Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Freshman Rush Delivery After the first week of practice in August, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly noted that freshman defensive end Jhonny Williams and freshman outside linebacker Kolin Hill would see action this season as niche players, specifically pass rushers on third-down passing situations. The bigger and rangier Williams (6-4, 252 pounds) was classified as the top speed rusher on the team but he did not see ac- tion in the first two games. Hill (6-1½, 230) made his debut against Michigan Sept. 6 and was credited with 1.5 tackles for loss, highlighted by an 11-yard sack of quarterback Devin Gardner. "First-step explosiveness," Kelly replied when asked what enabled Hill to get on the field. "He can come off the edge. He gets there quickly. He forces you to pull up in the pocket, can bend around the edge, a really, really good athlete." Hill became the eighth freshman on defense to see action this year, with end Andrew Trumbetti, nose guard Daniel Cage and safety/dime Drue Tranquill having prime reserve roles. Kelly has not ruled out Williams and defen- sive tackle Jay Hayes from also playing in spots if defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder sees them fit. "We don't believe that we need them on the field right now, but if we have any kind of inju- ries, they're ready to go," Kelly said. "They've hit a bit of a wall probably in the last week or so before we got into Rice, lot of overload, in terms of the games, the playbook. … They're starting to come back with the speed and playing faster." Kelly said retention of information is the first step to getting a freshman on the field with confidence. Hill has a niche role, but there is a much longer way to go with overall base knowledge — as he found out when he was left in for a play when Michigan was employing its hurry-up offense. "He got caught on the field with our regular calls, and it was like his hair was on fire he wanted to get off the field so fast," Kelly said of Hill. "It's kind of, 'This is too much. I know what to do in this third-down package, but I don't know all the base calls.' "So when they know what they know, that's when we're ready to play them. And Kolin knows what he knows relative to our third-down package." Freshman defensive end Jhonny Williams could eventually see play- ing time in 2014 as a pass rusher on third-down passing situations. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND