From the Offense diary: Received a big response from the pre-fall depth chart that I threw pretty arbitrarily in a diary about a month ago.  There were quite a few to expand it, so I included those requests with the updated depth chart for the Purdue game this weekend. I will try to keep this as organized as possible: rivals star ratings in parenthesis, since it was requested, names are followed by media guide class and measurements. (All classes are “true” – whatever, Walk-on = W, Former Walk-on = FW )  The depth chart was a 2 deep so there is some imo beyond the first 2 names listed, but it is an educated imo.  Offense from yesterday =>   http://mgoblog.com/diaries/nd-offensive-depth-chart

Defense:

DE: Ethan Johnson, Jr 6-4 285 (4), Hafis Williams, Jr 6-2 285 (3).  This wasn’t much of a battle leaving spring practice but Williams made his presence known in the fall.  Williams is supposed to provide a bit better run stop over Johnson who is better with pass rush. Johnson was an undersized DT last season and his production suffered because of it, totaling only 32 tackles. Johnson, in one of the fall interviews, talked about getting to use some of his pass rushing moves again, which he hadn’t had the opportunity to use since he was in high school.  Sounded pretty excited about it.

NG: Ian Williams, Sr 6-2 305 (3), Sean Cwynar, Jr 6-4 280 (4), Brandon Newman, Jr 6-0 300 (4), Tyler Stockton, So 6-0 290 (4), Louis Nix, Fr 6-3 350 (4) This is probably the most overly stacked position on the team, with there being only 1 position on the field.  Williams has the strength and the size to hold the starting spot now after a season of beefing up.  Newman or Cwynar could be his backup depending on if the staff wants more run stop (Newman) or pass rush (Cwynar).  Stockton will make this a big position battle next year and Nix is going to be a bruiser if he gets his weight down to where the staff wants it.  Williams had scored a total of 39 tackles last season as a NT, he brings the most experience to the position and is one of the strongest on the team. 

DE: Kapron Lewis-Moore, Jr 6-4 283 (4), Emeka Nwankwo, Sr 6-4 290 (3).  KLM is looking to improve his production from last year, where he was only able to amass 46 total tackles.  That was his first year starting as a DE in the 4-3 he was oversized and out of position, he will do better this year.   Emeka talked about a bit this year, its good he made the 2-deep but I am not sure what to really expect from him.

OLB: Darius Fleming, Jr 6-2 247 (4), Prince Shembo, Fr 6-2 243 (4).  Poor Fleming, embarrassed by a frolicking Forcier last year, he played nearly the entire year out of position at DE in the 4-3.  Oh the humanity, ND’s best pass rusher playing 40lbs light on the line instead of rushing from his natural position at OLB.  The defenses shortcomings all seem obvious 9 months later.  Fleming totaled a measly 29 tackles last year, yeah that won’t be the same this year. All right so this is the first example, well of the more obvious anyway, “are you sure?” moments with this 2-deep.  Prince Shembo will not see the field before a couple other OLBs on the roster but he is listed in the 2-deep.  It is probably partly because of the hold Fleming has on the position, that it will be rare that he comes out of the game at all, but it was a little odd.  To Shembo’s credit though he has turned a lot of heads this summer; I don’t think he will redshirt but I don’t expect him to see any meaningful snaps either.  He will be one to watch in the future though.

ILB: Carlo Calabrese, So 6-1 240 (3), Anthony McDonald, Jr 6-2 238 (4), David Posluszny, Jr 6-0 235 (3).  This position is going to change quite a bit throughout the year, I do not know who will start in week 2.  It is a good competition though, McDonald appeared to be the leading candidate coming into the fall, and all 3 guys saw time with the 1s.  McDonald may be a little nicked up from the past 2 weeks of camp which is why he isn’t set to start but if I was to put money down right now I would bet UM will see him first. All 3 are new starters at the position, Carlo is the only one to not see game time last year, which isn’t surprising as he was a true freshman. This ILB position is not of the same importance as the one below which is why Calabrese has been able to step up into the position battle so quickly.

ILB: Manti Teo, So 6-2 245 (5), Daniel Spond, Fr 6-2 225 (4).  It is really a shame UM fans didn’t get a formal introduction to Teo last year.  Teo only played 2-3 series in the game but still was able to rack up 2 tackles, one of which was on Forcier where he actually caught from behind and dropped him for a loss, it was a thing of beauty.  In Teo’s freshman year he racked up 63 total tackles and didn’t start his first game till UW in week 5.  He is going to be one of the best linebackers ever to play at ND.  Teo is ND’s field general on defense and the only player on defense to do anything against all 3XX lbs of Chris Stewart in the Oklahoma drill.  Enough Manti love, this now brings us the 2nd occurrence of “are you sure?”.  Spond another freshman LB to break the 2 deep is very unlikely to see the field before either of the other 2 ILB’s mentioned above.  He’s done well in the fall though, Spond also is one of the “5 QBs” from the past recruiting class.

