Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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20 APRIL 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY ASHTON POLLARD N otre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was very sure what he wanted in his replacement. The former Irish defensive coordinator wanted experience. He wanted someone who had been a head coach. He wanted fresh angles, pack- ages and teaching strategies. Enter Al Golden. The former Virginia defensive coor- dinator, Temple and Miami head coach and Cincinnati Bengals linebackers coach, among various other positions at both the collegiate and NFL levels, has seen a lot. Freeman, who is just 36 years old, wanted to tap into that wealth of knowledge. Now, the Irish players are currently in the middle of their first crash course in an "Al Golden defense" with some help from former Ohio State and NFL linebacker James Laurinaitis, who has joined the team as support staff. "Defensively, we are doing a lot of different things," Freeman said. "Coach Golden has added his NFL experience, his experience as a coordinator. It's good just to be able to have different situ- ational football." By all accounts, the linebackers are also loving it. "The combination of Laurinaitis and Golden, I don't know if there are many better ones in college football," senior linebacker JD Bertrand said. "It's cool to get both aspects from them — the defensive coordinator who knows every in and out and then [Laurinaitis' recent] college and NFL experience, through the good and the bad." INSIDE THE FILM ROOM Golden and Laurinaitis went straight to work in South Bend upon arrival this win- ter. With the start of spring practice, it's now the linebackers' time to match that work ethic, and it starts in the film room. "A lot of his tape is of Bengals guys," senior linebacker Jack Kiser said. "All of the drill work he's using has Bengals guys as examples because they're pros. They do everything right, and they've been coached the right way. "We watch [linebackers] Logan Wilson and Markus Bailey doing their drills. We try to emulate them. How can I get myself to look like that because that's a pro.'" It certainly helps that the defense Golden is using as an example was darn good. The Bengals' Super Bowl run was not a product of good luck. Cincinna- ti's defense was suffocating during the playoffs, posting a league-leading seven turnovers. Two of Golden's lineback- ers, Wilson and Germaine Pratt, led the playoffs in postseason tackles with 39 and 29, respectively. Young, impressionable Notre Dame linebackers notice these things. "One thing about that Bengals defense last year is there were several times when their backs were against the wall and they won," Kiser added. "The defense won the game for them, es- pecially during the playoffs. You just see that identity that was formed with the Bengals, and I hope we can make it a staple here at Notre Dame." Defense has certainly won a game or two for the Irish since Kiser's class stepped on campus in 2019. The Irish have allowed fewer than 20 points per game for the last three seasons. Only two other Power Five teams — Wiscon- sin and Iowa — have done the same. Notre Dame did it with two different coordinators, and if Golden can accom- plish the same feat in 2022, the Irish will have done it for three straight years with three different coordinators. LAURINAITIS' RELATABILITY FACTOR While his career is not as lengthy as the defensive coordinator's, Lau- rinaitis offers no shortage of exper- tise to the same linebacker group. "He's been telling us stories about how he was hit hard, but he got back up on the next play," Bertrand said. "It's cool to be able to hear that and conceptual- ize that no one is perfect. He shows the details that we can work on to make sure we are as perfect as we can be, but per- fect is not the expectation." Freeman, facetiously, sees it a little differently. "I'm sure some of that is Laurinaitis trying to show his own film," Freeman joked. "He's trying to talk about his glory days." The two are best friends after playing together at Ohio State, and they were both selected in the 2009 NFL Draft. Lauri- naitis went in the second round to the then-St. Louis Rams, while the Chicago Bears took Freeman in the fifth round. Laurinaitis recorded 871 tackles, 49 tackles for loss, 40 quarterback hits, 16.5 sacks and 10 interceptions over his eight-year NFL career. Light-hearted shots aside, this is ex- 'Different Situational Football' Defensive coordinator Al Golden and staffer James Laurinaitis are bringing their own flair to the Irish linebacking corps