Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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SEASON KICKOFF: LINEBACKERS tackles. It's part corner, part linebacker and even part defensive end. Notre Dame heads to Ireland without senior Carlo pointed," Fox said. "He's one of my good friends, and he's part of the brotherhood, so it was a little hard. But we're moving on. The young guys are doing a great job; they're working hard. Coach [Bob] Diaco is doing a great job with them and they're improving a lot. They're all doing a great job — [Jarrett] Grace, Kendall [Moore], Joe Schmidt — they're all doing great." Fox understands why expectations are so high for the Irish defense in 2011. "We do have a lot of real good players, but we also have Calabrese, who split time with Fox last year, and who is expected to do the same this fall. Calabrese was charged with misdemeanor intimidation after being arrested at an off-campus party on May 3. He, along with junior quarter- back Tommy Rees, was suspended for the season opener. "I don't want to speak for him, but he was disap- a lot of work to do," he admitted. "I definitely feel a lot more comfortable. I had my first couple starts last year, so there's just more confidence in my game. "We've been together for a while now. There are a lot of News & Notes was noticeable in the linebacker corps during fall camp. Okwara has the length the Irish are looking for at the outside linebacker position and looked comfortable as defensive coordinator and position coach Bob Diaco ran the group through some early fundamentals with their stances and defeating blocks. He still has a ways to go before passing Ben Councell or Danny Spond at the Dog position, but he's drawn considerable praise from teammates such as Prince Shembo and head coach Brian Kelly. He delivered a couple of nice blows during the team's "rodeo" drill during • Freshman Romeo Okwara, wearing Darius Fleming's old No. 45 jersey, a mid-August practice session open to the media that pits one defender against an offensive lineman and a ball carrier in a tight space. He also showed some speed by blanketing a receiver on a wheel route during an 11-on-11 passing drill. • Even though he is suspended for the season opener against Navy and guys that are veterans. We have a real tight bond. We had a lot of really good summer workouts that brought us to- gether. We formed a nice brotherhood. If someone makes a play, we're all flying to him and congratulating him and hopping on him. It's awesome." What clearly powers the unit is Te'o's ambition, fire and pure talent. "A lot of people look at being a success [by] your re- cord," Te'o said. "For those other people who know our team — know Notre Dame — this is a different team. We're constantly getting better. Now, that might not show in our record, but we hope to change that this year. "It's not only my efforts but it's the effort of a whole group of guys who have come here since the begin- ning — and who have also left: Michael Floyd, Harrison Smith, Darius Fleming … they built this program from the ground up and we're going to continue to do that." "He has unfinished business as it relates to this football team," Kelly added. "When he came here he said, 'It's hard for me to be vocal.' Well, he is that guy now, he's that leader … he's holding others to the highest standards that he sets for himself." It's doubtful Te'o would have slipped below the second won't be making the trip to Ireland, senior inside linebacker Carlo Cala- brese, who basically is a co-starter with Dan Fox, has improved particularly in pass coverage. He broke up a handful of attempts to Irish running backs during 11-on-11 and seven-on-seven periods during media viewing peri- ods this fall. During an end-of-practice scrimmage, he locked down senior Cierre Wood in the flat on a pass intended for last year's 1,000-yard rusher. Earlier in the practice, Diaco ran the middle linebackers through a pass coverage drill for man-to-man coverage with a running back. The players had to collide with the back on his way out of the backfield and try to hold him up as he broke. Calabrese stayed with quick sophomore Amir Carlisle well during that drill. • Other than Notre Dame and Georgia Tech, Councell said all the schools in SEC country recruited him as a defensive end in a 4-3 scheme. Part of the attraction to Notre Dame was it played an alignment similar to the one he had in high school. Although he sometimes lined up at middle linebacker, Councell had more experience on the outside. "I've still got my speed. That wasn't so much of a transition," Councell said. "… I think I need to put on a little more weight to feel comfortable … I want to put on a little more weight so I can play the run a little better." — Wes Morgan round of the 2012 NFL Draft had he decided to leave Notre Dame a year early. That he opted to return says nearly everything one needs to know about the young man, who hasn't wasted a second of his final year of eli- gibility. According to coaches and teammates, he's gone from great to nearly flawless in all phases of his game. "He's better," Diaco said. "He got better every day. He ers that ever played here, if not the best, he'll be one of the very best linebackers to ever play college football." ✦ www.BLUEANDGOLD.com has approached his game with such a high level of profes- sionalism, and he's so humble. There's no perfect game. There's no perfect practice. There's no perfect meeting. He just knows the moments, and is hard on himself in the moments where he may lose focus. Even those moments are decreasing. "Not only is he going to be one of the very best lineback- Even though sophomore Ben Councell was recruited primarily as a defen- sive end, he has settled in to a more familiar position at linebacker. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND PRESEASON 2012 61