Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/163197
graduation of Zeke Motta and Jamoris Slaughter and the season-ending in‑ jury to Baratti. Joining junior and 11-game starter Matthias Farley in the starting lineup was senior Austin Collinsworth, who was sidelined in 2012 because of shoulder and back surgeries. Sopho‑ more bone-crunching hitter Elijah Shumate had worked with the ones much of August, but improvement by Collinsworth placed him No. 1 on the depth chart. "Both will play," head coach Brian Kelly said. "It's a 1a, 1b situation. De‑ pending on where we are in the game, down and distance, a lot of those fac‑ tors will be involved. You've got to look at both of those guys playing an equal amount of football." 5. Running Back: The "Or" Position Although receiver and safety are competitive, running back was the lone position on the two-deep that had the "or" in front of players. Junior George Atkinson III is eas‑ ily the most experienced player there after rushing for 361 yards last season, but after that it's junior Amir Carlisle or junior Cam McDaniel or freshman Greg Bryant. Kelly doesn't even rule out fresh‑ man Tarean Folston. "At some point at some time in the season, you're going to get a chance to see all those guys play," Kelly said. 6. Right Tackle Remains Fluid With junior right guard Conor Hanratty sidelined much of August with a neck problem, starting 2012 right tackle Christian Lombard settled in at guard to make room for soph‑ omore right tackle Ronnie Stanley. However, when Stanley suffered a concussion the week of Aug. 19 before getting cleared to practice Aug. 26, freshman Steve Elmer worked with the starting unit. Elmer was one of the top stories of fall camp because he lined up with the Chris Badger Transfers To BYU Utah native and devout Mormon Chris Badger, a sophomore safety, received his release from Notre Dame the week of the Temple opener and transferred to BYU Sept. 3 (when classes begin there) as a walk-on. Badger enrolled early at Notre Dame in January 2010 before embarking on a two-year Mormon mission — the first Fighting Irish player ever to do so — in Ecuador. He redshirted last season and found himself in a glut at safety behind junior Matthias Farley, senior Austin Collinsworth, sophomore Elijah Shumate, improving junior Eilar Hardy, freshman five-star prospect Max Redfield and sophomore John Turner, who also has cross-trained at Dog linebacker. Blue & Gold Illustrated confirmed that "family issues" were his primary reason for departing Notre Dame. "It's more about me needing to be closer to home," he said in a Salt Lake Tribune article. According to the article, Badger received his release from Kelly even last spring when he first indicated a desire to transfer. "Great guy. Nothing but supportive," Badger said of Kelly. "He cares about his players. He wants what is best for me." — Lou Somogyi