Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/753492
4 NOV. 28, 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED N otre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was asked before the Senior Day game with Virginia Tech if he shared the same feelings former Irish skipper Lou Holtz of- ten spoke of decades ago as to whether an overflow of emotion would hinder his se- nior players' focus and performance when they played for the fi- nal time at Notre Dame Stadium. "Earlier, I had to," Kelly answered. "My first couple of years you knew who those [seniors] were. Now it's a lot grayer as to who is a senior and who's not a senior." Kelly's answer may sound a bit convoluted, but given the changing landscape of the Notre Dame pro- gram, it makes perfect sense. During the Holtz era, rosters typi- cally remained rhythmic and class sizes even. There were a few excep- tions, but about 20 players each year would finish their four-year careers together, celebrate Senior Day dur- ing their last home game, graduate in the spring and move on to future endeavors. Much has changed during the Kelly era, evidenced Saturday when team captains Isaac Rochell and James Onwualu, along with steady veteran Cole Luke, were recognized as the three lone "true" Irish seniors from the 24-man recruiting class of 2013 to exhaust all of their college football eligibility in the traditional four-year manner. The remaining 21 players from that class either trans- ferred, redshirted, left the program early or were lost through attrition. Nine other seniors beyond the aforementioned trio of Irish players were also recognized Saturday. But those nine took a redshirt year and could return to Notre Dame for a fifth season and play in 2017, though it's becoming less likely for fifth-year seniors to stick around. Increasingly, graduating seniors on a five-year football plan — wide re- ceiver Torii Hunter Jr. and running back Tarean Folston come to mind this season — are forfeiting their final year of eligibility to enter the NFL Draft in the same way former Irish players Ronnie Stanley, KeiVarae Russell and C.J. Prosise did after last season. In addition to the annual exodus of NFL-caliber Irish seniors leaving eligi- bility behind, several other members of this senior class find themselves blocked on the depth chart by younger players, a situation that will likely lead to another wave of Irish grad transfers to other schools after this season — the same course that quarterback Everett Golson or center Matt Hegarty and many other Notre Dame players have taken in recent years. Adding to Kelly's roster turbulence and coaching headaches is the num- ber of true Irish juniors bolting Notre Dame early to enter the NFL Draft. Since 1991 when NFL rules first allowed players to leave school after their third season to join the draft party, Notre Dame has had 13 play- ers exercise that option. Eight of those 13 early draft entrees have occurred since Brian Kelly took the head coaching job here in De- cember 2009; five of those defections have come since 2014, including wide receiver Will Fuller and linebacker Jaylon Smith last year. Quar- terback DeShone Kizer and guard Quenton Nelson, both true ju- niors, have been touted as three-and-out candi- dates for Notre Dame after 2016. And it's this early flight pattern where Kelly has perhaps be- grudgingly changed his thinking, gradually evolved and learned to accept the inevitable. Just a few years ago, Kelly shared the same disdain as his prede- cessor, Charlie Weis, when it came to play- ers heading to the NFL before graduating. But in recent years, Kelly has ad- opted a stance that Notre Dame play- ers leaving early for the NFL serves more as a celebration of his pro- gram's success than an indictment of it. "Having really good football play- ers that have the opportunity to go to the NFL," Kelly said, "is going to be the reality here at Notre Dame." Kelly is right. With a growing number of third- year players leaving Notre Dame before graduation and fifth-year eligi- ble players leaving Notre Dame after graduation, Kelly is best off using his players now before he loses 'em later. "We're going to have to play some of the younger players," said Kelly, who has used 14 true freshmen this season, the most in his seven years at Notre Dame. "And that's going to be the case here moving forward." All of which sounds good in theory. But if this youth movement is going to pay off, Coach Kelly better start hav- ing his rookie players ready in early September, instead of talking about learning curves and youthful mis- takes, as he has so often this season. ✦ Time For Brian Kelly To Use 'Em Or Lose 'Em UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com Like several talented Irish juniors before him during Kelly's tenure, left guard Quenton Nelson could head to the NFL a year early. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA