Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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rusher in Cierre Wood, with Theo Riddick and George Atkinson III as strong comple- ments, but the Irish averaged only 101.2 yards on the ground in their five defeats last year. Per usual, tight end might be the safe bet, primarily because of the return of Football Writers Association of America first-team All- American Tyler Eifert. Bypassing the NFL major hit with the graduation of 2010-11 regulars Ethan Johnson and Sean Cwynar and the transfer of 2011 Freshman All- American Aaron Lynch. Running back returns a 1,000-yard W hat is Notre Dame's strongest position group in 2012? A case can still be made for the defensive line, but it took a BY LOU SOMOGYI schemes, and Notre Dame has an op- portunity to maximize it, especially with wide receiver in a rebuilding phase sans Floyd. "IF YOU PLAY MULTIPLE TIGHT ENDS, YOU HAVE TO HAVE AT LEAST FOUR GUYS YOU FEEL CAN PLAY AT A HIGH LEVEL." OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR CHUCK MARTIN Draft to return for his senior season, Eifert now will expand his role to be the Michael Floyd of the 2012 Irish offense — not by position, but as the "aircraft carrier" around which many de- rivatives of the offense can be used. He will be flexed wide, in the slot, on elite 2011 tight end recruits and is in the grooming stages of becoming the next standout at Tight End U. — dating back to at least 1973 with Dave Casper. At the same stage of their careers, Koyack is a little more advanced physically than Eif- ert was, and last year he became a regular in the double-tight-end sets. Junior Alex Welch and Sophomore Ben Koyack was one of the BEYOND EIFERT the line, perhaps even in the backfield to help open up different areas of the field to possibly create matchup problems. Eifert might not grab the Notre Dame-record 100 receptions Floyd did last season, but the tight end standard of 63 he snared in 2011 could be eclipsed with his remark- able hands and athletic frame. The tight end position has evolved significantly in many of today's spread mate "Big Skill" athlete, was recruited by Stanford at tight end and by USC as an of- fensive tackle while Notre Dame pegged him at defensive end — yet he ended up starting the Michigan State game last year at drop linebacker (Dog) while also excelling all season on special teams. By the end of the campaign, he was also lin- ing up along the interior in pass-rushing roles. The fact that someone the caliber of Sophomore Troy Niklas, the consum- Niklas can be a fourth option in itself makes tight end potentially the team's top strength. Niklas was sidelined the final week of AUGUST 2012 50 especially senior Jake Golic were slowed by in- juries in 2011, but Welch rebounded with a strong spring. He started for the offense as the in-line blocker in the Blue-Gold Game while Eifert was split wide.