Overview: Notre Dame Defense & Special Teams Depth Chart
As of Monday afternoon, Notre Dame is entering this Saturday’s at opener versus Duke with a full roster. No one is under quarantine or isolation after 215 negative tests today, and tests will be taken three times per week now (Wednesday and Friday as well).
On the defensive side of the ball, the line has featured liberal rotations the past couple of years that have been effective. That will remain the case in 2020 — but this time the linebackers, corners and safeties also might see much more personnel in the mix in meaningful situations because of the competition that has evolved.
That’s especially vital during a year where the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to be battled.
“This is going to be a long year — one that’s going to require a lot of players to be actively involved in what we’re doing,” head coach Brian Kelly said.
While the line remains status quo, there were multiple surprises on the back seven, particularly the secondary.
• At Buck linebacker, vacated by the graduated Asmar Bilal, junior Shayne Simon and sophomore Marist Liufau are listed with the “Or” designation in between as starters.
• The strong safety position was expected to a two-man battle with co-starters Houston Griffith and Ohio State grad transfer Isaiah Pryor succeeding the graduated Alohi Gilman— but sixth-year senior Shaun Crawford, mostly a nickel and corner throughout his career, was so sound and productive that he seized the starting spot. Plus, sophomore K.J. Wallace shifted from corner to strong safety.
• The biggest surprise of all was the one freshman who cracked the two-deep on defense, cornerback Clarence Lewis.
Fellow freshman corners Ramon Henderson and Caleb Offord were early enrollees in January while Lewis was not. Not only has Lewis cracked the two-deep but he too has the “Or” for the starting position with junior TaRiq Bracy, whose seven pass breakups led the 2019 team.
Here is the official depth chart on defense and special teams released by Notre Dame. A story on the offense was posted earlier.
Strong Side End
Ade Ogundeji — 6-4, 268 (5th)
Justin Ademilola — 6-2, 248 (Jr.)
Or Isaiah Foskey — 6-5, 257 (So.)
Ogundeji excelled as a starter over the final four games last season and now replaces graduated starter and 2019 Defensive MVP Khalid Kareem.
Foskey also is the swing man also at the Vyper position on the other side of the field.
Defensive Tackle
Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa — 6-2 ½, 282 (Sr.)
Jayson Ademilola — 6-3, 279 (Jr.)
Howard Cross III — 6-1, 275 (So.)
Tagovailoa-Amosa’s 477 snaps last season were second only to Kareem among defensive linemen. Ademilola actually ended up with more tackles (25, four for loss) than Tagovailoa-Amosa (22, 2.5 for loss), but the latter did record six quarterback hurries, third on the team.
Nose Tackle
Kurt Hinish — 6-2, 296 (Sr.)
Jacob Lacey — 6-2, 293 (So.)
Ja’Mion Franklin — 6-2, 310 (Jr.)
Hinish started all 13 games last season, but Lacey was a regular in the rotation, and Franklin closed strongly as well.
Vyper End (X)
Daelin Hayes — 6-4, 270 (5th)
Ovie Oghoufo — 6-3, 240 (Jr.)
Isaiah Foskey — 6-5, 257 (So.)
Hayes received second-team preseason All-America notice from Sporting News despite taking a medical redshirt last season because of a shoulder injury in the fourth game.
Middle Linebacker (Mike)
Drew White — 6-0, 227 (Sr.)
Bo Bauer — 6-3, 230 (Jr.)
Weak-Side Linebacker (Buck)
Shayne Simon — 6-3, 230 (Jr.)
Or Marist Liufau — 6-2, 226 (So.)
Rover
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah — 6-2, 215 (Sr.)
Paul Moala — 5-11 ½, 224 (Jr.)
What a difference from last year, when linebacker was the team’s primary concern both because of inexperience, a position switch and unknown commodities.
