Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2015 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 69 together and get into a good rhythm," Kelly said. "We ran some tempo with them as well, and we just really think that's the strength of our group." Fair or unfair, Kelly has been stereotyped as a pass-first, finesse coach. That's because in the four seasons that his Irish lost four or five games, the running game was often pedestrian, averaging 126.6 yards per game in 2010 (8-5), 138.9 in 2011 (8-5), 151.31 in 2013 (9-4) and 150.8 last regular season (7-5) — until a superb 263-yard effort with an average of 5.3 yards per carry in the 31-28 win over LSU. During the 12-0 regular season in 2012, Notre Dame emphasized the run with a green Everett Golson at quarterback and averaged 202.5 yards a contest. With read- option specialist Malik Zaire now at the throttle, a similar blueprint appears to be on the 2015 drawing board, and the LSU game was a starting point. "We knew after that [LSU] game that's what we want to be," Stanley said. "We had to keep it up. We couldn't just be a fluke. We were the heart and soul of the team that game. We just need to be more consistent, and we showed that throughout the spring. "Just having the ability to run when we want to run the ball and go the pace we'd like to go … I do think that's a big change of identity from the year previous to now." Over the past 10 years, every national champion but one rushed for more than 200 yards per contest during its march to No. 1 (as did most of the teams in the major bowls). In last year's final Associated Press top 10, nine of the squads rushed for more than 200 yards per game, most notably national champion Ohio State with a 264.5 aver- age. The lone exception was Florida State, who as the 2013 national champion averaged 203.1 rushing yards per game. "Every team wants to establish the run game," Stanley said. "It's something you have to do in football to be successful. We know that if we want to be a championship team we're going to have to run the ball when it matters." Stanley looks to be in first in line in 2015 to help make it happen. He's primed for a big stage … again. ✦ TOP-10 TIMBER Making the final Associated Press top 10 in football has been a challenging endeavor at Notre Dame the past 21 seasons. It happened only twice: No. 9 in 2005 and No. 4 in 2012. It's been even more challenging over that same length of time for a Fighting Irish player to be taken among the top 10 picks in the NFL Draft. The last one to achieve that distinction was defen- sive tackle Bryant Young in 1994 when he was the No. 7 overall selection, but he was also the third in four seasons, joining cornerback and current Fighting Irish defensive backs coach Todd Lyght (No. 5 in 1991) and quarterback Rick Mirer (No. 2 in 1993). Based on numerous current 2016 mock drafts, se- nior left tackle Ronnie Stanley, with a blessed season of health, is in line to be the first since Young to break the top-10 barrier. Along with Ole Miss' Laremy Tunsil, who suffered a fractured fibula in his bowl game, Stanley is rated among most scouts and analysts as the top offensive tackle prospect in next year's draft. Next to quar- terbacks, left tackles are maybe the most coveted commodities in the draft, mainly because they're the ones protecting the blind side of right-handed quarterbacks. SI.com's Chris Burke has Stanley pegged as the No. 2 overall pick in 2016, by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He has been listed among the top five in several other mock drafts with players such as Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa, quarterbacks Cody Kessler (USC), Christian Hackenberg (Penn State) and Connor Cook (Michigan State), and Florida cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III. Charlie Campbell of WalterFootball.com summa- rizes the skills of the Irish senior, who actually would have a fifth season of eligibility remaining in 2016: "Stanley has the speed and agility to mirror speed rushers and can get movement in the ground game. He is very athletic to hit blocks downfield as well. It wouldn't hurt for him to add more power for the next level. "Stanley [6-5, 315] generated a ton of late- season buzz in 2014, and he put an exclama- tion point on it by getting the better of the top 2015 NFL Draft-eligible defensive lineman in USC's Leonard Williams in limited plays against each other." The highest a Notre Dame offensive line- man was ever taken was George Kunz with the No. 2 overall pick in 1969, behind USC Heisman Trophy winner O.J. Simpson. Kunz justified the selection by making the Pro Bowl eight times. Since then, five other Notre Dame of- fensive linemen were selected in the first round: tackle Andy Heck in 1989 (No. 15), Lombardi Award winner and guard/ tackle Aaron Taylor in 1994 (No. 16), tackle Luke Petitgout in 1999 (No. 19), center Jeff Faine in 2003 (No. 21) and tackle/guard Zack Martin in 2014 (No. 16). Dallas Cowboys guard Martin, suc- ceeded by Stanley, became the first rookie to make the NFL All-Pro team since 1947. — Lou Somogyi Stanley could be Notre Dame's highest draft pick along the offensive line since George Kunz in 1969. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA