Last week we previewed the Notre Dame offense for fall camp featuring a lot of questions for a side of the ball bringing back a lot of talent but struggling with injuries. The defense is in a much different place as we’ll get to below in today’s preview.
There’s a new head coach, new coordinator, and a lot of optimism for this unit to remain one of the best in the country.
Coordinator: Al Golden, 1st Season
Golden began his coaching career 30 years ago as the offensive coordinator of his alma mater Red Bank Catholic High School in New Jersey and now comes to Notre Dame following head coaching stops at Temple and Miami in recent years before spending the last 6 seasons in the NFL.
He’ll take over a unit that should be controlled by head coach Marcus Freeman and to what extent Golden gets his fingerprints on things remains to be seen. In the spring, we didn’t get to see enough of practices to see much of a difference but there surely will be some new tweaks to the system.
Scheme: 3-3-5/4-3 Multiple with Cover-1 and Cover-3
Until proven otherwise, we’ll continue to use this scheme to describe Notre Dame which is what Marcus Freeman brought with him from Cincinnati in 2021. He made some changes to suit the Irish personnel (especially in terminology) but didn’t stray too far away from the concepts used with much success with the Bearcats prior to coming to South Bend.
Returning Starters: 7/11
The big loss from last year will be Kyle Hamilton, although the program got used to being without him for the second half of 2021 anyway. He was also the only defender to leave the Irish and get drafted this past spring.
Officially, Notre Dame is replacing the following positions on defense:
Nose Guard – The program is set to move on after Kurt Hinish manned the middle since 1998.
Strong-Side End – The team moved Myron Tagavailoa-Amosa out here in his final season. It worked well at a position of need but was not a long-term solution.
Middle Linebacker – Drew White moves on after a solid career and we are expecting the Irish to shuffle things around at the inside linebacker spots.
Free Safety – So long Hamilton, hello Northwestern transfer Brandon Joseph!
Injuries
DT Jayson Ademilola – Shoulder
NG Aidan Keanaaina – Knee
CB Cam Hart – Shoulder
No jinx, no jinx, no jinx. The defense comes into fall camp in a much healthier position than the offense. The shoulder surgeries for Ademilola and Hart should see them cleared and ready for action this week. However, I wouldn’t expect Keanaaina back for 2022. He tore his ACL in the spring and is one of the heaviest players on the roster. He might have a longer road back than most.
Camp Questions
Will the secondary build quality depth and not be a team weakness?
Notre Dame’s defense was last seen on the field surrendering 371 yards through the air in the Fiesta Bowl to Oklahoma State. That’s the most allowed by the Irish in a non-overtime game since the USC matchup in 2015. Being able to successfully defend against the pass will be the top priority of fall camp.
Will this be a historic season for Foskey and who is helping rush the passer?
A ferocious pass-rush will certainly help keep the pressure off the secondary. Isaiah Foskey is coming into his senior season as one of the best pass rushers in the country but Notre Dame needs to find other disruptive forces on the defensive line, especially at the defensive end spots.
Can the linebackers provide more playmaking than 2021?
Last year’s starting linebackers combined for 201 tackles and just 12.5 tackles for loss with 3 interceptions. Those aren’t terrible numbers but Notre Dame was hoping an aggressive mindset from this position group could lead to a bigger impact. In year 2 of Freeman’s system there’s hope, with a healthier depth chart, that the linebackers can really thrive. That includes the return of lanky speedster Marist Liufau.
New Faces to Watch
A very brief primer on the top freshmen to watch for fall camp…
CB Jaden Mickey
All 3 of our featured freshmen defenders to watch for fall camp were enrolled early and gave us a glimpse of their talent back in the spring. The one most ready to make noise immediately in 2022 is California corner Jaden Mickey.
Might want to get to know no. 21 on defense.
He’s expected to get a look at nickel corner but could also be in the mix at boundary corner, too. Without a ton of media time during the spring it’s not super clear if Mickey is legit in the race for a starting spot. However, he was by far the most impressive young defensive back on the team.
LB Junior Tuihalamaka
Notre Dame isn’t set up to allow a ton of playing time for most freshmen. Back in the spring no one really thought Junior was going to make much of a dent but he was praised for his physicality and surprised a lot of people by showing a little more explosive playmaking than anticipated. A solid year on special teams could be the minimum for Junior in 2022.
LB Jaylen Sneed
The star recruit from the 2022 class was a bit under-sized in the spring for a full-time role at Rover but like his classmate Tuihalamaka he should be an instant help on special teams. We can expect Jack Kiser to play most of the snaps as the starter with the regular defense which is likely to keep Sneed on the sidelines for most of the fall. However, watch out for Sneed’s speed to be used occasionally in a pass rushing role.
Key Positional Battles
A list of battles to watch…
Mike Linebacker
It’s possible JD Bertrand will go from finishing 2021 with nearly twice as many tackles as anyone else on the team to not starting in 2022. He was moved to Mike linebacker in the spring but veteran journeyman Bo Bauer looked to be the 1A option and could have a breakout final season in South Bend.
Strong Safety
Notre Dame still has some sorting to do with the safety position opposite Brandon Joseph, although it’s likely we will see a nice rotation of bodies anyway. We have veteran options of Houston Griffith (5th year senior) and D.J. Brown (5th year senior) who might be more trusted going into Ohio Stadium for the opener. Or, redshirt sophomores Ramon Henderson and Xavier Watts are going to make a move.
Boundary Corner
Clarence Lewis has been persona non grata for a lot of Irish fans as he regressed from a good freshman season and was last seen playing very poorly in the Fiesta Bowl. Due to his experience, you have to like his chances to hold on to a starting spot but it’s far from a sure thing before camp opens up.
