Among the pressing curiosities surrounding first-year defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman’s schematic visions for Notre Dame is his nickel back deployment.
Even a drive-by viewing of some 2019-20 Cincinnati tape would reveal the Bearcats’ base defense primarily used five players in the secondary. Early in 2019, Freeman pivoted his Cincinnati unit to a 3-3-5 look and stuck with it through 2020. Arquon Bush, Cincinnati’s main nickel defender and slot corner last season, played about two-thirds of his team’s defensive snaps.
Freeman is not, though, turning Notre Dame’s defense completely away from the 4-3 front it ran the last four seasons into a 3-3-5. As Freeman and Kelly have professed and spring practice video snippets have confirmed, the Irish will use multiple fronts. In turn, the nickel position on Notre Dame’s 2021 defense is an unknown in its usage rate and the candidates for it.
Like the fronts themselves, the nickel usage will be situational and may not have a game-by-game pattern.
“It’s going to be contingent on who we’re playing,” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said. “If we’re playing Florida State and they come out four wides and 11 personnel, you’ll see a lot more nickel on the field.”
Looking at the schedule, Florida State’s spread and USC’s and North Carolina’s Air Raid offenses are logical opponents to defend with five defensive backs. Navy’s triple-option and Wisconsin’s ground-based offense are more conducive to using seven-man boxes.
But before playing games comes establishing a trust level in the player who mans the role. And 10 practices into spring ball, it’s still up for grabs. With junior Cam Hart’s purported strong spring at boundary corner, it may be the competition that is furthest from settled, even as some candidates are coming into focus.
“That position is in flux,” Kelly said. “We’re playing an extra safety or corner there.”
Senior safety DJ Brown was the extra defensive back in nickel packages last year, but starting safety and former cornerback Shaun Crawford often handled slot coverage duties in those spots. Rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah played 328 snaps in the slot — many of those in the base defense. Safety Kyle Hamilton sometimes defended slot receivers in man coverage.
Crawford is departed. Brown, meanwhile, has mostly worked in tandem with Houston Griffith at the safety spots while Hamilton recovers from ankle surgery. The primary slot corner contenders are a senior with loads of experience trying to recover from a wayward 2020 and a junior who had little room to punch up the depth chart his first two years.
“[KJ] Wallace has been getting some work there,” Kelly said. “[TaRiq] Bracy has been getting some work there. We’re going to continue to find what the best rotation is for us at that position.”
Wallace is a former cornerback who has largely worked at safety in his two years at Notre Dame behind Hamilton, Alohi Gilman, Jalen Elliott and Crawford. That work consists of 58 career defensive snaps, almost all of which were in mop-up duty. He was limited by a shoulder injury in 2020. Spring practice video has shown him guarding starting slot receiver Avery Davis in man coverage multiple times.
Bracy, meanwhile, has played more than 250 snaps each of the last two seasons and mustered 106 as a freshman in 2018 — nearly all of them at field corner. His speed and fluidity make him a projectable slot defender, but technique troubles and some surrendered big plays sideswiped a solid first half of the 2020 season.
The troubles began when he allowed a 53-yard touchdown catch to Clemson’s Cornell Powell Nov. 7 and didn’t play the rest of the game, ceding work to freshman Clarence Lewis. He played 29 snaps the following week at Boston College, splitting time with Lewis.
It didn’t end there. A misplay on a first-quarter touchdown pass at North Carolina Nov. 27 limited Bracy to 14 snaps that game. He played five defensive snaps in the final three games, exiting with a whimper as Lewis filched the starting job.
Finding a nickel, or at minimum identifying an early leader, is an important task to accomplish in Notre Dame’s remaining spring practices even if it’s not at the top of the priority list. Hart’s and Griffith’s progress were the more meaningful development in the secondary alone. It’s also not an every-down focus because some Notre Dame’s offensive tendencies dictate the defense.
“We run a lot of 12 personnel and that guy isn’t on the field when we go against each other because of the personnel matchup,” Kelly said.
The need for that guy to be ready as soon as week one at Florida State, though, ought not to be lost.
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