Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 2, 2017 19 BY ANDREW OWENS O ne year — and a defensive scheme change — has made all the difference for Irish ju‑ nior Nick Coleman. The Dayton, Ohio, native started two of the first three games for Notre Dame in 2016 as part of a defense that surrendered 96 points amid a 1‑2 start. He did not start in the final nine games and was rarely seen in Irish defensive packages. This fall, however, has demon‑ strated the dramatic turnaround in Coleman's career. After transitioning to free safety in the spring, the junior has become an essential starter and even registered the most snaps (73) of any defensive player in the 20‑19 loss to Georgia. "Nick played terrific against Geor‑ gia," senior rover and team captain Drue Tranquill said. "Nick's a guy who maybe doesn't play his best football last year. "[He] kind of took on a new posi‑ tion, something that he has not nec‑ essarily played here at Notre Dame. And I just saw a kid who came into his own and acted like a sponge and was just absorbing coaching; was absorbing everything the strength coaches were telling him; and was just looking for an opportunity to help this football team in the capacity that he could." For all of the heat the coaching staff took for a 4‑8 season in 2016, Coleman represents some of the im‑ provements made during the past offseason. "You have to go out and have a positive coaching environment," head coach Brian Kelly said. "You can't be beaten down during that process. In other words, when you've lost your confidence, you have to be able to be put into an environment where I call it CAR. We as coaches are responsible for the engine in that CAR. "CAR for us is competency, au‑ tonomy and relatedness. So if you take that acronym and take a Nick Coleman, for example, as a coach I'm responsible for the CAR and the en‑ gine in that CAR. Let's say it's Nick Coleman, right? We got to find some‑ thing that he's good at. That's the first thing. When he's not having suc‑ cess, let's find one thing. "What we found was special teams for him. We got him on special teams. He started to have some success on special teams. Then as we built him back from early in the season, we got him involved in some dime play. Then he had some success in the dime play. Then he gained some autonomy where he could say, 'All right, I can do this.' Then relatedness, 'Now I'm part of the team.' That's how we built him b a c k . T h e n h e went and made some plays at the s a f e t y p o s i t i o n when we moved his position. Now we are where we are today." That process has culminated into a reinvention for Coleman as part of a Notre Dame defense that has been more consistent than its offense through the first stretch of 2017. For Coleman, it all began under the lead‑ ership of Elko. "I would say sometime during the spring I felt like I could be a big playmaker for the defense," Cole‑ man said. "Ever since then, I've been trying to keep pushing forward. The first few games, I think I've had de‑ cent production and I'm just trying to keep it going. … It's been a lot of fun being back out there. There's still so much more in my game I can improve. We're decently happy with our first few games, but we're just going to keep going. "I feel like [the scheme] allows everyone to play fast and not think as much. We get all of our thinking out during the week. We prepare ex‑ tremely well and that allows us to play really fast on Saturdays." Coleman noted that he especially enjoys his opportunity to play in the open field in the new defense be‑ cause he considers that to be one of his strengths. "I feel like I can cover guys pretty well and that allows me to make de‑ cent plays," Coleman said. "You've got to be able to tackle at the safety position." "When you bring the coverage skills from the corner position and put him back at safety, he's able to do some unique things in coverage for us," Tranquill added. "So the big question with him was: Is he going to be able to come downhill and tackle in space and be physical in the run game, and I think he really took that with a chip on his shoulder in the offseason. "He worked really hard in the weight room. Put on some weight, gained some strength and I think you've seen that in his ability to come downhill." If Coleman's path to starting at safety can be considered conven‑ tional, so too can his route to Notre Dame. His father, Trey, played at Notre Dame in 1983 before trans‑ ferring to Day‑ ton. Despite some early reluctance to seeing his son commit to the Irish, Coleman said his father supported him throughout his journey. "I feel like he's embraced it," Cole‑ man said. "When I would come up here as a recruit, he would just go off by himself and talk to fans, talk to old teammates like Byron Spruell." Coleman doesn't always opt for the most conventional path, but in the long run it usually works out just fine for him. ✦ In The NICK OF TIME In the span of one year, defensive back Nick Coleman has transformed from afterthought to starter "I WOULD SAY SOMETIME DURING THE SPRING I FELT LIKE I COULD BE A BIG PLAYMAKER FOR THE DEFENSE. EVER SINCE THEN, I'VE BEEN TRYING TO KEEP PUSHING FORWARD." COLEMAN Through three games, Coleman ranked fifth on the team with 14 tackles (10 solo). PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL