Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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do defensively, he's absolutely integral to what we're doing." A year ago, Schmidt was an under- sized walk-on fighting for a chance to contribute on special teams. His rapid ascent to being an irreplace- able hub at the center of the defense is mostly due to what VanGorder referred to as unique football intel- ligence. Schmidt has studied defensive schemes and concepts since he was a high school student at national pow- erhouse program Mater Dei in Califor- nia. While his Irish teammates strug- gled to master their assignments this March, Schmidt managed to digest everything VanGorder was attempting to install. His knowledge made him a trusted resource to teammates and a coach on the field in live situations. "He's operating the entire defense from a communication standpoint," VanGorder said. "He's just uniquely bright. I'm talking throughout the pro- fessional league and all, he's a very bright player." Schmidt's biggest hurdle to remain- ing irreplaceable is his size. The 6-0, 230-pound middle linebacker isn't built to take on unblocked offensive linemen charging at him from a few yards away. Against power running teams like Stanford, the Irish will have to find ways to compensate for the lack of bulk in the middle of their de- fense. Smith, the sophomore rising star that lines up next to Schmidt, is also smaller than a typical Will linebacker. He currently weighs 235 pounds and has no plans to get any bigger despite moving to more of an inside role in his second season as a starter. For Smith, it's rare athletic ability that makes him a must-have for Notre Dame's defense this year. Two weeks into the spring, Irish coaches moved Smith from the Sam position to the Will to make it harder for opposing offenses to avoid him. The move puts Smith in the middle of the defense more often, a new experience com- pared to working off the edge where he won Freshman All-America honors last fall. "All my life I've seen the game from an outside perspective, so it's really just getting used to reading offensive linemen from inside out," Smith said when asked about the change. "I've had 14 practices and a spring game to get the hang of it. It's going good." Smith showed off the rare element of speed he'll bring to that position during the spring game when he dragged down fellow sophomore Tarean Folston from behind on a play where it appeared Folston had plenty of daylight. The position change sim- plifies some of what Smith has to learn with the new defense and allows him to stay on the field when Notre Dame adds an extra defensive back — a look they plan to use frequently in the fu- ture. THE NICKEL GROUP For the first time since the beginning of the Kelly era in South Bend, the strength of Notre Dame's defense lies in its back end instead of the front. The Irish plan to take advantage of that im- balance by getting as many defensive backs on the field as they can. More defensive backs should equal