Brian Kelly confirmed after Thursday’s practice in Notre Dame Stadium that senior cornerback/nickel Shaun Crawford will be sidelined for the balance of the season for the third time in four years, this time with a torn ACL that he suffered in Tuesday’s practice during a one-one-drill.
“It’s difficult for him but he’s handling it the best he can, given the circumstances,” Kelly summarized, noting it’s not the same knee that Crawford injured three years ago.
Crawford was the top nickel last season and played 12 games (starting one), finishing with 32 tackles (20 solo) to go with the two interceptions he recorded at Boston College.
He also was credited with five passes broken up for the year and made a crucial momentum-changing forced fumble and recovery of the loose football in the end zone at Michigan State. His 408 snaps (34 per game) were the fifth most in the Irish defensive backfield last season.
This month Crawford was the backup for Troy Pride Jr. at field corner, but also remained in the nickel rotation with senior safety Nick Coleman. He was vying for a possible role on kick and punt returns as well.
According to Kelly, Coleman will now share the nickel role with freshman Houston Griffith. Kelly added that the safety positions will have a lot of rotation amongst Alohi Gilman, Coleman, Jalen Elliott, Griffith, and perhaps senior Nicco Fertitta and junior Devin Studstill.
Junior Donte Vaughn, who started four games as a freshman in 2016 while tying for the team lead in passes broken up (6), is now the third corner who can play either the field or boundary. He was slowed by a back problem last season — and Kelly candidly added maybe too much instruction.
“He’s established as a three,” said Kelly of the 6-3, 211-pound Vaughn’s role in the corner rotation. “Donte’s a long corner who has a real good ability to get his hands on footballs…. He’s always carried that.
“I think the thing that’s held him back a little, to be quite honest, we might have overcoached him a little bit. We’ve backed off on trying to fit him into a particular technique and gave him a little more freedom to be more comfortable with what was best for him and utilizing the technique that worked best for him. I think he’s really blossomed from that perspective.”
Freshmen D.J. Brown (6-1, 191) and TaRiq Bracy (5-10, 170) also are competing to become the fourth option at corner, while classmate Noah Boykin (6-0 ½, 178) is currently on the scout team. Their skill sets are different enough that who is the fourth figure probably will depend on the strategy Notre Dame employs against a particular team.
“TaRiq is a guy you can feel very comfortable just straight up playing man-to-man coverage,” Kelly said. “D.J.’s much more technically ahead in terms of playing zone coverages.”
Crawford was sidelined as a freshman in 2015 because of a torn ACL, also suffered in a preseason practice.
He returned in 2016 to regain his starting role as a nickel back, and recorded an interception and a two-point conversion after returning a blocked point-after attempt for a score in the opening-game loss at Texas. However, early in the second game, versus Nevada, he incurred an Achilles injury that shelved him the final 11 contests.
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