Nickel Corner
Lewis’ position at boundary corner could come down to the situation at nickel corner, or at least be affected by this positional battle. Fifth-year senior Tariq Bracy is the incumbent here but could be too good (and perhaps Jaden Mickey also too trusted at nickel) to not play outside corner and put Lewis in a backup role.
Strong-Side End
This shouldn’t be so much of a battle as it’ll be more of a look at what kind of personnel depth and strategy the defense will use at the big end position. It’s expected that redshirt sophomore Rylie Mills will pick up most of the minutes, however, Justin Ademilola will get a lot of time on the edge opposite Foskey and we’ll see what kind of other pass-rushing packages could bring to this position.
Nose Guard
Senior Jacob Lacey and redshirt junior Howard Cross have both spent time at this position and heading into 2022 it seems like the latter is the much preferred option while Lacey gets more work at 3-tech behind Jayson Ademilola. Also, don’t forget that Harvard grad transfer Chris Smith will be in the mix at nose guard with his 304-pound frame.
Freshmen Numbers
#14 P Bryce McFerson
#17 LB Jaylen Sneed
#20 CB Benjamin Morrison
#21 CB Jaden Mickey
#23 CB Jayden Bellamy
#40 DE Josh Burnham
#41 DT Donovan Hinish
#42 LB Nolan Ziegler
#44 LB Junior Tuihalamaka
#91 DE Aiden Gobaira
#98 DT Tyson Ford
Weird aberration from 2012 to 2017 on that graph, I wonder what happened?
It’s a line drawing of a mustache of course.
Jerry Tillery
Jr season: 25 solo tackles (56 total), 4.5 sacks, 9 TFL
Sr season: 18 solo (29 total), 8.0 sacks, 9.5 TFL
Jayson Ademilola
Sr. season: 29 solo tackles (51 total), 4.0 sacks, 8.5 TFL
2022 COVID Super Sr Season: ?
Will be interesting to see if he can take the next step for sacks like Tillery did, could mitigate the non-Foskey DE contributions if so.
I think that’s the opportunity for where the defense goes from “ehh, good as usual” to potentially winning some of the tougher games on the schedule, especially since places like Clemson and USC aren’t known for their interior line play being a strong point.
I remember Golden being hired at Miami thinking he might get them back into contention. They were trending the right way over his first few seasons. When they fired him, he dropped off my radar screen until this past year with the Bengals going to the Superbowl. I think he is going to do good things with ND. Excited to see this defense in the fall.
I’m excited for this defense, I feel like I have started taking the ND defense being good for granted in recent seasons. The weak link seems to be the secondary, so let’s hope that Mickey can jump in and start doing good things!
Of course the good news of camp starting up soon is getting overshadowed by the possible wavering of a few of ND’s blue chippers. The next recruiting update column here might have to include a revised worst case scenario
Ahem, we call it “pessimistic close.” Or are you saying we need a new “worst case scenario” category a la mild+? Nihilistic close?
It seems like whenever I go into a season expecting a DE to have a massive year, their sack total underwhelms for whatever reason (Tuitt going from 12 sacks to 7; Kareem and Julian Okwara not improving on their junior year numbers; Daelin never making the leap). Meanwhile, my expectations were low for Romeo Okwara’s senior year and Foskey last year, and they both dominated.
I’m hoping for an all-American type of season for Foskey this year, so my Notre Dame pessimism is already kicking in and expecting him to get hurt in camp or something. I think his production will make or break the season this year more than maybe any other guy on the roster.
Hooks pointed out Tillery’s numbers. His sacks went up but his tackles went down. Guessing it was because other teams saw his junior film and schemed to neutralize him (so tackles go down) but he got better and was able to still find ways to be disruptive eg beat double teams by himself.
I like one guy to get big sack numbers as much as anybody, but if teams are so worried about double teaming Foskey, or keeping an extra tight end out of the pattern, that someone else steps up and gets the sack, I’m cool with that.
Also I know Hinish has been around for awhile but didn’t realize it’s been since 1998!
Yeah, that was odd Tillery’s tackles went down, but I doubt because of a lack of effectiveness on his part. Probably exclusively double teamed on runs, which theoretically opened up LB’s to clean up the tackles. Could be the case for Ademilola this year too, prob not a huge deal.
It would be very disappointing if Foskey’s sack total regresses. A lot of pressure is on him. Seems like the very nature of stud DE’s is the sacks will come in bunches and then go dry for a bit. Hopefully the cold spells are a game or two and don’t suddenly grow into 3-4 games without a sack to wreck his season.
Also, he’s playing RT but Ohio State has a tackle that’s 6’8, 370. Monstrously big. And I think this year their LT is a former 5-star. Will be tough right off the bat, which is why I think Ademilola will be such a key piece. Foskey will get lots of attention and focus, but if Notre Dame has a 2nd/3rd round pick type 3-technique that can collapse the pocket and get pressure up the middle, that changes the game.
Yea, this is also why PFF tracks a kind of win-rate in pass rushing situations because sacks, etc. are susceptible to other factors. It’s a bit like INT.
Tillery’s win rate – each of these years he played significant snaps pass rushing
2015 – 6.0% (5.4% in true pass sets)
2016 – 4.8% (7.9% in true pass sets)
2017 – 13.1% (22.9% in true pass sets)
2018 – 19.6% (32.7% in true pass sets)
Foskey
2020 -12.8% (23.9% in true pass sets)
2021 – 14.2% (20.5% in true pass sets)
One interesting tidbit is that Foskey seems to actually pass rush on pass plays at a much lower rate than some of our other elite pass rushers (that is, only at like 80% of pass plays – closer to 90% on true pass sets).