Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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10 SEPT. 11, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Alohi Gilman Ruled Ineligible By NCAA Notre Dame sophomore safety Alohi Gil- man, who transferred from the Naval Acad- emy this summer, was denied his petition to the NCAA to be immediately eligible for the 2017 football season. Unless one has already graduated from a school — i.e. Irish transfer wide receivers Cam Smith (Arizona State) and Freddy Can- teen (Michigan) this season — the NCAA rule most of the time mandates that a stu- dent-athlete transferring from one Football Bowl Subdivision school to another sit out that initial season. Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis. For example, when USC running back Amir Carlisle transferred to Notre Dame after the 2011 season he was granted im- mediate eligibility in 2012 because of an oc- cupational move from California to Indiana by his father. In the case of Gilman, the request was de- nied, although Notre Dame decided during the week of the Temple game to appeal the verdict. If the ruling remains, Gil- man would have three years of eligibility remaining from 2018-20. "We feel as though we've got some information that we would like the NCAA to see," head coach Brian Kelly said of the appeal. "... It doesn't appear to be something that will take a long time." The Irish head coach added that the decision on whether to appeal was made by director of athletics Jack Swarbrick and senior associate athletics director Jill Bodensteiner. "I've been in that process before," Kelly said. "It's a committee that is made up of athletic directors and commissioners. It looks at all mitigating factors in it, whereas your initial [ruling], it's pretty cut and dry." The 5-10½, 199-pound Gilman had 12 starts last year for the 9-5 Midshipmen and finished second in tackles with 76 to go with and five passes broken up while playing linebacker, cornerback and safety. He racked up a career-high 12 tackles (five solo) in the 28-27 victory versus Notre Dame last November. Junior Nick Coleman and sophomore Jalen Elliott were listed as the opening game starters at safety. Coleman was shifted to safety this spring after starting two games at cornerback at the start of 2016 before falling on the depth chart behind several freshmen. A special teams regular as a freshman, Elliott had no starts at safety while taking 117 snaps with the unit. However, he moved ahead of classmate Devin Studstill, who had nine starts in 2016, this spring and August. TRIPLE-THREAT BACKFIELD Two years ago, Notre Dame had neither of its projected top two backs in the lineup (Tar- ean Folston and Greg Bryant) seven plays into the season — yet still thrived with 1,000-yard rusher C.J. Prosise, a converted receiver, and freshman Josh Adams, who set a school fresh- man rushing record with 835 yards. This year, head coach Brian Kelly believes the depth at running back might be better than ever in his eight seasons with the Fight- ing Irish, declaring that Adams, fellow junior Dexter Williams and sophomore Tony Jones Jr. all are future NFL-caliber players. At the open scrimmage Aug. 20, Adams and Jones Jr. both came out with the first unit instead of the Irish playing a more usual three-man receiver corps (junior Equnimeous St. Brown and graduate transfer Cam Smith were the starters at wideout), but Jones is such a proficient receiver that he could be slot- ted out too. Later in that scrimmage, Williams scored on a 17-yard wheel route. "They all have futures to play past this level," Kelly said. "They're that kind of player. When you have three outstanding backs, they all have to fit in with what you're doing in some fashion. Each one of them has a little bit of a different style." The trick is balancing the player with the hot hand with keeping legs fresh for the long haul of a season. Adams has never carried more than 20 times in a game, and Kelly plans to keep everyone involved. "You're going to see more of a rotational ba- sis with the three of them, and it will start with Josh Adams at the top of the list," Kelly said. "Whether he's two ahead or a little bit ahead … they're all really, really fine backs, and all of them will be contributing to our success in some fashion." If Notre Dame loses its appeal on the NCAA's ruling, Gilman will have three years of eligibility remaining with the Irish from 2018-20. PHOTO COURTESY NAVY Junior running back Josh Adams will be Notre Dame's top ball carrier this season, but he won't have to shoulder the load by himself. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND