Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1496419
28 MAY 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY PATRICK ENGEL A l Golden is breaking a trend just by stepping foot in the Irish Athletic Center this spring. Not since 2020 had a Notre Dame defensive coordinator been part of a spring season that wasn't his first. Golden was hired about a month before the Irish began 2022 spring practice. Marcus Freeman's first on-field ac- tion as defensive coordinator was 2021 spring practice. Golden, though, is back for Year 2 in the job. Notre Dame hasn't had this kind of coordinator and linebackers coach continuity since Clark Lea held the job from 2018-20. He has noticed its im- pact on his players, especially fifth-year linebackers JD Bertrand, Jack Kiser and Marist Liufau, who will have the same coordinator and linebackers coach in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2019 and 2020. It has also im- pacted his own spring. "Last year was a confluence of a lot of different things meeting in spring ball," Golden said. "Myself and the sys- tems I've been part of, the per- sonnel that was h e re , M a rc u s ' system and even to some extent, t h e g uys wh o were here before Marcus — [cor- nerbacks coach M i ke M i c ke n s a n d s a f e t i e s c o a c h C h r i s O'Leary] — some of the things they learned from Clark. "All of that came together last year. It was overwhelming trying to get it calmed down." This spring, there's no calming to do. Golden has a scheme in place. He faced three of the most difficult opponents on the 2023 schedule last year, which helps him narrow his focus in spring practice. He knows what USC, Ohio State and Clemson want to do on offense and an idea for how he wants Notre Dame to defend those teams. He has three re- turning linebackers and two starting corners to anchor everything around. "Don't just pick the plays you're go- ing to run in the spring, look at the op- ponents first to see what we need to run," Golden said. "We probably prac- ticed some things last spring we didn't need to, and as the season evolved, we needed X, Y, and Z. "Now we're practicing X, Y and Z, and these other things are gone." A smoother schematical approach, though, comes in an offseason with sig- nificant roster turnover that left Notre Dame needing to reconstruct its de- fensive line and find some answers at safety. The Irish lost all-time sacks leader Isaiah Foskey and two other reliable starters in Jayson and Justin Ademi- lola. They have overcome per- sonnel losses up front in recent yea rs b e c a u s e starting-caliber p l a y e r s w e r e on the second unit. This year, t h o u g h , t h e re are fewer proven rotation players who are obvi- ous elevations to the starting lineup. And Foskey is not the average departing starter — he's a likely early round draft pick who had back-to-back 11-sack seasons. "You're not going to replace Isaiah Foskey or the Ademilola twins," Free- man said. "But what you have to do is try to replace their production. I'm not saying by one person, but through the top two or two and a half units, we have to replace that production." Notre Dame is not lacking intriguing or talented options. Twelve of the 18 scholarship defensive linemen on the roster were former four- or five-star recruits. But only six have played more than 150 career snaps. Eight are fresh- men or sophomores who took a redshirt. PRODUCTION GAP Notre Dame's defense has coordinator continuity but key losses up front "You're not going to replace Isaiah Foskey or the Ademilola twins. But what you have to do is try to replace their production. I'm not saying by one person, but through the top two or two and a half units, we have to replace that production." HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN