Studstill's Early Start Pays off

Devin Studstill arrived to Notre Dame last January and got a head start on his collegiate career, as he went through spring practice. The 6-foot, 198-pounder believes the early transition helped him get an advantage he could take into the fall.

“It definitely helped coming in early in January,” Studstill said on Tuesday. “I got to get a feel for the speed, people and how college works. It really helped me going into the fall.”  

The freshman safety did have a big transition to make last winter, as he left sunny Florida for snowy South Bend.

“That was thing in itself,” Studstill laughed when asked about how he adjusted to the weather. “It shocked me not seeing the sun everyday, so that was a thing. It was tough at first. I called my family everyday to see how they were doing. I called my little brother everyday.

“Now that I’m here, I love it.”

On the field, Studstill says the toughest transition for him was simply learning the scheme. In high school, the former Palm Beach Gardens star could run around and make plays, but in college, he has responsibilities.  

“I am used to going out there playing football and just running around to the football,” explained Studstill. “The scheme was something different, but it’s easy to grasp. I have a good football knowledge, so once I got that, it was go time.”

The safety position in former defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder’s scheme was asked to do a lot and in the ‘new’ scheme, the safeties are still asked to do a lot.  

“I agree with that whole heartedly,” Studstill said of the safety position being tough to learn. “The strong safeties are asked to do a lot. Drue Tranquill and Jalen (Elliott) know a lot. They have to know what I am doing, but also what everyone else is doing. It’s really tough for them, but safeties are a hard position in this scheme.”  

In the spring, Studstill found himself running the with first-team defense almost immediately. Some wondered if the coaching staff was sending a message to former Irish safety Max Redfield, but Studstill was just focused on playing ball.

“I didn’t pay too much attention to it,” he said of the depth chart. “I tried to go out there and see what Max was doing, but then do it a step better. I tried to take a step above what I was seeing. It was good seeing him go out there and do it, but then I could come in behind him and do it.

“I control what I can control. I was trying to get better everyday. That’s all I was worried about.”  

As for his freshman season, Studstill currently has 31 tackles and an interception on the year, but he admits that he tried to take on too much too early.

“I just tried to take too much on at one time,” said Studstill. “I need to try and get better at one thing everyday and approach practice, as getting better at that one thing. I can continue to increase my game step by step.”