We are working our way through the 2022 Notre Dame roster as we look forward to the first spring practice under new head coach Marcus Freeman. This series kicked off with a look at the offensive line and the return of assistant Harry Hiestand. Today, we’ll tackle Freeman’s position of expertise.

Predicted 2022 Lineup

*Official 2022 roster size

1ST-TEAM
WILL Marist Liufau, r-JR, 6-2 1/4, 229*
MIKE JD Bertrand, r-JR, 6-1, 230*
ROVER Jack Kiser, r-JR, 6-1 5/8, 222*

2ND-TEAM
WILL Prince Kollie, SO, 6-0 1/2, 222*
MIKE Bo Bauer, 5th SR, 6-2 3/4, 233*
ROVER Jaylen Sneed, FR, 6-1 1/8, 198*

Reserves:

WILL Josh Burnham, FR, 6-4, 214*
MIKE Osita Ekwonu, r-JR, 6-0 3/4, 236*
MIKE Junior Tuihalamaka, FR, 6-2, 229*
ROVER Nolan Ziegler, FR, 6-3, 205*

3 Questions

1) Will a position switch for Bertrand actually happen and if so will he hold off everyone else for starting reps at Mike linebacker?

One of the worst things a player can do is finish the season playing poorly, no matter what they did before in their career. So it was for JD Bertrand who came out with his hair on fire and slowly faded into the background as a playmaker in 2021. He didn’t notch 10 tackles in a game over the final 7 contests while only 2 out of his 7 tackles for loss came over that final stretch last fall.

Still, lost in the downturn was Bertrand leading the team in tackles by a massive margin, nearly doubling (101 tackles) the 2nd-place finisher Drew White (55 tackles). Now, some of that is Bertrand playing a lot more than every other linebacker which many would agree was kind of a problem last year.

It’s expected he’ll move to Mike linebacker where Bertrand should be a lot more comfortable. He’s a contrast between a thumper and someone with decent quickness but not quite what Notre Dame is looking for at the Will spot. In contrast, Bo Bauer is someone who seemingly is getting better with more playing time and could offer stiff competition with Bertrand. Let’s hope it leads to a healthier and more importantly fresher Bertrand over the course of the season.

2) How much does the return of a healthy Marist Liufau raise the ceiling of this unit?

Marist Liufau is like one of those young running backs who rips off a few nice runs early in his career and everyone starts to get very excited about his prospects. By most accounts, Liufau was going to start at Will last year and was expected to be a huge part of the defense. Still, we’re talking about a guy who played a decent but not overwhelming amount as a redshirt freshman and has 22 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss in his career.

Most of us are banking on Liufau being an instant-impact player upon his return from injury in 2022. If last year’s pre-season was any indication Marcus Freeman had a lot of belief in the Hawaiian’s abilities but we’ll need to see some real playmaking this off-season to feel good about the linebackers as a whole getting better.

3) Are young and highly-touted Prince Kollie and Jaylen Sneed ready to be integral parts of the defense?

Once upon a time, the linebacker room was stuffed with bodies. Not so much anymore as even with Osita Ekwonu moving back to this position (according to the updated 2022 spring roster) we’re projecting young blue-chips such as Kollie and Sneed to be immediately slotted into backup roles. That’s what happens when Drew White, Shayne Simon, Isaiah Pryor, and Paul Moala are no longer on the team.

Kollie burned a year of eligibility in 2021 without playing a ton on defense as he picked up a lot of work from special teams. He ended up with 6 solo tackles from 14 tackles overall. This will be a crucial set of spring practices to get Kollie ready for a much larger role.

Sneed is a curious case if only because he comes to campus officially under 200 pounds. We expected something pretty light even for modern linebacker standards but he’s the size of a safety right now. Maybe that’s even a good thing and an advantage for Sneed? There’s renewed talk that Freeman may want to play more 3-safety sets and here you have perhaps the most athletically gifted defender on the team ready to fill that role as an officially listed linebacker.

Overview

I get the sense many believe that the linebackers are going to improve across the board in 2022. My snap judgement is that I would likely agree with that sentiment.

When we look back years down the road I am sure that Drew White will become a more appreciated and perhaps underrated player during his time at Notre Dame. His overall stats were pretty good but he did really struggle playing through injuries and his final year in South Bend was a bit of a disappointment.

We can hope Bertrand moving over to Mike will give the team, at the very worst, Drew White-type production with Bo Bauer offering another co-starter type of talent.

Liufau should be a big upgrade in terms of havoc rate where something like 12 tackles for loss and 10 hurries has to be on the table as expectations for him alone. Clark Lea used Liufau a ton on blitzes and based on the scheme last year, he’ll be put in position to do the same a lot in 2022, too. Whether he and Kollie can handle the full duties of the position and become all-around performers is a bigger question.

The Rover position actually did okay last year after some struggles living up to the incredible player that was Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. As mentioned, Pryor moves on but Jack Kiser made some big plays in the passing game (2 INT and 5 PBU) although he wasn’t much of a factor in the backfield with just 1 tackle for loss coming up against the inept Stanford offense in the final game of the regular season.

Hopefully, Kiser gets more comfortable in his role and is aided by the super-athletic Sneed in tow. Kiser is a perfect type of intelligent player in a veteran role who can mentor Sneed and get him up to speed as soon as possible.