These rising sophomores are expected to contribute in a big way for the Fighting Irish this fall.
Center Jarrett Patterson – Patterson made the transition from tackle to center in the spring with no issues. In fact he locked on to the starter’s job early replacing departing senior Sam Mustipher. Patterson will be the only starter on the line with no starting experience but he’s been getting rave reviews all spring, summer and now fall.
WR Lawrence Keys III – Initially Keys was not on my list at all but with the injury (broken collarbone) to starter Michael Young last week and the “suspension” of fellow sophomore Kevin Austin it has opened up a starting spot for Keys. Expected to line up at Z receiver next to starters Chris Finke and Chase Claypool Keys brings quickness and the ability to get open along with tremendous speed. Keys also has a firm grasp of the playbook which has earned him starting reps over fellow sophomores Braden Lenzy and Joe Wilkins Jr.
LB Jack Lamb – Right now it looks like it’s a battle between Lamb and returning senior Asmar Bilal for the starting BUCK LB position. Lamb is coming off injuries in both his senior season in high school and his freshman season last year but appears to be fully healthy now. Lamb brings the length (6’4), speed and range rarely seen at the inside linebacker position at ND and I fully expect DC Clark Lea to unleash Lamb this season. He’s gonna be a great LB.
DT Jayson Ademilola – Last season Jayson played early on in his freshman season behind Jerry Tillery after Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa was lost to injury. Earning the most snaps out of his class gave Ademilola valuable experience and he is expected to back up MTA this season. But make no mistake Jayson could eventually earn the starters spot because he was highly efficient last season against the run (hint vs Georgia and Michigan).
TE Tommy Tremble – Tremble wasn’t on my initial list like Keys III but after starter Cole Kmet suffered a collarbone injury too he is now the projected #2 tight end behind Brock Wright. Tremble brings elite speed (timed in 4.5 coming out of HS) and has already formed a bond with starting QB Ian Book this fall. Tremble reminds me a lot of Evan Engram coming out of Ole Miss. He’s basically a WR who can line up inside at tight end but blow past safeties and LBs trying to cover him. If Book can hit him in stride expect a lot of explosive plays from Tremble this season.
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Other Notre Dame Sophomore to Watch
CB Tariq Bracy, CB/S Houston Griffith, LB Shayne Simon, WR Braden Lenzy, WR Kevin Austin, WR Joe Wilkins Jr, QB Phil Jurkovec, RB Jahmir Smith
Ah, nice Evan Engram analog for Tremble.
And let me announce my first annual tribute to Greg Curme, my stat prof at the Dome.
You would expect statistics classes to be dry, nerdy, analytic, droning on and on……
That may be the rule, but the exception was Greg Curme.
He had joie de vivre and made his materail come alive. Mathematically disciplined indeed, but he breathed flesh and life into
the material.
Emil T. is the more famous (because frosh chemistry was mandatory in the Paleolithic era of the Freshman Year of Studies)
Well, Greg’s course was an elective, but man he could have gone one on one with Emil T.
Thanks, Greg, and you were a good dad too!
Thanks for the kind words Duranko. Gregor, as his family called him, loved teaching his students. His class was an elective for many, but was required for several liberal arts majors and several business majors. He worked closely with Coach DiCicco in his tutoring program, and served many athletes. He was not a man who was very often impressed with someone’s intelligence, but he thought that Joe Theismann and Reggie Barnett were both very bright. I can still remember him saying to us “you know, that Joe Theismann is a very smart guy.” He never said that about me in those days, Duranko! He went to Mass almost every day and said the Rosary every night. He had been a marine during WWII who was training furiously on occupied Guam and Saipan with the Second and Third Marines for the invasion of Japan as pat of a machine gunner’s team when Truman dropped the Atomic Bomb and ended the war. He always said of “the bomb” that it “saved my life.” Knowing now where those Marines were going to land in Japan, and what he was supposed to do, I’m quite sure he was right. There is not much doubt that he believed he was spared to serve Our Lady, and perhaps for the “research” he did for DOD in the cold war era. He was a “flat top” hair guy with a bow tie during a “long haired, tye dye” era.
Bruce G. Curme ’77 ’82
Man oh man, that class has one huge boatload of talent!
BGC ’77 ’82
Tremble is 6’3″ 235, runs a 4.5, and is playing TE for us!? Why not give him a look at wideout!? Claypool is the only guy it seems with real size on the outside. Hmmm…
Chris, I believe you are right about putting Tremble in space, but I don’t see it happening much until we get Kmet back. The “reality of need” impinges.
BGC ‘777 ’82