Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/561665
BY BRYAN DRISKELL D uring Brian Kelly's first five years at Notre Dame, a sea- son did not go by without the Fighting Irish receiving sig- nificant contributions from its rookie class. The 2015 crew will be no dif- ferent. In each of his five campaigns, at least eight freshmen have played in their first year. At least one per season has become a full-time starter at some point. The first-year impact has been even greater the last two seasons, with 21 freshmen getting onto the field. Dur- ing that two-year stretch, at least 12 true freshmen have started a game. Once again the Irish will rely on a crop of freshmen to fill out the depth chart. Unlike previous seasons, the newcomers are not walking into a situ- ation where a number of spots were open. Overall, the Irish return 17 full- time starters from last season's team and 12 other players that started at least one game. What this means is that Kelly's cur- rent class of freshmen are forcing the issue, and barring unforeseen injuries — beyond what has already happened — whoever gets on the field will have earned that role by moving past more seasoned players. Here's our annual preseason over- view of the freshman class based on the first two-plus weeks of practice from Aug. 7-21. STARTING IMPACT A season-ending knee injury to starting nose guard Jarron Jones has opened up a starting opportunity for talented freshman Jerry Tillery. Shortly after he arrived in January as an early enrollee, Tillery began to im- press the Notre Dame staff. The expec- tation was always that he would be in the rotation, but with Jones out he will take over as the starter in the middle. Replacing Jones is not new for Tillery. "Jarron was out all spring and Jerry was basically the starter," defensive line coach Keith Gilmore said. "We were anticipating him playing against FORCING THE ISSUE Notre Dame's freshman class is working hard to make sure it will be heard from in 2015