Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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way, Elmer could move to his more natural tackle position. Meanwhile, senior Matt Hegarty, who played the last three games of 2013 at center when Nick Martin was injured, was given an audition at left guard late in the spring. He impressed the staff, and his summer was "outstanding," according to Kelly. Despite being temporarily side- lined the first week of practice with a concussion, Hegarty was with the top unit upon his return. Classmate Conor Hanratty also will vie for ac- tion, but he too was slowed by a con- cussion. Kelly noted that Elmer was still playing like a guard at tackle when practice began and is trying to work out the bugs. "I've been told that I'm a more natu- ral tackle," Elmer said. "… At guard, it's a little hard for me to be able to stay down. That's something I was always working on. I still have to keep good knee bend, but [tackle is] a little bit easier in that regard with my height." 2. The three running backs probably will be better utilized as receivers, especially sophomore Greg Bryant. Over the final eight games in 2013, Notre Dame backs totaled a paltry 10 catches for 64 yards (five for 37 yards by Cam McDaniel, four for 26 yards by Tarean Folston and one for one yard by George Atkinson III). Notre Dame's options seemed bar- ren compared to when senior Theo Riddick nabbed 36 passes for 370 yards and helped spread the field in 2012. Last year 's offense had a finite cap on what could be done in the spread without a running threat at QB and no consistent target in the backfield. With more mobile skill sets at quar- terback, the offense is expected to be more diverse. "Just the ability to have that dual threat opens up the door for a lot of different things," McDaniel said. "It allows us to be less predictable in some ways." All the running backs have been actively catching the ball, and Bryant especially is a natural, averaging 23 yards per grab his last two seasons in high school. "I've been catching the ball my whole life and it's just easy," Bryant said. That could compensate for the re- ceiving losses of 2013 team MVP TJ Jones and possibly senior wideout Da- Varis Daniels, who combined for 119 catches last year. "I think Coach Kelly wants to get us involved catching the ball out of the backfield more often," McDaniel said. "I put an emphasis on making sure that I was going to run better routes this season." If Daniels is unable to play, this will be one of the more inexperienced re- ceiving corps at Notre Dame in recent years, which makes the effectiveness of the running backs and possibly se- nior tight end Ben Koyack more vital. 3. Mobility at quarterback needs to also help Notre Dame score touchdowns more often in the red zone. The Irish were 77th in red-zone scoring (at or inside the opponent's