Al Golden Talks Notre Dame Vypers, Junior Tuihalamaka, Jaden Mickey, Jaylen Sneed And More

The early part of Notre Dame’s TaxSlayer Gator Bowl practices has been about giving young players the opportunity to develop at practice. From the top down, head coach Marcus Freeman and his coaching staff have let players who had high snap counts during the season rest during the team’s first three practices to let less experienced guys get valuable reps.

For defensive coordinator Al Golden, that’s meant less veterans like JD Bertrand and Jack Kiser and more youngsters like Jaylen Sneed. It's not just dummy reps, though, it's also a bowl audition.

"We still want the young guys to get better, but they’re going to run out of time here,” Golden began. "By the time we break for the holiday they would have demonstrated whether or not we can use them in this game. That goes for linebackers and anybody else that may be in the mix .... But they’re not going to burn a redshirt year by playing in this game.

"Sneed comes to mind,” Golden continued. “Some of those other guys, Tyson Ford comes to mind, (Jason) Onye comes to mind. Let’s see what you’ve got. Can you give us reps down there? So we’re challenging a lot of guys right now to make that move. But once we break on (Dec. 22), we’re pretty much fixed on the game. That's it.”

Who Fills For Foskey?

The most glaring spot on the defense that needs to be addressed is Isaiah Foskey’s Vyper defensive end. Foskey led the Irish with 11 sacks this season, but he announced last week that he has declared for the NFL Draft and will not play in the Gator Bowl. That opens up a chance for some younger players to work with veteran Justin Ademilola to fill out the reps that Foskey leaves behind.

"It’s opportunity,” said Golden. "We’ll see who wants to rise to the occasion, whether it’s Justin or Junior (Tuihalamaka) or (Jordan) Botelho. Certainly Nana (Osafo-Mensah) has played a lot. So any of those ends can step up and maybe even some of the young guys. We’ll see how it unfolds.”

Tuihalamaka came to Notre Dame as a linebacker, but late in the season he was getting more and more time at the Vyper spot. Whether or not this is a permanent move remains to be seen, but it's where he's getting the push right now.

"I just think it’s a great spot for him,” Golden proclaimed. "He's really smart, he's rugged. He's already around 250 pounds, so he’s in the ballpark already as a freshman. He gives us versatility there, too. Because he still has the qualities to drop and do those things. So we’re not just locked into a specific four-man rush. We can drop him if we need to, into the boundary.”

Xavier Watts Speaking Up

Xavier Watts moved to safety last year, but his growth in the position was probably slowed a bit when he did double duty at wide receiver during training camp. That experiment ended early in the season, and he became a full-time safety again.

Watts played on special teams all season and started the last three games after an injury to Brandon Joseph. As his game has blossomed, so has his outward demeanor.

"The thing that we’re challenging him to do, and I just got done talking to him, so it’s amazing you asked the question,” Golden explained. "I just wanted to go over there and recognize and thank him for being more vocal; for taking more control. That’s been the challenge and he’s reached a comfort level now where he’s doing that.

"You can’t be a great safety without being verbal and demonstrative and being in command," continued Goldeon. "You don’t always make the right decision, but if you’re decisive and you’re loud and we’re all playing the same thing, so be it. We can fix that. We can’t fix when nine guys are playing one thing and two are playing another. (Safeties coach Chris O’Leary) has been doing a great job with him.”

Jaden Mickey

Like any defensive back, especially a freshman, cornerback Jaden Mickey had his ups and downs this season. Late season injuries to Cam Hart and TaRiq Bracy gave the freshman his first career start against USC to go with more experience throughout the season.

"I just think he’s gained a lot of valuable experience,” said the Irish defensive coordinator. “We love Mick. Again, he’s a competitor, he’s resilient, he’ll find a way. The last game obviously was a great challenge, and they made some plays and those types of things, but you’ve just got to keep maturing and competing and learning. These guys are just at the start of the journey. So for me, I would recruit Mickey every year and I’m excited about his future here. Tthe type of young man he is and the competitor and how he learns and his versatility being able to play nickel, or whatever the case may be.”

Clarence Lewis’s Options

Hart will miss the Gator Bowl due to a shoulder injury. With Bracy back at nickel and Benjamin Morrison at boundary corner, does that mean Clarence Lewis is at field corner? Well, maybe, but Lewis can do a lot of things for the Irish secondary.

"He could do that, and he could also play some nickel,” Golden said of Lewis’s prospects. "We’re not really locked in right now. We’re really just trying to get better. It’s been very basic and again, I was pleased with our effort. When the guys come over in the middle of exams or reading days and they have that kind of effort and competing and they’re getting better, like that was fun today. That was fun to watch them execute just a little piece of the game plan. We don’t have the whole thing in, but just a little piece and do it as well as they did was fun.”

Ramon Henderson

Ramon Henderson showed versatility as the season went on. The safety showed some of his best play closer to the line of scrimmage, including nickel.

"I think he could be a hybrid guy for us; a guy that could play inside or outside for us,” Golden said of Henderson. "Our field safety and boundary corner are very similar, very similar. Then the nickel is really, we can go any way we want to go with it. (Bracy) was really good this year, so we need to find guys that are ready to replace (him). Now, Ramon brings some different things now. He brings a little bit more size. So obviously, the more guys you can develop into that position the better you are for the long run. So we’re hoping that he can develop there for us.”

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