Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/601719
for us." Jones committed to Notre Dame as a four-star tight end out of high school powerhouse Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. Despite having only 10 catches for 162 yards to his name as a collegiate player through nine games, Jones usu- ally makes the most of the opportuni- ties, registering 35-plus plays against UMass, USC and Temple. "I'm just trying to do the best I can to make sure when my opportun ity comes I do take advantage of it and help the team out in any way, shape or form," he said. W i t h N o t r e Dame's red zone woes — even af- ter a 4-of-4 per- formance at Pitts- burgh, the Irish ranked 58th in the nation in touch- down percentage — perhaps Jones will make an impact inside the 20-yard line down the stretch. "Alizé is a big body guy that is go- ing to certainly help you down there, there's no question about that," said Kelly, who maintains that the fix in that department doesn't fall on any single position group. "But I don't know if it's one guy that changes it as much as we just have to be better as an overall unit, and we just make too many mistakes down there. "It's just getting more familiar with the offense and understanding his place within the offense, routes, protections, run game. He's a fresh- man that we know has got a great skill set, but sometimes it just takes a little while. "He's got great hands. He's got great athletic ability. He's going to be a really, really fine football player for a number of years here, and he's starting to feel more comfortable and gaining more confidence every day." "I'm really start- ing to get com- fortable with the offense and play- i n g o n t h e b i g stage at the col- lege level," Jones e c h o e d . " W h e n I'm out there I feel like I have a little groove. I feel like I'm back in high school again. "That all comes from the team. Those guys lift me up and help me out. I'm still working. I'm still young. But my teammates are there to help me." Weishar went through a similar pro- cess in 2014 while adjusting from be- ing Illinois' all-time receptions leader to suddenly struggling in the colle- giate game where blocking is no lon- ger optional. "It was tremendous for me, not only getting the weight put on me, but ✦ GAME-BY-GAME TIGHT END SNAP COUNTS Here is the snap count breakdown by game for Notre Dame tight ends in 2015: Game Hounshell Jones Luatua Weishar Texas 5 17 20 14 Virginia 0 8 13 0 Georgia Tech 1 20 36 18 UMass 14 29 0* 43 Clemson 4 22 0* 44 Navy 25 12 28 29 USC 17 13 16 26 Temple 17 17 23 24 Pittsburgh 28 15 26 17 Total 111 153 162 215 * Luatua sat out the UMass and Clemson games due to a concussion; junior tight end Durham Smythe registered 105 snaps in the first two games before suffering a season-ending injury