiver than tight end. "Last year I played at like 225 the entire season, and I was trying my best just to block anything," Tremble noted. "This year I got all the way up to 252 right before camp. … We all just got better. … Honestly, I just love contact, I love playing the game of football. It's just pure passion for me. "Every time I'm on the field I just want to be dominant, and I try my best to [do it]." Practices during the season are more about harnessed "thud" work, but game days are when Tremble's aggressiveness get released. "In practice, I'm not trying to kill our guys, and they're not trying to kill me either," he said. "We want to pro- tect each other then. From time to time we like to get a little physical, but it's all pretty good. … I always can't wait until game day so I can finally do it." It's not often that a tight end who also caught three passes for 61 yards versus USF to lead the team in that category gets overshadowed by his blocking, but Tremble did, and that is the plan moving forward as well. He insists that a well-executed block to spring a runner is just as gratifying as hauling in a pass, if not more so. "I promise you, it feels just as good," he said. "I love doing it." "That kid is just selfless," Kelly praised. "He does whatever you ask him to do. He doesn't complain. If he catches the football, great. But if he doesn't, he wouldn't say a word about it. He just wants to win, and that's the kind of attitude he has. "It's great to have the opportunity to coach him." Although not truly and officially a classic fullback, Tremble meshes ideally with the toughness that Kelly, Rees and Co., want to instill, and having a fullback-like and highly versatile figure in Tremble is a vital component in that goal. "We're deep at that position, we want to be a team that's physical, that utilizes our tight ends as part of our weapons," Kelly said. "We can be in spread as well, but it's less about game plan and more about who we are. "… We are in 12- [one running back, two tight ends] and 13-per- sonnel [one back, three tight ends] groupings. We are starting to get our aiming points down pretty good on the outside zone and our inside punch play. And then once teams start over-committing to that, then you can see how clean the counters look and the misdirection plays." Call it the ol' chip off the ol' full- back block — with more than just "chip blocks" from Tremble. ✦ Fullback's Glory Days Throughout the 20th century, fullback was both a glamour and blue-collar position at Notre Dame in virtually each decade. In 1903, Louis "Red" Salmon became the first Fighting Irish All-American (third team per Collier's), and his 36 career touchdowns were a school record until 1985. Then during Notre Dame's unbeaten run in 1913 that put it on the college football map, fullback Ray Eichenlaub earned second-team All-America notice. Four Horseman fullback Elmer Layden was such an integral cog to Notre Dame's first consensus na- tional title in 1924 that he joined Knute Rockne and George Gipp as charter inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. (Salmon was inducted in 1971, and Eichenlaub in 1972). However, it was during a 50-year period from 1949 until the end of the Lou Holtz era in 1996 that fullback established even greater renown at Notre Dame. • Hall of Fame inductee Emil "Six Yard" Sitko switched to fullback for the 1949 national champions — and also used on occasion there that year was Heisman Trophy winner Leon Hart. • Fullback Neil Worden, not Heisman winner Johnny Lattner, led the unbeaten 1953 team in rushing, compiling 859 yards and 5.9 yards per carry to Lattner's 651 and 4.9 figure. • First-round and 1959 sixth overall draft pick Nick Pietrosante (1956-58) has a prestigious award at Notre Dame named after him that epitomizes courage, leadership and talent. • Larry Conjar was a second-round selection for the 1966 national champs while earning renown as a blocker but also rushing for 521 yards and 4.7 yards per carry, second best on the team. • Wayne "The Train" Bullock's 948 yards rushing in 1974 and 831 for the 1973 national champs (including the bowl games) ranked one-two as the best single-season outputs by a back during the 11-year Ara Parseghian era. Bullock's 1,892 rushing yards were the most in a career amassed by a back under Parseghian, as were his 24 rushing touchdowns. • In Dan Devine's first game as Notre Dame's head coach, freshman fullback Jim Browner rushed for a team-high 95 yards in a win at Boston College — yet that same season another freshman fullback, Jerome Heavens, romped for a team-leading 756 yards at 5.9 yards per carry. As a senior in 1978, Heavens broke George Gipp's 58-year rushing record at Notre Dame, and he was the leading ground gainer for the 1977 national champs with 994 yards, plus a team-high 101 more in the Cotton Bowl victory versus No. 1 Texas. • In Notre Dame's first home night game ever, a 23-17 victory versus Michigan, junior-college transfer fullback Larry Moriarty amassed 116 yards rushing and was named player of the game, prior to embarking on a nine-year NFL career. • In the 19-18 defeat of Boston College on the frozen tundra of the 1983 Liberty Bowl, fullback Chris Smith was given the ball 18 times and to- taled 104 yards between the tackles. • During the Lou Holtz era, the NFL assem- bly line at the position included second-round picks Anthony Johnson (1986-89), Ray Zellars (1991-94) and Marc Edwards (1993-96), and of course, first-round selection Jerome "The Bus" Bettis (1990-92). In his three-year Irish career, the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Bettis compiled 2,356 ca- reer yards (1,927 rushing, 429 receiving) and 27 touchdowns, not including 252 more rushing yards and six scores in bowl games. Meanwhile, former tailback Rodney Culver moved to fullback in 1990 to lead the team in rushing that year and to serve as the lone captain in 1991. — Lou Somogyi Before embarking on an NFL career that landed him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Jerome Bettis was a standout fullback for the Irish. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS