Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2024 31 niques in the running game. If you want to be challenged with that all day — how to play situational football — until every one of those tools becomes your own, this is the place to come. And that's the truth." It is no coincidence three of eight Notre Dame transfer portal additions are defensive players who are slated to be starters this fall; Clark, Duke de- fensive end RJ Oben and Northwestern safety Rod Heard II. Notre Dame isn't taking just anybody to be a member of Golden's defense. It's got to be the right guy, someone that knows what he's get- ting into and isn't afraid to get into it. "If you just want to roll the ball out and just play the same coverage every play, this is not it," Golden said. "This is an NFL system that we execute and that we are giving to the guys. They're empowered to take it over and execute at a high level. "To do that, you need to recruit the type of young man that we're talking about. And we couldn't be happier than we are with those guys that have come in through the transfer portal." PREPARING FOR TEXAS A&M It's a good thing Golden is working with such a sharp bunch. He's going to need his players to digest a lot of game- planning material in the days and weeks leading into the season opener at Texas A&M. The Aggies are in the midst of a coaching change, just like Navy was for last year's Irish opener against the Mid- shipmen in Dublin. Golden said nothing he saw from Navy in the first 15 plays of the game was anything like what the Irish had been preparing for at the tail end of fall camp. First-year Navy offen- sive coordinator Grant Chestnut caught Golden by surprise and threw him some curveballs. This year, Golden is studying both Texas A&M film to learn as much as he can about the Aggies' personnel and Kansas State film to observe offensive coordinator Collin Klein's tendencies. He doesn't want to be sitting on fast- balls in the face of so many off-speed tosses. Not again. "What does the O-line coach like to do?" Golden said. "What does the wide receiver coach like to do? What does the running back coach like to do? It's that confluence that comes together in the opening game." It's not an ideal situation for the Notre Dame defense to be going into, facing a team as talented as Texas A&M in its first game being led by an offensive coordi- nator who often did a lot with a little at his alma mater in Manhattan, Kan. But it's the hand Golden and Co. have been dealt, and they will play it out. No folding. "It is what it is," Golden said. "So, how do you handle it? You manage your own variables and keep your variables quiet and rely on your fundamentals. And then, hopefully, have enough lead- ership to withstand anything that you could not have practiced early, and just move forward." ✦ Graduate student defensive back Jordan Clark opted to transfer to Notre Dame in part for the opportunity to play in Golden's NFL-style defense. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER