SOUTH BEND, Ind. — After earning a degree in business administration and business analytics by the end of his junior year and tacking on a Master’s in accounting in his fourth, Notre Dame linebacker Jack Kiser took on a new cerebral pursuit this summer.
Majoring in football.
With no classes from mid-May until Aug. 22, and three non-degree-seeking courses to navigate during what he purports to be his fifth and final Notre Dame football season this fall, Kiser’s on-field progress this spring and summer has mirrored the 3.815 GPA he’s cumulatively logged in the classroom.
And his expanded role in coordinator Al Golden’s evolving defensive scheme is just the beginning, it would seem.
“For once I can be a professional football player in a sense,” the former Indiana Mr. Football and two-time state champion at Royal Center (Ind.) Pioneer High School said. “Very excited for that. I’m super-proud of what I’ve done in the classroom, but now it’s 100 percent focus on the field, and it’s going to be awesome. I don’t have to find that balance anymore.”
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What he did find was a way to finally work his way to an inside linebacker role that plays more to his strengths, in part by muscling up from 223 pounds to 232 on his 6-foot-2 frame, while winning roles in some of the niche packages in his more familiar outside linebacker experience.
What that might look like in the context of the entire linebacking corps in 2023, and year 2 of the Al Golden regime, is more flexibility in roles among experienced veterans Kiser, JD Bertrand and Marist Liufau, and more rotation with their high-ceiling backups — sophomores Nolan Ziegler and Jaylen Sneed, and the freshman contingent led by another Indiana Mr. Football, Drayk Bowen.
“We’ve got to play with consistency and attack the football,” Kiser said of the linebacking corps. “And I think that’s defense-wide. At the start of last year, we took forever to get our first turnover. And I think you could really feel that on the field.
“Like we were playing decent ball, but there were times where we needed to step up. And we couldn’t just get that big game-changing play. I think that really starts with the linebackers. It really does.
“You see the best defenses across the country, the linebackers are wreaking havoc on every down. So, that’s got to be something we do.”
Notre Dame ranked an impressive 21st last season in total defense, but was flawed in certain areas that contributed to some of its four losses. The lack of forced turnovers was one of them.
The Irish finished with 15 takeaways, good for only 98th out of 131 FBS teams nationally in 2022 after ranking 10th in 2021 with now-head coach Marcus Freeman serving as defensive coordinator.
Five of those 15 came in one game, on Senior Day in the snow against Boston College in late November. Notre Dame didn’t get its first takeaway until game 4, at North Carolina, and didn’t get its third until game 7 against UNLV.
“I feel like we have a lot of diversity, and we can get in and out of things really well without changing personnel,” Kiser said of the way Golden went about addressing that and the other defensive deficits this offseason.
“And I think that’s a big deal. We can give three different looks on three different plays that are vastly different, multiple fronts and whatnot. And I think that’s really hard for an offense to be able to comprehend and game-plan for.
“And then I think, as a mentality, we take pride in taking away the go-to guy. And we did really well with that last year, and we can get better with that. And so, the scheme, we can improve what we have, enhance what we do, and I think we can be a really great defense.”
Kiser has always been a productive part of Notre Dame’s defenses regardless of scheme. In 2020, with 129 snaps, he ranked eighth among Irish defenders in Pro Football Focus’ grading system among players who saw action on defense in more than three games.
In 2021, with 398 snaps, he was ND’s No. 2-ranked defender, behind only eventual 2023 second-round NFL Draft pick Isaiah Foskey.
Last season, he was ND’s No. 3 defender, behind freshman All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison and nose guard Howard Cross. He ranked second on the team in tackles (58) behind only Bertrand (82), and garnered PFF’s top grade for pass rush on a team that included the program’s career sack leader, in Foskey.
And Kiser had more tackles than Liufau (58 to 51), more tackles for loss (5.5 to 4.5) and sacks (2.5 to 0.5), despite playing roughly half the snaps (336 to 646). But when the Irish went to its nickel package, which it was in more than its base in 2022, it was Kiser — not Liufau — who came off the field.
“There were times last year when there was frustration,” Kiser said. “At the end of the day, if you’re a competitor, you want to be on the field at all times. And so, I think it made for more of an emphasis for me this offseason to make sure, ‘Hey, I don’t want to be the guy being taken off the field. I’m going to make sure I do everything possible where I don’t have to be.’
“And then get up my weight, prove that I can play in the box and make the same reads, but still be the same outside player I’ve always been. And so, I think that’s been a big emphasis for me. At the end of the day when it’s [a] two-minute [drill] in the fourth quarter against Ohio State, I want to be out on the field.”
The Buckeyes visit Notre Dame Stadium in game 5, on Sept. 23. The Irish first must deal with the funk of Navy’s unconventional triple-option in the Aug. 26 season opener in Ireland. But inclusive of the Midshipmen, ND doesn’t face a team that ranked higher than 84th nationally in total offense until Ohio State rolls into town. The Buckeyes were ninth in total offense in 2022 and second nationally in scoring (44.2 ppg).
Kiser wasn’t able to showcase how he might be a part of an improved Irish defense in the April 22 Blue-Gold Game, because he had suffered a broken toe the weekend before in a closed scrimmage. The injury lingered until summer school started in June, but then Kiser put his plan in place to expand his role.
All the while bringing the young linebackers along on his journey.
“Like if we’re going to watch extra film, they’re right there,” Kiser said. “When we’re staying after [practice] doing extra drills, they want to be involved in it. So, they’re really a sponge, soaking everything up from us. And I think they’re very fortunate for that. And they’re in a really unique position.”
Kiser has always felt starting as an outside linebacker in college and eventually moving inside was his natural evolution, even with playing in three different systems for three different defensive coordinators in 2020, 2021 and 2022. And he pointed to the blueprint former Irish safety/rover/inside linebacker Drue Tranquill had set.
It just took a little longer that he planned to have a chance to compete at his most natural position, And now that it’s here, Kiser approaches it with the same hunger and lack of entitlement he always has.
“My mindset every year is that I’ve got to come out in training camp and prove that I belong and earn a spot,” he said. “And so, every year it’s been the case so far, and I really think it keeps my mind sharp and my body into it.”
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