Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/421584
UNDER THE DOME more prolific opponents on offense could better study tendencies under new Notre Dame defense coordinator Brian VanGorder, including the Irish not being able to do much substituting when an offense goes up-tempo. Above all, attrition has ravaged the Irish defense of leaders at each spot to the point where diminishing returns began to occur. Only two of the pro- jected 11 starters at the start of fall camp were on the field at the end of the 43-40 overtime loss to Northwestern Nov. 15. The secondary at the start of August featured junior KeiVarae Russell and fifth-year senior Cody Riggs at cor- nerback, with fifth-year senior captain Austin Collinsworth and sophomore Max Redfield at safety. Russell has been sidelined all year be- cause of an academic scandal investiga- tion, while Riggs suffered a stress reac- tion in his foot versus Navy Nov. 1 that will limit how much he can play. Col- linsworth has been shelved with knee and shoulder problems for all but three contests, while Redfield was replaced in the starting lineup by freshman Drue Tranquill against Northwestern. At linebacker, the Irish lost their heartbeat, senior Joe Schmidt, to a fractured and dislocated ankle against Navy, and traffic control on defense be- came more difficult with another fresh- man (Nyles Morgan) filling in. Along the line, senior end Ishaq Wil- liams experienced the same fate as Rus- sell. Senior Tony Springmann — ex- pected to alternate with junior Jarron Jones as the starting nose guard — had his football career ended in August be- cause of health setbacks. Early in the second half against Northwestern, junior captain Sheldon Day suffered an MCL injury that will sideline him for the Louisville contest and probably USC in the regular-sea- son finale, but Kelly projected that Day would return for the bowl game. "We'll have to shake up a couple of things there and move some guys around," Kelly said of giving more ac- tion to fifth-year senior Justin Utupo, freshman Grant Blankenship and soph- omore Jacob Matuska — and freshman Jay Hayes was added. Jones' backup, freshman Dan- iel Cage, also suffered a knee sprain against the Wildcats that shelved him versus the Cardinals. Each position group is missing its leader: Day along the line, Schmidt at linebacker, and Russell and Riggs at corner, while Collinsworth is relatively limited physically at safety. The mainstays have been sopho- mores — Isaac Rochell on the line, Jay- lon Smith at linebacker and Cole Luke at cornerback — while eight true fresh- men have seen regular action. Versus Northwestern, Notre Dame's top eight tacklers were players in either their first or second year of competition. "We've never been as young as we've been on defense," Kelly said of his 24 years as a head coach. "And we've never had this much difficulty hold- ing on to the football on offense at the same time. "But we're going to get through it. We're not going to blame anybody. We're going to look at how we coach it and get better at it. We're going to fight through this rough spot."