Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/680997
When Bilal arrived at Notre Dame last summer, he did so as the least heralded among the trio of incom- ing linebackers. As an early enrollee, Coney received much of the valued reps and debuted as Smith's backup during the 2015 season. The former Penn State commitment Josh Barajas also received more hype from fans and media, but entering the summer Bilal seems much closer to receiving significant playing time than his fel- low Indiana native. "Te'von's a Will linebacker," Elston said. "Te'von can play Mike line- backer. He's smart. Te'von can do a lot of things for us. That's the great thing about Te'von. If Te'von was healthy right now, he would be at the Will linebacker with Asmar." Bilal, however, was the one who benefited from all of those valuable reps during the spring while Coney was relegated to watching from the sidelines. At the conclusion of spring prac- tice, head coach Brian Kelly named Bilal as one of the most improved figures from the 15-session spring season. Part of what makes him so appealing to the coaching staff is that he is not only a candidate to start at Will linebacker, but also provides depth at Sam. "Asmar Bilal is a linebacker that we think has multi-positional ability that we can see maybe play a couple of positions [in 2016]," Kelly said. Because of the similarities between the Will and the Sam, Notre Dame likes to cross-train players to contrib- ute at both positions. For those be- ing trained at the Mike (middle line- backer) spot, such as Barajas, there are so many responsibilities involved with mastering those duties that the Irish avoid cross-training in the early stages. "The Mike linebacker learns so much," Elston said. "You can't really play Mike and learn Mike and then flip over to the Will as a freshman. "Nyles Morgan can go over and play Will because he's got enough base now at the Mike that he can go over and play the Will. He under- stands what those techniques are. Really Josh right now is not being double-trained, nor would he be in the fall. He's got to learn the Mike position." For Bilal, it's now about applying a better knowledge of the defense to the field, even if it takes a few more visits to his position coach's office for help. ✦ "HE'S AT THE STARTING POINT OF WHAT WE SEE AS A PROMISING CAREER. KNOCK ON WOOD, [ASSUMING] HE STAYS HEALTHY, HE'S DOING A REALLY, REALLY GOOD JOB AND HE SHOULD DO REALLY WELL THIS YEAR." LINEBACKERS COACH MIKE ELSTON ON BILAL