Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2019 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2019 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 95 LINEBACKERS 2018 VS. 2019: STOCK UP OR DOWN? Losing veterans Drue Tranquill and Te'von Coney sapped the defense of a great deal of experience and production. They combined for 606 tackles, 49.5 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks and 19 passes broken up during their Irish careers, but their leadership especially will be virtually impossible to replicate in 2019. Notre Dame is not bereft of talent at linebacker, because three members of the depth chart earned top‑100 honors from at least one recruiting service, and three more merited top‑200 honors. But the position also returns only 11 starts — and 10 of them were from fifth‑year senior Asmar Bilal, who is no longer playing the position (rover) where he started. During the spring that inexperienced showed, which means the linebackers all head into the fall still competing for spots. X-FACTOR Sophomore Jack Lamb was ranked as the No. 77 overall player in the country by Rivals coming out of high school, and after an injury plagued freshman campaign he demonstrated his formidable physical tools during the spring. Lamb has excellent length (6‑4) and range, and his closing speed to the ball carrier was eye‑catching. Lamb looked comfortable in coverage, and he was the most consistent playmaker at the position during the spring. If he can stay healthy and limit mistakes, he could become a game changer in the middle of the defense. FRESHMAN OUTLOOK The four‑man linebacker haul in the 2019 class will most likely have to bide its time this season. De‑ fensive coordinator Clark Lea has praised rover Jack Kiser — the lone early enrollee among the group — but offseason shoulder surgery kept him from practicing during the spring. North Carolina native Osita Ekwonu is an athletic figure on the inside, while JD Bertrand is instinctive and led his Roswell (Ga.) Blessed Trinity squad to back‑to‑back state champion‑ ships. Honolulu native Marist Liufau is an intrigu‑ ing defender who began his prep career as a corner‑ back but grew into an impact linebacker. NOTABLE DATA The lone Notre Dame linebacker who weighed more than 230 pounds this spring was former safety and junior Buck linebacker Jordan Genmark Heath (231). Sophomore Shayne Simon at 230 pounds was moved from rover to middle linebacker because his physique has room to expand. Part of the downsizing in weight has been the evolu- tion of the game with more spread offenses, which m a n d a t e m o r e q u i c k n e s s a n d coverage skills to play in space. Just seven years ago during a 12-0 Notre Dame regular season in which the Fighting Irish defense was statistically the best at the school in the past 39 years, the linebacker corps was much larger. It featured unanimous All-Ameri- can Manti Te'o in the middle at 255 pounds, the tag-team combo of 245-pound Carlo Calabrese and 240-pound Dan Fox next to him, and on the outside was 248-pound Danny Spond with 250-pound Prince Shembo. QUOTABLE: HEAD COACH BRIAN KELLY ON LINEBACKER BEING THE GREENEST OVERALL UNIT ON THE TEAM WHILE ALSO FEATURING MULTIPLE POSITION SWITCHES: "There's enough athleticism there. It'll be our job and Clark's [defensive coordinator Lea] job to put them in a position to succeed. They're not as experienced at that position as we've had in the past. If that means doing some different things, that's our job. We're seeing progress, and we have to be smart in taking advantage of their skill sets." DID YOU KNOW? The 97 career tackles by fifth-year senior As- mar Bilal are 27 more than the 70 combined by the other nine linebackers who were on schol- arship this spring. Bilal worked behind Drue Tranquill at rover in 2017, and then started 10 games there last season after Tranquill was moved inside to Buck linebacker so he could impact the defense better. In 2018, Bilal recorded 560 defensive snaps in 13 games (43.1 per game), while the other five linebackers who saw reserve duty combined for 256: Jordan Genmark Heath, Drew White and Jonathan Jones had 106, 58 and 46 snaps as sophomores, respectively, while freshmen Shayne Simon (27) and Bo Bauer (19) totaled 46 between them. Former safety Jordan Genmark Heath is vying for action at Buck linebacker along with sophomore Jack Lamb. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA