Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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structor for us," Zaire said. "He's been able to teach us the ins and outs of specifically what it takes to be an elite quarterback because he's been there with great quarterbacks like Matt Schaub and RGIII, Rex Grossman and Donovan McNabb. He knows what it's like to play at an elite level. He critiques us as harshly as he can, and that's what we need and that's what I look for. I definitely have gotten a lot better than last year altogether in these Familiar Faces Provide Helping Hands Notre Dame's shift in its defensive coaching assignments opened up a spot for a more hands-on gradu- ate assistant to work with the defensive backs. The Irish turned to a familiar face this year to fill that role. Former Notre Dame captain Kyle McCarthy returned to South Bend in January to help coach his old position. McCarthy runs the individual drills in practice with the Irish safeties while secondary coach Kerry Cooks devotes most of his time in those periods to the cornerbacks. Head coach Brian Kelly and defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder both called McCarthy wise beyond his years in coaching acumen. "He's a guy that can stand on his own two feet in front of a room. He can coach," said Kelly, who came to Notre Dame the month after McCarthy finished his playing career. "We feel like he's a guy that can really go back there and coach at a high level." McCarthy played for the Irish from 2005-09 and was the team's leading tackler in his final two seasons. He remains the only defensive back in program history to make more than 100 tackles in a season — and he did that twice. He first broke the century mark with 110 as a senior in 2008. He made 101 stops when he returned for a fifth season the following year, leading the next most active tackler on the roster by 30. He also had five of the team's 12 interceptions on the 2009 team. McCarthy wasn't selected in the 2010 NFL Draft, but he made the Denver Broncos roster later that year and became a special teams contributor for two seasons. He signed a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2012, but a knee injury in the summer put him on the injured reserve list for the entire season. He was briefly a member of the Oakland Raiders practice squad in December before the bad knee forced him to end his career. He worked closely with veteran coach Dave Campo during his time in Kansas City, which provides him and VanGorder with a common thread. VanGorder and Campo worked together on the Jacksonville Jag- uars staff in 2005 and remained in contact at their different NFL stops during the past decade. VanGorder said he could see Campo's fingerprints on his graduate assistant. "He's very bright," he said. "Kyle brings a really good perspective I think to the game, good knowledge. He's done a very good job." McCarthy is one of three new graduate assistants on Notre Dame's staff this spring. He is joined by Ryan Mahaffey, Michael Hiestand and Tyler McDermott, who is in his second year with the team. Hiestand, who spent the majority of his spring with the defensive line, is the son of offensive line coach Harry Hiestand. "He's always had a real, real desire to do this," the elder Hiestand said. "When Coach [Kelly] talked to him about the opportunity, I knew without saying anything to Coach that he'd really be good at it. Just because I knew how passionate he is about football. He's always been that way." — Dan Murphy