Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 103 ily know if 4-8 was the reason that all this change happened." One of the top playmaking performers throughout the spring while moving to his new rover position that takes better advan- tage of his skills set, Tranquill felt "born again" as an athlete. "It's fun," said Tranquill at the end of spring. "I think I got away from that last year and in years past. It felt like a job a little bit. I'm finding that passion and love that I once had as a little kid, and I think a lot of guys in the locker room have as well. Guys are find- ing their love for the game again. "Guys are just playing faster, more con- fident. They're not worried about so many checks. … They're more worried about what's my job on this play is and how can I best help my team." It's standard rhetoric after any miserable campaign to vow that it will not be repeated. Winning every time is never a guarantee, but what Tranquill wants to impart the most is a commitment to at least mentally prepare to give oneself a better chance at victory. "It wasn't an expectation to lose, but there was an uncertainty of what the outcome would be," Tranquill said of last season. "I just want to make sure every guy is their best … [there are] 200 people on flights for our games. "It can take one or two, and the whole organization starts following down." The head coach is automatically and un- derstandably going to be held most culpable for the type of collapse that transpired. "I don't know if he's changed as a person; I think maybe his approach to coaching has changed," Tranquill said of Kelly at the end of spring. "I've seen him be just a lot more personable with guys and focus more on the daily development of guys. He said to us early in the winter, 'I love you guys by get- ting things done for you.' "That was like a business-man approach, but I've seen him tailor that a little bit and become more of a personal guy. Whereas younger guys were like, 'You know, I haven't really had a conversation with Coach Kelly.' Now guys are starting to feel that, and guys are starting to want to put their necks out and play for him. "When you're going 4-8 and you've got a lot of young guys playing, a lot of those guys are, 'What does it look like to win here?' I think we're finally getting back to what does it look like to win at Notre Dame and what does it mean to be a champion in everything that you do. "I want that feeling. I want to get back to being a champion in everything that I do. I want to get back to winning, I want to get Notre Dame back to winning national cham- pionships." ✦ 'Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Drue Right Over' Drue Tranquill changed his body this winter and spring. As a result, the former strong safety also changed positions. At the new hybrid safety/linebacker position referred to as "rover" in first-year coordinator Mike Elko's alignment, Tranquill put his 230-pound frame to work. The 6-2 captain added five pounds of muscle in the offseason, dropped his body fat to an all-time low and still became quicker on the field with consistently more production this spring while in a less complex scheme. The rover spot might just fit Tranquill's strengths best, moving close to the line of scrimmage and doing less deep coverage. "He's a very focused and studious kid, and we're putting him in a role that allows him to do a lot of things for us," head coach Brian Kelly said. The position is part of the linebacker crew coached by Clark Lea. There are times against more physical attacks where a bigger-bodied linebacker type will be utilized, and there will be other occasions when more of a nickel back will be inserted against aerial attacks with five wideouts. "If you're asking me to play off the hash or drop into half field, at 230 pounds it's probably not my best asset," Tranquill said. "If you're asking me to drop down and play a Kam Chancellor [an All-Pro safety for the Seattle Seahawks] type deal, I can do that just fine. "Rover allows me to do some of those things I would do dropping down in the safety position, and al- lows me to play the run as well." Elko brings his scheme from Wake Forest, where rovers Thomas Brown and Demetrius Kemp combined to tally 96 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and five sacks in 2016. It's a productive position in Elko's defenses, one that Tranquill will fill alongside junior linebacker Asmar Bilal. "You're asked to do a lot in that position," said Tranquill, Notre Dame's second-leading tackler in 2016 with 79. "It's also an opportunity to make a lot of plays." The Irish coaches balanced how much Tranquill worked at safety, as a contingency option, this spring. With the exception of Tranquill and Bilal, Elko did minimal cross training of players this spring. "He likes to simplify things, and that's great for our young guys, great for them to kind of hone in on their job," Tranquill said. "It allows them to play free, play fast." — Matt Jones Tranquill started all 12 games at strong safety in 2016, and led the team with 52 solo tackles while also finishing second with 79 total stops. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA