SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Ronnie Stanley could be somewhere else, grinding through training camp and vying to earn playing time on an NFL offensive line.
He could be a millionaire now, too. But instead he’s with Notre Dame, not earning a salary but having plenty of job security as the team’s left tackle and top offensive lineman. The payday should come in 2016, when some analysts project Stanley could be taken with the first pick in next year’s NFL Draft.
Stanley’s decision to stay at Notre Dame instead of enter the 2015 NFL Draft was coach Brian Kelly’s biggest offseason coup. The senior is Notre Dame’s only offensive lineman to start all 26 games in 2013 and 2014, and will play a massive role for an offense that should run the ball more behind Malik Zaire this fall.
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"If we put it in car terms, the offensive line is the engine of the car, I’m just the nice shiny paint on it," Zaire said. "We don’t move without them."
What pushed Stanley to stick around South Bend for another year was what he believes to be a legitimate chance of winning a championship. Watching Ohio State win the College Football Playoff championship game last January convinced him returning to Notre Dame — and passing up on being a potential first-round pick — was the right move.
“I think it was just the relation I could make the players on their team because they’re all my age,” Stanley said. “And seeing the emotion and happiness it brought them and knowing that I could be in that spot, and knowing that we have the talent to be in that spot, is something that really struck me.”
Notre Dame won’t move Stanley from left tackle to right tackle with a left-handed quarterback in Zaire running its offense. Even though Stanley won’t protect Zaire’s blind side, Kelly said it’s not a big deal given Notre Dame’s offense will frequently move the pocket and run play-action and bootlegs this fall.
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Stanley emerged as a team leader last December, with coaches and teammates pointing to his growth in that aspect of his game as one of the reasons why the Irish upset LSU in the Music City Bowl. And that newfound leadership gig was another reason why Stanley decided to remain at Notre Dame.
“I did feel like I would be leaving a role on the team if I left,” Stanley said.
Stanley and linebacker Jaylon Smith graced the cover of Sports Illustrated this month, with the magazine predicting the Irish to reach the College Football Playoff. Playing on New Year’s Eve, and then in the title game, would accomplish the mission Stanley set up for himself and the Irish when he passed on the NFL Draft in January.
“I don’t pay attention to the hype,” Stanley said, “but I 100 percent feel we can win a national championship.”