Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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News & Notes SEASON KICKOFF: RUNNING BACKS "We're going to play all of our backs," he said. "When we iel is slowly moving back toward running back, where he started his career as a freshman. McDaniel played primarily on special teams last fall, but did carry the ball three times for a total of nine yards in mop-up duty. He caught on quickly at cornerback during the spring when he started • After spending the spring at cornerback, Irish sophomore Cam McDan- getting longer looks in the nickel and dime packages the Irish were preparing. The move, though, was mostly to fill out a thin depth chart at the posi- tion. With the incoming freshmen off to a good start in the secondary, McDaniel was freed to start playing a little more running back in training camp. "He's cross-training on defense, too, so he is still taking some reps on talk about all of our backs, they're playing wide receiver, the slot position. We can move them anywhere on the field as well as play the running back position." Each of Notre Dame's three main ball carriers brings something different to the table. Wood has a wealth of ex- perience after two years on the field as a pure running back. He's quick, shifty and has a good track record of hanging on to the football. Wood lost two fumbles on his 244 touches a year ago, and one of those came on a backwards pass that never quite reached him. His biggest adjustment this offseason will be learning to defense," Irish coach Brian Kelly said. "He's kind of our one player that we feel like could fit in on either side of the ball in a pinch." • One Cam returns and another leaves. Junior Cameron Roberson ended his career at Notre Dame this spring after spending more than a year trying to rehab a devastating knee injury from the spring of 2011. "Cam Roberson physically was not able to compete at the level that he felt was necessary to play here at Notre Dame," Kelly said during the first week of fall camp. The coach said Roberson was applying for a medical hardship waiver, which would keep him on scholarship but not count to- ward the team's total allowance. • Sophomore Amir Carlisle was cleared to play this season after transfer- ring from USC in the winter, but has been touch-and-go on the field in the first few weeks of practice. Carlisle broke his ankle shorty after arriving in South Bend last semester and missed all of spring practice. Kelly said Carlisle was at roughly 80 percent at the start of camp, and has be a threat in the passing game to mesh with the new de- mands of the position. He's been putting in extra time after practice working on his hands and relying on his roommate, Riddick, to provide some pointers. "Ultimately he has hands. He's a football player," Riddick said. "He's just learning to read coverages, knowing how to get vertical and gain space from a defender — just little things like that." Riddick learned the nuances of running routes during his good days and bad days as he tries to get back to full health. Carlisle rushed for 118 yards on 19 carries for the Trojans a year ago, and the Notre Dame staff is still optimistic that he'll be able to help in the run game this season. — Dan Murphy last two seasons as the team's starting slot receiver. He made 84 catches for 893 yards, but never quite flourished the way Kelly hoped he would at the position. Riddick slid back to the running back position during the final weeks of the 2011 season and seemed to catch an extra wind. He'll be more prepared to take advantage of the position's new hybrid possibilities than any of his peers. "I don't think there's really been an adjustment. The only adjustment I had to make is physical … and that was just to put on weight," said Riddick, who feels more durable at 5-11, 200 pounds to start the season. Aktinson is the hardest of the group to pin down at this point in his career. In one breath the 6-0, 212-pound sopho- more describes himself as a power runner in training. In the next, his coaches are talking about sliding him all the way out to wide receiver in certain looks to take advantage of his sprinter speed. "He's a load just to handle because he's 212 pounds, but he's also a premier sprinter. The guy's a 10.36 or 10.4 [sec- ond] 100-meter guy. There aren't a whole lot of those run- ning around on a football field," said running backs coach Tony Alford. "He has the ability to break something wide open just by his sheer speed, and he's a strong runner." Atkinson showed that tantalizing ability to create space for himself during Notre Dame's Blue-Gold game in April. He led all rushers with 124 yards on 15 carries and added 54 more yards while shaking off defenders on his three recep- tions. He also fumbled twice, which landed him on Kelly's "heart attack list" along with classmate Everett Golson. Eliminating those fumbles is more of a mental challenge than a physical one, Atkinson said. His teammates tried their best to remind him to take care of the ball whenever they could this summer, and he drilled it into his own mind by telling himself to hold the ball "high and tight" every day in the mirror. Two weeks into fall camp he had yet to put a ball on the ground. Sophomore Amir Carlisle's career at Notre Dame got off to a rocky start after he broke his ankle before the start of spring practices. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND 44 PRESEASON 2012 Dame's crowded backfield, Alford said, is to keep all of the runners as interchangeable as possible. The Irish tried to The key to finding harmony and first downs with Notre KEEP THEM GUESSING BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED