Notre Dame Defense Must Achieve Five Important Objectives This Spring

Spring practice is right around the corner for Notre Dame, and the Fighting Irish defense will look to build on last season's regular success while looking to wash away the stench of the bowl game.

Later I'll address the key questions on defense, but first let's take a look at the five main objectives the unit should look to reach this spring.

1. Get Acclimated With Al Golden - The Notre Dame defenders held Marcus Freeman in very high regard when he was in charge of the defense. The fact Freeman is now the head coach can create a challenging situation for Al Golden could create a challenging transition for the defense.

Arguably the biggest objective on defense this spring is for the the defensive players and coaches to get acclimated with each other, and with Golden. By the end of spring the defensive players need to be in the process of starting to view Golden the way they viewed Freeman at this point a year ago.

2. Gain Greater Confidence In The System - Freeman overhauled the defense much more than anticipated last season, and that resulted in there being some inconsistency at times. When the defense was on it was really, really good, but when they were off they had some performances like we saw against Florida State, North Carolina and Oklahoma State.

Even with a new defensive coordinator I expect there to be a lot of carryover schematically and philosophically this season. In some ways, despite having a new defensive coordinator for the third straight season, there will be a great deal of familiarity for the returning defenders.

Notre Dame also returns 14 players that have started at least one game on defense, so there's a lot of experience. If that schematic carryover is what I think it will be, the Irish defense should end the spring with a far better grasp of the defense than it did a year ago. That means a higher level of execution and even more production from what was a strong unit for much of last season.

3. Build Depth - There are plenty of returners, but there are also some positions where depth must be developed this spring. Nose tackle, big end, linebacker, safety and cornerback are the positions where depth is most important for the spring.

Depth accomplishes two very important tasks this spring.

One is the most common, it gives you a deeper pool of players to use in rotation and allows you to better handle reps during the spring and fall.

Two is it creates even greater competition within the program, and healthy competition is almost always a positive.

4. Secondary Improvement - Speaking of the secondary, a key objective this spring has to be getting more production from the secondary and limiting the big plays it allowed last season.

Cornerback play opposite Cam Hart needs to get much better, and hopefully young players like Ryan Barnes, Philip Riley, Chance Tucker and Jaden Mickey can push the veterans this spring.

There is a lot of bodies at safety and some talent, but consistency will be key, and getting Brandon Joseph up to speed as quickly as possible is also important.

5. Become Better Tacklers - Notre Dame's tackling was inconsistent at best last season, and at times it was downright bad, and that's true on all three levels of the defense.

Fundamentals are always a vital aspect of spring ball, and the fundamentals of tackling absolutely must be emphasized. If Notre Dame can come out of the spring as a better tackling team that alone makes this unit better next season.

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