Ishaq Williams will have all of Spring Practice to put extraneous amounts of eye-black on
Just a few days ago
I dismissively ranted and raved that it was fatuous to think Notre Dame's gaudy recruiting class would have much impact on the 2011 season. As with any post written with that much certainty, I overlooked something.
5-star pass-rush mavens Ishaq Williams and Aaron Lynch are both enrolling early, giving them the extra time of Spring Practice to develop into game-ready contributors as freshmen. Kyle Brindza, Brad Carrico, and Everett Golson are also enrolling early, but figure to be so buried in the depth chart as to not play a role unless all of the upperclassmen eat the same bad cocktail shrimp right before kickoff some week.
The extra time should certainly allow Lynch and Williams to bulk up (if that's on the menu), actually learn the plays (if they are in fact learnable), improve their technique, and work on all the things that usually keep freshmen off the field. It figures to give them a head start, but will it be enough to push them into prominent roles? The prior precedent set by other early enrollees suggests....maybe.
The players that Notre Dame has early enrolled since they started allowing themselves to do so in 2006 can be broken into the following whimsically-titled categories:
Irrelevant to our discussion
Four
early enrollee players pretty much didn't come close to being impact
freshmen: Spencer Boyd (transferred for personal reasons), Chirs Badger
(off to spread the book of Mormon till 2012), EJ Banks (ACL injury
followed by personal issues) and George West (3 touches overall as part
of a deep WR corps). However, none of these players had comparable
fanfare, and aren't really adequate comparisons.
Who needs NFL millions when you have friends......and a Notre Dame degree?
Gary
Gray was a highly-touted recruit at a need position of corner, but a
shoulder injury ended his season before it started...which happens to be why he's
back for 2011. He probably worms his way to nickelback in 2007 if he doesn't go
under the knife. James Aldridge on the other hand, picked up garbage
time carries as D-Walk's backup in '06, but it's widely accepted that a high
school ACL tear robbed him of the shiftiness that made him a 5-star
recruit in the first place.
Good player, but not a frosh sensation
D-tackles
Sean Cwynar and Tyler Stockton were both Army All-American participants
who quickly moved to campus, but still went through the long process of
paying their dues being the backup for Ian Williams...who we're still
not sure whether he was serviceable, good, or a beast who kept getting
double-teamed. Cwynar proved his mettle in the last 4 games of 2010, and eventually
Stockton will get his time too. Zeke Motta was engaged in a positional
war (at the weakest defensive position) with Jamoris Slaughter his
whole sophomore year--which is impressive--but was relegated to special
teams to start his career.
Started plenty, but who the hell else was there?
Not
to besmirch Armando Allen's ability, but he stepped in and got a large
(but not dominant) share of the carries against permanently slowed James
Aldridge, and Robert Hughes, who didn't really round into form at the
end of the year. Starting early gave Allen a running start, but it was a
running start to jump over a molehill.
Lo Wood didn't actually start, but he was a regular member of the
two-deep and saw playing time in dime packages this season. Maybe he impressed the
coaches after all, but he just doesn't earn that role if it wasn't for
all the defections.
There's an off-chance Allen was made the starter in '07 as some sort of punishment
Finally, there's Jimmy Clausen. That's right,
Jimmy Clausen. He
may have been the most heralded recruit since we decided that
recruiting wasn't a violation of the spirit of amateur athletics, but
there was very little he could (or simply was allowed) to do on the
field his first year. Clausen dinked-n-dunked his way to 5.1 yards per attempt his
freshmen year as the coaching staff protected him from himself. Sure, he had 0.4 seconds to throw every play, but a
pallet that limited probably sits out the first year in any time other
than the worst Irish season since 1963.
Early enrollment had a clear definitive role in making a freshman into an impact player
Maybe Trevor Robinson wasn't walking into the most hotly contest
position race by winning the left guard spot after the 2007 season, but
the possibility of playing early helped lure him away from Nebraska and
dedicate himself in training to unseating senior Mike Turkovich. Now he's entering his entering his senior year in 2011 as a three-year starter. Sure,
it's been openly questioned whether starting early hampered his
development, but that's not really what we're discussing here...even if
it's really worrisome.
TJ Jones had promise...promise to be the next David Grimes, but the
leaps he managed to make by enrolling early, polishing his route running
and displaying his work ethic, pushed him ahead of more talented
enigmas Shaq Evans and Duval Kamara.
Of course, the best result is Tommy Rees. Not blessed with great arm
strength, size, or even fantastic accuracy, Rees came in as the least
heralded of Kelly's three freshman QB's, but earned enough stripes in
Spring Practice to not only leap ahead of his counterparts, but even
usurp Nate Montana as the backup. Now after Dayne Crist's injury,
somebody who was a good bet to never get a snap in an Irish uniform is a
fan favorite to start. He may never be the right guy for Brian Kelly's
system, but he's earned his trust. Trust takes time;
extra time.
Ultimately, I think the key to early enrollment having an effect is the
player needs to have a skill-set that's essentially ready to go upon
arrival, their playing time can't be dependent upon
jumping over a fairly-entrenched starter, and they have to come to
school with playing right away in mind.
Both Lynch and Williams figure to be ready to rush the passer upon
arrival, so even if the Notre Dame line wasn't strapped for depth on the
edges, there would be a role for them. And it's pretty clear they're
focused on playing early based on this quote courtesy of Stewart Mandel
of si.com:
"If I didn't come here knowing I have the chance to start as a freshman,
maybe I wouldn't be [working] as crazy as I am in the weight room. I'm going crazy because I want to play this
year coming up."
-Aaron Lynch
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5 Comments
Lep1 said:
Now, you again must write yet another article. Brindza, the kicker, will most probably do kickoffs and possibly some of the punting. He will not "be buried in the depth chart".
James Fegan said:
Those who overlook the kickers, will live to regret it. Mea culpa on that. I'll do some more research on Brindza and try to make up for it.
mattcirish said:
Gary Gray might work his way to nickel back? He started all 2010 and had a fantastic season. Do you actually follow ND football?
Also, Lynch and Williams won't need any bulking up - take a look at their heights/weights.
James Fegan said:
You're right, "bulking up" implies that they're undersized, which isn't really the case. They're surely read to play now, it's just that Smith, Fleming, and Neal were all listed in the 240s last season, and Williams is listed at 230. Lynch is listed in the 240s now, and both KLM and Ethan Johnson played in the 280s, and it's typical that 3-4 ends run a bit bigger. They're 18, so it's natural they're going to fill out over their careers, and I think early enrollment will give them more time to do so.
mattcirish said:
Sorry - read that too fast re: Gray. Agree with the injury hampering early contribution.
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