Notre Dame Swimming in Depth Along D-line

Notre Dame finds itself in a very unfamiliar position as they progress into fall camp this year. For the first time in a very long time, the Irish are loaded with talent and depth along the defensive line – a position that has been a source of frustration for many years.

It was just six years ago that Notre Dame went to a BCS Bowl despite relying on the likes of Justin Brown and Ronald Talley to play opposite Victor Abiamiri at defensive end.  Many Notre Dame fans still have nightmares of Troy Smith tormenting the Notre Dame defensive line in that Fiesta Bowl by escaping pressure time and time again because Notre Dame lacked the athleticism to wrap him up.  The following season Notre Dame had some impact players along the line with Derek Landri, Trevor Laws, and Abiamiri all playing well, but they lacked the depth to have a rotation to keep them fresh.

Since then Notre Dame has had some nice players along the defensive line – including Laws and his monster season in 2007 – but for the most part the defensive line has not had much depth.

That is not the case for 2011.  This season Notre Dame will be two and possibly three deep at each of the three defensive line positions.

At defensive end, Ethan Johnson and Kapron Lewis-Moore return as starters and will start the season on the Hendricks Award watch list.  Both are pretty firmly entrenched as the starters, but will be pushed by some talented underclassmen who will be hard to keep off the field. Big things are expected of both Johnson and Lewis-Moore this year.  Kelly was singing Johnson’s praises on Wednesday after practice for the work he put in during off-season conditioning noting that Johnson played the 2009 season without much lower body weight training.  Why that happened wasn’t explained, but it certainly does help explain why Notre Dame faded down the stretch in Weis’s final season.

Sophomore Kona Schwenke was one of the biggest surprise freshman contributors last season after being recruited as an undersized defensive end and growing into the position fairly quickly.  After a full off-season working with Paul Longo, the Hawaiian native has bulked up to 285 lbs and will be the first end off the bench to start the season.  In spring camp, defensive line coach Mike Elston went so far as to say that Schwenke would really be like another starter for the Irish at end this year.

Behind Schwenke are the highly touted freshmen – Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt.  Both have been hyped up since signing with Notre Dame and so far neither has done anything to disappoint.  Lynch was dominant during the Blue Gold game as an early enrollee and Tuitt reported to campus looking like a returning senior not an incoming freshman.  Both were impressive in the first bit of contact in fall camp on Wednesday and both are going to see the field this year pretty early.

Most surprising about all of the depth Notre Dame has built up front comes at nose tackle – a position where Notre Dame has lacked impact players for years.  Louis Nix has been the talk of camp because of the weight he lost and his improved conditioning.  Nix is the prototypical nose tackle for this defense and like Lynch and Tuitt, he was very impressive in the “rodeo drill” on Wednesday.  At this point it might be an upset if Nix doesn’t start in the middle.  Behind Nix the Irish have two capable backups in Sean Cwynar and Hafis Williams and potentially a third in true freshman Tony Springmann.  Cwynar was excellent filling in for Ian Williams last year and Williams saw plenty of action as well.  The surprise here could be Springmann who has gotten plenty of positive reviews from Kelly so far in camp.

Johnson and Lewis-Moore give the Irish a great pair of starters, but the increased depth is what should have Notre Dame fans the most excited.  Having the likes of Schwenke, Lynch, and Tuitt providing depth will allow the staff to get Johnson and Lewis-Moore rest throughout the game they couldn’t provide a year ago.  The same can be said in the middle of the line where the Irish staff can rotate three players in to keep everyone fresh.

Add all of that up and Notre Dame has the kind of depth along the defensive line that fans have been waiting for for years.  Notre Dame will have at least eight lineman rotating in at the three line positions this year and that doesn’t even account for upperclassmen like Tyler Stockton and Brandon Newman who could still work their way onto the field this year.  That type of depth should give Notre Dame a big edge in the fourth quarters of games when opponents might be wearing down.

Johnson and Lewis-Moore will be in the same defensive system for back to back seasons for the first time in their careers after having three defensive coordinators in this first three seasons.  Combine the familiarity they will enjoy this year along with the work they’ve put in with Longo and both could be in store for huge seasons – especially when you account for the increase rest they’ll have to keep them fresh and effective all game long.

It has been a long time since Notre Dame has had a line with the talent and depth that they will trot out onto the field this season.  After years of lamenting how other teams had superior defensive lines that didn’t wear down throughout the course of a game, Notre Dame finally finds itself in the same situation.