From the time Brian Kelly made his way to South Bend, there has been the anticipation of things to come, mainly on the offensive side of the ball. Everywhere he has gone, he has brought a prolific, high-powered offense with him, and while we have seen flashes of it, that hasn’t been his signature in his time with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It has been his defense that has been the staple of his tenure. The defense has helped produce four consecutive winning seasons, a first since the late-Lou Holtz/early-Bob Davie era.
But a change in scheme and the loss of several key veterans have left more questions than any other point of the Kelly era. Defensive coordinator Bob Diaco left the Irish to run the UConn program, leaving an opening that Brian VanGorder filled.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Defense
With VanGorder comes a switch from the old 3-4 to the 4-3. The front-7 was maybe affected more than any unit, as they lost six players to the NFL. Sheldon Day becomes the new face of the line as he shifts to the defensive tackle position, along with Jarron Jones.
Former linebackers Ishaq Williams, Romeo Okwara, and Anthony Rabasa move to the end position, where they will be able to focus rushing the passer. For Williams, a former prized recruit so coveted by Diaco that he camped out in front of Williams’ house to prevent the young player from making a visit to Penn State (so the story goes), this is one last opportunity to make an impact with the Irish.
The senior has only one start and one sack to his credit. He never adjusted to having to drop into coverage, so now the ability to only focus purely on pass-rushing could lead to a breakout season.
The Irish have no shortage of options to play behind their starters, as they have 20-defensive lineman listed on their website, but what they have in numbers, they lack in experience. An injury will prevent Tony Springman from donning the Irish jersey again, robbing Notre Dame of a valuable depth option. It will be up to players like Chase Houshell, Justin Utupo and Isacc Rouchell to provide depth behind Jones and Day. Two freshman will likely get into the defensive end rotation, as Jacob Matuska and Andrew Trumbetti are already working out with the second stringers.
For the linebackers, year two of the post-Manti Te’o era brings a lot of the same questions year one brought. The one certainty may be enough though, as sophomore Jaylon Smith looks prepared to take the next step into the national spotlight. After a freshman season in which he started all 13 games (not even Te’o did that), you could make a serious argument that there hasn’t been a more naturally gifted defensive player to commit to Notre Dame.
Make no mistake, despite just one year under his belt, the Irish defense will be centered on Smith and he will be asked to fill several roles. Whether it’s working as an outside linebacker or on the inside, or even possibly as a pass rusher, Smith has the natural talent to succeed at anything given to him.
Aside from Smith, there are a lot of question marks. Jarrett Grace and Ben Councell would be great additions to the team, but their status for the start of the season is still up in the air. Former walk-on Joe Schmidt has gotten the first crack at the inside-backer spot but will have to fend off highly coveted recruit Nyles Morgan. Safety turned linebacker Austin Turner and converted wide receiver James Onwualu will add depth and their skill sets could lead to them getting time in sub-packages.
Next to Smith, KeiVare Russell will be the next most important player on the Irish defense. With a switch to a more man-to-man scheme, Russell has accepted the challenge of covering some of the nation’s top receivers. Manning the opposite side to start camp was Cole Luke, a sophomore who saw some game action as a true freshman a year ago. He will be pushed by Florida Gators transfer Cody Riggs, who is thought to be a ‘top-100 selection’ in the upcoming draft by an analyst.
Matthias Farley was thought to be making a switch to corner and play in some sub-packages as the ‘nickel-back’ but he was one of the two safeties on the second team defense on the first day of camp.
Austin Collingsworth, Max Redfield, Elijah Shumate and Farley make up the safety group. Collingsworth, a grad-student, has the most experience of the group but Redfield could emerge as the best of the group.
The Irish defense will be interesting to watch, especially early on. If they can get a get grasp on the scheme change, they have the talent to succeed. Kelly briefly tossed the idea of playing both some 3-4 and 4-3, which until his team gets a firm grasp on the 4-3 would probably be best to avoid.
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