Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/841614
BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 93 fensive line recruits. Or, more plausibly, once they arrive on campus the linemen signed by Notre Dame are not being developed the way they should, and especially from 2014-16 they weren't put in a system that comple- mented or maximized their skills. Producing NFL players hasn't been Notre Dame's problem either. Since the 2012 NFL Draft, Notre Dame has had seven defensive linemen selected — a number that includes Darius Fleming and Prince Shembo, lineback- ers who often put their hand on the ground. During the same stretch Clemson pro- duced just one more drafted lineman (eight), while Ohio State (five), Stanford (five) and Washington (four) each had fewer players selected than Notre Dame. It's no surprise that four of those seven drafted players lined up together on Notre Dame's 2012 defense, which supports how important strong defensive line play is to overall team success. Development needs to be the vital compo- nent at Notre Dame. With better development comes better production. With better produc- tion comes greater team success. With greater team success comes even better recruiting. New Additions When Charlie Weis took the Irish to back- to-back BCS bowl games following the 2005 and 2006 seasons, he put together three strong recruiting classes that ranked No. 8, No. 7 and No. 2 nationally by Rivals. Fol- lowing Notre Dame's run to the 2012 BCS National Championship Game, the Irish landed Rivals' No. 3 class, and according to Scout its next three classes ranked No. 5, No. 6 and No. 6. This is where director of football perfor- mance Matt Balis and defensive coordinator Mike Elko come into play. Balis is being tasked with over-hauling what recently be- came a woeful strength program, and Elko is responsible for fixing the defensive implo- sion that happened under former coordinator Brian VanGorder. In just three years Elko built Wake Forest into a more than capable defensive football team. Wake Forest finished the 2016 season ranked No. 23 nationally in scoring defense and No. 31 by the FEI. Its defensive line was comprised entirely of three- and two-star re- cruits, yet the overall unit tallied 44.5 tackles for loss and 26.5 sacks. Imagine how things would have turned out in 2016 if Notre Dame had a defense that ranked 23rd in scoring defense (it ranked No. 62) and No. 31 in efficiency (it ranked No. 63). Imagine how things would have turned out if Notre Dame's line produced as many tackles for loss (it had 23.5) and sacks (it had three) as did the Demon Deacons' line. We will never know, but it doesn't take much out-of-the-box thinking to realize that Notre Dame's team success would have been significantly better the last three seasons with more production from its line. It's no surprise that Notre Dame's two best seasons under Kelly from a win-loss stand- point (2012 and 2015) happened to be the two best years of defensive line production during his tenure. The one-time Defensive Line U still has the needed pulse. ✦ A Walk On The Wild Side There are myriad reasons — some would say excuses — given for Notre Dame's inability to field a dominant defensive line like in days of yore. One is geography. From 1964‑96, virtually all of the star Irish defensive linemen were from the Midwest or Northeast. Now, the balance of power has shifted to the South — i.e. the 2012 group with Louis Nix (Florida), Stephon Tuitt (Georgia) and Kapron Lewis‑Moore (Texas) — which is a far more difficult sell for the Irish. Another is a stereotype that defensive linemen are apt to be less academically inclined than those on the offensive line and have more disciplinary issues. Decades ago, former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz (1986‑96) outlined the mentality of an offensive linemen. "They're the kind of people who know exactly what classes they will take two semesters from now, they tend to marry at a younger age than the average player, and very rarely will you read in a newspaper about an offensive lineman stealing a motorcycle or car like you would about a defensive lineman or player, who tends to be more wild," Holtz summarized. — Lou Somogyi Senior end Andrew Trumbetti is one of several former top recruits (No. 112 in the nation according to Rivals) along the defensive line that Notre Dame needs to emerge in 2017. PHOTO BY RICK KIMBALL