Notre Dame D-Line Snap Count Expected To Be Better Balanced

Last season, first-year Notre Dame defensive line coach Keith Gilmore’s initial job description included getting to know his personnel. It didn’t take him long to discover who his top players were going to be and who couldn’t be taken off the field.

About 50 snaps in a game are considered a threshold for a defensive lineman during the course of an arduous 13-game season (hopefully longer with Playoffs). Last year, though, three of the four starters up front monopolized the playing time: strong side end Isaac Rochell had 60 snaps per contest, while senior captain/three-technique Sheldon Day had about 58 and senior rush end Romeo Okwara was exactly at 50.

The lone position where there was a better division of playing time was nose guard after what basically became a season ending knee injury to Jarron Jones in August. There, freshman Jerry Tillery averaged about 27 snaps per contest and sophomore Daniel Cage about 20, although in some sub packages neither was in the contest.

“That was just a trust level and me not knowing guys and just feeling like they gave us the best chance to win,” said Gilmore this week of the preponderance of snaps going to the top three players. “I go with my gut and my heart the way a game is flowing, and I can look in my players’ eyes and tell if they’re gassed.

“The bottom line is to win the game, and I’m going to put the guys in that I think are ready to win the game. But I would like to get more of a rotation and guys not playing as many snaps as those guys did last year. You get past 50 [snaps], you’ve got to have a special guy. You don’t want to go much above that with any guy if you can help it.”

By the end of last season, Gilmore could see there was not much left in the tank for the powerful Rochell, who moonlighted at tackle in sub packages, which seldom allowed him to come off the field.

“No question, I know for a fact he did,” said Gilmore of Rochell’s wearing down at the end. “Isaac and I discussed it … I tried to make an effort to play [Jonathan] Bonner a little more down the stretch because I could see that at the end of the game Isaac didn’t have the oomph, the speed and the intensity that he needed. It was recognized and we’ve tried to address it and we’ll keep working on that.”

With 14 scholarship linemen on the roster this spring — not including weak side end reserve Grant Blankenship, who was suspended from the team this week — Gilmore has enough bodies to create more of a rotation. However, it still comes down to a trust factor of who is truly ready to see action without creating a significant drop-off. His goal in the fall is to have a consistent eight-to-10 man rotation, and this spring he believes he realistically has come much closer to that objective.

• For starters, there is the weak side end position, where juniors Andrew Trumbetti and Jay Hayes are expected to be a tag-team tandem. The 255-pound Trumbetti is quicker and averaged about 30 snaps per game last year, while the 290-pound Hayes is more of a bull and was considered by Gilmore to be the most improved player along the line this spring.

“If it’s a power team, you will probably see Jay Hayes more,” Gilmore said. “If it’s a finesse team, then you probably will see Andrew more. Both of them will play a lot of football for us. It could be week to week. One guy starts one week, the next guy starts the next week, because we want that competition.”

That’s not even including the potential of five-star freshman/early entrant Daelin Hayes in pass-rush situations. He did not see contact work this spring while recovering from multiple shoulder injuries, but partook in other drills.

“You see the flashes, and you just can’t wait to see, ‘Okay, how is this going to develop over a course of a year? How is going to be able to contribute?' ” Gilmore said. “The thing that he has is the ability to play in coverage, similar to Trumbetti, but a bigger kid. It gives you a little bit different player that can probably hold up a little more solid against the run and have the ability to play the pass as well. He’s a special athlete.”

• At strong side end, the junior Bonner also has progressed enough, second only to Hayes as perhaps most improved (per Gilmore) to where Rochell doesn’t have to take 60 snaps per contest. Bonner even took 37 snaps in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State and figures to be in sub packages as well. Freshman early entrant Khalid Kareem has an outside shot of seeing action if injuries pile up again.

• Nose guard returns fifth-year senior Jones to go with Cage, who has taken a significant step in his progress this spring.

“Daniel can be as good as he wants to be,” said Gilmore of the 6-1, 315-pound powerhouse built low to the ground for the position. “He’s a rare talent and he’s probably one of the strongest guys on the team, if not the strongest. He plays with great leverage and power. He’s flashed here and there. I’m looking for more. He’s a guy that can give it. If he does, we’ll be pretty good.”

The rangier 6-5 ½, 315-pound Jones was tentative this spring while still rehabbing from the knee surgery (and in the process incurring a stress fracture). Last Saturday might have been a turning point for him when he got belted on a play that temporarily sidelined him — and then he returned later with a vengeance.

“He was playing kind of not to get hurt initially,” Gilmore said. “I think we got over that hurdle a little bit on Saturday, and I think from here on out you’re going to see the guy we all want to see.”

• That leaves defensive tackle as the top question mark. Tillery has had an “inconsistent” spring, per defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, although Gilmore said the last couple of days were much better.

“He’s just starting to become a little more mature, as young men do,” Gilmore said. “From one year to the other they’re going to get better. He’s starting to get it. We forget that Jerry is a freshman. … He’s in this position that we’ve got to have him step up like he’s an upperclassman and really become a factor.”

Listed behind Tillery are two of his classmates, Elijah Taylor and Micah Dew-Treadway, who are in developmental phases and not yet primed for meaningful action.

If another nose guard such as junior Peter Mokwuah, sophomore Brandon Tiassum or senior John Montelus (a converted offensive lineman) can develop enough by August to complement Cage, then possibly Jones could slide to the other tackle slot.

“Jarron knows enough about our defense to play some three-technique, and if it comes to that, he can possibly do that,” said Gilmore, who would prefer to keep Jones at nose for at least 30-35 snaps per game, and Rochell at strong side end.

“You have to prepare where you don’t want to get into a situation where you put all your stock into one guy or two guys. Something happens, he rolls his ankle, and now you have to train another guy from square one. So I do my best to prepare all early, and then once we get into game week, or close to the game, I’ll pare it down and figure out who the 8-to-10 guys that we can train and get ready for the game.”