The Next Step | Notre Dame Defense
Notre Dame will return a ton of experience and talent for first-year defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to work with in 2021. The front seven is has a plethora of veterans, while the secondary has perhaps the best defensive back in the country and hungry players across the depth chart.
If Notre Dame wants to get back to the College Football Playoff in 2021, the Irish will rely on defense to get them there - at least through the first half of the year as the offense will need to score against USC and North Carolina at the end of October.
Now, offense is king in college football, but Notre Dame will have a chance to make noise if they can get a few players to make the jump in 2021.
Defensive End Isaiah Foskey | 6’4, 257
As a true sophomore in 2020, Foskey flashed the player he could be and showed he was still a young player as he battled to be consistent.
The California native finished the year with 20 tackles, 4.5 sacks and 5.0 tackles for loss, which isn't bad considering he was in a reserve role behind Baltimore Ravens rookie Daelin Hayes.
If you look at PFF, Foskey graded out as the 19th best defensive player in 2020 if you remove Alexander Ehrensberger, Jack Lamb, Paul Moala, Jordan Botelho, Ja'mion Franklin and Aidan Keanaaina as they took less than 40 snaps during the season.
Foskey has the potential to be a dynamic edge rusher as he has every skill and trait coaches want in an elite pass rusher. It's hard to say where he is right now as we weren't able to see spring ball, but Mike Elston has a great track record of guys making a big jump in year three.
Pass rush is one of the few areas on paper Notre Dame's defense has questions at and Foskey taking the next step can go a long way.
CB Cam Hart | 6’2, 207
Hart only played 88 snaps a year ago and didn’t grade out well per PFF, but the Maryland native was getting healthy and learning a new position. There were flashes of how Notre Dame can use Hart as he had two impressive pass deflections against South Florida in game two. Yes, a Notre Dame cornerback made plays on the ball.
For Hart, the spring was about growth, gaining experience, but also confidence at the cornerback position after making the change halfway through his freshman season in 2019. Not having spring ball in 2020 hurt every program and Hart is one of those players that needed 15 those practices.
At 6-foot-2, Hart is a big corner, but also extremely long. It’s worth noting Mike Mickens and Freeman found success with similar body types at Cincinnati.
In the extremely positive clips Notre Dame sent to the media this spring, Hart seemed very aggressive in the run game and attacking the ball in the passing game. Now, keep in mind we didn’t see his negative plays, so that aggressiveness could have put him in compromising situations for all we know as Notre Dame controlled what you saw.
However, word around Notre Dame is Hart had a good spring and was more consistent, which is good for the secondary because they need a bigger body at corner. If Hart can make plays on the ball, then he might be in line for a ton of playing time in 2021.
LB Marist Liufau | 6’2, 226
Notre Dame fans got a small taste of what Liufau can do last fall. The Hawaii native started off slow as he acclimated to the college game, but then the switch went on in Chapel Hill as Clark Lea turned him loose.
17 of Liufau’s 22 tackles in 2022 came in three of the final four games of the year, including six tackles against both Alabama and Clemson.
Liufau is at his best when attacking downhill or blitzing as he's more athletic and quicker than you think. There is zero concern about his physicality as Liufau wants to hit, but it's always been about strength for him.
Well, Liufau is bigger, faster, stronger and confident heading into 2021. There is a swagger that comes from his game and while the Irish defense isn’t lacking for confidence, the attitude also carries to the entire team.
Freeman has kept his defensive scheme somewhat close to the vest as the Blue-Gold Game was extremely vanilla by design, but Liufau figures to be a piece to the puzzle at Will along with Shayne Simon and potentially Bo Bauer as there doesn’t seem to be hesitation to put Bauer on the field with Drew White anymore.
All in all, Notre Dame is in great shape at linebacker, but Liufau brings a presence with his attitude and ability to blitz that will make it hard to keep him off the field. If he can clean up the pass game and continue to get stronger, Notre Dame has a kid with a ton of talent and length up the middle.