OLB: Kerry Neal, Sr 6-2 245 (4), Brian Smith, Sr 6-3 245 (4), Steve Filer, Jr 6-3 235 (4).  This was the last position battle to be settled on the defensive side of the ball and is likely to be ongoing throughout the season.  All 3 guys will see time on the field this year, and the competition is quite encouraging; Smith led all linebackers last season in tackles with 71.  Even more encouraging is Smith’s natural position is OLB not the MLB he played last season in the 4-3, both a depth and talent issue at the time.  If Neal has passed him on the depth chart he must have done pretty well in the off season.  Filer is the fan favorite for his overall athleticism on the field, there were a lot of happy people when he was named as a candidate for the starting spot.  This position is another case of “any of the 3 could start week 2”, whomever isn’t starting is likely the next guy in at the other OLB spot above before Shembo.

CB: Darrin Walls, 5th 6-0 190 (4), Lo Wood, Fr 5-10 178 (3).  Walls the final member of the 2006 recruiting class will be returning for his final year of eligibility.  The CBs were one of the most abused positions in 2009, often left out on an island while a failed Tenuta blitz was called.  Walls in particular had a hard time of it last year, coming back to ND after a year off, he admitted he wasn’t as prepared as he needed to be last year.  He amassed 27 tackles, at a CB position I believe he held all season.  Lo Wood should be a pretty house hold name for UM fans.  Wood has had to step up this off season after the team lost sophomore EJ Banks for the season.  He has so far answered the call, as the staff hasn’t had to add anyone new to the secondary since he was thrust into the spotlight as it is.

SS: Harrison Smith, Sr 6-2 214 (4), Daniel McCarthy, Jr 6-2 205 (4).  Both safety positions were up for grabs coming into fall camp but both spring incumbents locked them down.  Harrison Smith is back at SS after a season of poor experiments last year that saw him all around the field.  He lined up as an OLB, ILB and S last year in what was a poor attempt to get the best players on the field.  Smith is a sure tackler when he knows where is supposed to be which wasn’t always a common occurrence; whether it was confusion from the blitzing schemes or just learning at the position I am not sure.  He accounted for 69 tackles last year as a junior, which was a small drop off from his sophomore season.  Harrison appears to be a lot more comfortable with this year’s defense, at least in interviews anyway.  Dan McCarthy will get his strongest chance to contribute this year as a junior who has been stuck behind many team leaders in tackles the past few years, his brother Kyle one of them. 

FS: Jamoris Slaughter, Jr 6-0 195 (4), Zeke Motta, So 6-2 210 (4).  Has there ever been a better name for a safety than Slaughter?  I mean come on, what else do you need?  Motta saw a lot of special teams action last year and some garbage time as well, he can cover a lot of space on the football field quickly for a guy of his size.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get some meaningful minutes on the field this year.

CB: Gary Gray, Sr 5-11 190 (4), Robert Blanton, Jr 6-1 192 (4).  I didn’t even realize he was a senior already, anyway he is the 2nd returning starting corner from last season.  Gray did well in his second season last year, he wasn’t picked on as much as Walls was.  He also came up with an impressive pick against USC last year returning it for 30 yards.  Gray suffered from the same issues as did Walls, stuck on an island with a QB given too much time to throw the ball.  Blanton is likely first candidate to play in nickel packages, he is the most talkative player in the secondary for all the right reasons.  He has quick feet and quick hips that helped him to major playing time his freshman year.  Even though he didn’t start last season he still tallied 38 tackles off the bench. 

So there you go, that’s ND’s starting defense going into week 1.  Lots of questions still to be answered, but I can’t say I have seen this much confidence being shown from a defensive staff at ND in quite some time.  Manti is the Crist of the defense minus the ACL recovery.  He leads the team in practice and will lead them on the field, I cannot say enough about him as you can see.  I cannot say with any certainty how good the defense will be this year, but I expect it to be a mix of the how they played a few years ago and how UC played the last few years. 

ND in 2008, http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?org=513&year=2008&wee…

UC in 2008, http://web1.ncaa.org/football/exec/rankingSummary?org=140&year=2008&wee…

The entire front seven is excited about the move back to the 3-4, and I cannot stress enough that this is the scheme they were all recruited to play when they signed their LOIs.  That recruiting class was rated the highest in the nation in 2008.  16 of  the 23 members of that class are in the 2 deep, and another 4 are likely to see significant playing time this year.  Lots of potential on this roster, hopefully Kelly will help them grasp it.