Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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talented team in high school. He has that kinesthetic awareness in that he can get his body in good position and knows where the quarterback is." Over the past quarter century, Stan- ley joins Notre Dame football royalty when making the move to left tackle. Beyond just Martin: • Andy Heck migrated from tight end his first three seasons to left tackle his senior year in 1988 and was a first-round draft pick after the na- tional title run. • Aaron Taylor shifted from left guard to left tackle his senior year in 1993, won the Lombardi Award on an 11-1 team and was drafted in the first round. • Luke Petitgout enrolled as a tight end recruit in 1994, but developed into a first-round left tackle in 1999. • In 2003, true freshman Ryan Harris started the final eight games at right tackle, but his skill set prompted the move to left tackle his final three seasons, where he started every game, became a third-round draft pick and was a Sports Illustrated All-Pro with the Denver Broncos in 2008. Stanley is the lone returning Notre Dame player on offense this year who started all 13 games last season, and that "breaking in" campaign in which he joined junior tight end Troy Niklas (now in the NFL) as possibly the team's most improved player el- evated his confidence. As a result, offensive line coach Harry Hiestand detected more physi- cality from Stanley this spring. He even noted how after Stanley strug- gled some academically in his first semester freshman year, he's im- proved each semester since then to the point now where he's a 3.0 (B average) student. Stanley also has become a greater student of the game after thinking the action might be too fast for him when he arrived as a freshman. "I felt like I was in a video game the whole time," he said of getting bounced around in the trenches. "I couldn't believe how many people were around me." "His effort to improve has been outstanding," Hiestand said. "He's a really gifted athlete that can cover a lot of ground and a lot of space." Led by Martin and Stanley on the flanks, Notre Dame's 2013 pass pro- tection was perhaps the best in school history, especially because mobility was not senior starting quarterback Tommy Rees' forte. The Irish sur- rendered only eight sacks in what is listed as 429 attempts. Only Toledo was better with 361 attempts yield- ing six sacks in its 12 games against lesser competition. Despite greater athletic skills at quarterback this season with the re- turn of 2012 starter Everett Golson and blossoming sophomore reserve Malik Zaire, Stanley said the block- ing schemes have not been altered. To him, the game is more about bringing Martin-like consistency every day. "I learned there's no excuses," Stanley said of what he picked up from Martin his first two years. "You never just mope around. He always brought it 100 percent, every day." The real glamour comes from such effort and performance. ✦