Irish eye-candy: ND defense bringing exotic options
Drew White has a message for those eager to see Notre Dame's new defense under heralded first-year coordinator Marcus Freeman: The Fighting Irish are bringing the aesthetics – while maintaining the substance for which the unit has been known for several years spanning Mike Elko and Clark Lea.
“I think it's going to seem like we're doing a lot of different things, when in reality we're kind of just showing different eye-candy to the quarterback and kind of confusing the offense,” White said Tuesday inside the Irish Athletic Center, following Notre Dame's fourth preseason practice. “So I think that's kind of the biggest difference, is having the freedom to bluff and kind of stem around the fronts, we didn't do that too much last year.”
It's an element White believes particularly suits both his game and that of an Irish defense that features versatile, play-making All-American safety Kyle Hamilton.
“I think it's definitely a very cool aspect, and I like it,” said White, who's appeared in 29 career games and amassed 144 tackles. “I think it brings a lot of mayhem and chaos to the offense, especially to the offensive line.”
Movement pre-snap and a element of being unpredictable are not replacements for maintaining a fundamental, attacking approach.
“It's a little bit more structured than maybe they understand,” said Freeman, hired in January by Brian Kelly to replace Lea after Lea was named head coach at Vanderbilt. “What I'm trying to do is kind of give those guys freedom within the entire defense to play fast.
“'Coach, do I have to be in this exact alignment with my hands here?' No. If you want to show around a little bit, you just have to know where you have to get before the ball's snapped. You've got to know, 'Can I accomplish my job from where I'm a linebacker when the ball is snapped?' So I give them a little bit of freedom to move around, bluff around, show different disguises but ultimately we've got to get to alignment where we can execute our jobs.”
White says that's a message the Irish are receiving loud and clear.
“You focus on maintaining your job as well throughout that time,” White said of the pre-snap freedoms but the base-line requirements. “So whereas in Coach Lea's defense where it could be a very gap-oriented defense and you had specific assignments, you'll still gave that in the Freeman defense as well, you just have to make sure that when you're showing different fronts and you're stemming and you're bluffing, you still have to make sure your assignment-sound as well.”
Freeman believes an almost chameleon-like defensive approach is necessary in the college game – where offenses are evolving constantly and oft-times operating at frenetic paces. He's already seeing some evolution in his play-calling counterpart, Irish offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.
“Tommy's offense from the spring is a little bit different than what I'm seeing now in the fall,” Freeman said. “I'm not saying it's spread, he's going 100mph. I'm not saying that but there's always adapting offensive guys.
“They spend so much time just adapting, changing their offense, so as a defensive coordinator, if you're just saying this is what we do and that's it, I think the game can pass you by.”
DEPTH-CHART APPROACH
Freeman won't have a second-string unit. At least, that's his approach. And he made it clear anyone not part of the Irish's defensive 1s – As and Bs – likely isn't to be a real factor in the defensive rotation unless injury or other circumstances change the situation.
“We're definitely going to rotate,” Freeman said. “We have a philosophy, I know you've got 1s and 2s in your room, we say it's 1As and 1Bs. In a perfect world, you have 22 guys that 1As and 1Bs.
“So what does that mean? You're going to have a significant role. IF you're a 1A, you're going to be the first one to go out there (at each position). If you're a 1B, you're going to have a significant role in our defense.”
Significant does not equate to an automatic even split; rather it implies a role within the defense and trust from the coaches.
“Now, that doesn't mean you're going to play 50-50. That means it might be 70/30, 60/40,” Freeman said. “Now, I hope to have 1As and 1Bs. If you're a 2 in our mind, you're probably not going in unless somebody is hurt. That's kind of our philosophy in terms of I want to rotate at every position.
“But there might be some positions where the rotation isn't quite as often as others.”
Freeman laughed off getting to any Cs on the depth chart – but then circled back to one position along the Notre Dame defense that has perhaps been constructed deep enough to change his mind.
“I think our D-line room is extremely deep and in my years of being a coordinator, the most success I had is when I had a good D-line,” Freeman said. “And the depth of our D-line is like no other. It's a credit to (Mike Elston's) recruiting and credit to his development.
“Somebody asked the question, 'Do you have 1Cs?' The D-line might be the only room where we've got to talk about three-man rotation, because there's so many good players in that room. That's going to be a challenge to Elston, a challenge to him to try to get the guys on the field but also make sure the level of play doesn't drop. I think that's a fun challenge, but it's going to be a challenge for him. And I lean on him, I lean on him heavily. He's been a huge asset for me.”
SECONDARY IS PRIMARY FOCUS
Freeman wants the Irish to be able to rotate corners and emphasized that depth must prove itself on the field, because Mike Mickens' group absolutely will be playing plenty of aggressive, man defense.
Freeman praised the work of Houston Griffith as he seeks to solidify the safety position alongside Hamilton.
“He's been awesome,” Freeman said of Griffith, a senior from Chicago. “Obviously, with Kyle being out in the spring, him and DJ (Brown) were the two safeties to go out there with the 1s, and now here in fall camp he's done an unbelievable job.
“It's great because we've got competition in that room, and so he's done a great job. He's executed. We're four practices in but he's done a great job; Coach (Nick) O'Leary's done a great job with that room.”
