Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE R emember the days when Notre Dame head coaches Tyrone Will- ingham, Charlie Weis and even Brian Kelly would routinely hand out football scholarships to walk-on play- ers as a reward for their commitment, effort and loyalty to the program? The scholarship of- ferings were always a great gesture for the for- tunate players receiving them, but also an un- derlying indication of roster imbalance and a lack of depth within the program. Well, for the first time in his six seasons here, Kelly won't face a player shortage this year. But he does face another kind of ac- counting challenge. Instead of award- ing scholarships to walk-ons to bring numbers up, Kelly might face some tough player decisions this offseason to trim his scholarship numbers down to the NCAA-mandated 85 — a roster dilemma not faced by a Notre Dame coach since the turn of the century. "We've got until the first day of classes [in the fall] to get to 85," said Kelly, whose program currently sits at 89 scholarships. "And we're going to need every one of those days." A challenge? Yes. But not necessarily a bad one. Here's what we do know: • Kelly confirmed that all seven of his potential fifth-year senior candi- dates — quarterback Everett Golson, center Nick Martin, wide re- ceiver Amir Carlisle, cornerback Matthias Farley, tight end Chase Hounshell, and line- backers Joe Schmidt and Jarrett Grace — have applied to return, though the potential transfer of Golson after graduation in May re- mains a legitimate con- cern. • The 24-man recruit- ing class of incoming freshmen is expected to be intact and join the team for summer school in June. • Cornerback KeiVarae Russell, one of four players suspended all of last season during an academic investi- gation, and safety Avery Sebastian, a graduate transfer from California, are also expected to join the team for sum- mer workouts. Add Russell and Sebastian's scholar- ships to the list of 24 incoming fresh- men, the seven potential returning fifth-year seniors and the 58 existing Getting To 85 Is A Welcome Challenge Rather than awarding full rides to walk-ons to bring scholarship num- bers up, head coach Brian Kelly finds himself in a situation in which he needs to trim his program's scholarship numbers down to the NCAA-mandated 85 by this fall. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA