Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1007651
28 AUGUST 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED and good things — happen. It was more little things like keep your nose on the football. "I hope that I showed that when even on the back side I'm running to the ball, trying to be in the play, be a better tackler, be a sure tackler." Beyond the top four linebackers in 2017, Love was also the top tackler on the team with 68, with 14 (including a team-high 10 solo) coming against Navy's triple option while lining up as a safety. His open-field tackling skills have prompted the question on whether he could have allayed Notre Dame's inconsistency at safety. "If we could clone him, I'd like to do that," head coach Brian Kelly said after last year 's Navy game. "… Could he be our best safety? Yes. He's definitely our best corner. The problem is we can play him at only one of those two positions." Even that was difficult. Love be- gan the season at field corner, but by the halfway point of the season he was shifted to the boundary to better utilize his playmaking skills and fast, instinctual reflexes against the quick-hitting passing games — which aided his numbers in passes broken up. "Boundary is more physical, it's more quick throws, more action, I think, and field you just cover more area," Love explained. "It's just being conceptually sound in that area." Setting individual goals this year is a bit of a tricky proposition for Love. Opponents generally steer away from the best cover man on the team, so matching last year 's passes bro- ken up will be virtually impossible. Thus, stats alone will not measure if his 2018 season will be better than last year. "That can come up," admitted Love of opponents throwing away from his side. "I see it as no mat- ter where the ball is, I want to be in the play. If it's a run play breaking through the middle, I want to make the tackle. "… I may not have the stats — and that's okay. I just want to make an impact, that's all I really care about. Stats will be their own thing, but … I want to make a bigger impact [on the overall team] this year." That will be defined by becoming more of a leader while helping the entire defense continue to improve as it did in 2017 when it finished 20th nationally in the Fremeau Ef- ficiency Index. Love is one of nine returning starters from that defense, so avoiding complacency is also on the agenda. He does believe his interception to- tal of three last year can be improved. "I'm around the ball, I feel, a lot, and I'm trying to turn 'BDs' — ball disruptions or pass deflections — into picks," he said. "I'm going to try to be very aggressive. On 50-50 balls, I'm not just trying to break up the play but try to catch it and really make a difference. "My goal last year was, 'Alright, try to look for the ball more, try to get your hand on it at all times.' This year I'm trying to catch the ball and have my interception numbers go up rather than just a lot of BDs when I feel like I can catch the ball." He is dispensing his own wisdom and leadership to the rest of the corps. Love is not as fast as Pride or maybe senior Shaun Crawford, not as rangy as junior cornerback Don- teVaughn (slowed by a back prob- lem last year), and not as physically gifted all-around as freshman safety Houston Griffith. What has distin- guished Love is football IQ, mental toughness and self-assuredness. "I was telling younger guys [this spring] that college football is not all Head coach Brian Kelly noted that nobody in the Fighting Irish defensive backfield played better than Troy Pride Jr. during the spring. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL