Notre Dame news

Some position changes coming into the fall

Sophomore-to-be defensive end Bruce Heggie is now an interior offensive lineman.

The 6-5, 265-pound Heggie was considered a long-term project at end. The wave of elite prospects in the incoming freshman class at that position, coupled with scant numbers at offensive guard and center in the lower classes, made too much sense for Heggie to stay put.

“We were waiting for him to mature physically, where he could get to a level that would allow him to play the offensive line,” Kelly said. “(ND director of football strength and conditioning Paul) Longo really likes his work volume, his ability to put on more weight.”

* Incoming freshman defensive back Matthias Farley is now a wide receiver. The 6-foot, 194-pound Charlotte, N.C., product only started playing organized football as a junior in high school. He had been a soccer standout up to that point, so he’s still in the early stages of learning the game of football.

“We’re going to put him at an outside receiver position,” Kelly said. “He’s got great speed, and he’s a bigger kid.”

* George Atkinson III, Kelly acknowledged, will get an audition at running back in August because of limited options at that position once Cameron Roberson tore two knee ligaments in the spring. The incoming freshman was recruited to play wide receiver.

“He’s played a lot of running back,” Kelly said of the 6-2, 190-pounder from Livermore, Calif., “so I think we’d be crazy not to examine all the possibilities because of lack of depth at that position.

“I hate to have two freshmen as your next two guys after Cierre Wood and Jonas Gray, but the fact of the matter is, we’ll probably have to look at both of them.”

* Meanwhile, incoming freshman Eilar Hardy who was ticketed for either cornerback or safety, will definitely start his career as a free safety behind Jamoris Slaughter and Zeke Motta.

* Anthony Rabasa, another freshman, is still on track to be in the depth chart at the “Cat” outside linebacker position, where senior Darius Fleming is entrenched as the starter. But the 6-3½, 233-pounder could move inside to spice up the “Will” linebacker competition among Carlo Calabrese, Dan Fox, Anthony McDonald and David Posluszny.

http://articles.southbendtribune.com/2011-05-26/sports/29589205_1_bruce-heggie-brian-kelly-davaris-daniels

Freshman CB off team

Privacy laws still restrict football coach Brian Kelly from putting a finer point on cornerback Tee Shepard’s abbreviated stay at Notre Dame, but the Irish head football coach was clear Thursday during his appearance on WSBT’s Weekday SportsBeat, that there will be no return.

Shepard was one of three ND freshmen football players who enrolled early, in January, but he dropped off the roster in mid March just days before the Irish were to start spring practice.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/sports/collegesports/notredame/sbt-notre-dame-football-notebook-kelly-says-no-return-from-shepard-20120802,0,1994400.story

A couple notes on Notre Dame from the first couple days of practice...

*both Brad Carrico and Cam roberson have gone on medical hardship...

*Jordan Prestwood has left the team for personal reasons.

*Freshman WR Keivarae Russell is now a CB

*Freshman safety Elijah Shumate is listed as CB (not a huge deal)

Hey appreciate the work you do, I just went thru ND's roster and you don't seem to have Elijah Shumate on it at all and there are a couple people that I don't know on there like WR Josh Anderson and LT Dennis Mahoney... You could probably switch one of them out for Shumate who is supposed to factor in and also FR WR Chris Brown who is a speedster.. Also on the DE front Kevin Carr could be switched out for OLB/DE FR Romeo Okawara

Thanks for all you do, just though I would pass some info along for you

Notre Dame projected starting CB, junior Lo Wood, suffered a season-ending Achilles injury on Monday and is expected to undergo surgery soon.

Safety denied 6th year

An Achilles injury suffered in a win over Michigan State in September turned out to be season-ending for Notre Dame defensive back Jamoris Slaughter. It appears that injury will end his playing days in South Bend as well.

Per a report from 247Sports, Slaughter has had his bid for a sixth year of eligibility denied by the NCAA


http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/16/report-notre-dame-db-has-sixth-year-of-eligibility-denied/