Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ond surgery] there's great optimism that in six weeks we'll see on the X-rays that he'll be ready for the fall." Grace will still have a significant hill to climb if he gets back in pads in Au- gust or during the regular season. He will likely need time to regain strength in the leg after nearly a full year of in- activity. He is also falling behind the learning curve with Notre Dame's new multiple defensive schemes. Defensive coordinator Brian Van- Gorder said making up ground would be a challenge for Grace, who has long been thought of as the next in line at middle linebacker. Fellow senior Joe Schmidt has taken all first-team reps at the position and this spring became too valuable to take off the field. Kelly said it's too early to determine what the Mike linebacker position will look like come the opener. Incoming freshman Nyles Morgan will also join that group in June. "Everything is on the table at that position," Kelly said. "It's going to take time for that to round itself out. This is a question that's not going to be an- swered until we move to the fall sea- son." Sophomore Michael Deeb, who red- shirted last season, and walk-on Austin Larkin — the son of 1981-85 Irish line- backer and former captain Mike Lar- kin — split second-team reps behind Schmidt this spring. CONTINUITY CAN WAIT Notre Dame offensive line coach Harry Hiestand's "spring cleaning" of- ten involves myriad position changes from the previous season. Last spring, he shifted tackle/guard Nick Martin to starting center, which he had never played in his life. He also eventually aligned 13-game starting right tackle Christian Lombard at right guard, and moved up-and-coming left tackle Ronnie Stanley to right tackle to get him into the lineup. This year's spring cleaning involved moving Stanley, a junior, back to left tackle now that four-year starter Zack Martin is no longer around, and also shifting sophomore Steve Elmer — who arrived as a tackle but ended up starting four games at guard — next to Stanley as the left guard. Meanwhile, with starters Nick Mar- Senior linebacker Jarrett Grace will find out in May if he's healthy enough to compete for a starting spot this fall after breaking his leg in multiple places last October. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA