Key Camp Questions For The Notre Dame Defense
Notre Dame hits the field on Sunday for the first practice of the 2019 season. The Fighting Irish are a preseason Top 10 team, but like everyone else in college football there are questions that must be addressed if the squad is going to reach its full potential.
Yesterday we discussed the key questions for the Irish offense, and today we focus on the defense.
1. Will the top players keep thriving?
There is an assumption that Notre Dame will build its 2019 defense around proven standouts like defensive ends Julian Okwara, Khalid Kareem and Daelin Hayes, and veterans defensive backs Alohi Gilman, Jalen Elliott and Troy Pride Jr. The reason for that is because that’s what good teams do, they build around their most talented and proven players, and all of those defenders were integral parts of a defense that ranked 10th in efficiency according to the S&P+.
If Notre Dame is going to repeat that level of success it needs all of those veterans to at the very least repeat their 2018 performance, and ideally at least three will make another jump in production and impact production. The veterans must set a daily example for how to prepare, how to work, the effort needed to thrive and then set the playmaking example that the younger players and new starters must meet.
2. Can the talent at defensive tackle overcome the unit’s youth?
If we are just talking pure talent and ability, the Notre Dame defensive tackle depth chart is arguably as good as its been during the Brian Kelly tenure in South Bend. Five of the six scholarship defensive tackles were ranked as four-star recruits by at least one service, and the group has a lot of athletic talent and playmaking potential. Notre Dame has six players at the position with the raw ability to be starters in the Irish defense.
The rub, however, is that four of those six players are in their first or second seasons in college, and another – junior Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa – missed all but two games of last season with an injury. Notre Dame must get good production and consistent play from its interior players, but for that to happen it must depend on a lot of young and inexperienced players.
How close the group can close the gap between what it is and what it can be from a potential standpoint will go a very, very long way towards determining how good the entire defense will perform. Camp will start to vet that out, as the interior defenders will battle a big, experienced and talented group of interior blockers.
3. Who steps up at linebacker and rover?
There is no position on the Irish roster that faces more questions heading into fall camp than does linebacker. There is a combined one career start coming back by players at the position they are currently playing. It’s an incredibly young and inexperienced roster, but it’s also talented.
Twelve of Notre Dame’s 13 scholarship linebackers/rovers were ranked as four-star recruits by at least one service; three were ranked as Top 100 recruits and nine were ranked as Top 250 recruits. That means no matter how the depth chart shakes out, Notre Dame will have at least three Top 250 recruits sitting on the third team.
Having talent up the middle of the defense is great, but right now that is negated by the extreme youth Notre Dame has up the middle on the first two levels. When you look at teams like Georgia, Michigan, Stanford and USC on the schedule it can create some nervous feelings when looking at so much inexperience.
Does the light go on for fifth-year senior Asmar Bilal? Can sophomore Jack Lamb stay healthy and continue building on his strong spring? Can Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah – an athletic freak – improve his game and become a playmaker on defense? Does Shayne Simon start to tap into his immense potential? Can Drew White stay healthy and provide good play in the middle? Will guys like Jordan Genmark Heath, Bo Bauer, Jon Jones and other talented players force their way onto the field?
The more those answers get questions in a positive fashion during camp the better things will be for the Irish defense in 2019.
4. How effective will all the cornerbacks not named Troy Pride perform?
We know who one starter will be at cornerback, but where he eventually lines up will largely be determined by who joins him in the lineup. Pride has the talent to thrive in the boundary or the field, but there are questions everywhere else.
In a common theme, Notre Dame has talent at the position with the return of Donte Vaughn, Houston Griffith and TaRiq Bracy, but Vaughn has struggled to stay healthy and Griffith and Bracy still have much to prove. At least two of those “other” corners must step up and give strong play this season, but the ideal scenario is that all three can stay healthy and play to their full potential.
5. Can the run defense make improvements?
This question is tied into the first three. Notre Dame absolutely must get better against the run this season. It was solid last season, but to take the next step as a program the Irish must be able to make more plays against the run and be more effective shutting down that part of the opposition game plan.
If questions two and three are answered in positive fashion then we’ll see this part of the defense improve.
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