The Year of Elko has come and gone. Like a balmy 58-degree winter day it came and melted the VanGorder snow while allowing Notre Dame to see the glory of this green, luscious world. For his part, Elko left an indelible mark on the program on the field but it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Let’s do a quick review of each position.
ENDS
D. Hayes, Sophomore (544 snaps)
30 tackles, 17 solo, 6.5 TFL, 3 sacks, 4 QBH
J. Hayes, Redshirt Junior (450 snaps)
27 tackles, 13 solo, 3.5 TFL, 1 sack, 4 QBH
Trumbetti, Senior (434 snaps)
28 tackles, 13 solo, 4 TFL, 0.5 sacks, 5 QBH
Okwara, Sophomore (322 snaps)
17 tackles, 10 solo, 4.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 7 QBH
Kareem, Sophomore (287 snaps)
21 tackles, 10 solo, 5.5 TFL, 3 sacks, 6 QBH
Ogundeji, Redshirt Freshman (20 snaps)
No stats
The Irish were able to get solid play from this position but continue to lack a difference maker. It feels like Daelin Hayes is older than he really is when in reality he’s made decent progress through his career and should set up nicely as a junior starter. Once upon a time, Jay Hayes looked like someone who would be passed over so his 2017 definitely earned himself the chance to come back and play a ton of snaps next fall. Trumbetti’s career was ultimately a disappointment but he hung in there admirably as a senior. Each of these 3 players–all at different stages of eligibility–gave Notre Dame a nice core that still lacked big-play moments.
The emergence of Okwara and Kareem are among the brightest spots on the team. Combined they are essentially giving the defense a very productive starter. That both of them can play on opposite sides of the line provides a huge boost to the future of the defense.
Grade: 83%
Not quite a sack per game from this unit is an area to improve upon. The starters need to play at a higher level. Overall, a pretty tough unit that should be better in 2018.
TACKLE
Tillery, Junior (702 snaps)
56 tackles, 25 solo, 9 TFL, 4.5 sacks, 11 QBH
Bonner, Redshirt Junior (512 snaps)
30 tackles, 15 solo, 3.5 TFL, 2 sacks, 4 QBH
Tagovailoa-Amosa, Freshman (329 snaps)
13 tackles, 7 solo, 2 TFL
Hinish, Freshman (177 snaps)
8 tackles, 1 solo, 0.5 TFL, 1 QBH
Dew-Treadway, Redshirt Sophomore, (57 snaps)
No Stats
Tiassum, Redshirt Sophomore (28 snaps)
2 tackles, 1 solo
I feel like Tillery very quietly has met the high expectations that he had as a recruit by leading (quite comfortably) all defensive linemen in tackles for loss while also leading the team in sacks. Bonner pretty much plateaued and that’s partly why he’s moving on with his career now. In terms of VORP, it won’t be difficult to replace Bonner’s production next season.
It’s interesting to see that both Tagovailoa-Amosa and Hinish had relatively meager stats even if they were able to make some big plays as true freshman, especially the former player.
Grade: 75%
Depth here was such a major concern and it’s a good thing that Tillery delivered and that there weren’t any major injuries once the season began. The two freshmen offer some hope for the future but new blood really needs to be infused into this unit, plus Tillery needs to return.
LINEBACKER
N. Morgan, Senior (747 snaps)
92 tackles, 35 solo, 7 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 6 QBH
Coney, Junior, (549 snaps)
116 tackles, 56 solo, 12.5 TFL, 3 sacks, 5 QBH
Martini, Senior (436 snaps)
75 tackles, 39 solo, 3 TFL
Jamir Jones, Sophomore, (58 snaps)
4 tackles, 1 solo, 1 QBH
Jon Jones, Redshirt Freshman (37 snaps)
10 tackles, 7 solo, 1 TFL
Nyles Morgan didn’t quite take off and have a sensational senior season. He still played at a really high level for the majority of the season. The same could be said for Martini who got better over his career and finishes with 191 tackles in South Bend.
It’s difficult to put into words just how quickly Coney flipped the switch from co-starter to All-American production but it happened in 2017. On a per-snap basis he finishes the season with one of the two or three best performances from a defender in the Kelly era, in my opinion.
Grade: 88%
Was there a game or multiple games where this unit played poorly? From top to bottom this was the most consistent linebacker season since 2012.
