Notre Dame Notebook: Al Golden Talks Brennan Armstrong, Red Zone Defense

Notre Dame takes a step up in competition when the Fighting Irish travel to North Carolina State this week. The third game of the season will be the first true road game for the Irish as well as their first game against a Power Five opponent after beating Group of Five Navy and FCS Tennessee State by a combined 98-6 in its first two games.

This week’s game will also give the Irish defense the chance to see the best quarterback they’ve played to date in Brennan Armstrong. Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden is well aware of the threat the sixth-year quarterback poses.

“Patience and poise jump off,” Golden said of Armstrong. “Doesn’t get rattled. Has enough arm strength to get the ball down the field, but he has the legs to create, and obviously (he’s) a problem in the run game. So, designed runs, draws and scrambles can all break your back. If you play a good down in coverage, and all of a sudden he gets out, he can create on the run. So, very impressed with the performance last week.”

Armstrong, who played his first five seasons at Virginia, used his final season of college eligibility to transfer to NC State. He made his Wolfpack debut last week with 155 passing yards and 96 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in a 24-14 win over UConn. He has rushed for 1,363 yards and 22 touchdowns in his college career.

“He’s big. He’s strong,” Golden said of the 6-2, 212-pound Armstrong. “You’ve got to wrap him up or get two hats to him. And, as you guys know, anytime you allocate hats to the quarterback, there's a vacancy somewhere else. How you mask it depends on the coverage or what you want to play behind it. But there's no doubt he's a challenge, and anyway that's what we signed up for, man. This is great. It's a great opportunity for us.

“This guy can beat you outside,” Golden continued. “He can beat you with the read zone if you fall asleep. But he's really good at seeing it inside and he can get downhill, and they're not afraid to put a lead blocker in front of him and do those types of things. So, I have a lot of respect for their offensive coordinator and the system that he runs, and I thought that last year, too. So, this is going to be a great challenge for us.”

Red Zone Revisions

Notre Dame’s was notoriously and historically bad in the red zone last year. The Irish allowed opponents to score on 32 of 34 trips into the red zone, with 27 of those 32 scores being touchdowns.

It’s only two games, but this year’s Irish defense has already made improvement in Golden’s second year as defensive coordinator. Navy and Tennessee State have made five combined red zone trips and each came away with just one score, both of them field goals. That mean’s they’ve already made one more red zone stop in two games this season than they did in 13 games last year.

“Did we add a couple of things, sure,” Golden said of his unit’s red zone improvement. “Did we eliminate a couple of things? Absolutely. But is the core of the package still there? Yeah, but everybody's in it for another year. Everybody's playing faster. And look, that's all great, and it's good conversation for you guys, but we're going to get challenged this week. Our red-zone day is Thursday. We’ve got to have a great red-zone day and then put it out there against the Wolfpack. And they’re going to try to attack it.”

NC State made three red zone trips against UConn and they came away with three touchdowns. Armstrong had touchdown runs of four and eight yards and running back Delbert Mimms ran another in from one yard out.

On Josh Burnham

Sophomore defensive end Josh Burnham wasn’t originally recruited to be a defensive end. The Traverse City, Mich native was a star linebacker in high school, but it didn’t take Golden and defensive line coach Al Washington to move him to the Vyper end position.

“Have you stood next to him,” asked aloud when asked why Burnham made the move from linebacker to end. “I mean, he would have to diet for four years. He's an incredible specimen. He's long, takes care of his body. I mean, he’s 250 without trying, as a redshirt freshman. So he's got a lot of years in front of him. And there's no doubt he's going to settle into that 260-65 range. He's a big man and can move well and is smart.”

Burnham played in one game as a freshman last year, but he has been impactful through two games so far. He notched his first career sack against Navy then had three quarterback hurries last week vs Tennessee State and has six tackles through two games.

“His factor level, so far, has been high,” Golden said. “So, your number of plays divided by factors, that’s your ratio. His is high, whether it's quarterback sacks or tackles or whatever the case may be. I think that's a good sign for him moving forward.”

On Jack Kiser

Jack Kiser is Notre Dame’s No. 1 Rover. He led the Irish with eight tackles in the opener vs Navy, but didn’t play as much in the first half last week against TSU because the Irish had more nickel and dime packages on the field. He saw extensive action in the second half against the Tigers.

“He played amazingly in the opener,” Golden boasted. “You can argue he was the player of the game. He was right there, with Marist and a couple other guys. I mean, he played an incredible opening game for us. But we don't treat guys as first-teamers and second teamers. We need to play with a bunch of guys, and in addition to that his value to special teams is immense.”

On Brenan Vernon and Boubacar Traore

Freshmen defensive linemen Brenan Vernon and Boubacar Traore have combined for limited action to date. Vernon played in the second half against Tennessee State, while Traore is yet to make his college debut.

“They're doing a good job,” Golden said of the freshman duo. “They're talented. They like the game. They compete. They’ve just got to keep learning, keep studying, keep growing, put the time in, in individual drills and techniques, but my first impression is good.”

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