Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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22 MAY 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE N otre Dame defensive coordina- tor Chris Ash was never looking to reinvent the wheel that his predecessor, Al Golden, rolled over most of college football on the way to the national championship game. He is, however, adding spikes. "I think he's done a good job of com- plementing what Al Golden has estab- lished," Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington said. "I think he's estab- lished a great culture. But now he's trying to find ways to enhance, like we all do." Two changes — one big and one small, but the latter is no less significant — stood out in spring practice. Both have the Irish feeling optimistic about main- taining a top-ranked defense. Change No. 1: Notre Dame has prac- ticed zone defense much more than it had in the past two seasons under Golden. "It was probably a thought from Chris Ash more than anything," Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said. "We can't play man every play. We know that. And we're pretty good at playing man, and so let's be intentional about continuing to find ways to get better at playing zone." Notre Dame was a man-heavy team in 2023 and 2024 because its strength was its secondary. The Irish knew that (a) their corner- backs and safeties were good enough to look down most everyone they covered one-on-one; (b) their linebackers were strong blitzers; and (c) their pass rush- ers were some combination of inexpe- rienced, underwhelming or, by the end of the season, hurt. That meant play- ing man and sending the house on the most important downs of the season was Golden's bread and butter. Sometimes, like on fourth-and-2 with the game on the line at Texas A&M, the Irish lived by this approach. Other instances, like on third-and-11 in the national championship game, they died. Notre Dame should still feature an elite secondary, but the loss of Xavier Watts — who had become one of the best man-coverage safeties in America — will hurt. Ash also thinks he'll be able to put pressure on quarterbacks with his front four more often. "The whole front, we're not where we need to be yet, but man we've got some pieces that we can work with that I think we can build this defense around," Ash said. The result, if it works, should be a more versatile defense. NEW WRINKLES New defensive coordinator Chris Ash is putting his stamp on the Notre Dame defense One change Ash has instigated is that Notre Dame has practiced zone defense much more than it had in the past two seasons. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER