Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ceiver as a freshman and did not see action. With wideout stocked a little better, Farley returned to safety this spring. six fifth-year seniors for the 2012 campaign: center Braxston Cave, guard/center Mike Golic Jr., wide re- ceiver John Goodman, defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore, safety Jamoris Slaughter and safety Dan McCarthy. Walk-on offensive tackle Dennis Mahoney will be a graduate student with the aforementioned six. running back/slot Amir Carlisle suf- fering a broken ankle in a non-contact, voluntary seven-on-seven session during spring break (March 10-18), right before drills opened. "He'll be ready to go for June when The main setback was USC transfer INJURY UPDATES we come back for our summer condi- tioning program," Kelly said. Most of the players who missed part or all of the 2011 season have been fully to partly cleared for spring drills: • Fifth-year defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore, who suffered a season- ending knee injury late in the Oct. 22 loss to USC will have no restrictions and can compete in all the drills. • Fifth-year senior center Braxston Cave (foot) will be mainly doing non- contact drills "with the hope and the possibility that maybe he even plays in the spring game," according to Kelly. • Sophomore defensive linemen Notre Dame officially approved FIFTH-YEAR SENIORS the No. 1 kick coverage unit, has been cleared for full work this spring. by the return of senior All-America Te'o and a hungry young line with the likes of Aaron Lynch, Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix III, this is the prime building block in 2012 to keep the Irish competitive in every game. 2. TIGHT END — Eifert is in line to join 1. DEFENSIVE FRONT SEVEN — Headlined PERCEIVED STRENGTHS Anthony Fasano (2003-05), John Carlson (2006-07) and Kyle Rudolph (2008-10) as the fourth Irish tight end in a row to be taken in the top two rounds of the NFL Draft. Koy- ack and Niklas provide an excel- lent future, while junior Alex Welch back on offense and defense can be nebu- lous. Some positions have co-starters, and other times it can depend on formations or schemes. Here is the breakdown on career starts by Defining how many "starters" are actually FOR STARTERS top returning members on offense: Offense Player OT Zack Martin C Braxston Cave TE Tyler Eifert Career Starts (2011 Starts) 26 (13) 22(9) *RB Theo Riddick WR TJ Jones 21 (13) 18 (9) Chase Hounshell and Tony Spring- mann won't be able to participate in contact work this spring after under- going winter surgery. Hounshell had to have a shoulder repaired, while Springmann had a discectomy, the surgical removal of herniated disc material that presses on a nerve root or the spinal cord. • Junior offensive tackle Tate Nich- ols and sophomore linebacker An- thony Rabasa both have been cleared for work after having shoulder prob- lems cleaned up last fall, putting them ahead of schedule for spring. • Junior running back Cam Rob- erson, who suffered a severe knee injury last March 26 during a scrim- mage, will be involved on a limited basis. • Sophomore safety Eilar Hardy, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last August after working with www.BLUEANDGOLD.com QB Tommy Rees RB Cierre Wood OG Chris Watt WR Robby Toma WR John Goodman C Mike Golic Jr. TE Ben Koyack #TE Troy Niklas 19 (12) 16 (12) 14 (9) 13 (13) 6 (4) 5 (1) 4 (4) 1 (1) 1 (1) * Starts came at slot receiver/wideout # Start came at outside linebacker Starters lost: WR Michael Floyd (41 career starts), OG Trevor Robinson (40), OT Taylor Dever (23), QB Dayne Crist (10), TE Mike Ragone (9) and RB Jonas Gray (5). Defense Player ILB Manti Te'o DE Kapron Lewis-Moore S Jamoris Slaughter S Zeke Motta ILB Dan Fox NG Louis Nix III OLB Prince Shembo ILB Carlo Calabrese DE Aaron Lynch DE Stephon Tuitt Career Starts (2011 Starts) 36 (13) 29 (7) 16 (10) 15 (7) 13 (13) 11 (11) 9 (9) 8 (0) 6 (6) 3 (3) Starters lost: S Harrison Smith (47), DE Ethan Johnson (37), OLB Darius Fleming (36), CB Gary Gray (33), CB Robert Blanton (26), NG Sean Cwynar (7). would start on a lot of major college teams. 3. RUNNING BACK/SLOT — Seniors Cierre Zack Martin (tackle) and Chris Watt (guard) answered the bell for all 13 starts last season, and Cave's return at center should make the Irish stron- ger at the point of attack. 5. SAFETY — The single most veteran Tommy Rees has 16 career starts un- der his belt, but Kelly acknowledged that the competition once again likely will spill over into August — if not into the season. That always is an unsettling situation in a football program. 2. CORNERBACK — For the first time since 1. QUARTERBACK INSTABILITY — Junior PERCEIVED CONCERNS 91 yards in returns in 2010 (but only 53 in the last 12 games) and 48 last season (44 by Floyd in the Champs Sports Bowl when he had the green light for the first time). This cannot just be in damage-control mode all the time. 5. RIGHT SIDE OF OFFENSIVE LINE — The projected first-round pick Michael Floyd, the Irish lacked a vertical at- tack last year. Eifert's 12.7 yards per catch led the team — a rarity for a tight end. 4. PUNT RETURNS — Notre Dame totaled No. 1 right guard slot might be the single most competitive position on the team, with Golic Jr., sophomores Nick Martin and Conor Hanratty and maybe even tackle Christian Lom- bard in the mix. ✦ APRIL 2012 23 1998, after the graduation of starters Allen Rossum and Ivory Covington, Notre Dame will enter a season with no one on the roster having a career start at cornerback. Juniors Bennett Jackson and Lo Wood might be the early front-runners. Former commits Shepard and Ronald Darby (Florida State) might have been to Irish corner recruiting this year what Lynch and Tuitt were to the line last year, but that went by the wayside. 3. RECEIVING YARDAGE — Even with Wood and Theo Riddick provide plenty of experience, while George Atkinson III might be the most explo- sive of all after returning two kickoffs for scores as a freshman last year. It won't be easy for Carlisle to get snaps, just like at USC. 4. LEFT SIDE OF OFFENSIVE LINE — Seniors unit on the team, with Slaughter pro- viding play-making skills against both the run and pass.