Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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152 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW Class Of 2012 Summary Players In Class — 17 • Rivals Ranking — 7th Name Pos. Starts Individual Grade Nicky Baratti S 0 C Key reserve and special teams player who battled multiple shoulder injuries. Chris Brown WR 31 B Key member of the receiver rotation all four years, finishing his career with 104 receptions for 1,410 yards and six touchdowns. Scott Daly LS 0 A Flawlessly handled Notre Dame's long snapping duties for four seasons. Sheldon Day DT 32 A When healthy Day was brilliant, and he capped his career off with an excellent senior season. He was an All-American and a two-time team captain. Justin Ferguson WR 0 F Transferred to Western Michigan following his freshman season. Mark Harrell OL 2 C Key reserve that started and played well in his final two games. Jarron Jones DT 18 B+ Injuries limited his overall production, but when Jones was on he was dominant. Finished his career with 19.5 tackles for loss. Gunner Kiel QB 0 F Kiel transferred to Cincinnati following his freshman season, where he passed for 6,835 yards and 56 touchdowns. Will Mahone RB 0 F Transferred to Youngstown State after being kicked out of school following an offseason arrest. Davonte Neal WR 0 F Transferred to Arizona after his freshman season. Romeo Okwara DE 26 B Physically imposing player that made 12 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks in his final season. C.J. Prosise RB/WR 18 B+ Did a little bit of everything, playing three different positions and finishing his career with 1,158 rushing yards and 896 receiving yards. KeiVarae Russell CB 37 B+ Clutch player that was at his best when the game was on the line. Finished with 169 career tackles and 14 passes broken up. Tee Shepard CB 0 F Early enrollee didn't make it through his first semester. Elijah Shumate S 26 B- Solid player throughout his career, fin- ishing with 168 tackles, nine tackles for loss and 10 passes broken up. Ronnie Stanley OT 39 A Most dominant player in the class, starting 39 straight games and earning consensus All-America honors in 2015. John Turner S 0 D Low-ranked recruit that was never more than a part-time special teams player. Top Five Players 1. Ronnie Stanley, Offensive Tackle A consensus four-star recruit, Stanley got early action as a true freshman before an elbow injury caused him to miss the remainder of the season. After taking a medical redshirt, Stanley quickly emerged as the starting right tackle in his second season, opposite senior standout Zack Martin. Stanley was tasked with replacing Martin the following year and moved over to the left side. Despite being projected as a first-round pick, Stanley decided to come back for the 2015 season. Another year under the tutelage of line coach Harry Hiestand helped him improve his game and draft stock. Stanley was named a consensus first-team All-American following the 2015 season, and his dominant season was followed by the Baltimore Ravens taking him as the No. 6 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. 2. Sheldon Day, Defensive Tackle Day made an immediate impact, racking up 2.5 tackles for loss and a pair of sacks in the first four games of his career. The Indianapolis native was a key member of a defensive line rotation that helped carry the team to the BCS National Championship Game. Day registered 7.5 tackles for loss in the first 10 games of 2014, but a knee injury caused him to miss the final two games of the regular season. Day's senior season was his best —Pro Football Focus graded him out as the nation's top defensive tackle after he totaled 15.5 tackles for loss. His dominant final campaign earned him USA Today first-team All-America honors. Day also made an impact for his leadership ability, twice earning team captain honors. The Jacksonville Jaguars se- lected him in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. 3. KeiVarae Russell, Cornerback No player in the class had a more immediate impact than Russell, who emerged as an immediate starter on a unit that finished No. 2 nationally in scoring defense and No. 7 in total defense in 2012. He earned Football Writers Association of America and CBS Sports Freshman All-America first-team honors. Russell was suspended for the 2014 season due to an academic improprieties, but he worked hard to get back into school and reclaimed his starting spot in 2015. The native of Everett, Wash., finished his career with 169 tackles, five interceptions and 14 passes broken up, but he made his mark when it mattered most. Russell proved to be one of Notre Dame's most clutch players, and capped his career by making a pair of game-clinching interceptions as a senior. Notre Dame went 31-6 in games that Russell started. 4. Jarron Jones, Defensive Tackle The massive defensive tackle did not play as a freshman and was mostly a backup in 2013. Injuries thrust him into the lineup late that season, and he responded by totaling 17 tackles and a sack in the final five games. Jones was a key cog in the 2014 defense until a foot injury cost him the final two games of the season. He was at his best in a hard-fought 31-27 loss against defending national champion Florida State, finishing with six tackles and three stops for loss. Jones missed the entire 2015 season with a knee injury suffered in fall camp, but returned for a fifth season. He finished his final campaign with 45 stops and 11 tackles for loss. He was truly dominant in Notre Dame's 30-27 win over Miami, registering a career-high six tackles for loss. When he was on there wasn't a more dominant player in this class than Jones, but injuries and inconsistency kept him from having a greater impact. Jones went undrafted following his Notre Dame career, but was quickly signed by the New York Giants. 5. C.J. Prosise, Running Back/Wide Receiver It took some time for Prosise to find the right fit, but he finished his career in impressive fashion. Recruited as a safety, he spent his freshman season playing defense before moving to wide receiver as a sophomore. Prosise made seven catches that season, but in 2014 he started to make his mark, finishing the season with 29 catches for 516 yards. His 50-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter against LSU tied the game at 28-28 and helped spark the Irish victory. Injuries and transfers forced a shift to running back prior to the 2015 season, and he made a seam- less transition, emerging as the starter following a season-ending injury to Tarean Folston in the opener. Prosise rushed for 155 yards and a score in his first start at running back, a 34-27 win at Virginia. Despite missing two full games he finished with 1,029 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. Prosise was chosen by the Seattle Seahawks in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Two-time captain Sheldon Day's se- nior season, during which he pro- duced 15.5 tackles for loss, was one of the all-time best for a Notre Dame defensive tackle. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS Cornerback KeiVarae Russell started 37 games at Notre Dame and often made his mark when the contest was on the line, evidenced by two game-clinching interceptions during his senior campaign. PHOTO BY MICHAEL BENNETT