White and Owusu-Koramoah paced the team in tackles last season, 80 apiece with a combined 21.5 for loss, and the latter is classified as a potential first-round pick next spring. Yet Kelly even spoke highly of the third unit at linebacker, never mind the second group.
“You’re going to see multiple players at [Buck],” Kelly said. “Drew has established himself at the Mike, but Bo Bauer has had his best camp bar none … There were times last year where Bo, we felt there were some holes in his game. He’s tightened up his game to the point where we feel like if Bo has to go out there and play the whole game, we feel really good about where Bo is. Very, very good football player.
“We’ve got two guys on the scout team right now that are really, really good football players: [sophomores] Jack Kiser and J.D. Bertrand. We have a hard time blocking those guys. That’s a really good problem to have when we have that kind of depth on our football team at the linebacker position.”
Boundary Cornerback
Nick McCloud — 6-0 ½, 192 (5th)
Cam Hart — 6-2 ½, 207 (So.)
North Carolina State graduate transfer McCloud was a captain and started 19 games, but missed virtually all of last season with a knee injury. Hart was shifted from receiver during the 2019 campaign and played sparingly.
Field Cornerback
TaRiq Bracy — 5-10, 180 (Jr.)
Or Clarence Lewis— 5-11 ½ , 192 (Fr.)
The emergence of Lewis even a greater surprise than how the Buck linebacker has shaken out and Crawford wresting the strong safety spot.
Lewis did not arrive with much fanfare, yet he is now listed with the “Or” with a veteran who was productive last year. Kelly said the rookie brought ball skills, savvy and tackling ability to the position that has put him in his current spot.
“Mike Mickens has done a really good job of bringing him along, but a lot of that is that Clarence had some innate ability at that position that was able to translate itself early on in his time here.
“Comparisons are easy to make and sometimes we run too fast and too far with them. But we started another young man as a true freshman, his name was KeiVarae Russell (2012). I don’t know if Clarence has the same raw athletic ability …but Clarence has clearly demonstrated that as a true freshman we could put him on the field at the same level, or possibly even higher, than the level KeiVarae had to play as a true freshman — and we did pretty good that year.”
Strong Safety
Shaun Crawford — 5-9, 180 (5th)
Houston Griffith — 6-0, 204 (Jr.)
KJ Wallace — 5-10, 189 (So.)
Kelly compared Crawford’s instincts, toughness, versatility and ball skills to Gilman’s as traits that can compensate for the lack of great size.
“You can still play that position at a high level,” said Kelly of stature not being the most vital element at the position. “[Shaun] has been extremely productive for us at that position. He won that position.
“We didn’t come into camp expecting him to win it. We came into camp expecting him to be a place holder at that position. He went out and won that position. We are a better football team with Shaun playing the safety position.”
Free Safety
Kyle Hamilton — 6-4, 219 (So.)
D.J. Brown — 6-0, 194 (Jr.)
Or Isaiah Pryor — 6-1 ½, 204 (5th)
All-America candidate Hamilton will be in a starting role now that 2019 captains Gilman and Jalen Elliott have graduated, and his plate will be more full, including not just playing as a center field in sub packages like he did last season.
SPECIAL TEAMS
• Sophomore kicker Harrison Leonard is still on the roster, but Brown grad student Dawson Goepferich is listed behind incumbent Jonathan Doerer. Goepferich last year converted 7 of 10 field goals and 33 of 37 extra points.
• Replacing graduated three-year starting long-snapper John Shannon is junior Michael Vinson, who will be backed up by freshman Alex Peitsch, the top-ranked player at his position last year.
• Freshman running back Chris Tyree is listed as the top kick returner with senior Jafar Armstrong, while junior slot Lawrence Keys III will be returning punts, with sophomore running back Kyren Williams the next option.
• Sophomore punter Jay Bramblett will return as the holder for Doerer, and his backup is walk-on J.D. Carney, whose father John was a record-setting kicker for the Irish from 1984-86 and became one of the top five scorers in NFL history.
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