Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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pended for the regular-season finale at Stanford. • Defensive back Matthias Farley has the most career starts among all the fourth-year seniors with 19, but a rough 2013 campaign led him to move from safety to concentrate more on a nickel or cornerback role this past spring. He will be the utility man in the secondary, called upon where most needed in emergencies, including quarterbacking the defense at safety. Everything is peaches and cream or seashells and balloons on National Signing Day. How well a coaching staff and the collective team can bounce back from the inevitable setbacks that await each class will determine whether it's an upper-level program no matter what the obstacles, or whether it's just an- other roller-coaster team. SENIOR CLASS SUMMARY When this harvest was signed in February 2011, it was perceived as a difference-making class that could produce at least 10 NFL players, simi- lar to the aforementioned second-year hauls of previous coaches such as Holtz, Davie and Willingham. As sophomores, athletes such as Tuitt, Farley, Niklas, Golson, Daniels, Atkinson and record-setting kicker Kyle Brindza helped Notre Dame reach the BCS National Champion- ship Game, while others in the class such as Springmann supplied strong relief help. Think of how much this overall class would look with Tuitt, Niklas and At- kinson in their senior years — or even Lynch. Now the possibility looms that Williams and Daniels also might not be available. Still, the expectation re- mains that Notre Dame should be at least a top-25 team. If Golson elevates the science of the quarterback position to match the art of it, a return to the major bowl scene is not unrealistic. Running back Cam McDaniel paced the team in rushing last year and is a model to emulate among younger players when it comes to paying atten- tion to detail, work ethic and maximiz- Safety Matthias Farley (bottom) and Mike line- backer Joe Schmidt (top) are two seniors remain- ing from a defense that has experienced huge setbacks over the past year. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA