Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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82 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW BY BRYAN DRISKELL T he offseason was a time of change for the Notre Dame defense, but it was also a season of continuity. The Irish will run a defense similar to last season's, but the man in charge is go- ing to change. Clark Lea was promoted to defensive coor- dinator after serving as the team's lineback- ers coach a year ago. Lea enters his first-ever season as a play caller, but he returns nine starters from last fall and expectations are high for the defense to thrive. He sat down with Blue & Gold Il- lustrated in mid-June to talk about an array of topics. Blue & Gold Illustrated: What was the moment like when Brian Kelly offered you the coordinator position? Lea: "It's an incredible point at which you can take a step back and say, 'Wow.' … To be given this opportunity, emotionally it's a great moment to think of all the people, the places, the players that have allowed for this moment. "Soon thereafter it becomes what needs to be done next. … How do we steer the ship recruiting-wise, and what are some adapta- tions conceptually that we want to get into in the spring? You just start plotting those courses, and it becomes a job again. "But by no means do I think I've arrived, and by no means do I think I've made it. The title has no bearing on how I perform. How I perform is dictated on how willing I am to roll up my sleeves and go to work and learn and grow and change. "Being at Notre Dame, I can't leave the field, walk through the tunnel and under the banners, and look at Touchdown Jesus with- out getting emotional on some level. I can't run the lakes and watch the Dome shining in the sun and not think this is unbelievable." BGI: What advantages does the defense have by being in the same system for a sec- ond straight year? Lea: "From my vantage point you're a little more familiar having been battled tested through a year with the strengths and weak- nesses of the parts and pieces. You can for- mulate things a little bit better to play to your strengths. "You've also seen the defense through the season, how it's attacked and how it's played. You can shore up some of the areas that maybe you weren't thrilled with last year. "At the first meeting we had in the winter as a unit, we looked at the improvements we made. There were about eight categories where we jumped over 20 spots … but then when you look at the actual [national] rank- ing you recognize it's still middle-of-the-pack numbers, and so the challenge for us is to make another jump." BGI: How important is pressuring opposing offenses in your defensive philosophy? Lea: "Very. We want to do the best we can to dictate the direction of the play, and then dis- rupt the direction of the play, be it run or pass. DEFENSE Q&A STAYING THE COURSE New coordinator Clark Lea plans to build on the defensive foundation laid a season ago