Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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depth at corner has been buoyed as well by the return of senior Lo Wood, who missed all of 2012 with a torn Achilles tendon, and the continuing development of players such as Josh Atkinson and Jalen Brown. The Irish watered down their defense to protect their youth on the back end last season. Even though the cornerbacks are ready to take on more in 2013, Diaco said the secondary won't be completely ready to play without a "safety" net for another couple years. What they gained as a group on the outside in experience, they lost up the middle with the graduation of safeties Slaughter and Motta. "All those players are connected, and they're not connected with an elastic rope. They're connected with a steel pole," Diaco said. "As I move to the left or the right, I'm immediately pulling the adjacent guy. So no matter how much more the corners can or can't take on, if the safeties can't take on more, then the secondary can't take on more." Diaco called Motta and Slaughter's absence a "huge void." The closest commodity the safeties have to a veteran this year is junior Matthias Farley, who was pressed into emergency duty early last year. Farley's tireless work in the film room helped him grow into more of a leader this spring, but he'll have to help carry more new blood while he continues to learn. Sophomore Elijah Shumate took most of the first-team reps with Farley in the spring. He's physically ready to help the defense, but still playing catch-up with the heavy mental demands Notre Dame places on its safe- ties. Senior Austin Collinsworth and Baratti have a better base of knowledge and are expected to battle for playing time from now until August. Baratti was hampered this spring with shoulder rehab, and Collinsworth needed most of the 15 practices to shake off the rust from a year on the injury reserve list. Don't Hold Your Breath That crew will be joined by California native Max Redfield this summer, as well. Redfield is one of three incoming freshmen on the defense ranked as a five-star prospect. Expectations will be high for Redfield, linebacker Jaylon Smith and defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes. If the Irish staff has its druthers, though, that trio won't get a chance to live up to the hype right away. "I have no interest in heaping too much on young guys," Diaco said. "We've been to this movie here. … We don't have expectations of what those brand new players are going to bring to the organization on any kind of immediate basis." The movie to which he's referring is the trio of Tuitt, Aaron Lynch and (to a lesser extent) Ishaq Williams, who were thrust into a starring role early in their freshman season two years ago. Diaco said he thought that early exposure hampered their growth during their first year in South Bend. If he and head coach Brian Kelly can avoid the same fate with a new talented group, they will. But if those freshmen are the best players at their position in August, they'll get a chance to see the field.