Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Elijah Shumate By Andrew Owens At times during the preseason, junior Elijah Shumate was a forgotten member of the Irish secondary. A talented player who missed the Stanford game last season due to a violation of team rules, it was legitimate to wonder whether he would ever pull it together in an Irish uniform. With a former five-star recruit (Max Redfield), a returning starter and team captain (Austin Col- linsworth), two players seemingly ready to take a step forward (Eilar Hardy and Nicky Baratti), and an intriguing freshman (Drue Tranquill), a crowded position left no immediate opening for Shumate. In August and September, that quickly changed when Collinsworth suffered an MCL strain, Hardy was held out of action during the academic dis- honesty investigation and Baratti suffered an- other season-ending shoulder injury. In the opener against Rice, Shumate stepped in for Collinsworth with an up-and-down perfor- mance representative of his career to that point — exciting athleticism, but issues communicating in the secondary that had prevented him from playing consistently. A week later, however, he started in the 31-0 shutout of Michigan and helped keep the Wol- verines in check. On the game's final play, he returned an interception for a touchdown that was only negated due to a personal foul on Redfield. Shumate started six of Notre Dame's first eight games with Collinsworth battling injuries and has risen to the challenge with 42 tackles, a fumble recovery, and an improvement in communication and knowledge of the defense. Will Fuller By Douglas Farmer Six returning receivers caught more passes than Will Fuller did last season. Even without senior DaVaris Daniels — he has not seen ac- tion this season due to the academic dishonesty investigation — and his 49 catches a year ago, Fuller would have been no one's projection as Notre Dame's go-to receiver. Senior tight end Ben Koyack caught three touchdowns last sea- son and looked like a sure-fire red-zone threat this year, not to mention sophomore Corey Rob- inson's renowned wingspan and its potential in the end zone. Juniors C.J. Prosise and Chris Brown may not have played much with quarterback Everett Golson in 2012, but they had at least spent time with the signal-caller and caught a few passes in practice. Brown even caught a 50-yard bomb from Golson in that season's 30-13 victory at Oklahoma. All four of those pass catchers — and senior running back turned receiver Amir Carlisle — have contributed this year, but no two of them match Fuller's stat line. Through eight games, the speedy sophomore had 46 receptions for 599 yards (13.0 yards per catch) and nine touch- downs. His catch, receiving yardage and touch- down totals easily outpace the next closest Irish pass catcher Robinson, who had 29 grabs for 393 yards and four scores. Fuller credits an eight- to 10-pound weight gain and increased focus on clean releases from the line of scrimmage for his impressive per- formance this season. Whatever the cause, his production has been the biggest Irish surprise in 2014. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHICH PLAYER HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST SURPRISE IN 2014? Listen to the discussion in this digital exclusive