Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL 2024 25 eyes of Irish doubters? They're about to find out with the rest of us. Bertrand is an NFL Draft hopeful, and so is Liufau. They both seemingly helped their stock at the Senior Bowl and the NFL Scout- ing Combine. They leave behind sixth-year gradu- ate student Jack Kiser, the unquestioned leader of the linebackers now, and a slew of inexperienced underclassmen. All of a sudden, junior Jaylen Sneed is the second-most tenured linebacker on the Notre Dame roster. Sneed took a step in advancing his career as the Irish's fourth-most used linebacker in 2023 behind Bertrand, Liufau and Kiser, but that was a small spring forward compared to what he might be asked for in 2024. The Irish need a starter alongside Kiser. If it's not Sneed, that'll be a bit of a letdown for the highest-ranked signee in Notre Dame's recruiting class of 2022. Especially if someone from the class of 2023 — say, Bowen – is the player who gets the nod. "Drayk's sharp," Notre Dame line- backers coach Max Bullough said. "He was someone who didn't get a ton of reps in practice last year because we just don't do that with our twos late in the season. And he was always a guy who I felt confident if it came to it he could go in the game and execute. That's just a testament to his work and the way he's able to retain information." Sneed has to contend with the high- est-ranked signee in the class of 2024 for playing time, too. Kyngstonn Viliamu- Asa might reshape the mold and contrib- ute right away in the middle of the Notre Dame defense. If he came in when Sneed did, maybe he couldn't have because the Irish were locked into playing Bertrand and Liufau for the long haul. But times are different now with them gone, and time on the field is up for grabs. Who's going to grab it? SORTING OUT THE SECONDARY Benjamin Morrison and Xavier Watts are cornerstones to build a secondary around. The former is a lockdown cor- ner and the latter is a savvy safety apt at feasting on opposing offensive miscues. But in this era of college football, defenses need three more reliable de- fensive backs. It's the age of the nickel, which takes a linebacker off the field in favor of an extra cover man in the slot. Notre Dame has had good fortunes at that particular position lately, going from TaRiq Bracy to Thomas Harper. The latter had the Irish's lowest missed tackle rate of anyone on the roster last year per Pro Football Focus. If you're assignment sound and you can tackle, you're going to eat up snaps as a slot corner. Those two did so nicely in the last couple of seasons. Can Arizona State transfer Jordan Clark, whose missed-tackle rate was nearly four times as worse than that of Harper in 2023 (19.7 percent for Clark to 4.7 for Harper), come in and follow in the footsteps of his predecessors? And is Northwestern transfer Rod Heard II, nearly exclusively a nickel corner him- self last season for the Wildcats, truly the answer as the starter at the safety spot opposite Watts? Spring practices are going to be criti- cal in those two players' acclimation to the Notre Dame program and develop- ment in the specific positions they're being asked to play. At least Notre Dame need not worry about the other outside corner position on the other side of the field from Mor- rison. The Irish have two candidates to replace team captain Cam Hart there, and they're both good ones. Junior Jaden Mickey has a bit of an ex- perience edge over sophomore Chris- tian Gray, but the latter is ascending as quickly as anyone on the Notre Dame de- fense. He might've had the interception of the season for the Irish with a one- handed pick against Pittsburgh last fall, and that is saying something considering Watts finished tied for the nationwide lead with 7 airborne takeaways. If it is Gray who wins the job, Mickey is as good of a No. 3 corner as any in the country. The Irish seem set on the outside. It is inside with Clark and on the back end with Heard where we need to direct our eyes during spring ball. Notre Dame nailed the Harper transfer. Can it keep striking gold with the newest defensive back additions? Mike Mickens is in charge of all the Notre Dame defensive backs with Chris O'Leary leaving for a spot on the Los Angeles Chargers staff. First order of business for Mickens in his elevated role is making sure he has what he needs at all five positions within his unit. If he feels like he doesn't, his best coaching job is required. ✦ Junior Jaylen Sneed was Notre Dame's fourth-most-used linebacker in 2023, but will have an opportunity to make a much bigger contribution in 2024. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER 2024 S P R I N G F O O T B A L L O V E R V I E W