Notre Dame landed their most important recruit last winter when Ronnie Stanley decided to stay in school. A fast-rising tackle prospect who some believed could’ve been the first offensive lineman off the board in the NFL Draft, Stanley decided to return to South Bend, to anchor the Irish offensive line and to build himself into an elite prospect.
Following in the footsteps of Zack Martin, Notre Dame’s left tackle is another elite talent, though his game is more about upside than Martin’s work as a steely technician. Given the chance to spend an offseason fully healthy, Stanley enters 2015 as one of the premier players in college football.
Let’s take a look at the Las Vegas native.
RONNIE STANLEY
6'5.5", 315 lbs.
Senior, No. 78, LT
RECRUITING PROFILE
One of the top recruits on the West Coast, Stanley picked Notre Dame over offers from USC, UCLA, Oklahoma and a ton of other programs.
A four-star, Top 100 recruit according to Scout, Top 250 according to Rivals. Played in Semper Fidelis All-American game. Most importantly, he opened the pipeline to Bishop Gorman high school, where Alizé Jones and Nicco Fertitta came from as well.
PLAYING CAREER
Freshman Season (2012): Played against Navy and Michigan in a reserve role. Elbow injury ended his season and preserved his eligibility with a medical redshirt.
Sophomore Season (2013): Made 13 starts at right tackle, a key part of an offensive line that only had Zack Martin and Stanley start every game. The team allowed just eight sacks on the season, second best in the FBS.
Junior Season (2014): Started all 13 games at left tackle, making 26 straight starts for Stanley. Switched sides of the offensive line previous spring, sliding into Zack Martin’s spot. Recorded 16 pancake blocks and allowed only one sack.
WHAT WE SAID LAST YEAR
I didn’t think Stanley would make the leap that he did, at least not that quickly. It’s funny to think about the debate we had during the offseason as we wondered who’d slide into Martin’s spot. Funny, because the staff knew it would be Stanley from the get-go, a nice reminder that those guys tend to know what they’re doing.It’s hard to discount all the good things Kelly and Hiestand continue to say about Stanley. And while he’s still young — he’s got three seasons of eligibility left after playing only briefly in 2012 — you’ve got to think the left tackle position is going to take a step backwards this season, with Martin being among the elite players in college football.
That said, Stanley gives the Irish something Martin couldn’t athletically. And while he’s not being asked to lead the unit the way Zack did, he’s got to turn 2014 into a season where he establishes himself as not just a leader, but a frontline player.
The Irish staff believe he’s already that. A solid season against some difficult matchups in 2013 was a great start. But Stanley has the opportunity to be great. He needs to take the biggest step there this season.
FUTURE POTENTIAL
When your name is being mentioned as a potential No. 1 overall pick, I’d say the future looks pretty bright. I’ll leave the total evaluation to the pros, but right now, the goal for Stanley in 2015 is to match his dominance to his athleticism.
If Stanley is able to do that, he’ll be Notre Dame’s first Top 10 pick since Bryant Young went No. 7 in 1994... if Jaylon Smith doesn’t beat him off the board.
CRYSTAL BALL
It’s counterintuitive, but Notre Dame’s pass protection took a large step backwards when Everett Golson took over for Tommy Rees. While the latter couldn’t evade the rush with a five-step head start, Golson’s ability to read protections and defenses wasn’t up to Rees’ speed, and Everett couldn’t run his way out of trouble every time, either.
Malik Zaire is a different quarterback than Golson, but there’ll be similar growing pains, especially as he sees things for the first time. But in many ways, Zaire is the perfect quarterback for this offensive line, allowing them to play a mauling style of football with their blocking schemes, allowing the run to set up the pass.
With Zaire a lefty, Stanley will not be protecting his blind side like he was Golson. But Notre Dame’s offense will move its quarterback, so Stanley will get all the opportunities needed to show his ability to play there at the next level. More importantly, a healthy dose of run blocking with let Stanley show that he’s capable of physically moving opponents, not just of being an athletic blocker on edge rushers.
A redshirt season as a freshman means Stanley technically has two years of eligibility remaining. But expect this season to be the last for Stanley in South Bend, a year where he’ll rack up the accolades on the awards circuit before being a high first round pick.
THE 2015 IRISH A-to-Z
Josh Adams, RB
Josh Barajas, OLB
Nicky Baratti, S
Alex Bars, OL
Asmar Bilal, OLB
Hunter Bivin, OL
Grant Blankenship, DE
Jonathan Bonner, DE
Miles Boykin, WR
Justin Brent, WR
Greg Bryant, RB
Devin Butler, CB
Jimmy Byrne, OL
Daniel Cage, DL
Amir Carlisle, RB
Nick Coleman, DB
Te’von Coney, LB
Shaun Crawford, DB
Scott Daly, LS
Sheldon Day, DL
Michael Deeb, LB
Micah Dew-Treadway, DL
Steve Elmer, RG
Matthias Farley, DB
Nicco Fertitta, DB
Tarean Folston, RB
Will Fuller, WR
Jarrett Grace, LB
Jalen Guyton, WR
Mark Harrell, OL
Jay Hayes, DL
Mike Heuerman, TE
Kolin Hill, DE
Tristen Hoge, C
Corey Holmes, WR
Chase Hounshell, TE
Torii Hunter, Jr. WR
Alizé Jones, TE
Jarron Jones, DL
DeShone Kizer, QB
Tyler Luatua, TE
Cole Luke, CB
Nick Martin, C
Greer Martini, LB
Jacob Matuska, DL
Mike McGlinchey, OT
Colin McGovern, OL
Peter Mokwuah, DL
John Montelus, OL
Nyles Morgan, LB
Sam Mustipher, OL
Quenton Nelson, OL
Tyler Newsome, P
Romeo Okwara, DE
James Onwualu, LB
C.J. Prosise, WR/RB
Doug Randolph, LB/DE
Max Redfield, S
Corey Robinson, WR
Trevor Ruhland, OL
CJ Sanders, WR
Joe Schmidt, LB
Avery Sebastian, S
Elijah Shumate, S
Jaylon Smith, LB
Durham Smythe, TE
Equanimeous St. Brown, WR