Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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receiver TJ Jones had four carries for 16 yards and a touchdown versus Rut- gers in the Pinstripe Bowl victory. "We've got a good stable of backs there, and I'm just trying to get guys reps," Kelly said of evaluating Carlisle at the slot. "I want to take a look at him at some slot receiver, too." 4. POSITION CHANGES While there have been such tweaks like Ronnie Stanley moving from right tackle to left tackle or Ishaq Williams maybe playing more with his hand on the ground on defense, the two most conspicuous position changes are in the defensive backfield. Senior Matthias Farley moved from safety to corner, but more notable was freshman wideout James Onwualu switching to defense. From day one, Blue & Gold Illustrated has thought On- wualu has Chinedum Ndukwe-like qualities. Ndukwe (2003-06) was a rangy, physical freshman wide receiver who caught one pass before shifting to safety as a sophomore and having an NFL career. Likewise, Onwualu — who caught only two passes as a freshman — has displayed a physical nature as a blocker and on special teams that translates well to safety. "Great contact skills," Kelly said of why he moved the 6-1, 215-pound On- wualu. "He's a ferocious competitor … such a physical player and he's got an incredible volume to him in terms of his ability to play every play." 5. THE SPECIAL TEAMS RIDDLE Notre Dame has been blessed to have one of the nation's premier kick- ers the past three years in Kyle Brin- dza, who also excelled as a punter last season. The rest of special teams during the Kelly era has not been as uplifting, which is why a good portion of winter was spent on special teams clinics. "I won't tell you where we went, but we went with some NFL and some col- lege programs and we took our film, with our hat in our hand, and said: 'What are we doing here? What are we missing?' "It wasn't scheme as much as it was some coaching points and moving some personnel around, some speed Ronnie Stanley, who started at right tackle in all 13 games of his sophomore campaign, opened the spring at left tackle. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA