Before he gets too critical of one of his players, defensive line coach Keith Gilmore pauses.
Sophomore Andrew Trumbetti will be one of the underclassmen contributors this fall on Notre Dame's defensive line. (Photo: Kirby Lee , USA TODAY Sports)
Rising sophomore defensive end Grant Blankenship needs to add weight. He needs to understand the playbook better, as someone who saw action in 11 games last fall.
But at the end of the day, Gilmore knows he isn’t discussing a two-year starter’s lack of progression. Blankenship graduated from high school less than a year ago. There is still plenty of time for the Texas native to develop into the defensive end the coaches want him to.
The fact Gilmore needs to address Blankenship’s progression in his first spring practice highlights a lack of depth at defensive line.
“Grant’s got to get a little more bulk,” Gilmore said. “He’s got to get a little bit more serious about the game and in his playbook, but I have to keep reminding myself these guys are freshmen. You really shouldn’t even be talking about him like this at this point.
“They should be on the backburner and you say, ‘Hey, they play when we’re killing somebody in cleanup duty.’ But unfortunately we’ve got to coach them so they’re ready to play.”
The sophomore-to-be should continue to find his way into the rotation this fall. Gilmore’s goal is to have 10 defensive linemen ready to play. And considering only four of the 17 defensive linemen on this fall’s roster have played for two or more years, plenty of underclassmen will find themselves on the field.
“Even if it’s four or five plays a game, everybody that travels with me and prepares during the week, I’m going to get them in the football game,” Gilmore said.
One sophomore who will more than likely see as much, if not more of the field than his fellow underclassmen, is Andrew Trumbetti.
The defensive end notched 21 tackles in 12 appearances last fall. His spring may not follow as steep an upward trend as expected—he missed a few practices earlier this spring with the flu and has cross-trained behind Isaac Rochell on the strong side when classmate Jonathan Bonner went down with an injury.
“(The transition) slowed him a little bit, just because of the learning part of it,” said Gilmore. “But he’s playing hard, he’s playing physical, and he’ll be a guy that is right in there, not a starter. He’ll be in the rotation every week.”
Early enrollees Jerry Tillery and Micah Dew-Treadway figure in as the freshmen likely to see the field in some capacity. And Trumbetti’s classmate, Bonner, will be in the mix as well.
Bonner redshirted last fall but has shown phenomenal physical abilities, according to Irish head coach Brian Kelly. His struggles centered on understanding the team’s defensive concepts, a deficiency that kept him off the field.
Shortly after the light bulb went on in Bonner’s head this spring, he suffered a foot injury that will keep him out until June.
“He was really coming along,” said Gilmore. “I was really excited about him. It was unfortunate because he was, I mean he was a guy that opened my eyes. I was like, ‘Woah, this guy’s got a chance.’
“And then you get a couple, two, three days out of him and then he screwed his foot up, so hopefully he gets back and gets healthy and is going to pick up where he left off. I’m going to keep coaching him and if he recovers he’ll be fine and he’ll be able to help us and contribute.”
A sophomore who has shown a similar pattern of progression this spring is Jay Hayes, a defensive tackle who added 10 pounds to his 6-foot-3 frame during offseason workouts.
“I think here toward the end of spring that he’s started to play pretty well where he’s finally coming off the ball with great intensity and doing some of those things,” Gilmore said of Hayes.
Not every player develops at the same rate, and Gilmore has one such case at defensive line in Jhonny Williams. In addition to learning the playbook, Williams needs to improve his technique.
If he’s able to, Gilmore sees him as a contributor on the defensive line. But first, the Irish’s coaching staff needs to see a change in how he plays.
“He plays like an athlete, like a basketball player,” Gilmore said. “You juke around, and play high, and that sort of thing, instead of just learning how to come off the football and playing with great pad level and just being a real football player, as opposed to just an athlete playing football.”
Spring 2015 – Scholarship Defensive Linemen
Freshman DT Jerry Tillery
Freshman DE Micah Dew-Treadway
Sophomore DT Peter Mokwuah
Sophomore DE Jonathan Bonner*
Sophomore DE Jhonny Williams
Sophomore DE Grant Blankenship
Sophomore DT Jay Hayes
Sophomore DT Daniel Cage*
Sophomore DE Andrew Trumbetti
Junior DE Doug Randolph
Junior DT Jacob Matuska
Junior DT Isaac Rochell
Senior DT Jarron Jones*
Senior DT Sheldon Day
Senior DE Romeo Okwara
*Asterisk denotes injury.
Gilmore Focuses On Developing Young Defensive Line