ROVER
Tranquill, Redshirt Junior (818 snaps)
85 tackles, 44 solo, 10.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks
Bilal, Redshirt Sophomore (179 snaps)
18 tackles, 12 solo, 1.5 TFL
D.J. Morgan, Redshirt Freshman (7 snaps)
2 tackles, 2 solo
The shadow of Tranquill looms so large over this position–he played the second most snaps of anyone on defense. While not much of a pass rusher Tranquill excelled on the edge attacking ball carriers. I think Bilal qualifies as one of the more disappointing defenders mainly because he received so little playing time.
Grade: 82%
Tranquill is very good at what he does but isn’t quite an All-American talent. He played a ton and will be coming back next year to do the same. Although, building some depth here in 2018 will be a big story line, too.
SAFETY
Coleman, Junior (756 snaps)
44 tackles, 29 solo, 1 TFL, 3 PBU
Elliott, Sophomore, (689 snaps)
43 tackles, 24 solo, 2 PBU
Studstill, Sophomore, (250 snaps)
18 tackles, 6 solo
Genmark-Heath, Freshman (71 snaps)
16 tackles, 9 solo
Robertson, Freshman (40 snaps)
8 tackles, 3 solo
Fertitta, Junior (9 snaps)
10 tackles, 8 solo
The numbers speak for themselves: 139 tackles, 1 TFL, 5 PBU’s, and zero interceptions from an entire safety unit. It seems almost impossible to be this inept. Although, to be fair the front seven tackled really well and the Irish were 2nd best in the entire country giving up only 9 pass plays of 30+ yards all season.
We can all agree that the talent level here isn’t getting the job done but at the same time this was a pretty good coaching job. I should say there’s some positive vibes to Coleman being rehabilitated from his disastrous 2016 at corner but the defense has been pouring a lot of snaps into Elliott and Studstill while neither look to be the future.
Grade: 71%
During the bowl game Genmark-Heath logged about half of his season snaps which says a lot about the situation at safety. Nothing more need be said as Clark Lea has his hands full improving this position.
CORNER
Love, Sophomore (835 snaps)
68 tackles, 45 solo, 1 TFL, 20 PBU, 3 INT
Watkins, Redshirt Junior (524 snaps)
27 tackles, 21 solo, 8 PBU, 1 INT
Crawford, Redshirt Sophomore (408 snaps)
32 tackles, 20 solo, 1.5 TFL, 5 PBU, 2 INT
Pride, Sophomore (354 snaps)
22 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 PBU, 1 INT
Vaughn, Sophomore (55 snaps)
6 tackles, 4 solo
I don’t think there’s any doubt that Julian Love just completed the best season for a corner in the Brian Kelly era. Now he embarks on a future that’s always been difficult for defensive backs in South Bend…come back and continue to play at the same high level next year.
The rest of the corners are really interesting mostly because this unit had a strong season but outside of Love there was some weird development. Watkins was banged up this year, while he and Crawford went long stretches without impacting games. Conversely, we should mention Troy Pride really started to emerge late in the season and should be fighting for starter reps next fall. I’m not sure what happened with Donte Vaughn who went from super productive freshman (6 PBU last fall on 296 snaps!!) to an afterthought in a unit with little depth.
Grade: 92%
Outside of Stanford’s touchdown passes and the 2nd half against Wake Forest there really wasn’t any opponent doing a lot of damage against the Irish corners. I have to admit I was petrified of the corners this year due to a lack of bodies but things have played out about as perfect as possible. Love is already an All-American and they have young recruits coming in to re-stock the depth.
Nice look, wouldn’t have guessed the DE’s combined for 10 sacks that’s better than I expected even if not necessarily off-the-charts production.
What are the grade percentages based/assessed on? I’d personally put the DT’s a bit higher than slightly above the safeties as it was here.
And today’s the deadline to declare, so I suppose sooner than later we’ll have word on Coney and Tillery….Ideally all the bad news for the month has been exhausted, right? (Nervous laughter)
Any chance Bilal could be a LB, especially if Coney darts? Would think they might need some more experienced depth there. I guess Tranquill probably wouldn’t be an LB since he fit in so well with the rover concept it just seems like that level will really be hurting if Coney doesn’t return.
Not sure what they’ll do with the linebackers.
