Notre Dame Linebackers Expect Experience To Help Bring Havoc

Notre Dame’s defense is looking for improvement this season, even after finishing with notable No. 22 and 37 national rankings in total defense and rushing defense a season ago. There is still room for improvement for Al Golden’s defense in his second season as Fighting Irish defensive coordinator.

How the defense improves is largely on the play of the linebackers. How the linebackers improve is largely on the sizable shoulders of last season’s two team-leading tacklers, JD Bertrand and Jack Kiser.

"We’ve just got to attack the football,” Kiser said when asked how the linebackers can improve this year. "We’ve got to play with consistency and attack the football, and I think that’s defense-wide. At the start of last year, we took forever to get our first turnover. I think you could really feel that on the field. We were playing decent ball, but there were times where we needed to step up, and we couldn’t just get that big game-changing play. I think that really starts with the linebackers. It really does.”

Kiser went from 45 tackles two years ago to a career-high 58 last season, which was second to Bertrand’s team-best 82 tackles. Bertrand has been Notre Dame’s leading tackler the last two seasons.

"One thing to hit on, it's always going to be the communication piece,” Bertrand said of the unit’s potential for improvement this season. "Just having the right answers. I mean, I think we do a really good job at it. But it's having the right answers before the motion or the check empty or stuff like that and the anticipation ahead of time of either what they can run out of it or where they can motion and what our next check is.”

Bertrand and Kiser figure to be Notre Dame’s two main linebackers on the field this season. Bertrand has been a mainstay at middle linebacker, while Kiser started his career at Rover and has seen more time at Will linebacker in the spring as well as this fall.

"I’ve kind of been able to mentally handle the outside/inside aspects of it,” Kiser said of his position versatility. "So, the big thing this offseason was getting bigger, making sure to get my reads down inside. Really nail the inside, because I haven’t had that much exposure to it. I would say the majority of the time I’m inside, but there are still going to be situations where I’m going to be walked up outside or out in the flat or whatnot. So, a little bit of both.”

Bertrand, Kiser and fellow linebacker, Marist Liufau, are all heading into their fifth years at Notre Dame. They bring a wealth of experience that is readily apparent to first-year graduate assistant Max Bullough, who works with the unit every day.

“They’re all-go, all the time,” Bullough said of the veteran laden group. "All-go, all the time. We got to pull them back as opposed to having to push teams to go. We have to pull them back. They’re masters of this defense. I know you sit here and say they’ve had different defenses and coordinators, but that’s kind of made it better for them. They understand all the aspects of it and differences of it. I go to them sometimes and say, ‘Hey, how did you guys do this in the past? I want to make sure we’re on the same page. As much as anything, that’s what I’d say there. Smart group. Hard-working. The best I’ve been around in that way. You see the best defenses across the country, the linebackers are wreaking havoc on every down. So, that’s got to be something we do.”

More havoc this season could come from more experience in the current defensive system. Golden was Notre Dame’s third defensive coordinator in as many seasons last year, but he is back for year two in 2023.

“The biggest thing, it just takes the thinking out of it,” Bertrand said of having the same defense two years in a row. "That equivalents to speed on the field and so, if you're not thinking... in the beginning last season, there's a lot more thinking for everyone, just as things started to go, you're seeing new offenses, you're adjusting, but as time went on, I think you could see it start to mesh a little better.”

Kiser agrees.

"I think being in year two of Coach Golden’s defense has been a game-changer,” Kiser remarked. "I think we saw that in the spring, and certainly in these first (few) days of camp. We feel really comfortable. No. 1, playing with each other, because that’s a huge deal, having chemistry with each other. Give someone a responsibility and trust them that they’re going to make the call. They’re going to make this check to the opposite side. That’s a big deal and when you feel like you’re playing with someone else and you’re playing back and forth, you can play fast, so I think that’s been a big thing.

“Then knowing all the checks right off the top of your head,” he continued. “You can play fast and free. Right now, Coach Freeman’s thing is: Clarity is velocity. I think as fifth-years, we’re kind of getting that. We’re able to play super-fast.”

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