Notable Position Switches At Notre Dame During The Brian Kelly Era
With the exception of some of the prospects listed as a athletes by Rivals and other recruiting services, most players set foot on Notre Dame’s campus with an expectation of which position they're going to play.
Even a player such as Jalen Elliott, who primarily played quarterback at Lloyd C. Bird High School in Chesterfield, Va., knew his role in South Bend was on the defensive side of the ball at safety.
But for one reason or another, by the time a player graduates, their reality does not always match their initial expectations because they changed positions after enrolling.
One of the most notable examples, which special teams and recruiting coordinator Brian Polian recently pointed out, is former two-time Fighting Irish captain Drue Tranquill. He spent the first three of his five seasons at Notre Dame playing safety, seeing the field in 25 games and recording 77 tackles, four passes defended and one interception.
His collegiate career did not truly take off until new defensive coordinator Mike Elko took over as defensive coordinator in 2017 and moved Tranquill to rover — a hybrid safety/linebacker position. The next season he slid over to Buck linebacker.
In both years, he finished third on the team in tackles and went on to become a fourth-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Chargers. During his rookie year, he thrived on special teams and even started a few games at linebacker near the end of the season.
But Tranquill if far from the only notable player to change positions at Notre Dame, a decision the coaching staff appears to be more willing to make than ever before.
Below is a list of notable position changes at Notre Dame under head coach Brian Kelly. For the sake of brevity, the list only includes players who made a change significant enough to receive a new position coach (i.e. not anyone who moved from rover to Buck, defensive end to nose tackle, etc.).
Position Changes Success Stories
Over Kelly’s 10 seasons at Notre Dame, several players have switched positions, which worked out incredibly well for the program and the player.
• CJ Prosise (2013-15) — After he received little playing time as a freshman and sophomore, Prosise was moved to running back in 2015 to add depth to the position. He wasn’t expected to be a starter until Tarean Folston went down with a knee injury in the season opener against Texas.
Prosise went on to rush for 1,067 yards and 11 touchdowns, leaving Notre Dame after his junior year for the NFL, where he was a third-round draft selection by the Seattle Seahawks.
• Harrison Smith (2008-11) — Smith’s position switch is the opposite of Tranquill’s. Under then-head coach Charlie Weis, Smith played linebacker, where his overall production was solid. When Kelly arrived, he immediately moved Smith to strong safety, which altered his career trajectory.
In his final two seasons, Smith accumulated at least 90 tackles, had seven interceptions in 2010 and went on to be a first-round draft pick in 2012 by the Minnesota Vikings. He is considered one of the best safeties of the past decade and has made more than $40 million thus far in his NFL career.
• KeiVarae Russell (2012-15) — Recruited as a slot receiver and running back, Russell made the transition to cornerback early in his freshman year after Lo Wood was lost for the season over the summer. Russell went on to become a Freshman All-American that, started in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game and eventually became a third-round pick at corner by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2016.
• Matthias Farley (2011-15) — Listed as an athlete by Rivals, Farley spent his freshman season on the scout team as a wide receiver. He never saw the field and redshirted. Before the next season, he moved to defensive back and ended up being a key contributor at both nickel and safety over the next four seasons.
Farley went undrafted in 2016, but quickly signed with the Indianapolis Colts and has carved out a solid career for himself in the NFL.
• Bennett Jackson (2010-13) — His position switch is almost identical to Farley’s, except Jackson contributed on special teams as a freshman. He made the move to corner as a sophomore and became a starter by his junior season.
Jackson was selected by the New York Giants in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft, but injuries kept him from seeing the field until the 2019 season, when he finally played in his first game.
• James Onwualu (2013-16) — Onwualu also played wide receiver as a freshman and even hauled in two catches for 34 yards. Still, the Notre Dame coaching staff saw that he had more potential on the defensive side of the ball and moved him to linebacker. As a senior in 2016, he was named a captain and recorded 77 tackles, two sacks, and led the team with 11.5 tackles for loss.
Onwualu was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Chargers in 2017. He made the initial 53-man roster, but injuries have derailed his NFL career since.
• Troy Niklas (2011-13) — As a freshman linebacker in 2011, Niklas played frequently on special teams before moving to tight end as a sophomore where his role was limited by the presence of Tyler Eifert. Once Eifert graduated, Niklas’ production exploded with 32 catches for 498 yards and five touchdowns as a junior.
He left declared for the NFL after his junior season and was a second-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals.
• Theo Riddick (2009-12) — Unlike the many of the other players on this list, Riddick never changed which side of the ball he played on. He started out at running back as a freshman in 2009, playing in all 12 games. The following two seasons, he switched to wide receiver, before moving back to running back in 2012 and thrived as an all-purpose back. He produced 1,287 and seven touchdowns from scrimmage.
Riddick was a sixth-round pick by the Detroit Lions in 2013.
Those That Didn’t Work Out
In some instances, a player moves positions in order to try to salvage a recruiting miss and it doesn’t work out. A few examples are below:
• Darnell Ewell (2017-18) — A top-150 prospect out of high school, Ewell was expected to be one of the best players in Notre Dame’s 2017 recruiting class. Instead, he never came close to seeing the field. His career began at defensive tackle, but he was moved to offensive guard in 2018. That didn’t help and Ewell received a medical hardship waiver prior to the 2019 season, ending his collegiate career.
• John Montelus (2013-16) — Recruited as a top-100 offensive guard in the class of 2013, Montelus never lived up to the hype and played very little over the course of his Notre Dame career. In 2016, the coaching staff experimented with him on the defensive line, but that didn’t stick and he ended up transferring to Virginia as a graduate student.
Current Roster Position Switches
Several players currently on the roster have changed positions.
• Avery Davis (class of 2017) — Started out as a four-star quarterback, before moving to wide receiver, cornerback, running back and then back to wide receiver.
• Cam Hart (class of 2019) — Was recruited to Notre Dame in the 2019 class as a wide receiver, before switching to cornerback mid-season.
• Houston Griffith (class of 2018) — Griffith always seemed destined to play safety but gave corner a try in at various points throughout his freshman and sophomore seasons.
• Jordan Genmark Heath (class of 2017) — Started out at safety, but moved to linebacker early in career. With one year of eligibility left, we will find out soon if the position changed worked.
• Jafar Armstrong (class of 2017) — Armstrong moved from wide receiver to running back as a sophomore prior to the 2018 season. This move could end up being a home run in 2020 if he can stay healthy.
• Ovie Ogoufo (class of 2018) — Ogoufo was the Scout Team Defensive Player of the Year in 2018 as a linebacker, before moving to defensive end in 2019. He has a very high ceiling and should serve as the second-string vyper in 2020.
• Paul Moala (class of 2018) — Moved from safety to linebacker after freshman season and has a chance to be in the rotation in 2020.
• DJ Brown (class of 2018) — Initially a cornerback, Brown could prove to be a valuable contributor at safety down the line.
• Hunter Spears (class of 2019) — This is somewhat speculative, but there are rumblings that the defensive tackle could make the move to offensive line in the near future. However, the change wasn’t listed on the roster handed out to the media at the first spring practice.
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