I’ve been slowly putting together the 2018 depth chart and in the past I thought they’d go Bilal (Buck), Coney (Mike), and keep Tranquill at Rover. But then, Bilal really hasn’t developed as much as I thought. If Coney leaves, gosh we’ve got some issues.
Sampson was talking a bit about Coney-Tranquill as the interior LBs for next year on a twitter and an article, but his comments to me suggested there wasn’t much difference in being classified a “linebacker” or a “rover”, aside from playing a little more inside..Sounds like that’s more his thinking than any indication from the coaches, but to me it makes sense in theory given the LB losses.
Maybe an idea for the long off-season but I would love to read an update on this article from last year with how ND implemented Tranquill and the rover position and the scheme differences from the interior.
https://18stripes.com/film-room-elko-brings-a-new-twist-to-a-familiar-scheme/
Yes please. That would be a great subject.
/cracks whip in Brendan’s direction
I wish we could have seen Max Redfield play the safety position on an Elko defense. I also wish his ND career didn’t flame out the way it did, but here we are.
Do we have a Safety Coaching Candidates post coming?
Seeing the LB production and knowing that Lea provides me some stability makes me more comfortable with his promotion. But landing a solid Safety coach has to be a top priority.
BRENDAN, A SAFETY COACHING POST!!
Ha. I’m only one man, dude. 😀
We’re greedy. You do good work, so we want more!
I’m pretty sure our expensive subscription fees pay you enough to be doing this full time Brendan. We are showing you the money, show us it’s worth it!
More articles would be nice, but 18S premium is worth it just for NDMSPaint’s series of tasteful nudes.
That’s important. To be tasteful.
In defense of Ogundeji’s donut – he would have one tackle and one sack if not for a totally BS roughing penalty in the Michigan State game. Not much, I know, but I’m still a little ticked about erasing that effort from the stat sheet. As for replacing Bonner, there’s some thought that Jay Hayes could slide inside and true freshman Jayson Ademilola could see some time at SDE. I think those thoughts are pretty optimistic; other than Aaron Lynch, I can’t remember the last time we had a true freshman DE make a serious contribution (and no, I didn’t forget about Tuitt). But Ademilola’s technique is extremely advanced for a high school player, and he has shown well at the elite camps. So I guess it’s a fringe possibility.
I think a sneaky concern is replacing Trumbetti, although I’m not sure how big a concern it should be yet. He saw time at both DE spots and on the interior on passing downs – that versatility allowed us to keep everyone else’s stress level down. If Daelin, Okwara, and Kareem are ready to handle an increased volume, it shouldn’t be a problem, but we haven’t seen them log that kind of volume yet.
Final DL note: It’s easy to understand why he’s the forgotten man, but Elijah Taylor should figure into the DT rotation next year too. If he can shake the rust off after the Lisfranc, I like the DT rotation of Tillery-MTA-Taylor-Hinish, with Jay Hayes sliding in on passing downs.
Do we think Darnell Ewell is another year from making any kind of impact? From what I remember, he was the highest rated of any of the DTs from last year’s class.
Damn, I forgot about him. Tough to say since we haven’t actually seen him, but I get the sense his absence was more about conditioning than anything else, and by the end of the season he was being featured in workout videos on the official ND football Twitter feed. I like his chances to be a rotational player next year too.
Ewell was actually the highest rated defensive player in the class, at #147 overall in the 247 Composite. Contrast that with this year’s class, which has four defensive players in the top 150 – #64 Houston Griffith, #70 Derrik Allen, #132 Jack Lamb, and #133 Shayne Simon – and one just outside – #162 Jayson Ademilola. Lamb, Simon, and Ademilola could be in line for a ratings bump soon too based on their all-star week work.
It would be a positive if Ewell could take over the snaps from Dew-Treadway and Tiassum. Log about 100 and get an upgrade on talent and some experience for Ewell. Hopefully, he can match Hinish’s or MTA’s season in terms of snaps. If he can get into that 200 range, replacing Bonner’s 500 snaps shouldn’t be a problem, and that would be great experience going forward.
I clearly jinxed it – latest rumors have Elijah Taylor looking to transfer. So he’s probably not going to be a part of the rotation next year after all. Given that I included a guy who looks to be moving on, and left out a guy who is definitely going to be here, I’m going to say that it nets out to zero. Job well done.
