Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com APRIL 2018 41 the media that do stories about his brother. His brother got invited to the Army All-American Game and he didn't, his brother gets all the ac- colades and he doesn't. His brother is scheduled to play football at Notre Dame and be in the depth chart and he's not, he's going to be redshirted. People are writing articles about that and he's forwarding them to me and [saying], 'Coach, can you believe what they're saying about me?'" The 6-2, 246-pound Justin will start out at drop end, which was manned mainly by sophomores Daelin Hayes and Julian Okwara last year. Elston said once Justin puts on more weight over the summer he will cross-train at both end spots. Meanwhile, the 6-3, 288-pound Jay- son will be a three-technique on the inside while potentially doing cross- training at strongside end, much like what returning fifth-year senior Jay Hayes has done during his career before settling in on the outside. The 6-1, 296-pound Franklin is a prototype nose tackle, where he will join Bonner (who will switch posi- tions with Tillery, per Elston), and the current freshman tandem of Kurt Hinish and Darnell Ewell. "I do believe Jayson will be able to come in and give great depth in several areas," Elston said. CHANGING THE CULTURE Notre Dame's defensive line recruit- ing took a dip in 2015 and 2016 when Elston coached the linebackers, but it picked up last year when freshmen Hinish and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa, especially the latter, immediately cracked the two-deep and contributed from day one in the rotation. "Myron's very similar to Sheldon Day [2012-15] as a freshman, just a little bit bigger as a freshman," Elston said. In players such as the Ademilolas and Franklin, Elston said more blue- collar toughness was added. "We've been able to change the cul- ture of the defensive line into an ag- gressive — we're not there yet, but we're changing that culture and iden- tifying Ja'Mion very early as a guy that's going to add to that and im- prove that with an aggressiveness and toughness," Elston stated. "He was a marquee get for us because of that." A native of Ridgely, Md., Frank- lin's mental resolve also was put to the test when this fall his father was diagnosed with acute myeloid leuke- mia, a type of blood cancer. "You can tell that he's a very ma- ture guy," Elston said. "To deal with what he's dealing with his family, a lot of guys would say 'Okay, I'm just going to do what's convenient and easy, and I'm going to stay close to home and take the easy way out and not really challenge myself.'… His family is very supportive of this to go off to Notre Dame and make that decision, which is challenging." Neither Hinish nor Tagovailoa- Amosa came in with top-of-the-line ratings, but they possessed the in- tangibles and fundamentals that en- abled them to play right away. "They came in in great shape and that allowed us to pour more on them and evaluate them at a higher level," Elston said. "And then funda- mentally, Kurt came from a defensive scheme that was taught really well — and so did Myron. Not that they used their hands great, because they both have a really long way to go, but they were able to hold up more consistently than a lot of freshmen we've had at D-tackle. "… Their ability to learn was high, their work volume was high, and that allowed us to play them." Nine defensive linemen took any- where from 177 snaps (Hinish) to 702 (Tillery) last season, and the com- petition should be even better this year with the addition of the three freshmen plus a full year of a college strength and conditioning program for Ewell, the top-rated Irish defen- sive line recruit last year. Even a listed third-team end such as current freshman Ade Ogundeji is legitimately vying for more action. "He's done a great job, he's playing winning football and we've got to find a way to get him on the field at times," Elston said. Coming off a 4-8 season last year and losing the top two linemen (Isaac Rochell and Jarron Jones) to gradua- tion, the objective was to learn, grow and improve to respectability. With virtually everyone back in 2018 along the line, that alone won't be enough. "We want to be dominant this year," Elston said. "Each opponent we play, we want to put guys on the field that can dominate, and rotate guys in that can stay fresh." ✦ Fort Worth (Texas) Nolan Catholic's NaNa Osafo- Mensah, the nation's No. 160 overall prospect according to Rivals, is among several highly rated 2019 defensive line recruits the Irish are in the mix to land. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM Recruiting Realities In nine seasons at Notre Dame, Mike Elston believes the 2019 defensive line haul could become his best. Ultimately, it has to go beyond just what is on paper, and only the passage of time can be the judge. The 2011 defensive line haul is Exhibit A. That winter the Irish landed an unprecedented three five-star defensive linemen in the 2011 class — Aaron Lynch, Stephon Tuitt and Ishaq Williams — along with several other potential line prospects such as Troy Niklas, Tony Springmann, Chase Hounshell and Brad Carrico. Lynch became a Freshman All-American, but transferred by the end of his first season, while Williams never blossomed and was academically ineligible his last two seasons. Springmann was a productive sophomore reserve for the 12-1 Irish in 2012, but saw his football playing days end because of a litany of injuries, and so did Carrico by his sophomore year. Hounshell played as a freshman, but missed two seasons with a torn labrum before becoming a reserve tight end. Tuitt and Niklas both enjoyed excellent college careers and became second-round picks in the NFL Draft after their junior seasons, although with Niklas it was at tight end. — Lou Somogyi