What We Learned About The Notre Dame Defense This Spring

Now that spring is in the rearview let's look at what we learned about the Notre Dame defense

Author:
Bryan Driskell
Publish date:
May 9, 2021 9:00 AM EDT

Notre Dame has gone 33-5 the last three seasons, and the Fighting Irish defense has fueled that success. Things will look different in 2021 now that there is a new man in charge of that unit. Marcus Freeman is now running the defense, and expectations remain high for his unit.

As is the case with every team this time of the year, there are still plenty of questions and things that must get worked out, but now that the spring is behind us we can focus on the things we learned about that unit.

Below are the positives we learned about the defense from the spring practices and the Blue-Gold Game.

1. Freeman Has Already Put His DNA On The Defense — It can be challenging to make a lot of changes when you’re replacing a coach who had the success that Clark Lea had at Notre Dame, but Freeman has toed that line extremely well. There are certainly carryovers from what existed before, but Freeman quickly put his stamp on this defense.

We saw a lot of base defense variety from the front seven alignments, with Notre Dame already showing an intriguing blend between four-down and three-down looks. Freeman’s aggressive pressure packages were on display all spring, and it factored into the dominance the unit showed in the Blue-Gold Game.

Notre Dame is playing a lot more man coverage than we saw in the past, which is another Freeman staple.

2. Defensive Line Seems To Be As Good As Advertised — We’ll find out in the fall if the dominance we saw from the front was about how good that unit is, or if it’s how bad the offensive line is, or perhaps its a combination of both.

What we saw all spring was the front four absolutely dominating the offense. We didn’t know if that was just a highlights thing, but what we saw in the highlights is also what we saw in the Blue-Gold Game. The front four spent much of the game in the backfield, and Notre Dame threw waves of defenders at the offense.

Veteran Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa is slimmed down, and he was impressive in the Blue-Gold Game and late spring practices. His burst off the edge was impressive and he was stout against the run. Isaiah Foskey and Jordan Botelho wreaked havoc off the edge and both Jayson and Justin Ademilola had strong springs.

Notre Dame’s depth up front - and in the front seven as a whole - is impressive. We didn’t even see Jacob Lacey - who sat out the spring while recovering from an injury - and we didn’t see much of Gabriel Rubio. The depth will look even better in the fall.

3. Jack Kiser Made A Smooth Transition To Rover — Replacing unanimous All-American Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah will be incredibly difficult, but rising junior Jack Kiser did his best to fill that huge void. Kiser spent the 2020 season playing inside, but the arrival of Freeman and the departure of Owusu-Koramoah opened up an opportunity for him to move outside.

Kiser made a lot of plays in highlights, especially in coverage, and we saw that in the Blue-Gold Game as well. His range in space is impressive, he’s natural in coverage and when he keeps things in front of him the Indiana native shows the ability to explode to the football.

There wasn’t as much blitzing from the rover position in the Blue-Gold Game, but from a run defense and coverage standpoint it appears Notre Dame is going to still be in very good hands at that position.

4. Cornerback Depth Chart Took A Big Step Forward — Of course there still is a lot to prove at cornerback, but I feel a whole lot better about that position now than I did when the spring began.

Senior TaRiq Bracy flashed on the highlights and Freeman praised his spring play. He used the word consistent to describe Bracy, which is vitally important for him. Bracy played quite well in the spring game, both in coverage and in the run game.

Boundary corner Cam Hart got beat on the first play of the Blue-Gold Game, but he was in good position. Hart played extremely well after that, and he looked incredibly comfortable playing on the perimeter. His footwork looked vastly improved, his route recognition was impressive and Hart’s transitions were impressive for a big man.

Sophomore Clarence Lewis was steady, and Brian Kelly praised the play of sophomore Ramon Henderson. We didn’t get to see much of freshman Ryan Barnes in practice clips, but he was outstanding in the Blue-Gold Game, locking down veteran Joe Wilkins Jr.

What We Learned About The Notre Dame Defense This Spring

Notre Dame Defense Is Showing Aggressive Flexibility In Early Spring Practices

Notre Dame Defense Already Looking Different

Justin Ademilola Doesn't Plan On Being Overlooked Anymore

TaRiq Bracy And Consistency Being Used Together Is A Great Sign For Notre Dame

Shayne Simon Could Be The Biggest Beneficiary Of The Notre Dame Scheme Change

Notre Dame 2021 Spring Football Roster

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