Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/499410
Second is the return of a healthy and more robust fifth-year senior Nick Martin at his best position (center), where the likely second-year captain can be his most effective after playing left guard last season. Finally, it's the projected coming of age for much of the 2013 and 2014 offensive line recruiting hauls that ranked with Alabama as maybe the best in the land when the two groups are combined. The Irish signed five offensive linemen in 2013, led by right guard Steve Elmer and right tackle Mike McGlinchey, and it is usually during the junior year when college linemen begin to blossom physically and men- tally. "Each play my mind is in a better place," said Elmer, cited by Irish head coach Brian Kelly as one of the most improved players on the team this spring. "Focusing on the defense, fo- cusing on where the running backs will be, what the other guys are doing. … Everything is just more synched up." The current junior group and last year 's four-man harvest, with five- star recruit Quenton Nelson and the rapidly ascending Alex Bars sharing time at left guard, is developing into a formidable nucleus with its num- bers and talent. Stanley also cites El- mer 's backup, junior John Montelus, as maybe the most improved lineman overall. Kelly doesn't want to say yet whether this is his best starting five along the line in his six years at Notre Dame, but he will acknowledge it's his deepest. "What was really revealing to me today is that when the quarterbacks flipped [between first and second units], it was hard to tell whether it was the first offensive line or the sec- ond offensive line," Kelly said follow- ing the Blue-Gold Game. "Usually you know when the second offensive line is in there. It was the third offensive line where you saw a bit of a drop-off in there. "But with the first and second of- fensive line, both those quarterbacks were effective and efficient with who- ever was in there, and that was the big telltale for me." KEEPING THEM ON THE RUN Another telltale of how the staff is laying it on the line is that on the open- ing possession of the spring game, 11 of Notre Dame's 12 plays were kept on the ground, although one was a Golson scramble off a called pass. On third- and-four, running back Tarean Folston was called on and ran for four yards. On third-and-goal from the 3-yard line, the Irish ran it two straight before scor- ing. "We love it," Martin said. "Whether it's third-and-long or third-and-short, we're telling guys to run the ball. That's just the mentality of the offen- sive line." In last year 's Blue-Gold Game, the Irish attempted 54 passes and threw for 456 yards while rushing for 120. This year, the Irish ran the ball 55 times and passed it 37 times. The zone-read option attack with Golson and Zaire was the main staple. "We really wanted to emphasize the run game and get our offensive line