Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME "Coach Crum, he'll sit me down, walk me through the film and show me what I'm do- ing, and that has really been helpful." Kelly said when the staff first started experi- menting with Hunter on defense it was because it felt like he could be a stopgap of sorts at a nickel position that had seen plenty of turnover. The Irish lost projected starter Shaun Crawford to injury in the preseason and then utilized corner- back Devin Butler and safety Matthias Farley in the role. Farley was service- able, but Kelly said he was more valuable to the defense at safety. Plus, he liked the way Hunter "jammed" people on punts. Being able to balance playing two positions now doesn't mean that it will be realistic come spring. The son of re- cently retired MLB all-star Torii Hunter hinted that the plan is to still play baseball after making his debut last season for the Irish on the diamond. "I'm not really sure what it will look like," Hunter said. "I know there's going to be base- ball, but I don't know how the schedule is go- ing to be set up. I've still got to talk to them about that. "It's going to be hectic, I know that," he added. Multi-tasking often is. ✦ Part-Time Help Head coach Brian Kelly has had his share of success with position changes, including tight end Troy Niklas converting from linebacker and running back C.J. Prosise shifting from safety. When it comes to using players on both sides of the ball, though, he's more hesitant. Junior Torii Hunter Jr. was an ideal candidate because he splits reps at slot receiver with fifth-year senior Amir Carlisle. "Torii Hunter shares reps offensively, so we felt like he was a great fit to do some work on defense, too," Kelly said. "I'm more in that vein than I am taking a dominating player off of one side of the ball." An example is linebacker Jaylon Smith, who also starred on offense in high school. Kelly doesn't want a situation like what happened at Ole Miss when star defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche suffered a concussion while play- ing offense in the Rebels' loss to Memphis Oct. 17. "When you have a dominating player like a Jaylon Smith where you're not going to take him off the field [on defense], I really didn't consider [offense too] because he's just so important to our defense," Kelly said. "I've looked at it both ways, but never to the level where you're a dominating player on one side and you're going to get 15, 20 reps on the other side. "We know Jaylon can play running back, he can play wide receiver, he can play tight end, a number of different positions. But it never was a thought that we had." — Andrew Owens