Brian Kelly Talks Some 2014 Freshmen

When Brian Kelly addressed the media on Friday to officially kick off the 2014 season, he talked very highly about several true freshmen who could be seeing the field for the Irish this year – most notably along the defensive line.

We already talked about Kelly’s comments on both Daniel Cage and Pete Mokwuah – two defensive tackles who will likely be thrust into prominent roles early on in their careers due to the career ending injury to Tony Spingmann.  Outside of those two, though, Kelly also had some good things to say about several of their classmates.

Here’s a quick recap of all of Kelly’s quotes on those teammates.

• Jonathan Bonner – “Jonathan Bonner, you know, 35‑inch vertical at his size.  I mean, some of the physical traits really jump out. “
• Nick Watkins – “Nick Watkins was very impressive.  He’s a six‑foot‑‑ almost a 6‑1 long, smooth athlete that’s going to get a chance to compete.”
• Nyles Morgan – “Nyles Morgan is a young man that continues to impress.”
• Jhonny Williams –  “Jhonny Williams, his athletic ability really stood out to us.”
• Tyler Luatua –  “Tyler Luatua, who had a great summer for us.  Really excited about how he’s settled in here.  Again, coming from the West Coast, you’re always worried about that transition and we really feel good about what he’s been able to do in a very short.”
• Nic Weishar – “Nick Weishar, got to get stronger.  He’s got a great pass radius.  He can catch balls everywhere but he’s just not that in‑line blocker yet.”

The first thing that really stood out to me were Kelly’s comments about Jonathan Bonner.  Kelly was practically gushing, or as close to gushing as we see Kelly get, when talking about Bonner.  He is listed as a linebacker right now, but is also listed at 270 lbs suggesting that his hand is going to be on the ground a lot – something Kelly confirmed in his presser.

“It’s going to be fun to watch him (Bonner), though, because his numbers, his physical prowess really stood out in our testing and he’s had a really good summer,” Kelly said.  “Big kid, athletic, strong.  We are going to find out in the first week where that kind of shakes out,” he added.

Most pundits have pegged Nyles Morgan as the most likely freshman to challenge for a starting or at least prominent role in 2014 so it’s not surprising to hear that he continues to impress the coaching staff.  Notre Dame got some great news on the injury front with the rehab progress of both Ben Councell and Jarrett Grace but there is still a lot of playing time up for grabs across the linebacking corps this fall.

It was encouraging to hear Kelly single out Watkins as getting a chance to compete this early given Notre Dame has some solid depth built at corner with Cody Riggs, Cole Luke, Matthias Farley, and Devin Butler all vying for a starting position at the second corner spot and the nickel position.  If Watkins can surpass them and get his name in the mix that would mean Watkins has some serious skills for a freshman.

Hearing that Tyler Luatua sounds more ready to compete at tight end over classmate Nic Weishar shouldn’t be too much of a surprise at this point in time.  Luatua is much more physically advanced at this stage while Weishar is built more in the mold of a Tyler Eifert and needs to bulk up before he is really ready to be a factor.  Luatua on the other hand is a big boy for a freshman and could provide depth at the position with Mike Heuerman out for fall camp.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Jhonny Williams’ athleticism has stood out to the staff.  Williams is very, very athletically gifted but still very raw  after getting a late start in football.

Notre Dame is going to need some contributions from the freshman class on the defensive side of the ball this year making each of these freshmen pretty fun to watch develop over the course of the next month and into the season.  Before anyone gets too excited though, it’s important to remember that the pads have not come on yet and none of these players has started hitting with players three and four years older than them yet.  Once the hitting starts, impressions can change pretty quickly with freshmen.

For now though, it is at least promising to hear that it sounds like there are multiple freshman capable of contributing if called upon this fall.