I would be over joyed if the defense shows improvement with particular areas of concern and would allow for some growing pains that are inevitable with a new DC and system. The areas I wish (need?) to see improvement are :1) 3rd down efficiency; 2) pass rush ( at least 1 more sack a game) 3) pass defense (ability to react to the balls in the air; which has been terrible even before Van Gorder (the nadir of all things bad on Defense)) 4) tackling (this is big part of why 3rd down efficiency had been so poor) and 5) better recognition of down and distance (this is admitedly somewhat subjective but I mean things like having dbs play 10 yards off receiver on 3 and 5 or blitzing against screens).

I'm completely torn.

Safety - I feel good at safety. We're young, but Studstill/Elliot are in their 2nd year, and Elko is personally coaching them. The fact that Nick Coleman has taken over FS has to be considered an improvement over Studstill, or it wouldn't happen.

Corner - I feel great. Everyone's back, and they played pretty decent towards the end of last year as basically true freshman. We have a lot of bodies and can afford an injury. Coleman coming back doesn't hurt either, although he's almost not needed, so anything from him is a bonus. Love our quality of depth.

Linebacker - I feel great. We have a stud MLB, a person molded for the Rover position in Tranquill, and I have no concerns about him picking up the defense. Coney is experienced, Bilal is athletic (although soft IMO), and Martini is a captain and a jack of all trades. I also have confidence in back up MLB Jonathan Jones. I feel really good about our top tier talent, and quality of depth at LB, where like CB, we can afford an injury.

DE - I feel good. Jay Hayes is going to be a solid SDE. Behind him, Kahlid Kareem has the body and a year's experience. I also think the freshman from Hawaii could play here if needed. At WDE, I also feel pretty good. Daelin Hayes has been shoulder-injury-free for what, 3 years now? And he has all of the talent and a year's experience. I think Trumbetti, even as a back-up, is a solid WDE. He's not a good starter, but he's a good backup, if that makes any sense. Ade also looked good in spring game I thought. And if we can get anything from Okwara, huge bonus, as he has the talent.

DT - I am very concerned, and this is not a spot you want to be concerned about. What I wouldn't give to have Scott Pagano at this point. We basically have Jerry Tillery as a proven starter, and he hasn't lived up to the expectations. We desperately needed Cage or Elijah Taylor to be healthy this year, and that is looking very unlikely. We're banking on Jonathan Bonner being a starter, and he'd be a quality #2 at best IMO. Behind them, we have no experience or elite talent. MDT has never played. Tiassum probably will never play (or at least should never play IMO). Mokwuah I do not expect to play. So we're banking on guys who should probably never play to be quality #2s at arguably the most important position on defense in CFB. This really puts a damper on my expectations for the defense. If we had just a healthy Cage and Scott Pagano, I'd put our defense at an A- level. I'm not even kidding.. As is, I think it's a B-. I think we'll get gashed on the run and 4-yard gains in the 4th quarter will make it easy for opponents to move the chains as our depleted DT depth wears down.

Respecting each player and not treating them like a piece of meat (Van Goiter).
Substituting more frequently on the D-line so players are fresher in the 4thQ
A simplified scheme so dfenders can read and react quickly
Play to each defenders strengths, unlike the mad man VanGoiter, who blizted the worst LB in college FG far
more often than the best LB (Jaylon Smith) in college football. What a moron.
Play very sound fundamentally, which Goiter's teams were not.
Play with a consistent game plan and not change it mid game, mid week, mid minute like the moron VanGoiter
Communicate effectively and directly to the players. Again, not a facet of VanGoiter's mess.

Do the aforementioned things and ND will see a vastly improved defense, despite the lack of experience with
the interior of the D-line. Elko and Elston will shock everyone with the improvement!

After the VanGorder disaster, I will be happy to just see the following:

(1) Players lined up properly and not looking to the sidelines when the ball is snapped.

(2) Groups of players not running on and off the field as the ball is being snapped.

(3) Players knowing their assignments.

(4) Players being slotted in positions that best fit their skill set.

(5) Players being able to react (without overthinking their scheme responsibilities) and run to the ball when the ball is snapped.

If I see these things this fall, I will be satisfied that progress is being made on the defensive side of the ball.

I'm not really sure exactly what to expect. Here are some things I think are true.

ND has been deficient especially defensively in development and scheme. ND's strength and conditioning has been lacking for the last couple of years. This means we have not been getting as much out of our talent as we should have been.

ND has the talent and potential to be an elite offense. Will they have the development and game plan to leverage this? I think so but we will see. I think we will see more up tempo which means the defense will also likely play more snaps.

ND's roster talent from a recruiting standpoint on defense is not elite. It is pretty solid though. I count 31 guys on the roster that are not going to be true freshmen on defense. 16 of them are 4 star or better and the other 15 were all 3 star level. There is material to work with here.

So, my view is that I want to see the coaches get a lot out of the material they have. I'm not expecting an Alabama defense but I think a top 30 level defense is very achievable with the talent they have available. What does that mean numerically? Based on 2016 results here is what that equates to in what are key categories to me according cfbstats.com:

1. Points allowed against FBS opponents: 30th ranked gave up 23.9ppg (ND gave up 27.8 ppg last year)
2. Yards per play allowed against FBS opponents: 30th ranked gave up 5.29 ypp (ND gave up 5.4 ypp last year)
3. Turnovers forced overall: 30th ranked forced 24 turnovers last year (ND only forced 14 last year)
4. Tackles for loss vs FBS opponents: 30th ranked got 6.83 per game (ND averaged 5.08 per game)

I will be watching these stats in conjunction with the games. My hope is that they get to this level and improve as the season progresses. If they can play to this level with what we expect from the offense and this could be a very good team. I don't know what is reasonable to expect but in my mind if Balis and Elko is real, something at this level is achievable with the talent at hand.

I want to see ND score one more point then the other team each game. More than even better

21 pts. or less a game