with tackle Jarron Jones and end Ro-
meo Okwara, who are featured more
extensively in the ensuing pages.
Both made their first, and lone, ca-
reer starts last November to help cur-
tail the bevy of injuries.
The first objective with both will be
to get a full season of relatively con-
sistent performance with assignment
awareness and durability. The defen-
sive line won't be leaned on to handle
most of the pass-rushing detail as in
recent years.
"We're going to find other ways to
bring pressure," Kelly said. "It's not
necessarily just those big guys that put
their hand on the ground. … We've
added a scheme that certainly has
some more pieces to it that we didn't
have in the past."
At strong safety, if there was a way
to combine fifth-year senior Austin
Collinsworth's knowledge base with
junior Elijah's Shumate's bone-jarring
physical prowess and athletic skills,
the Irish would have the prototype
safety.
However, Cooks said Russell at cor-
ner and Collinsworth at safety this
spring were substantially ahead of ev-
Safety Elijah Shumate was hampered by a hamstring injury in 2013, but managed to make four starts and
compile 23 tackles.
PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA
