Notre Dame Defense Preps For Caleb Williams' Challenge

There's a different challenge for the Notre Dame defense coming to town this weekend. Al Golden’s squad has already faced a wide range of quarterbacks this season. From Navy’s triple option quarterback Tai Lavatai to mobile quarterbacks like Brennan Armstrong and Riley Leonard to pocket-heavy Jack Plummer, the Irish defense has seen a little of everything through seven games.

USC’s Caleb Williams is a different story. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner draws constant comparisons to the NFL’s only current two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, for his arm, legs and improvisational skills.

Williams has completed nearly 72% of his passes this season for 1,822 yards and 22 touchdowns through six games. He won’t necessarily break long runs like Duke’s Riley, but his uncanny ability to keep plays alive makes him dangerous.

"He's got all the tools, right,” Golden said of Williams. "I mean, he's got arm strength. He's got vision. He's got great poise in the pocket. He can create on the run. And every play it's a two-part series. If you let him extend, he'll extend.”

Williams’ ability to extend plays was key in last season’s 38-27 Trojan win over the Fighting Irish in the LA Coliseum. He ran for just 35 yards on nine carries against Notre Dame, but he was also sacked only twice, eluding sack opportunities while zigging and zagging, backpedaling and rolling left and right throughout the night.

"Some key plays I remember is he got out of the pocket a couple times,” Irish safety Xavier Watts recalled of last years' experience. "Extending plays, he’s really good at that. Obviously just trying to limit that. I call it plastering on defense. Just staying on our man when he gets out of the pocket, throwing those deep balls.”

Notre Dame did a solid job of keeping Williams behind the line of scrimmage in that game. Although he ran for three touchdowns that went for 5, 3 and 16 yards. The other six carries netted just 13 total yards.

Freshman quarterback Kenny Minchey and senior walk-on Chase Ketterer have taken turns wearing Williams’ No. 13 jersey while running Notre Dame’s scout team offense this week.

"Kenny has done a great job,” Irish defensive tackle Rylie Mills said. "I feel like when we go out in practice, he makes an emphasis to really try to emulate that. Same with Chase Ketterer, too, they're both really good athletes, and especially for a guy like 13, it's just like, there's almost two types of plays where it's like the first half of it and then the second half. So I think just having that ingrained in you, that second half interval to keep going. Coach Golden always preaches run through the interval, the five second interval as hard as you can. So, when you see a guy like 13 run around it's good emulate in practice.”

"It’s difficult to replicate what he can do in a game versus practice,” Watts added. “But our scout team gives us a great look to get us as ready as possible, but it is one of those things that’s hard to know when that internal clock is going off and you don’t know if the ball is out or not when he scrambles. Just playing through the whole play as long as you can.”

Southern Cal has three receivers, Tahj Washington, Brenden Rice and Duce Robinson, who are all averaging more than 20.0 yards per reception and each of them each has at least one catch of 70 yards or better.

"(USC receivers) do a great job of getting open and sitting down in zone,” Golden explained. "They have the speed to run away in man and his ball placement is excellent. It really is and it's excellent when he's on the move too, which is really, really hard. So, again, there's no hype machine. I mean, he is really, really talented and skilled. There's a difference, and he has both.”

Williams' biggest passing game this season was a 403-yard, six-touchdown effort against Colorado. His 42 rushing yards against Nevada is a season-high. He ran for 41 yards and three touchdowns, two of them in overtime, in last week's triple overtime win over Arizona.

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