Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1539676
8 SEPT. 27, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Everything Starts Up Front By Eric Hansen Maybe the water gets muddied between the biggest issue with coordinator Chris Ash's version of the Notre Dame defense and the most disappointing aspect of it. The same way an Irish home game against a Purdue team that ranked 79th in sacks allowed, coming into the Sept. 20 rivalry renewal, wasn't going to provide conclusive evidence one way or another about the sustained state of the Irish D. Just hints. Spoiler alert: It's the pass rush for both answers. Now, with Arkansas, Notre Dame's noon ET road op- ponent Sept. 27, there's a real litmus test. Actually, the Razorbacks, Oct. 4 opponent Boise State and Oct. 11 matchup North Carolina State are three teams that, after Week 3 of the season, were as good or better at preventing sacks than the teams Notre Dame posted a combined total of 1 sack against in its first two games — Miami and Texas A&M. Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound former Boise State starter, reached the quarter pole of the Razorbacks' season ranked No. 1 in the FBS in total offense, averaging 9.6 yards a carry running the ball, to go along with his No. 12 ranking in pass efficiency. The Irish, meanwhile, stood 133rd out of 136 charted FBS teams at that juncture in sacks per game through Week 3. Now, playing elite-level pass defense in the secondary is helped along by at the very least a better-than-average pass rush. And a strong pass rush becomes even more potent when there are defensive backs that can run and cover. So, the football equivalent of the chicken-or-the-egg dilemma? Not exactly. Notre Dame's 2012 team made it to the national title game with a very inex- perienced secondary and a dominant front seven. Teams with no pass rush have no chance, even with elite defensive backs — and the 2025 Irish are Exhibit A. DB Regression Is Equal Parts Shocking And Alarming By Jack Soble No matter what else happened throughout the past two seasons, Notre Dame could fall back on its elite secondary. Sam Hartman spirals after an early turnover? The secondary keeps the Irish in the game. Riley Leonard needs a few weeks to get a handle on the offense? The secondary holds Texas A&M to 100 passing yards in its own house. Need a key takeaway? The Notre Dame second- ary has your back. Not anymore. This time around, the Aggies gashed the Irish for 360 passing yards — and that number could have easily been 500 if A&M quarterback Marcel Reed hadn't misfired on a few deep balls. Was a little regression possible after losing star cornerback Benjamin Mor- rison and All-America safety Xavier Watts? Sure, but no one saw this coming. What has gone wrong? Pretty much everything, save for the play of su- perstar sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore. But even he got beat on a double move for a touchdown against Miami, which he admitted never hap- pened during his freshman year, and teams can simply avoid throwing to the boundary when everywhere else is as leaky as it is right now. Junior cornerback Christian Gray (potentially hampered by a shoulder injury) is a shell of himself. The safeties haven't made enough plays; on that deep ball Moore got beat on, redshirt sophomore Adon Shuler chose to wait for the ball to come to him instead of attacking it, with disastrous consequences. And at nickel, Alabama transfer DeVonta Smith is nursing an ankle injury. Both Miami and Texas A&M took advantage of his replacement, sophomore Karson Hobbs. Technique, clarity and communication are all problems on the back end. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHAT IS NOTRE DAME'S BIGGEST ISSUE ON DEFENSE? Adon Shuler is the captain in Notre Dame's secondary, and like a captain should, he faced the tough questions three days after the Irish gave up 360 passing yards and 41 points in a loss to Texas A&M. He even did so knowing he wouldn't play in the first half of Week 4 against Purdue, due to a targeting violation. Blue & Gold Illustrated and other local report- ers caught up with Shuler about the targeting penalty, fixing the defense and more. BGI: When you rewatch the targeting call, could you have done anything differently? Shuler: "Definitely talked about it with all the coaches, and just keep my head up. It's a bad position to be in. He's going to the ground. Maybe I could've done a little something different, but you know, it's the call, it's the call. "So, I just gotta move forward and make a bet- ter tackle next time." BGI: The things that need to be fixed or revised with Notre Dame's defense; can they happen in a hurry? Shuler: "I don't think it's a scheme thing. I think it's just a [technical] thing. We just have to play together. We're not playing together. "We just have to be more clear in everything we do, just getting lined up and trusting the person that's next to you." BGI: Where is the confusion coming from? Shuler: "I would just say every week, you plan for certain things and teams don't give you ex- actly those things. So, I would say that is kind of the biggest thing. "You're gonna plan for, then we go scout team all week and we're gonna see, certain things, but when you're in the game, there's gonna be little tweaks and differences that the offense throws at us. And that's how it is every week, so we just have to adjust on the fly and be clear about what the coaches' expectations are." BGI: As the captain in the DB room, what's your role in turning this thing around? Shuler: "Just being a standard and making sure the guys know what it is, and just kind of harping on it. Just making sure the guys know that the coaches are working hard to make sure that the game plan is the game plan, and we just have to execute better. "It's not a 'point the fingers' thing. We all have to take accountability for our actions, and that's just what it is." BGI: Given the expectations heading into this season, how do you deal with the frustration of having this not go according to plan? Shuler: "I would say, for one, the future's uncer- tain. Coach [Marcus] Freeman says that every day, too. Just because we had last year — the outcome of last year is out the window. Those stats are gone, those players are gone, it's a whole new everything. "This is a whole new, different Notre Dame. So we can't keep looking at the past. We have to continue to grow and elevate and just keep trust- ing each other. The only voices that we're hearing are the voices that are in that building right there." — Jack Soble Five Questions With … REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE SAFETY ADON SHULER Shuler led the Irish with 7 tackles against Texas A&M, despite missing most of the fourth quar- ter after being tagged with a targeting penalty. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER WASHINGTON MICKENS