Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com APRIL 2022 33 ALL EYES ON … SENIOR MARIST LIUFAU The silver lining in Liufau going down with a season-ending broken leg before the season even started last fall was that it showed Notre Dame what the Irish have in senior JD Bertrand. He led the team in tackles, and it wasn't close. But what we can't know is whether Liufau would have been even better. We're going to find out this spring. He's certainly one of, if not the most, athletic linebackers on the roster. Time to translate that into production. PERSONNEL UPDATE Position Coach: Al Golden (1st season) Departing Starter: MLB Drew White (36 career starts) Additional Departures: Rovers Paul Moala (transferred to Idaho) and Isaiah Pryor (de- clared for NFL Draft), WLB Shayne Simon (transferred to Pitt) and WLB Kahanu Kia (Mor- mon mission) Returning Starters: Senior JD Bertrand (13 ca- reer starts) at MLB and senior Jack Kiser (9) at rover Projected New Starter: Senior Marist Liufau (3) at WLB Also Back: Graduate student Bo Bauer (1) at MLB, junior Jordan Botelho at rover and sopho- more Prince Kollie at WLB New Faces: Freshmen Joshua Burnham at WLB, Niuafe Tuihalamaka at MLB, and Jaylen Sneed and Nolan Zeigler at rover H ow many positions could survive three season-ending injuries to starters or rotation players in a 10-day span? Notre Dame lost its likely breakout star (Marist Liufau), its No. 2 Will line- backer (Shayne Simon) and backup rover (Paul Moala) for the year by the end of its first game. The seven-man group then-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Marcus Freeman boasted about in every preseason press conference was cut nearly in half. The Irish withstood it, though Will linebacker and lead- ing tackler JD Bertrand had no viable backup all season. They begin the spring at full health and with viable depth. Al Golden, Freeman's replacement, has to decide how the pieces fit. Bertrand was an every-down linebacker in 2021 out of need. He stepped in for Liufau and made a team- high 101 tackles, but his future might be at Mike. Three-year starter Drew White is gone, and his two-down role is open. Bertrand could slide over, giving Liufau a spot and keeping super senior Bo Bauer in his familiar third- down role. Bauer, though, might have something to say about that. He bided time behind White and has his sights on a starting job. However it plays out, Notre Dame is looking for a No. 2 Will or Mike, and a backup rover behind senior Jack Kiser. This is the opportunity for a four-man freshman class — all of whom were four-star recruits and spring enroll- ees — to crack the rotation. The same goes for sophomore Prince Kollie. Jaylen Sneed, t h e h i g h e s t - ranked player in the class of 2022, will begin at rover. Kiser's 2021 backup, Isaiah Pryor, played 287 snaps, so the No. 2 rover is a mean- ingful contributor. Joshua Burnham has impressed the staff since winter workouts started, and so has rover Nolan Ziegler. The wild card is junior Jor- d a n Bo te l h o, wh o p i n g - ponged be- tween vyper and linebacker last year. He ended the season at rover. He begins spring there, too. Is that his long-term home? Golden has no shortage of compelling skill sets at his disposal. LINEBACKERS NUMBERS TO KNOW 3 Interceptions returned for touchdowns — two by Jack Kiser and one by Drew White — by Notre Dame linebackers in 2021, just the second time that mark was reached by the defense under Brian Kelly. The Irish also had three pick-sixes in 2013. 101 Tackles — the most on the team and 46 more than the second-leading tackler (Drew White with 55) — by JD Bertrand in 2021. He became the first Irish player with triple-digit tackles since Te'Von Coney in 2018. 108 Defensive stops — tackles that con- stitute a "failure" for the offense — by Irish linebackers last season, per Pro Football Focus. Bertrand and White led the way with 30 apiece, tied for second on the team behind only defensive end Isaiah Foskey (35). POSITION BATTLE TO WATCH WHO STARTS AT MIKE LINEBACKER? If new Notre Dame defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Al Golden wants some experience in the two-deep at all three linebacker positions, it might make the most sense to move senior JD Bertrand to Mike. He'd have to compete with fifth-year senior Bo Bauer for reps, but he'd be in the same position at Will with senior Marist Liufau if he stayed there. That would leave talented sophomore Prince Kollie as a No. 3 option there, too. 2022 SPRING FOOTBALL OVERVIEW JD BERTRAND PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER