Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/514677
BY LOU SOMOGYI T he single-most recruited po- sition in the current 23-man sophomore class was defensive end, with a goal of attempting to develop premier pass rushers. That will be especially needed with none ar- riving in the 2015 Fighting Irish fresh- man class. Five different sophomore ends are "in line" to aid Notre Dame's future — if not present — pass rush, which has been deemed an Achilles heel on the 2015 edition. Even the top member of the sophomore quintet, Andrew Trum- betti, acknowledges it. "There are people who are just ab- solute freaks and are naturally good at pass rushing," Trumbetti said. "They have long arms and are fast. … That's really what our defensive line needs because I don't really think other than [senior] Sheldon [Day] that we have an absolute freak that can just rush the passer. "We need to really just work together as a D-line to get sacks. There's not one guy that's going to have 15 sacks." Even Day, who is an interior player, recorded only one sack in 2014 and has 3.5 in his career. Senior end Romeo Okwara paced the Irish with a modest On The EDGE Andrew Trumbetti leads a large group of sophomore defensive ends While splitting time with Romeo Okwara last year, Trumbetti recorded 5.5 tackles for loss, a sack and five quarterback hurries. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA