Notre Dame's Shaun Crawford Looking To Crack Starting Lineup

SOUTH BEND — Shaun Crawford said his goal was never to get back for the Sept. 4 season-opener against Texas.

No, that would require the 5-foot-8 ½, 185-pound cornerback to look too far into the future, a practice which was discouraged during his rehab back from a torn ACL.

“I can’t even tell you when I was really cleared,” said Crawford, a sophomore who preserved a year of eligibility after suffering the injury on Aug. 19, 2015. “In my mind it was like I still had to go to rehab. I’m still going to rehab now. It’s just a long process. I think about it every day.”

Crawford no longer wears the bulky knee brace he sported during spring practice. He said those 15 practices were important from a mental standpoint.

“With spring ball I was really unsure, I didn’t know if my knee was strong enough to go, I didn’t know if I was ready or back to my old self,” Crawford said. “...I was running around and a little hesitant at some things, jumping, landing, cutting, but I feel great now.”

That’s good news for a Notre Dame defense that will likely need production from the former St. Edward (Ohio) High School standout.

Through six practices, Irish defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder has rotated cornerbacks opposite starter Cole Luke. The candidates for playing time figure to be Crawford and junior Nick Watkins, while Crawford could also see playing time in Notre Dame’s nickel package.

Nickel was where Crawford was supposed to shine as a freshman. Before he was sidelined a year ago, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly had already anointed Crawford as the team’s starting nickelback entering the 2015 opener against Texas.

“I didn’t expect anything like that to happen, I’ve never had a major injury,” said Crawford, who made 91 tackles and had seven interceptions as a prep senior. “Going through that was really tough for me. I had to rely on my faith and my family really.

“It was tough because I had to take a step back. I was on such a high, like cloud nine going into Texas and getting ready to play, all my friends were going to watch, and then I’m out for the season.”

Kelly again expects Crawford to be a contributor, whether that’s at the left cornerback spot or at nickel, a position Crawford played in high school and picked up quickly once he got to college.

“We're going to play Shaun Crawford as much as we can and if we've got to play him at corner and then move him in and then bring somebody else on the field; we think we have great depth at that position,” Kelly said.

Battling for playing time at nickel and corner has its difficulties, Crawford said. Rotating between the spots means defending bigger receivers at corner and smaller slot receivers at nickel, which requires different techniques, he said.

Crawford said defensive backs coach Todd Lyght and new defensive analyst Jeff Burris, a former Notre Dame All-America safety, have helped.

“I think we’re all great,” Crawford said of the defensive backs. “We all play physical and we all play with great effort. I guess I have a certain trait (playing nickel), but I wouldn’t say I’m one of the best, I’d say we’re all great and I just fit that puzzle that we’re trying to play on defense.”

With playing time up for grabs in both the secondary and at the receiver positions, the one-on-one drills have been particularly intense this preseason, Crawford said. Gone is KeiVarae Russell, a starter at cornerback last season. Last year’s top receiver, Will Fuller, is also now in the NFL, which means a young group of wideouts to challenge the defensive backs.

That competition is where Crawford thrives, he said.

“That’s going to be the environment come Texas,” Crawford said. “It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be loud, it’s going to be packed. We’re getting ready for that. We all know we have to compete for a starting job, and we have to compete to keep that job.”

The former four-star prospect — the highest-ranked cornerback of the Kelly era, according to Rivals ratings — said he hasn’t made a play or had a moment where he knows he’s back to pre-injury form.

He’s still waiting for the “jaw-dropper.”

“Maybe I’ll make like a one-handed catch or something or jump high,” Crawford said. “Maybe it’ll happen in Texas, that’ll be fun.”

----

• Talk about it inside Rockne's Roundtable

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.

• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD, @BGI_MattJones, @BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.

• Like us on Facebook.