Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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liams] can be in a position for second‑ ary contain relative to athletic quarter‑ backs." The "Star" position, an outside line‑ backer/safety hybrid on the edge, was used effectively a couple of years ago with veteran safety Jamoris Slaughter (and cornerback/nickel Robert Blanton prior to that) to provide more speed and athletic ability, but it's also been a steep learning curve this season for freshman Cole Luke, who was re‑ cruited as a cornerback. "We've got to get off the field on third down, and that has not been a produc‑ tive thing for us," Kelly said. "We have to get better there. It's more down and distance predicated than it is necessar‑ ily about a quarterback that is able to run. Those sub packages have more to do with their personnel on the field — you're matching their personnel and you're matching down and distance." To match the quicker personnel on offense, more of those 210-pound safe‑ ties might need to help on the flank, or a 230-pound and swift outside line‑ backer such as freshman Jaylon Smith, who can still match up with wideouts, is a prototype. "When it gets down to playing quar‑ terbacks that can make plays, it also comes down to the ability to stay in coverage, too," Kelly said. "Because if [opposing quarterbacks] are elusive, they are going to make some of these big guys miss. We've got to do a great job with secondary contain, which we have and we will, and we've got to do a good job of staying on body and coverage." Given what's down the road — in 2013 and well beyond — it's a defen‑ sive strategy, among many, that might have to be employed more and more frequently. ✦ Next In Line? Last year, sophomore Everett Golson became the first Notre Dame quarterback in more than a decade whom opposing defenses had to account for as a bona fide rushing or scrambling threat (298 yards rush‑ ing). The Irish hardly had poor quarterback play with highly rated NFL picks Brady Quinn (2003‑06) and Jimmy Clausen (2007‑09), but the dimension Golson provided kept Notre Dame up to date with the newest rage in football, even at the NFL level. At the forefront has been quarterback guru George Whitfield Jr., who has instructed virtually every prominent quarterback of recent vintage — from No. 1 NFL picks Cam Newton and Andrew Luck to Heis‑ man Trophy incumbent Johnny Manziel — at his training academy, Whitfield Athletix, in San Diego. Among his prized pupils this past year was Michigan's Devin Gardner, who torched the Irish with his running and passing, and now Golson, who is serving his academic exile in California this fall learning under Whitfield before seeking re-admission to Notre Dame this January. "Coaches finally realized it was safer to have the ball in the hands of your best athlete on every down, rather than putting him at receiver or running back," Whitfield told USA Today this month. "You can bracket a receiver or crowd the line to slow a back. But a dual threat at QB? You have your hands full all day with a Taylor Martinez, Tajh Boyd, Jake Locker, whoever." It is Whitfield's hope that some day Golson can be categorized with such a prominent group. — Lou Somogyi