Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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and works on figuring it out instead of just going, 'Geez, I don't understand.'" This fall, Elmer briefly appeared at left guard at Purdue and Michigan, at right tackle versus Michigan State, and was rotated in at right guard for about a dozen plays in place of senior Christian Lombard against Arizona State. Against USC, Elmer took about half of the reps at right guard. Then, when Lombard underwent season-ending back surgery the week leading up to the Air Force game, Elmer became the sixth true freshman ever to start for the Irish along the offensive line. Elmer, who manned right guard against the Falcons, recognized that learning each position would bear fruit sooner or later. "It's important that you know the whole scheme and know where everybody is because it's not just one guy doing one job, or two guys working together and everyone else is off," Elmer said. "It's five guys seeing the whole defense and working together. "If you don't know where everyone else is going, then you don't know how to handle all the situations. I kind of had the feeling that I would be moving around a little bit early on, and I just thought it would be beneficial being familiar with the assignments of everybody for playing different positions and also just for awareness overall. You need to know where people are going." Even against Air Force, when Stanley had to leave the game with an injury, Elmer then moved to right tackle while No. 2 center Matt Hegarty stepped in at right guard. "He's one of the smarter guys I know," Martin said. "Very book smart and we see it on the field, too. It's tough to diagnose things as a freshman, and for him to pick up on some of the things he's picked up on is very impressive. "He's a little bit of a nerd in that case, but a great football player. Physically, he can pretty much do anything on the field you need him to do." Elmer might become Notre Dame's version of 2012 Alabama center Barrett Jones, who started at three different positions, guard and tackle, wherever he was most needed to accommodate the unit. As the recipient of the Anthony Munoz Award last January, given annually since 2009 to the best lineman in high school football at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl banquet, Elmer possesses much more than just cerebral excellence. "I feel confident I can make all the blocks I need to make right now," Elmer said. "Now, I definitely feel like I need to get stronger every day … I have a long way to go, but I don't feel out of place when I'm out there." In Elmer's first series at Air Force, he committed a false start that stalled the drive, but it didn't put him in the tank. "Play the next play. Stay in the present," Elmer said. "That's all there is." "What I like about him is he's easy to talk to on the sidelines," head coach Brian Kelly said. "He can come back and pass on information. The moment does not seem too great for him as a true freshman." "It's good that he's getting his experience [at guard] this year because we know he can play tackle," Martin said. "To show that he can play guard is awesome." Get used to it in the years to come. ✦