SOUTH BEND — Al Golden didn’t want to make any bold proclamations.

Even if Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator thought the Irish could have one of the best defenses in college football this season, four practices into preseason camp was too soon to reveal his confidence. That didn’t mean that Golden couldn’t acknowledge the makeup of Notre Dame’s defense that could make it great.

“It's really a function of how well we execute,” Golden said Monday. “We're talented. We have depth. We have leadership. That's a great starting point on practice four.

“But we have a bunch of installs coming up before we get into game week.”

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That game will present Notre Dame’s defense plenty of challenges. In the season opener at Ohio State on Sept. 3, the Irish will attempt to slow down the offense that finished first in the FBS last season in total offense (561.5 yards per game) and scoring offense (45.7 points per game). The Buckeyes will return with quarterback CJ Stroud, running back TreVeyon Henderson and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba ready to build upon last year.

Notre Dame will counter with a veteran defense led by defensive end Isaiah Foskey, linebacker Jack Kiser and cornerback Cam Hart. The Irish have experience at every level of the defense, which should allow Golden to introduce a multiple of schemes.

“The thing that I'm most excited about is it's a group that wants to be empowered, that wants to do it on the field, that wants to communicate on the field,” Golden said. “Great things can happen when you have that kind of group. Even (Monday), some of the problem-solving on the field was awesome. It was awesome to see.”

Golden kept insisting how blessed he is to lead a defense with interchangeable parts and smart players. The linebacker group, which Golden coaches with the help of graduate assistant James Laurinaitis, has created a collaborative effort. The quartet of graduate senior Bo Bauer and seniors Marist Liufau, JD Bertrand and Kiser have now played for three different defensive coordinators: Clark Lea, Marcus Freeman and Golden.

“They'll say something and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, that's a great idea.’ That kind of thing,” Golden said. “You're almost like riffing with them, because they've been through it and they're a smart group.”

WATCH HIGHLIGHTS FROM MONDAY'S PRACTICE BELOW

The latest trend in Notre Dame’s preseason camp is extra protection.

Several Irish players have opted to wear Guardian Caps, soft shells that cover helmets designed to reduce the contact absorbed and prevent concussions. Imagine a mattress pad wrapped around a helmet.

The NFL has required offensive linemen, defensive linemen, tight ends and linebackers to wear Guardian Camps for the early part of training camps this year. Notre Dame made the caps available and let players decide if they wanted to wear them.

Most of the Notre Dame players wearing the caps are either linebackers or defensive linemen. The Irish hadn’t progressed into full pads until Tuesday, so the caps hadn’t seen many big collisions yet.

“The only thing that I’ve really noticed is that it's hot,” Kiser said. “It gets hot. It gets hot fast. But if there's any type of research out there that says this is going to help me long term, why not give it a try?”

Golden didn’t guide the defenders on whether or not to wear the Guardian Caps, but he’s supportive of any measures that help keep the players safe.

“I'm glad that they're doing it,” Golden said. “If it adds protection, especially this time of year — I don't know if they’ll need them in season, because there's not as much (hitting). Really you're not hitting on Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday.

“But this time of year, when you might have four days in a row, it's a good precaution. The repetitive hits are the one thing that's kind of innocuous. We have to be careful of that. It's not always just a trauma. It's the repetitive hits.

“I know from a linebacker standpoint — and James too — those are the ones that we try to eliminate happening every day as much as we can. The Guardians help in that standpoint.”

In his first two seasons at Notre Dame, Jordan Botelho couldn’t find much stability in a specific position on defense. That might be the case again in his junior season.

Golden sees Botelho as someone who can bounce between vyper end and linebacker. The key is putting Botelho in positions to succeed.

“We’re making sure that we’re giving him opportunities to do the things that he does best,” Golden said. “And Jordan is a guy who’s played a number of positions. That’s not a negative. That’s a positive.

"The positive is that he can play a number of positions, so we’re really hoping to push him here the next two weeks. To challenge him, whether it’s playing linebacker or rushing the passer or whatever it may be.”

Golden compared the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Botelho to Liufau as someone who can play linebacker off the ball on first down and rush the passer off the edge on third down. Botelho totaled 18 tackles, three tackles for a loss and two sacks in 11 games last season.

“I’m really excited about Jordan,” Golden said. “He had a great summer. He came back really strong, a little bit bigger.”

No freshman on Notre Dame’s 2022 roster was ranked higher by Rivals in the 2022 class than Jaylen Sneed. The product of Hilton Head, S.C., finished the recruiting cycle as the No. 4 outside linebacker and No. 46 overall in the class.

That doesn’t mean Sneed will jump to the front of the line of young linebackers trying to crack the four-man rotation of Kiser, Bertrand, Liufau and Bauer. He has plenty to learn while developing his body. The 6-1, 215-pound Sneed has added 17 pounds since enrolling in January.

“I have a lot of excitement about Jaylen Sneed,” Golden said. “He’s very, very talented. And if he can continue to develop and just submit to the process of just learning every day and improving every day and get some consistency, it’s going to be really good.

“I’m really, really excited about him as a student-athlete. And he’s physical. He's fast. He’s fun to be around. He just has to catch the guys that are in front of him, those guys with so much experience.

“Those guys are trying to mentor him and help him. Hopefully, we can keep getting him to keep going down that same path.”

• Add Golden to the list of defensive coaches who’ve been impressed by the way Howard Cross III uses his hands. Golden jokingly called the senior nose tackle “Fast Hands Howard.”

“He's done a great job with his get-off and getting his hands on the opponent,” Golden said. “I wasn’t here last year, but he’s 276, so he’s not significantly bigger, but he’s definitely bigger and stronger than he was a year ago.

“And that’s showing up. His ability to sit in there and take on a double is showing up.

“He’s always had the ability to move. And he’s great at that. So, we want to continue to allow him to do that, because he’s got quickness. But his ability to sit on there and play a double is definitely improving.

• Harvard graduate transfer Chris Smith had to wait until this summer to join Notre Dame’s roster. He’s been primarily asked to play nose tackle and has made the most of his early reps.

“He's playing with good pad level, he’s really strong,” Golden said. “He's really a good anchor in there and wonderful kid.”

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