Kelly: Notre Dame To Mix Personnel To Get Pressure On Texas
Can Notre Dame pressure the quarterback Sunday night?
The Irish will do all they can to make life tough on Texas quarterbacks Shane Buechele and Tyrone Swoopes, and Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said the most consistent player to do that will probably be senior strongside defensive end Isaac Rochell.
“He's been very difficult to handle one-on-one, and that's across the board from all of our players,” Kelly said of Rochell this week. When I say ‘all of our players,’ all five guys up front. Individually at times when (senior defensive tackle) Jarron Jones is on, boy, he's a handful inside because of his physicality. But I would say Isaac Rochell.”
Rochell finished with 3.5 sacks in 2015, while Jones missed the entire regular-season with a torn ACL. In 2014, Jones had 1.5 sacks.
The weakside end position lists junior Andrew Trumbetti atop the depth chart, followed by co-backups Daelin Hayes and Jay Hayes. Kelly said Trumbetti won the top spot partially because Jay Hayes missed “five or six” days of practice with a high ankle sprain.
Those players will attempt to match or surpass what Romeo Okwara, last year’s weakside end, did for the Irish. Okwara led the team with eight sacks in 2015.
Kelly said in college football today, first and second down are primarily base defenses — in Notre Dame’s case a 4-3 scheme. On third down, however, the Irish can get into its sub-packages.
That’s when Kelly said Notre Dame can switch personnel and put more pass rushers on the field.
“So people are going to be moving around,” Kelly said. “You'll have different position groups. You'll have different personnel on the field. And that's really to try to take advantage of some of the guys that maybe wouldn't be as effective on first and second down, but can provide you one-dimensional advantage, and that is the pass rush.”
Notre Dame finished the 2015 season ranked 79th in the country with 1.85 sacks per game. Texas, which is moving to an uptempo spread scheme, returns 49 offensive line starts from a 2015 unit that allowed 2.67 sacks per game, which ranked 102nd in FBS.
Notre Dame recorded 54 quarterback hurries in 2015, led by Sheldon Day's 13. Thirteen players had at least one.
For a player like freshmen defensive end Daelin Hayes, Sunday’s game doesn’t carry huge expectations.
Like all freshmen, Hayes will have to control his emotions and play within himself, Kelly said.
“Daelin hasn't played a lot of football over the last year and a half,” said Kelly, referring to the multiple shoulder injuries that have plagued the Ann Arbor, Mich., native the past several years. “So settle into the game, get lined up right. Don't jump offsides. You know? Put your jersey on the right way. Just settle into the game.”
Hayes might be Notre Dame’s best pure pass rusher, possessing traits that no other Irish player has. At 6-foot-3 ½ and 250 pounds, he already looks the part.
“We're not asking him to change the complexion of the game, but just to get into the flow of the game,” Kelly said. “And I think if he does a good job of settling down and getting into the flow of the game, I think he'll have some success. But really not asking too much early on and then get into the flow of the game.”
Kelly also said that two other pass-rush specialists will travel to Texas.
Freshmen Julian Okwara — a 6-foot-3 ½, 228-pound weakside defensive end — and 6-2 ½, 225-pound Sam linebacker Jamir Jones are part of a “half-dozen” players that can help the Irish get to the quarterback, Kelly said.
“(They’re traveling) because we think they've got some skills that can help us in pass rush,” Kelly said.
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