Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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NFL prospect Louis Nix III plus Ste- phon Tuitt, who turned pro after his junior season, along the line. Outside linebacker/end Prince Shembo and in- side linebackers Carlo Calabrese and Dan Fox started every game in 2013. Offensively, a main challenge will be replacing the stellar left side where tackle Zack Martin and guard Chris Watt started almost every game to- gether the past three years. It will be difficult to match the physical pres- ence of tight end Troy Niklas, who also turned pro after his junior year, and the unconscious competence efforts of wideout TJ Jones, who was voted the 2013 Team MVP. Quarterback Tommy Rees was the most valuable relief option in college football the past four years, but the return of 2012 starter Everett Golson to school this semester after being ban- ished from school for the 2013 fall se- mester is a highlight. Other than Golson, here were five of the top stories from the first two practices: 1. IS THIS ISHAQ WILLIAMS' YEAR? The former five-star recruit has one start and 45 career tackles to his credit at the hybrid outside linebacker/end position. He's added 10 pounds, might be in the three-point stance more of- ten, and could be a huge factor in how much more 4-3 alignments the defense plays. "I'm not saying that that's going to translate into 12 sacks and he's going to be an All-American, but he's a dif- ferent guy than at any time since I've been here," Kelly said. "He's one ath- letic, big dude, and we've been wait- ing and waiting and waiting — like you all have been waiting — and I'm pretty excited right now. "We'll see. It's early. I'm going to be very cautious, but I'm cautiously optimistic." 2. LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE The Fighting Irish lost a tremen- dous amount of star power the past two years and, as Kelly mentioned, there aren't many sure-fire starters on the roster. Jaylon Smith, a 2013 Fresh- man All-American outside linebacker, could actually be one of the top voices. "Everybody talks about the sopho- more slump … one of the things with him is consistency, being able to do it again," Kelly said. "The other thing is, you can pile a lot of work on him. "He has not been able to bring any- body with him yet, so that's the next thing that we'll be working with Jay- lon — bring some guys with him. The Larry Bird rule that I use all the time is make others around him better. He's not there yet, but that will be the next stage." 3. SKILL SET POSITIONS The most worthless question on of- fense this year probably will be, "Who are the starters at running back and receiver?" There are quality options all over, depending on who is hot and what packages are in place at the time. Former starting running back Amir Carlisle can be the fourth option there, but will work at slot this spring. The slot is a good position to have players such as Carlisle and Will Mahone run the jet sweep, a play on which wide