What could be the reason? Does that mean he didn’t think that he had a chance to be in the rotation? And why would he transfer? Is he graduating this summer to do a graduate-transfer and could play right away somewhere (otherwise it doesn’t make much sense from an eligibility standpoint)?
Edit: apparently it is now more than a rumor: https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/Article/Notre-Dame-Football-defensive-tackle-Elijah-Taylor-transferring–113753581
But it is also being reported that Tillery is returning. Which is much bigger + than Taylor moving on is a -.
PURE SPECULATION: News broke interiorly that Tillery was going to return and Taylor didn’t like his remaining chances and/or the coaching staff gave Taylor the layout that he was not on the hook for big playing time, opening up more room in recruiting.
Not likely the staff encouraged his departure – he’s going into his 4th year with a 5th year available and probably would have been ahead of two other guys in his class at DT. He probably saw the tea leaves on the depth chart for 2018 and figured better to start (or at least play more) two years rather than just maybe one.
Depth chart may have had something to do with it, but grades are rumored to be an issue too. It’s unfortunate, he seems like a good kid and a good soldier. I’m sure he’ll land on his feet somewhere.
That’s a lot of attrition from that 2015 class. Up to 8 transfers and 2 early departures for the NFL. Hoge, Barajas, Sanders, Taylor, Wallace, Williams, Guyton, and White. Did I miss anyone?
St. Brown’s going pro right?
Edit: ahh I see you didn’t actually list the 2 early departures. Adams and St. Brown. So yea that sounds about right.
Yeah, didn’t list Adams or St. Brown as the guys going pro. Those were just the transfers
And add Tiassum to the list.
Nice work, and mostly agreeance IMO. A few thoughts:
– Love is unreal.
– You’re right: Tillery has lived up to the hype, but for some reason it doesn’t quite *seem* like it, for whatever reason.
– Man, we need both Tillery and Coney back if there’s any chance at having a top-10 team next year. Lose both and I think we have a (distinctly) better chance to win 6 or fewer than 10 or more.
– It’d also be nice if Bonner changes his mind and comes back.
– To depth chart engineer a bit: they should really consider sitting Vaughn all year next year (assuming no major injuries), selling it to him as giving him a near-100% chance to be a full-time starter as a 5th year and possibly two straight years if Love goes pro early.
– I’m surprised to find that it was less than a sack per game from the DEs. I thought they had a pretty good season, but I suppose that’s at least partially a function of very low expectations.
– I feel like you may have overrated the CBs a tad. Watkins was quite mediocre opposite Love, and Crawford faded pretty hard at the end of the year. But, on the other hand, see my first comment.
Very happy that Tillery and Coney aren’t on this list – https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/2018-nfl-draft-early-entries-tracking-which-players-are-leaving-college-football/
Who are the best guys in cfb who could have gone pro and didn’t? I saw Christian Wilkins stayed, which means the Clemson d-line next year is going to be absolutely nuts.
Roquan Smith jumped, so I’ll go with Wilkins and Bryce Love.
Dang, I didn’t realize Bryce Love didn’t go pro. That’s pretty surprising.
Appears Myles Gaskin didn’t go either, so UW looking pretty good for next year. Damien Harris at Alabama is a little less than those guys, but maybe a bigger deal for national title implications.
Yeah, we were talking about that in the writers’ room too – I don’t think he has anything left to show the scouts, and Shaw used him so much he was held together with duct tape by the end of the year.
Apparently he wants to be a doctor, though, and the school side of it is extra important to him. So that could explain it.
I think Love is still TBA. Players had to submit the paperwork with the NFL to get in the draft by 1/15, but the NFL doesn’t release the list until Thursday. So technically a player could have declared to the NFL but not publicly made it known yet.
(Or he might have just stayed, who knows….A quick google search didn’t have anything definitive one way or the other, so I suppose there’s at least still some hope that maybe he’s quietly filed the paperwork and will be announcing it here shortly.)
Looks like he’s back – http://www.sfgate.com/collegesports/article/Great-news-for-Stanford-Love-will-return-for-12500763.php
That’s a wow to me. Then again, Stanford is not the worst place to spend a year.
Tillery and Coney coming back, so that’s cool.
HOLLA AT YA BOY.
Feeling a lot of Pride and Love for the corners!
Also, Fertitta needs more snaps! If he can average more than one tackle per play, that has to be some sort of record, am I right?
Good catch on Nico. I believe the tackle totals include ST’s.
