Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1007651
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com AUGUST 2018 27 BY LOU SOMOGYI I t takes a lot of love and pride to succeed in college football. For- tunately, Notre Dame's 2018 cor- nerback tandem should provide both — beyond just their names. Junior Julian Love earned second- team All-America honors last year from Sports Illustrated, while class- mate Troy Pride Jr. — one of the swiftest players in the sport — en- joyed a spring that, to the coaching staff, was even better than Love's. Together, they have a chance to comprise maybe the top cornerback tandem at Notre Dame since 2002, when Shane Walton earned consen- sus All-America honors while Von- tez Duff was a third-team Associ- ated Press All-America selection on a team that began the season 10-1. It was not too long ago that similar projections were made for the 2015 duo of KeiVarae Russell and Cole Luke (that team also started 10-1). It never quite reached fruition, al- though both have suited up in the NFL. Instead of experiencing the pro- verbial sophomore jinx in 2017 after earning starting roles as freshmen, both Love and Pride thrived in new coordinator Mike Elko's more funda- mentally sound approach. The next step is expanding their role with a junior jump under yet another new coordinator. "The better and the older you get at any level of ball, distractions get more intensified," Love reflected when asked how he is approaching the 2018 campaign. "So it's just elim- inating that and focusing on lead- ing the guys and being proactive in terms of my play." Both will be playing for their fourth different defensive coordi- nator in three years, this time with second-year linebackers coach Clark Lea, but at least the nomenclature and overall system remains in place from last season, even if more will be placed on the plates of the corners. "We have a whole different mo- tivation, a whole different setup of principles that we're going to abide by," Pride said. "We're hungry, we're greedy." CHALLENGING ENCORE PERFORMANCE Statistically, no individual on the 2018 Notre Dame team will have a more difficult time eclipsing a stan- dard than Love, who last year: • Finished second nationally in passes defended with 23 (20 passes broken up and three interceptions), behind only Iowa's Josh Jackson's 26 (18 passes broken up and eight inter- ceptions). No Irish player previously had been listed with as many as 20 in one season. • Was second in the country with his 20 passes broken up, behind the 21 by Wisconsin's Nick Nelson. Love's mark shattered the previous school record of 13 by Clarence Ellis set in 1969. • Tied the Notre Dame school re- cord for interceptions returned for touchdowns in a season with game- changing 59- and 69-yard scores ver- sus Michigan State and North Caro- lina State, which would finish No. 15 and No. 23 nationally, respectively. Love missed a record third score by five yards. • His 153 interception return yards were second in school annals during one season, behind Nick Rassas' 197 in 1965. Each season Love sets new goals for himself, but he admits rewriting the Irish record book wasn't part of his 2017 checklist. "I didn't know they kept track of that," the typically upbeat Love said with a smile when asked about the passes broken up mark at Notre Dame. "That was just having fun playing ball. I think when you set goals for yourself, other things — The team's fastest player, Troy Pride Jr. also has displayed physicality in his game to earn a starting nod at cornerback. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL