Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1496419
32 MAY 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA N otre Dame special teams was a thrill ride in 2022. And not the kind that leaves you want- ing to vomit after 30 seconds. The kind that leaves you enthusiasti- cally exclaiming, "Let's do that again" as soon as it pulls into the station to swap passengers. If Notre Dame is to do it again, it's going to have to happen with different supervision. Special teams coordinator Brian Ma- son's stay in South Bend only lasted one year. His new post is two and a half hours south with the Indianapolis Colts. All told, that's an obvious upgrade for anyone whose ultimate goal is to coach in the NFL. But for Notre Dame, it's a huge loss. The Fighting Irish blocked 7 punts last fall, more than any other team in the county. Central Michigan blocked 4 punts and 3 kicks to tie Notre Dame with the most combined blocked punts and kicks of any program in the nation. The Irish only had 1 special teams block in 2021. They had 2 in 2020, 3 in 2019, 2 in 2018 and a flat line of 0 in 2017. Seven is a clear outlier for a program that did not exceed 6 blocks for the entirety of Brian Kelly's 12-year tenure as head coach. Mason was the variable that made logical sense to point to as a reason for why things were different in 2022. But now that he's gone, his teachings don't have to go with him. Enter Marty Biagi, Mason's replacement and a coach who understands that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" isn't just an adage that ap- plies to everyday life. It applies to special teams in college football, too. "There's a mindset of you're going to try to keep the process working with no ego involved," Biagi said. "Just try- ing to keep building off a foundation. That's what we talk about all the time. The foundation, lucky enough, has al- ready been set. "So now there are some different things I hope to bring in but there are other things when watching film that we can keep and don't need to change." The concrete slab on which the entire structure sits was laid by head coach Marcus Freeman himself. Just like when Mason was calling the shots, Biagi will have the liberty to use every player on the Notre Dame roster for special teams purposes. Defensive end Isaiah Foskey was a surefire next-level talent in his last year at Notre Dame. He had nothing to prove in special teams. He still played 53 punt return snaps and became the first player in program history to block 3 punts in one game versus UNLV. Freeman has created a culture that makes special teams desirable to instru- mental offensive and defensive play- ers like Foskey, the program's all-time leader in sacks. "The fact that Coach Freeman comes into my office literally on a day-to-day basis is very exciting," Biagi said. "Hav- ing open-door policies with him to be able to come in and say, 'Coach, here's where I'm thinking' and him give me even just a quick yes or no as opposed to a false promise where you're banking on a kid, banking on a kid and then right the week of the game, 'Ah, we can't use him' — that kind of thing? "The open line of communication has been awesome." ALL-IN ENERGY Notre Dame's new special teams coordinator will build on a standard of success Irish special teams coordinator Marty Biagi understands he does not have to overhaul Notre Dame's philoso- phies in the phase of the game he oversees. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER