Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI him," Kelly said. "We have now devel- oped what we consider a demeanor on our defense and an expectation. "Now we're going to take it to the next level defensively, and Brian is go- ing to be able to take our defense to that next level." The cynic in me thought of the tran- sition from Barry Alvarez (1988-89) to Gary Darnell (1990-91). Alvarez played a sound bend-but-don't break principle en route to a 24-1 record at Notre Dame, but Darnell was finally going to bring SEC-like aggressiveness to the equation. It never worked out for him while losing six games in his two seasons. Conversely, VanGorder already is making believers out of everyone, highlighted by the 31-0 shutout of Michigan. A rebuilding defense has had a rebirth instead, even while hav- ing played eight true freshmen in the rotation. VanGorder has been credited with casting a wider net on the recruiting front, finding niche roles for players to contribute, broadening the overall base defense, and making the right position switches, from shifting soph- omore linebacker Jaylon Smith more to the inside to finding a home for senior Matthias Farley at nickel. He also is interactive with the play- ers on the sidelines rather than operat- ing from the press box, and it took on folk-hero status nationally with his fist-pumping fire that television cam- eras caught versus Michigan. "I know this has kind of taken a life of its own that he's crazy, but I'm tell- ing you, his demeanor on the sideline is professional, and we're getting a lot done on the sideline," said Kelly, who held that VanGorder in reality is quite even-keeled. Kelly also noted there were still 34 mental errors on defense during the shutout of Michigan. "We were able to make up for them because we have some players at dif- ferent positions that can make up for some of those mental errors with their skill," Kelly said. The defense graded out at 56 per- cent against Rice and 64 percent ver- sus Michigan. Getting at least into the 70s is good, and the dominant 2012 defense under Diaco was sometimes in the 80s, but Kelly said the current defense has "a lot more pieces to what we're doing." According to Kelly, VanGorder, whose son Montgomery is now a freshman scholarship quarterback for the Irish, is in an ideal learning envi- ronment with his players. "You've shut out an opponent, and there are all these errors that need to get cleaned up," said Kelly, who coached with VanGorder a quarter- century ago at Grand Valley State. "It's a pretty good teaching environment right now." He won't find a better man for that task than the veteran VanGorder. Until, of course, the next coordinator several years down the road is publi- cized as even better. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com