Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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highest number at Notre Dame since 17 in 2006, when second-year Fighting Irish head coach Charlie Weis' team was a projected preseason favorite to win the national title before finishing 10-3. The lone defensive starter lost from last year 's team is cornerback Cody Riggs. Yet even there, the Irish could replace him with KeiVarae Russell, who started 26 straight games in 2012- 13 before academic matters sidelined him in 2014. He is planning to re-enroll this summer. On offense, Notre Dame graduates tight end Ben Koyack, offensive tackle Christian Lombard and center Matt Hegarty, who opted not to return for his fifth season because of a requested position change from the staff. How- ever, sophomore Mike McGlinchey had an excellent debut in place of the injured Lombard during the win over LSU in the Music City Bowl. • Rebuilding the kicking game. The graduation of starting kicker/punter Kyle Brindza puts the onus on Tyler Newsome, who redshirted in 2014, as the new punter. He might be able to kick, too, but Kelly already has de- clared that incoming freshman Justin Yoon would handle those duties. A replacement for top punt returner Cody Riggs also needs to be found. • Last but probably foremost, the quarterback competition between Ev- erett Golson and Malik Zaire will be constant fodder. Golson started the entire 2014 reg- ular season, but faltered down the stretch — possibly because of a shoul- der injury — and sophomore Zaire was named the MVP in the Music City Bowl win while operating the offense with aplomb, although it was Golson at the throttle when the Irish set up their winning field goal. Because Golson is on course to grad- uate in May, he can look over his op- tions on whether to use his fifth season at another school in 2015, like Hegarty, if he does not want to share action with Zaire. BLUE-GOLD GAME 'INVITATION ONLY' Because of the $400 million Cam- pus Crossroads project that is taking place on the periphery of Notre Dame Stadium, the school has decided it will hold its annual Blue-Gold Game April 18 on campus at the LaBar Prac- tice Complex, adjacent to the Gug- lielmino Athletics Complex. L a B a r h a s o n l y a f e w m e t a l benches, but temporary seating will be installed. However, it will hold only about 2,500 to 3,000 spectators, according to a Notre Dame spokes- man. The attendance at last year's game was listed at 27,986, but in early March there was bidding out of the tempo- rary seats, which will make it an "invi- tation only" affair, including prospec- tive recruits and families who will be in attendance. Whether NBC Sports Network will telecast the scrimmage as it has in re- cent years also was uncertain as of March 10. There were rumors that the game might be moved to Chicago's Soldier Field or Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Sta- dium, but costs and logistics made it untenable. ✦