Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Top Risers On Defense Along with senior running back/slot C.J. Prosise, the top riser of the spring was early enrollee Jerry Tillery as an in- terior tackle on defense. He earned a separate section on these page and could play either at nose guard or the three- technique. A few others also emerged that have been with the program a little longer. 1. Safeties Max Redfield and Elijah Shu- mate — Redfield and Shumate started next to each other in Notre Dame's de- fensive secondary for most of 2014 be- fore getting benched in November. This spring the duo made the progress the Irish coaching staff has anticipated. "Defensively, the thing for me that I'm most pleased with is the safety play," head coach Brian Kelly said at the end of spring. "Max Redfield is a different player than he was." By all accounts, Irish fans should be able to expect to see the five-star talent identi- fied in Redfield in high school start to pay off this fall. 2. LB Nyles Morgan — Morgan was placed in an unenviable situation last fall as a true freshman when he had to re- place the injured Joe Schmidt, the heart and soul of the defense. His November struggles coincided with the defense's backslide during the four-game losing streak. This spring he was legitimately competing for reps with Schmidt and Jarrett Grace. He will also cross- train to get him in as many defensive packages as possible. "Oh, he's so much better," VanGorder said. "I'm really proud of him. It's important to him. He really works at it and wants to be good. Putting him out there and playing last year, that was tough for him. "The player he is today in spring ball is really amazing. It's a real credit to him and how hard he works." 3. CB Nick Watkins — With the expected return of KeiVarae Russell to start across from Cole Luke, the Irish could boast one of the better starting duos in the country. Behind them will be Watkins and Devin Butler. In his first spring at Notre Dame after debuting mostly on special teams last fall, Watkins took a strong step forward. "Nick Watkins individually made the progress we were hoping he would make," Kelly said. "He's play- ing with a lot more confidence and certainly is somebody we feel like is going to be able to contribute to our football team this year." Junior safety Max Redfield put an exclamation point on his strong spring by notching the only interception of the Blue-Gold Game and returning it 85 yards for a touch- down. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA