SOUTH BEND, Ind. — On his well-regimented road to recovery from last August’s season-canceling dislocated/broken right ankle, Notre Dame linebacker Marist Liufau made a slight detour to allow for a one-on-one basketball game in May for the first time against his girlfriend.
Sonia Citron.
That’s ACC Freshman of the Year Sonia Citron, now a sophomore on the Notre Dame women’s basketball team.
“It didn’t end well for me,” the 6-foot-2, 229-pound junior said with a big smile as he assessed the matchup with the 6-1 Irish guard. “And no excuses.”
The expectation this summer was that Liufau would become a breakout star with the Notre Dame football team this fall to such a degree that no one would ask him about his hoops prowess. And that fellow veterans JD Bertrand and Bo Bauer and Jack Kiser would help fill out a strong rotation in the linebacker position group.
And that the best freshman linebacker class in decades, per longtime recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, would be pushing the veterans, if not semi-platooning with them, as would sophomore and former high school Butkus Award winner Prince Kollie.
None of that has exactly materialized through Notre Dame’s 1-2 start, with the nation’s No. 4 scoring offense (51.3 ppg) the next challenge when the Irish visit North Carolina (3-0) Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C. (3:30 p.m. EDT; ABC).
Bertrand, a starter at middle linebacker for the first three games, and second only to Liufau in terms of total snaps this season, must sit out the first half against the Tar Heels after committing a fourth-quarter targeting infraction against Cal this past Saturday.
“As far as the linebacker play, Marist is still coming back from an injury,” ND head coach Marcus Freeman said Monday of the position group he directly coached last season while also serving as ND’s defensive coordinator. “We’re still trying to be smart in terms of how much we rep him.
“You look at Kiser, who’s moving from rover to at times we’re a nickel team, and he’s playing inside linebacker. So he’s still getting adjusted.
“JD Bertrand’s been solid, but obviously he’ll be out for the first half of this game. Overall, I’ve been pleased. Is there a lot to improve at? Absolutely. That goes for every level of the defense. I think we all have room to grow.”
But will the next wave of linebackers get an opportunity?
The veterans have left the door open to an extent. Their cumulative film grades through three games are all so-so, with Kiser at 65.5, Bertrand at 65.2, Liufau at 63.0 and Bauer at 58.0. None of them have shined in coverage.
By comparison, Kiser in 2021 was Notre Dame’s second-highest rated defensive player overall with a season grade of 79.1.
Among the four members of the vaunted freshman linebacker class — all early enrollees — Joshua Burnham moved to vyper end, perhaps ND’s deepest position. Among the remaining three, Jaylen Sneed and Nolan Ziegler are on scout team, while Junior Tuihalamaka has carved out a role on special teams and is the third-team middle linebacker. And sophomore Kollie is the third option at weakside linebacker.
Collectively (including Burnham), they have played four snaps at linebacker or vyper — all by Tuihalamaka, all in the 24-17 win Saturday over Cal.
“Sneed and Ziegler probably are still a little bit away,” Freeman said. “Junior played a little bit on Saturday. I can see him getting more and more reps. Prince Kollie is another guy who will continue to get more and more reps as we move forward.
“But those opportunities come from practice. That’s been my challenge to those guys who aren’t playing as much as they want. What are you doing in practice? If you’re making mistakes in practice, then coaches are going to play guys when it matters the most in those close games, the guys they trust the most.
“Those guys have to continue to gain that trust in practice. They’re extremely talented players that I know will help us. How soon? We'll see.”
It hasn’t been easy for any of the freshmen to see significant playing time, understandable in part because of the closeness of all three games, but curious because of so many projected high ceilings and Freeman’s seeming openness for freshmen to move up the depth chart.
Including walk-on kicker Zac Yoakam, seven freshmen have seen game action in 2022. Cornerback Benjamin Morrison was the first (and so far only) among the position players to earn a start, and that came this past weekend against Cal.
He leads the freshmen in total reps with 79 in three games, including a team-high 26 last Saturday against the Golden Bears. Fellow cornerback Jaden Mickey is next with 37 total snaps through three games.
Tuihalamaka, wide receiver Tobias Merriweather and tight ends Eli Raridon and Holden Staes have combined for 18.
“Tobias Merriweather was a guy that we wanted to play even more than we did,” Freeman said of the 6-4, 198-pounder, who received the first five snaps of his freshman season against Cal but wasn’t thrown to.
“All of the sudden, when the game is close and the game's on the line, you're gonna play the people right now you trust the most. And so what does that mean? Our coaches have to earn more trust in Tobias.
“So we’ve got to be better coaches so that we can have more trust in Tobias. And Tobias has to meet the coaches halfway and make sure he's doing the exact things he needs to do in practice and then those reps in the games.”
Last season under since-departed Brian Kelly, 15 freshmen saw game action beyond special teams — 11 on offense and four on defense. None of the four who did see action on defense — Kollie, linebacker Will Schweitzer, Ryan Barnes and Kahanu Kia — have played a single snap on defense as a sophomore this season (Kia is on a Mormon Mission).
Freshman All-America left offensive tackle Joe Alt led all freshmen in total snaps last season with 614. The next closest was wide receiver Lorenzo Styles (249).
“It is tough for any true freshman, let alone he just gets here in June, to learn a system and in the first few games be ready to go and play 100 plays,” Freeman said.
And yet it’s hard to envision a scenario in which Raridon, Staes, Merriweather, backup QB Steve Angeli, Tuihalamaka, Mickey and Morrison can’t earn more playing time as the season progresses.
The key word is earn.
And the talent is there for plenty of other freshman contributions this season and offseason surges for those who don’t see significant playing time. They also can push the older players to get better.
Case in point, at cornerback.
“Ben Morrison just got here in June,” Freeman said. “To gain the confidence of your coaches to go out there and be a starter in game 3, it's kudos to him. He's done a great job in practice. He has to continue to get better.
“The other guy in that same breath that I have to mention is C-Lew (junior cornerback Clarence Lewis), a guy that has been a two-year starter and all of a sudden, you're not starting this game. … For him to come and make some big plays and to step up.
“If we can be a team made up of guys like that — we're all individual competitors. We want the most, but to be able to say, ‘OK, coach has made a decision for what's best for the team, put the team first. But when I get my opportunity, go capitalize off it.’ That's a great example for everybody in our program.
“That is an example I want everybody in our football program to understand. It's not about if you're the starter, if you’re not the starter, if you're getting the same amount of reps this week as you got last week. It’s about what you do with those opportunities that you're presented with.”
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