Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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under the DOME War Of calls all hands on deck Attrition Irish defensive line By Lou Somogyi S ome years, a defensive line might be fused together like a steel pole. In others, thumbtacks and duct tape are required for assembly. The 2013 season has been more of the latter. The Irish defensive front has taken massive hits since March. The potential No. 2 unit of juniors Tony Springmann (torn ACL) and Chase Hounshell (torn labrum) and five-star signee Eddie Vanderdoes (allowed by the NCAA to enroll at UCLA instead) was ravaged before the season began. Among the starting trio, junior end Stephon Tuitt battled the effects of offseason hernia surgery the first half of the season, sophomore end Sheldon Day played sparingly after suffering a high ankle sprain at Purdue Sept. 14, and a combination of a me- Senior nose guard Louis Nix III battled through knee issues before preparing for the final push against Pitt, BYU and Stanford. photo by Bill Panzica niscus tear and knee tendinitis shelved senior nose guard Louis Nix III against Air Force and Navy. Versus Navy Nov. 2, senior Kona Schwenke, the top swingman along the line, suffered a high ankle sprain that sidelined him against Pitt and perhaps more games thereafter. Cat linebacker/defensive end Ishaq Williams suffered a knee injury at Air Force Oct. 26, and he wasn't projected to return to action until possibly the Nov. 23 home finale versus BYU. Consequently, Notre Dame shifted sophomore Cat linebacker Romeo Okwara against Navy to start at end (five-technique) for the first time. It also relied on crucial snaps from people that had seldom played: fifth-