Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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The issue is whether second-year de- fensive coordinator Brian VanGorder's group can consistently click. Injuries ravaged the front seven, but the NFL- like schemes also took time to learn, and the unit became exposed against up-tempo offenses, when substitutions for specific roles in packages could not be made. The centerpiece will be sophomore Will linebacker Jaylon Smith, a 2014 second-team Associated Press All- American. This was his first season on the inside, and also returning at inside linebacker will be fifth-year senior Joe Schmidt, possibly Jarrett Grace for a fifth season (he was the top tackler in 2013 before a season-ending injury), and current freshmen Nyles Morgan and Greer Martini. Kelly said the plan is to keep Smith on the inside at Will and not move him back outside (Sam), where he excelled as a freshman. "He's going to be an inside player," Kelly said of Smith. "Teams started to get him outside the box. When you're the Will linebacker, you can displace a receiver and get Jaylon out of the box. USC did a very good job of dis- placing him and getting him out of the mix. "It probably moves toward the other way. How do you get Jaylon in the box and keep him in there as one of your best players? Those are the decisions that we'll have to make. Coach Van- Gorder and I will sit down and talk about those kinds of things." Morgan prefers the Mike spot, but if Schmidt and Grace both return … "Nyles has some flexibility to play all three positions," Kelly said. "He's athletic, he can run, he can play Sam, he can play Mike, he can play Will." 4. POSITION OF NEED Although almost the entire two- deep from the 2014 offense and de- fense returns in 2015, these five will be of particular interest in 2015: • Tight end — Senior Ben Koyack took practically every snap in 2014, while sophomore Durham Smythe and freshman Tyler Luatua saw sparse action. Another freshman, Nic Weis- har, was redshirted, and sophomore Mike Heuerman was still listed at only 225 pounds. For the first time in a long while, this is a question mark at "Tight End U." • Kicker/punter — A superb career ended on a down note in senior Kyle Brindza's final month of competi- tion. Redshirted freshman Tyler New- some is on deck for at least punting, while incoming freshman Justin Yoon missed much of his high school senior year due to an injury. The kicking game usually makes the difference in at least two or three games per season, and this will have a brand new look. • Pass rusher — A supreme edge man who can terrorize quarterbacks is where Notre Dame has come up short in recent recruiting cycles. No one during the 2014 regular season had more than four sacks or nine QB hurries, compared to the 17 hurries the year prior by end Prince Shembo and 13 by lineman Stephon Tuitt, or even 14 in a part-time role by 2011 freshman lineman Aaron Lynch. Freshman Kolin Hill did have two sacks and a hurry early in the year,