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Clark Lea & Notre Dame Spring Practice: Part II

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The return of Te'von Coney (4) and Drue Tranquill (23) in 2018 provides a huge lift to new defensive coordinator Clark Lea.
The return of Te'von Coney (4) and Drue Tranquill (23) in 2018 provides a huge lift to new defensive coordinator Clark Lea. (Bill Panzica)
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The 2018 Notre Dame defense might boast the most unique combination in the country when it comes to balancing the old with the new.

There is not a defense in the nation that boasts more returning experience with 10 of the 11 starters coming back — plus nine of the 11 backups from 2017 also having seen extensive action. As mentioned several times on this site, one has to go back to the 1977 national champs, which returned all 11 starters, to find a Fighting Irish defense with so much returning on the two deep. The examples of the quality depth include:

• Now eligible to play after transferring, safety Alohi Gilman started 12 games as a safety at Navy in 2016 where he was second in tackles (76), including a career high 12 in a win versus Notre Dame.

• In two-platoon football history, this might be the first time ever the Fighting Irish have five different cornerbacks with starting experience, led by All-America candidate Julian Love, second nationally last year in passes defensed (23) and broken up (20).

• The entire front four returns, led by three-year starter Jerry Tillery and former five-star recruit Daelin Hayes to supplement the fifth-year tandem of Jay Hayes and Jonathan Bonner.

Moreover, 2017 freshman tackles Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and Kurt Hinish are back after combining for more than 500 snaps last season. One reserve sophomore end, Julian Okwara, was second on the team in QB hurries (7) and the other, Khalid Kareem, a former Alabama commit, was tied for third (6), and they combined for 10 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.

Inheriting this outfit that finished No. 20 last year in the Fremeau Efficiency Index is 30-something first-year and first-time defensive coordinator Clark Lea, a 2004 Vanderbilt graduate whose soft-spoken eloquence, humility and passion to thrive were highlighted in Part I.

Nothing enhanced the optimism about the 2018 defense more than the return of top lineman Tillery and leading tackler/linebacker Te’von Coney, both of whom had submitted their name into the NFL evaluation process. Furthermore, despite receiving his engineering degree and scheduled for marriage in July, rover/captain Drue Tranquill also was hungry for one more go-round with the Irish.

The return of that trio and their delayed gratification could be to the 2018 defense what the return of Mike McGlinchey and Quenton Nelson was in 2017.

“It’s a huge blessing for me and an absolute testament to Coach [Brian] Kelly and the program he’s built,” Lea said. “This has become standard now — returning experienced players who have NFL careers in front of them. They believe in what he’s doing and his vision for the program, and they know that extra year in his system is going to pay dividends for them long term.”

Under the tutelage of Lea, there might not have been two more improved players on the 2017 Irish team than Tranquill and Coney, who became playmakers.

Coney not only led the team in tackles (116) but also stops for lost yardage (13), quite an upgrade from his previous year totals of 62 and 1.5, respectively. Shifting from safety, Tranquill blossomed at rover, finishing third in tackles (85), second in tackles for loss (10.5) and first in fumbles recovered (three). This year he will shift to Buck while Coney is likely to take over full-time at Mike, where the graduating Nyles Morgan played last year.

“You can’t put value on it,” said Lea of the return of Coney and Tranquill. “They not only have the experience factor, they’re both really special players and special people. They are going to be leaned upon and their examples are going to be the model. I’m excited for them to have that burden of responsibility with their teammates' eyes on them.

“When I see them now in the weight room or in the hallway, they both have this look in their eye where they’re anxious to go to work every day.”

From the outside looking in, it might be perceived that shifting Tranquill again might be adjusting something not broken, but Lea and the staff envision the best yet to come for him, especially becoming freer to use his skill set.

“He has one year experience playing at the second level, so there’s a broad spectrum of things he’s going to enhance in little ways,” Lea said. “He’s an engineer by trade, so [he’s] getting to release some of the rule-driven thought process and getting to think big picture and allowing him to harness that athleticism and that skill and go play. That’s something we’ll be working this time of the year.”

Another aspect that will be honed is the fast twitch needed to play linebacker.

“The mechanics of being a good blitzer, understanding the blitz track, executing that blitz track and winning in a pass-rush scenario,” summarized Lea.

“He’s an analytical mind, [but] I don’t think you watched him play [in 2017] and said, ‘That guy is getting in his own way.’ He cut loose. … The broader concept will give him a better frame of reference.”

The primary question marks on defense for now are filling the rover spot and bolstering the depth at linebacker. Lea will have a chance to do that during spring drills, which begin March 6, because three of the four linebackers signed this year enrolled in January: Matthew Bauer and Jack Lamb on the inside and Ovie Oghoufo at Buck and maybe even Rover.

“He has been a run-and-hit player in high school,” said Lea of Oghoufo. “His best defense has been played kind of alley to alley on the move. I’ve got to help him with the mechanics of playing in the box every down, how you attack gaps — but I know he can run and hit.”

With Bauer and Lamb, the roles will be more defined.

“Those guys are natural, interior inside linebackers that, at a certain point, both positions are interchangeable,” Lea stated. “You just kind of see, ‘Hey, what can they handle early and where are the needs on the depth chart as we get through the spring, and plug them in accordingly.’”

The lone linebacker recruit who did not enroll early is Shayne Simon, but seeing action in 2018 could be in the cards for him.

“Incredible athlete and better person,” said Lea of Simon. “A safety in high school that has played some field overhang that I think is a natural fit at the rover position. He’ll get his first reps there and then we’ll see how he grows and develops from there, but I think that’s a great fit for him.

“In the course of spring we’ll take a look at different options and by the time we wrap up spring have a great idea of what the depth chart will look like in the fall.”

Either way, it will be difficult for any FBS defense to top the combination of experience and depth returning.

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