Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BY LOU SOMOGYI I n Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly's first four recruiting sea- sons, the Fighting Irish signed only three inside linebacker pros- pects to scholarships: Kendall Moore (2010), Jarrett Grace (2011) and Mi- chael Deeb (2013). A fourth, preferred walk-on Joe Schmidt, earned a scholarship prior to his junior season last fall. So it should come as no surprise that in 2014 heavy inside linebacker rein- forcements are finally arriving from a freshman class. To compensate for the recruiting dearth at the position from 2010-13, Kelly and Co., signed three in the 2014 cycle: Nyles Morgan (Crete, Ill.), Greer Martini (Woodberry Forest, Va.) and Nile Sykes (Lombard, Ill.). At outside linebacker they landed Jonathan Bonner (Chesterfield, Mo.) and Kolin Hill (Schertz, Texas). However, because none of them is an early enrollee, this spring will pres- ent a challenge to put together a two- deep at inside linebacker. • Grace is the only one with any starting experience (three games last season), but severe leg fractures dur- ing the 37-34 victory versus Arizona State last Oct. 5 will keep him shelved until August. • Schmidt has been a special teams Loading Up on LINEBACKERS Recruiting the position was emphasized during the 2014 cycle