Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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30 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW The return of Tillery, Coney and Tranquill to the defense might be as crucial in 2018 as the return of offensive linemen Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey were to the 2017 offense. The potential quality depth in 2018 is equally uplifting: • In addition to the front returning drop end Daelin Hayes with Tillery and fifth-year senior Jonathan Bonner along the interior, the unit includes junior ends Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem, who last year finished with the second and third most quarterback hurries, seven and six, respectively, to Tillery's 11. The progress of Kareem and backup Ade Ogundeji (two sacks in the Blue-Gold Game) helped allay the transfer of Jay Hayes. Both reserve tackles, Myron Tagovailoa- Amosa and Kurt Hinish, are back as well af- ter performing beyond projections as fresh- men in 2017. • The entire two-deep in the secondary returns, led by sophomore cornerback Ju- lian Love, whose 20 passes broken up and 23 passes defended overall ranked No. 2 nationally. Junior cornerback Troy Pride Jr., the fast- est player on the team, was effective while moving ahead of returning fifth-year senior Watkins at the end of last season, and even Donte Vaughn had four starts as a 2016 freshman before getting slowed by back problems last year. Shaun Crawford was the top nickel back last season as a junior. At safety, Nick Coleman and Jalen Elliott returned as the incumbents, but head coach Brian Kelly said Navy transfer Alohi Gil- man, ineligible last season because of his move, would have been a starter. Indeed, Gilman moved into a starting role this spring, while Coleman lined up more as a nickel. Another backup, Devin Studstill, had nine starts at safety as a 2016 freshman. • At linebacker, Coney led the 2017 team in tackles (116) and tackles for loss (13), while Tranquill placed third in tackles (85) and second in stops for loss (10.5). The caveat is the unit will be working with yet another new coordinator in Clark Lea, the linebackers coach under Mike Elko (now at Texas A&M) last year. That makes it four defensive coordinators at Notre Dame since 2016. Fortunately, the nomenclature should be familiar to all the personnel. Continuity was pivotal in the promotion of Lea after last year's advancement, and now the objective is to continue the enhancing. "The goal is to proceed as if nothing changed," new defensive coordinator Clark Lea said this winter. "Defense evolves natu- rally, and from a systematic standpoint we will continue to build on this defense." From 2010-13 with Bob Diaco as the co- ordinator, the Fighting Irish defense was "vanilla" but effective, never ranking lower than No. 27 nationally in scoring defense. From 2014-016, the slippage under new coordinator Brian VanGorder was evident, all the way down to No. 82 nationally in scoring defense by 2014 before his ouster four games into the 2016 campaign. Last year, the upgrade was conspicuous, and in 2018 there are few, if any, two-deep defenses in the Football Bowl Subdivision that return with more playing time than Notre Dame. Research by SB Nation showed in Jan- uary that the Irish were returning a national- best 96 percent of their defensive production from 2017 — but that was before Jay Hayes and Watkins transferred during or after spring. Yet even those setbacks might be offset by the addition of Gilman and expanding depth. It might be a while again before a Fight- ing Irish defense returns this much playing experience along the top two units. How they utilize it effectively will be of vital importance to a successful 2018 (and future) outcome. ✦ Te'von Coney flirted with leaving early for the NFL after leading the team in tackles (116) and tackles for loss (13) last year, but opted to return for his senior campaign and anchor the middle of the Irish defense. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA Junior cornerback Julian Love ranked No. 2 nationally in both passes broken up (20) and passes defended (23) in 2017. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL