Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/762987
26 JANUARY 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY BRYAN DRISKELL H ead coach Brian Kelly's ten- ure in South Bend has been a mixed bag. There was the run to the BCS National Champi- onship Game in 2012 and a Fiesta Bowl appearance in 2015. Also thrown in were a number of seasons of disap- pointment or underachieving football. The issues that plagued the pro- gram during this season have always been lurking in the background. What the 2016 season lacked were the elite playmakers that helped mask those problems. Early in his tenure, Kelly relied on standouts like wide receiver Mi- chael Floyd, linebacker Manti Te'o, tight end Tyler Eifert, offensive tackle Zack Martin, and defensive linemen Stephon Tuitt, Kapron Lewis-Moore and Louis Nix. In 2014 and 2015, the Irish had play- ers like Will Fuller at wide receiver, All-American linebacker Jaylon Smith, All-American offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley, center Nick Martin and defensive tackle Sheldon Day. In 2016, Notre Dame lacked the elite top-end talent that allowed it to over- come the underlying flaws in the pro- gram, and the result was an incredibly disappointing season for a team that began the year ranked in the top 10. It was not, however, the only dis- appointing season under Kelly. Notre Dame's 2011 team had 18 players in its starting lineup or regu- lar rotation that went on to be se- lected in the NFL Draft over the next three seasons. That list includes four players taken in the first round, three players picked in the second round and another three in the third round, which brings the total to 10 in the first three rounds. That team finished 8-5, losing at home to 5-7 South Florida and blow- ing double digit second-half leads against Michigan and Florida State. In 2013, Notre Dame went 9-4 with a roster that had 16 players that went on to get drafted, including 11 picked in the first three rounds. That is cer- tainly not the record one would ex- pect from a team so deep with talent. Perhaps the silver lining in Notre Dame's 4-8 season is it will force Kelly to dig deeper into the program than he ever has. He must open up the entire program to scrutiny, in hopes of figuring out what went wrong and how he can fix it. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly must put every aspect of his program under the microscope after a 4-8 season. PHOTO BY ANDREW IVINS RIGHTING THE SHIP Notre Dame must be willing to make foundational changes after a horrible 2016 campaign