I appreciate the snap counts. That’s interesting.
I’m looking forward to what happens at safety and LB. It will be good to see what Gilman can do.
Here’s some interesting DC news – https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/01/16/washington-jimmy-lake-defensive-coordinator-pete-kwiatkowski
Not sure what to read into that. I know Kwiatkowski is a favorite among the cognoscenti here 🙂
In the good news department – apparently Jonathan Bonner has changed his mind and will return for his fifth year, per a tweet from BK:
https://twitter.com/CoachBrianKelly/status/953362122372796416
That makes eight of nine on the DL two-deep returning, with Trumbetti the lone soldier. Fantastic.
Of course, that makes the roster numbers worse. I suppose that is a rich person’s problem.
Yea by my count, if we assume Stepherson will be gone too, then that leaves 2 more to get to 85. If we sign any more recruits then 1 for each of those. Irvin seemed to be a pretty sure thing before Elko leaving but unlikely anyone else. So for a total of probably 3 more to leave to get to 85.
I was looking at it this way. I think we need 5. The already identified 2 plus:
we gave a last minute offer to an OT, Peterson. I imagine it is contingent on Petit-Frere going elsewhere, but I doubt you give an offer out like that unless you are willing to accept it. So I assume one of the two.
Similarly, at CB. Either the new offer or Boykin should he flip. Again, one of the two.
I can’t imagine we lose a battle with Houston, except by choice so I assume Keys.
I assume we don’t get Irvin or Tuialalopo. If we did, that would make 6 or 7. Hard to find that many, unless you start assuming redshirt freshmen leave.
Irish Illustrated guys set the over/under for the roster at 80.5 at the beginning of August camp on their podcast today. I’d definitely take the over in that bet (I think this was before the Bonner news), but if it were 83.5 or above I’d probably take the under. Stuff always happens.
As I was saying, boom goes the dynamite – https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/Article/Brian-Kelly-dismisses-four-from-Notre-Dame-roster-113806855
3 RBs left. eep.
Also, how terrible are our PR people? Who suggested it’d be a good idea to announce Bonner’s return *on the same day* AND *before* this came out??
Nope, we just can’t have nice things.
I wonder if there would be any running backs who might want to do some graduate work at ND and play a little football? I would think that RB might be a position where someone could come in and play quickly.
I am really disappointed with McIntosh. I thought he was going to be a great one.
Sigh….
So I guess “violation of team rules” meant more than missing curfew this time? I don’t think anyone was expecting anybody other than Stepherson to get booted but when I saw the headline and started reading I was afraid Alize was among them. Then I saw Tiassum… Screwy stuff.
I wonder what will come out on this. Stepherson is obvious enough, but one would think that Holmes should have gotten a second chance if it was just the sweatpants for him. So maybe (probably?) there’s more.
Like you said, Stepherson was obvious. There was even more behind the scenes with him than is publicly known too (I don’t know specifics, just that he was a bit of a problem child). He was toast.
Neither McIntosh nor Holmes were first offenses. Out of respect to them and the source of the info, I won’t share more than that. But they’ve had chances. Tiassum is a different story – didn’t really mess up, just saw the writing on the wall about his future on the field and reportedly wasn’t really bought in.
What? Tiassum got kicked off the team for not trying hard enough? That seems like a raw deal. And now presumably he can’t graduate at ND either. If that’s all there is to it I’m not sure I like the decision even though it helps the numbers.
He was removed from the team, not from school. I am sure they will find a way for him to graduate.
On Holmes, I read he has a path back. Is that true?
But if he’s not on the team then he doesn’t have a scholarship. The only possibility I believe to not count towards the 85 and still be on scholarship is a medical scholarship for some career ending injury. But that isn’t happening here.
Tiassum is a JR. It is possible he is on pace to graduate this fall. CJ Sanders graduated/is graduating right?
Yea CJ is graduating and so that’s a possibility but I assume that is not the normal route of graduating – that is – that most players don’t graduate the summer after their third year in the program. If that is the case with Tiassum then it would be easier to understand.
A lot of them can though because of all the summer session classes they take. Admittedly, they are usually 12 hours in the fall (not all) as opposed to 15, but if you take 12 hours each summer, you can more than cover the last year and fall shortfalls (especially if you take a full fall load).
This is ND. We never have a numbers problem. See: tonight’s news.