Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/462058
UNDER THE DOME man Sheldon Day and then left tackle Ron- n i e S t a n l e y d e c i d e d to stay for their senior campaigns prior to the Jan. 15 deadline for early entrants. As a result, no team in America returns more starters on offense and defense from a bowl game than Notre Dame with 20 of a possible 22 (tight end Ben Koyack and cornerback Cody Riggs were the two ex- ceptions). The presence of Stan- ley and Day to lead their respective lines is a boon to Notre Dame's hopes of having another run like in 2012. Stanley can't make catches or spread a defense like Eifert did, and Day won't register the tackle or interception totals of Te'o, but both supply a needed dose of veteran leadership to a surrounding cast that could match what was seen that season. BUILDING BLOCK(ER) Notre Dame had the gold standard at left tackle from 2010-13 in current All-Pro guard Zack Martin. In the 6-5½, 315-pound Stanley, it has someone who might not match Martin's instant impact at the next level, but he could become one of the elite linemen at the col- legiate level after having started 26 consecutive contests the past two seasons. Although Stanley re- portedly did not receive a first-round grade in the evaluation, he was projected as a top-10 se- lection in various mock drafts. NFL Network Top 'Recruits' Of 2015 The two most important in-home recruiting visits Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly made this January were to Fighting Irish junior linemen Ronnie Stanley and Sheldon Day. Blindsided and agitated by junior tight end Troy Niklas' decision to turn pro after his junior campaign last year, Kelly did not want to leave anything to chance with Stanley and Day. According to FOX Sports writer Bruce Feldman, Kelly visited Stanley Jan. 6 in his Las Vegas home with offensive line coach Harry Hiestand and a university academic advisor to outline plans for graduation and future preparation for the NFL. A phone conversation with his former teammate and All-Pro Zack Martin also was included. "Zack taking his fifth year here was able to give our players a great perspective on how important that fifth year was in preparing him for the rigors of the NFL," Kelly told Feldman. "… Four preseason games, a 16-game season and two playoff games. And they're not used to that. Everyone is talking about what this [college] season was like, but that isn't anywhere near what the NFL season is like." With Day, who is on schedule to graduate this May (he was an early enrollee in 2012), Kelly took with him defensive line coach Mike Elston and strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo to project what he needs to achieve to reach the strength level of 2013 Pitt first-round pick Aaron Donald in the interior. Even Notre Dame vice president and director of athletics Jack Swarbrick became involved by telling Stanley and Day that the school would foot the bill for their loss of value insurance and, as Kelly told Feldman "the university's willingness to continue to help and promote him any way possible and show the institutional commitment to him from the highest level." Recruiting never ends, even for current college juniors. — Lou Somogyi