Notre Dame’s linebackers headed into 2016 in a weird place. The Godbacker had moved on to the Cowboys with his year-long rehab meanwhile the feel-good story turned sour drama following Joe Schmidt around also came to an end. Replacing two starters brought us a fun little season from the linebackers that wasn’t always mirrored by the struggles on defense and a 4-8 record.

Snap Count

James Onwualu- 728 (77 tackles, 39 solo, 11.5 TFL, 3 sacks, 5 PBU)
Nyles Morgan, SR- 727 (90 tackles, 49 solo, 6 TFL, 4 sacks, 3 PBU)
Te’von Coney, JR- 440 (61 tackles, 33 solo, 1.5 TFL)
Greer Martini, SR- 329 (55 tackles, 30 solo, 7 TFL, 3 sacks, 1 PBU)
Asmar Bilal, r-SO- 209 (28 tackles, 13 solo, 3 TFL, 1 sack)
Jamir Jones, SO- 5 (8 tackles, 7 solo)

BOLD denotes out of eligibility/transfer/no longer with program
Eligibility is for 2017 season

James Onwualu quietly put forth a high quality senior season finishing 3rd on the team in tackles and solo stops. He was also tied for second in sacks and third in pass break-ups. For someone who switched positions multiple times it was getting to the point where Onwualu had played a lot of football at linebacker and we weren’t really seeing much of a breakout. There was even some grumblings that maybe other players should get a look as starters instead of Onwualu.

I think that breakout came in 2016 when he doubled his tackles and tackles for loss.

The stock of Nyles Morgan hasn’t exactly sky-rocketed but his junior season was a nice rebound from all of the time he spent on the bench in 2015. He led the team in total tackles and sacks, the latter mainly due to a really poor effort from the defensive line but still that’s not easy from the middle linebacker spot. Morgan should be licking his chops awaiting the new Elko defense and another boost to his numbers.

Although it didn’t always feel like it, Te’von Coney comfortably distanced himself as the third most used linebacker. His underlying numbers and tackles per snap are pretty solid and point toward a nice jump upcoming in 2017. The same (and more) could be said for Martini whose numbers say he without a doubt should be starting this fall. His tackle every 5.98 snaps and solo tackle every 10.96 snaps led the linebackers by a wide margin. Skeptics would counter that Martini is put in position to make a lot of plays against the option teams and still struggles in a more “normal” linebacker role.

Bilal played sparingly early last season (5.75 snaps per game through the first 4 contests) and then picked up the responsibilities with 23.25 snaps per game for the remaining 8 contests. Against Syracuse, NC State, Stanford, Miami, Virginia Tech, and USC he even played more snaps than Martini. It was a solid debut season for Bilal who should more than double his snaps in 2017, at the very least.

Jamir Jones had himself a solid season on special teams (I’m pretty sure all of his tackles came on that unit) but it was a tough pill to swallow for him to lose a year with one series worth of snaps at linebacker.

New Faces

Josh Barajas, r-SO
Jonathan Jones, r-FR
David Adams, FR
Drew White, FR
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, FR

Time is beginning to run out and the Irish really need to hit on the development of Josh Barajas an in-state Top 140 recruit who could (and maybe should?) set himself up to start at middle linebacker once Morgan moves on. If things are like last year Jonathan Jones will be pushing hard for more playing time despite a lack of size in comparison to his older teammate.

Following recent shoulder surgery we can safely rule out David Adams for 2017 while it’s unlikely either White or Owusu-Koromoah are needed. Although, both of those guys would be good dark horse candidates to surprise with at least a little bit of playing time.

Grade: B

There were some stinkers this past year (Michigan State and Navy come to mind) still at times these linebackers were forced to carry the defense while the line was stuck in neutral, the secondary was being picked apart, and freshmen were being relied upon in key moments.

Some thought there was no way this unit would get better without Jaylon Smith. It’s probably close but I’d give 2016 the slight edge as Onwualu improved greatly and Nyles Morgan held his own in the middle. As expected, the weak-side took a step back as there were 25 fewer tackles and 4.5 fewer tackles for loss at the position compared to Jaylon Smith’s contributions in 2015.

All in all, there was a lot to like from this unit especially given they lost a coordinator in the middle of the season. We’ll see how they move on from losing an underrated teammate and captain in Onwualu. Even though it feels like there are 3 starters coming back (Morgan-Coney-Martini) in terms of experience, Onwualu leaves a big hole which could become a talking point early in 2017.