Notre Dame's Defensive Backfield In Motion
In September, it was Notre Dame’s offense that saw its backfield in motion.
Injuries to junior starter Jafar Armstrong (abdominal surgery) and sophomore Jahmir Smith (turf toe) necessitated some contingency options. This included shifting junior cornerback Avery Davis to running back and using wideouts such as fifth-year senior Chris Finke and sophomore Lawrence Keys III on jet sweeps or shovel passes.
In October, the attention turned to the defense having its own backfield in motion.
When fifth-year senior cornerback Shaun Crawford dislocated his elbow while also tearing four ligaments in it against Virginia Sept. 28 — but now projected to return for the Oct. 26 Michigan game, per head coach Brian Kelly — it set off a chain reaction.
First, freshman wide receiver Cam Hart was shifted to cornerback, where he was inserted for the final series in the 52-0 blowout of Bowling Green Oct. 5. He is listed as the No. 2 boundary cornerback (behind senior Troy Pride Jr.) for the USC game tomorrow.
Second, with Hart at his new position, sophomore Houston Griffith was aligned back at his more natural safety position, where he and freshman standout Kyle Hamilton will be projected to start in 2020 after current captains Jalen Elliott and Alohi Gilman try to earn a spot in the NFL.
Third, it keeps in place the plan to redshirt current senior cornerback Donte Vaughn in 2019 so that he can provide some more experience at the position as a fifth-year senior in 2020.
HEART-TO-HART
The move of Hart does not come as a surprise.
While most skill-position recruits coming out of high school often prefer the glamour of offense, the 6-2½, 208-pound Hart was thinking more long term when he signed with Notre Dame in the 2019 cycle.
“There aren’t a lot of 6-3 corners out there that can move,” Hart told Blueandgold.com last winter. “I thought, ‘Where am I going to make my money, playing DB or receiver?’
“… If I can find a DB coach that can teach me how to move and I can be proficient at that position, then of course I’m going to play DB and make however much money in the NFL.
“I was just trying to figure out how I can make my game different. Plus, I always loved playing cornerback. I can be physical, I can do whatever I want whenever I want, and I have complete control over how my game goes. I don’t have to worry about the offensive tackle not blocking or the quarterback not putting it in the right spot. I have complete control over how I play.”
So when Kelly, defensive coordinator Clark Lea, cornerbacks coach Todd Lyght and defensive pass game coordinator/safeties coach Terry Joseph approached Hart about the switch, it was an easy sell.
“We’re suggesting in most of these instances what maybe is the best interest of the individual, whether it’s redshirting or coming back or changing a position,” Kelly said. “In this instance, we were suggesting to Cam it may be in his best interest to play corner.
“Now, if he balked totally and said, ‘That’s not for me, that’s not what I want to do, that doesn’t sound right to me,’ we would have maybe had a subsequent conversation to lay out to him why we thought that.”
The shift was not done haphazardly. Cornerbacks with Hart’s size are rare (although Vaughn is 6-2¾, 212) because the position requires tremendous fluidity and ability to flip one’s hips, not the easiest task for rangier players — which is why the 6-4 Hamilton remains a classic center fielder at safety as opposed to playing corner.
“Balance, agility, change of direction, the ability for somebody long to transition from back pedal,” Kelly replied when asked what the staff saw from Hart to make the change. “Because that’s the biggest thing — how you can flip your hips and then break out of your back pedal on the football.
“And then there has to be a natural kind of easy movement in doing so. And there was a lot of ease to that movement, those transitions.”
Should he be required to play this year, though, the defensive concepts for him would have to be elementary.
“He’s far from being in a position where we feel like he can go out there and handle it by himself,” Kelly said. “We would have to be very limited in what we’re doing. But so far so good.”
WHAT ABOUT VAUGHN?
Because of the injury to Crawford, 5-10, 170-pound sophomore and California native TaRiq Bracy, playing opposite Pride, took almost all of the snaps versus Bowling Green (66 of a possible 69).
Conspicuous in his absence versus the Falcons was senior Donte Vaughn, who had a strong first two weeks of preseason camp before getting beaten out by the veteran Crawford, who likewise was coming back from major surgery and had missed the spring.
Prior to the meeting with USC Oct. 12, Vaughn has appeared in three games. Thus, the plan was he would be the third corner in versus USC — and then not play him the rest of the season. Appearing in a fifth game would not allow him to apply for a fifth season in 2020.
“We want to be very strategic as we move forward with that fourth game,” Kelly said. “… We’re not going to play him unless we absolutely have to put him on the field.”
As for Griffith, the plan is to keep him at safety for the long term.
“We need him at safety and playing inside for us,” Kelly said. “We would not be doing him a service if we are moving him outside.”
And just in case the freshmen have to play against USC's prolific pass-catching corps …
“We’ll have to be creative in coverages and make sure we put our younger players, if in fact they’re called on, in a position to succeed,” Kelly noted.
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