Notre Dame Notebook: Al Golden Talks Marist Liufau, Jordan Botelho, Young Backers
Notre Dame is on its third defensive coordinator in as many years. Al Golden follows Marcus Freeman, who followed Clark Lea before him. Both Lea and Freeman are now Power 5 head coaches, while Golden has 10 years of his own head coaching experience, prior to spending the last six years as a position coach with the Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL.
Golden is now going through his first college fall training camp since he was head coach at Miami (Fla.) in 2015. He shared his thoughts on a handful of Fighting Irish defensive players after Monday’s practice at Notre Dame.
Expectations for Marist Liufau
Senior Marist Liufau was on his way to being the starting Will linebacker last season before he broke an ankle in training camp. He’s back in camp, although still somewhat limited. That doesn't change the expectations for the Hawai'i native in 2022.
"He knows our expectations for each other are high, he knows that," Golden said. "He’s really talented, he’s getting better. I thought the last two days were his best practices, so I’m really excited about him. All these guys, like Coach (Matt) Balis and his staff, they did an amazing job in the weight room. I don’t know if you’ve looked at him. Physically, he’s much heavier than he was a year ago or even when we had him in the spring. He's doing a good job in the weight room and I think the sky’s the limit for Marist. I’m really hopeful that we’ll get there.”
JD Bertrand Back To Work
Notre Dame’s leading tackler from a year ago was JD Bertrand, he's back after playing all of last season with a wrist that he injured early on. He led the Irish with 101 tackles last season, but he was out for much of the spring while recovering from that injury. Bertrand has quickly got up to speed.
"He’s been phenomenal," Golden noted. "Again, he’s a blessing to coach. (I am) just really grateful to be around him. (He is) just smart, tough, brings his lunch pale every day. Sometimes when you say somebody’s smart and tough, there’s a tendency to say ‘Well, does that mean he’s not athletic?' No, he’s very athletic. JD’s a very, very good athlete and he’s great in space. I’m really excited about him.”
Jordan Botelho
Junior Jordan Botelho has played all over the field for Notre Dame, but most recently he's been settling in at Rover as his first position. But expect the talented defender to play all over.
“We’re making sure that we give him opportunities to do the things that he does best," explained the Notre Dame defensive coordinator. "Jordan has been a guy that’s played a number of positions, but that’s not a negative, that’s a positive. The positive is he can play a number of positions, so we’re really hoping to really push him here in the next two weeks to challenge, whether it’s linebacker or rushing the passer or whatever it may be, so I’m really excited about Jordan. He had a great summer. He came back really strong and a little bit bigger.”
According to Golden, Botelho is best used as a versatile defender and not as someone locked into one spot.
“He’s probably a combo guy, you know? He’s a little bit like Marist (Liufau) in that they’re a combo guys," Golden said. "They can play on the ball, off the ball, they can rush the edge on third down, but also play off the ball on first down. I think we’re settling in now with him and I’m excited about what he’s doing. He had a lot of reps out there today, which was great.”
On Younger Linebackers Learning From Veterans
The linebacker room currently features fifth-year senior Bo Bauer, seniors Marist Liufau, JD Bertrand and Jack Kiser, junior Jordan Botelho and sophomore Prince Kollie. Notre Dame also welcomes arguably the best group of freshman linebackers in the country, which includes former five-star Jaylen Sneed and a pair of four star players in Nolan Ziegler and Niuafe Tuihalamaka.
Golden discussed the dynamics for learning with that group.
“If I was Jaylen or if I was Nolan Ziegler, or if I was those guys, I would be like ‘This is unbelievable, I get to learn from these guys’," Golden state. ".... Am I the third defensive coordinator (in the last three years)? They’ve learned a lot of football. I remember when I came here to interview Drue Tranquill (for the 2019 NFL Draft), I think I was with the Lions and I came and interviewed him, his ability to talk about each system that he had learned while he was there, I thought was phenomenal.
“I feel that way about these guys," continued Golden. "They’ll say some things and I might go back to Clark’s (Lea) system, they’ll say something and I’ll be like ‘Oh, that’s a great idea’, that kind of thing. So, you’re almost like riffing with them, because they’ve been through it and they’re a smart group. But (for) the young guys, it’s a blessing to have guys like that (who) will teach you and you have an opportunity to learn and then, hopefully, challenge those guys at some point.”
On Harvard Grad Transfer Chris Smith
One of the new faces for the Notre Dame defense is veteran defensive tackle Chris Smith, a 6-1 1/2, 310 pound defensive lineman that transferred in from Harvard. A first-team All Ivy League Player last season, Smith played 29 games in three seasons for the Crimson (2018-2021 - the Ivy canceled all sports in 2020 due to the pandemic).
Smith is up 17 pounds from where he was listed last year on the Harvard depth chart. Despite being an experience player, Smith is still learning how things go in the Notre Dame defense.
“He’s doing a really nice job," Golden said of the veteran defensive tackle. "(There are) new techniques for him, some new techniques. Obviously, in our 33 package, just the ability to play nose and then play some shade if we end up going four down, or whatever the case may be. Just some different techniques, but other than that, he’s playing with good pad level. He’s really strong. He’s really a good anchor in there and a wonderful kid. He’s a Harvard grad that’s playing at Notre Dame (laughs).”
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