Notre Dame Fans Continue To Worry About The Defensive Line

Let’s talk about Notre Dame’s defensive line.

The glaring concern regarding the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in ’17 is, once again, their defensive line.

There are many uncertainties, including a lack of depth and experience, health concerns and many situations where we’re left having to simply cross our fingers and hope unknown players will produce.

Is it uncommon as a college football fan to have questions about an entire position group and how they will line up or produce the next season? No, it’s not.

That being said, solid defensive line play is absolutely crucial to the success of any football team. Notre Dame’s defensive line has been a major concern for several years now.

First thing’s first, we finally have a deep, talented and experienced core at cornerback, sure. I don’t care if you have two All-American corners, if you can’t rush the passer, offenses will move the chains with the pass.

I could almost hear the collective sigh of relief when Andrew Trumbetti lined up at strong side defensive end during Wednesday’s practice. I’m not bad mouthing him, just saying that his skill set is more applicable to the strong side and his 1 career sack proves that to be true.

The situation at WDE is an interesting one. It’s now called ‘drop’ end in the new scheme. The drop end is dropped into pass coverage in certain looks and often lines up in a stand up position, both things that should suit Daelin Hayes very nicely.

Hayes broke up a deep-ish crossing route and caused an interception over 20 yards down the field, from the defensive end position last year………then we didn’t really see him much the rest of the season. And no, he wasn’t injured.

Julian Okwara is another true sophomore who may be making some plays for the Irish next season. He was a tremendous pass rusher in high school and has been putting in a lot of work in the weight room by the looks of some pictures he has posted on Instagram recently.

It is possible that Trumbetti lines up in some situations at defensive end, possibly against teams like Navy or Stanford who like to pound the rock, but I expect to see mostly Daelin Hayes out there in ’17.

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The strong side defensive end position is a difficult one to gauge after the loss of Isaac Rochell. Andrew Trumbetti lined up there with the first team defense on Wednesday but that certainly isn’t to say that he will start against Temple.

There is also sophomore Khalid Kareem who I had hoped would make a weight gain from 270 to possibly 280 but instead, he dropped down to 267, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. He may be another year away from being in the discussion as the starter.

Jay Hayes is a guy many assumed would slide over to strong side end, given his size and skill set. He’s played defensive tackle and weak side end so it kind of made sense that he could put those two skill sets together and become a strong side end. It remains to be seen if that is in Mike Elko’s plans.

Another guy who has experience at strong side end is Jonathan Bonner who surprisingly lined up with the first team at defensive tackle, bringing me to my next topic.

Jerry Tillery ended up starting at nose tackle as a true freshman when Jarron Jones went down with a knee injury. He played the nose fairly well that year compared to how he played the defensive tackle position last season.

During Wednesday’s practice, Tillery lined up back at nose tackle with the first team which, to me, was a good thing to see. At almost 6’7 and 300+pounds, he certainly has the size to be effective in this role.

Daniel Cage is also slated to take a lot of nose tackle snaps this year and provide Mike Elston with a veteran presence up front. Unfortunately, concussions aren’t taken lightly, nor should the be. It’s unclear whether or not he will play even though Kelly stated he was cleared for contact.

There are a few other fringe-types that could contribute in ’17. Pete Mokwuah is a 325 behemoth who showed he could push the pocket during his limited snaps last year. Micah Dew-Treadway is also a guy who has been said to have some talent but was sidelined due to injury. He will play this season as well and at 6’4, 300 pounds in his junior year, he may do some damage.

The wild card factor here is the possibility of 5th year Clemson defensive end Scott Pagano possibly transferring to Notre Dame. He has visited and it is possible. If he were to come to Notre Dame, he would be an extremely significant addition to their defense.

There is some intriguing freshman who will arrive on campus this summer. The big name to watch is Darnell Ewell. The 6’3 (debatable) 310 pound defensive tackle is built like an NFL DT and that’s no stretch. I believe he will contribute this year and my prediction is it will be considerable.

I believe that both freshman defensive ends Johnathon MacCollister and Kofi Wardlow will redshirt and work on getting their weight and strength up as well as work on things like hand techniques and pass rushing skills.

Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa is a difficult one for me to assess. For starters, I love his film. His size and strength are great but what really impresses me is his speed and explosion off the ball. He looks very light on his feet for a 270 pound guy.

I think that there is a good chance that he will play this year as a result of the tools that he possesses. Whether it will be at defensive tackle, strong side end or a hybrid role, we will find out. He’s an intriguing specimen.

There are far too many unknowns to make a confident prediction about this position group, in my opinion. Without Cage and solid contributions from freshman, I have concerns.

If Tillery finally plays to his potential and buys into Elko’s system, Cage is cleared to play more snaps than he’s played in the past and at least one freshman defensive lineman makes some plays for them, this unit could have a great year.

If Scott Pagano comes to Notre Dame, it could be even better.