Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/638727
2016 RECRUITING ISSUE sion in 2013 and return for a feast-or- famine 8-5 campaign in 2014 before using his fifth season at Florida State. Williams, a five-star prospect like Lynch, was an outside linebacker in for- mer coordinator Bob Diaco's scheme, recording six tackles as a freshman. He has not played since 2013 because of academic matters, but is on course to earn his degree. 2012 (3): DL Sheldon Day, QB Gunner Kiel and CB Tee Shepard On the 12-1 team, the freshman Day was the first man off the bench for the line and recorded 23 tackles, with sacks against Michigan State and Michigan. Kiel redshirted before transferring to Cincinnati. Shepard had to leave by his second month on campus because of academic reasons. A hearing impair- ment and knee problems at Ole Miss led him to leave the game in 2015 after appearing in five contests. He is report- edly on pace to graduate. 2013 (5): OL Steve Elmer, TE Mike Heuerman, WR/LB James Onwualu, WR Corey Robinson and QB Malik Zaire Elmer and Robinson were room- mates who both made the Dean's List in their first semester. Elmer started four games at offensive tackle (and played in 10) after starter Christian Lombard was sidelined with an injury, and moved to guard the next season, starting there the past two years. Rob- inson started three times as a freshman when his nine catches were good for 157 yards and a score. He was Blue & Gold Illustrated's Offensive Player of the Game when he caught three passes for 54 yards (and forced other pass inter- ference calls) in a 17-13 victory versus a Michigan State team that finished 13-1. In that same game, Onwualu, a four- game starter (two catches for 34 yards), made a key block on the game-winning score. He transitioned to defense the next spring. Zaire became the third straight early enrollee at QB to redshirt as a fresh- man. Heuerman's football career was ended because of a multitude of health setbacks. 2014 (2): WR Justin Brent and DE Andrew Trumbetti Brent played sparingly as a freshman before shifting to running back last Au- gust and redshirting. Projected to start at weakside end this year, Trumbetti finished with 22 tackles as a freshman (5.5 for lost yardage) in a backup role, and as a 2015 sophomore he had 16 tackles (2.5 for loss). He took 287 snaps during the 2015 regular sea- son (24 per game) before starting in the Fiesta Bowl. 2015 (4): LB Te'von Coney, OL Tristen Hoge, DL Micah Dew-Treadway and DL Jerry Tillery Tillery was a co-starter at nose guard with sophomore Daniel Cage after the August MCL injury to starter Jar- ron Jones. During the regular season, Tillery took 351 snaps (29 per game) and Cage 255 (about 21 per game), but Tillery, who recorded 12 tackles, was suspended for the Fiesta Bowl. Coney also had 12 tackles, mainly on special teams while backing up Butkus Award winner Jaylon Smith. Hoge and Dew- Treadway both redshirted. ✦