Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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because of the way players gravitated toward his personality, Day has been confidently taking on leadership vo- cally and by example, a quality this team is trying to find and build upon. Other than Day (eight career starts), no one else has started more than once along the line, which could be irrel- evant if a rotation develops where nu- merous players can account for 30-40 snaps per game. According to Day, this season's defense probably won't be about the individual dominance that Nix and Tuitt were capable of, so col- lective teamwork will be mandatory. Attempting to do everyone else's job to make up for the loss of Nix, Tuitt and the graduated Kona Schwenke is taboo. "I don't think of it as I have more on my plate," Day said. "It's more of you do your assignment and let others do their assignment — and you work as a unit. I feel like there's more trust in my teammates to make sure everybody knows his role, his job. If everyone knows his assignment, then we can become a dominant unit." The job description of a nose guard during the rangy 6-6, 310-pound Jones' career was to be a space eater who set the table for the linebackers. The nose covers two gaps when facing the run, working more laterally along the line of scrimmage rather than vertically. According to Jones, that has changed some. "It's pretty much just whip the per- son that's in front of you and win the gap," Jones said. "It's a lot more fun that way." "I understand the nose guard be- ing happy about anything that doesn't have to do with two-gapping," Kelly said. "Who doesn't like to rip through the A gap and not have to worry about holding onto another gap?" Originally a five-star prospect whose stock plummeted his senior year, Jones was considered perhaps a better offensive tackle after the high school all-star circuit. The New York native floundered his first year and a half at Notre Dame, redshirting as a freshman and then getting demoted last October to the scout team because of a lack of intensity and attention to detail, among other factors. When Nix suffered a season-ending injury at Pitt last November, the fire was rekindled in Jones, maybe the team's most improved player the final month while finishing with 20 tackles and a more invigorated spirit. "As of right now I'm better suited to play in the 3-4 because I don't have much experience at the 4-3," he ex- plained. "That's pretty much my pur- pose — to show that I can play in the 4-3 as a lengthy nose guard. Normally when you have a 4-3 nose guard you want to have him short, quick and just big. I'm none of those things. I'm more powerful, tall, lengthy. "I just want to show I can use my advantages in the 4-3 just as well as the advantages of the prototypical nose guard in the 3-4." Last November, Jones still had his legs after barely playing the first two months. Responding consistently over the long haul during an arduous 12- game regular-season slate will be a different challenge. It's one the two junior defensive linemen are primed to tackle. ✦