4 Things We Learned About Notre Dame's Defense

Marcus Freeman and a trio of defensive players spoke to the media for the first time during fall camp after Notre Dame’s fourth practice and they didn’t reveal too much. We really know very little about what has happened in camp so far with only one chance for anyone to see the team and that was only for 30 minutes.

There were a few things that did make my ears perk up in terms of how things might play out for Notre Dame’s defense this season. Some of these four quotes weren’t all that surprising. It was more confirmation of what we can expect to see from them this fall.

(Check out the Marcus Freeman Notebook and this piece from JOHN BRICE on confusing the offense, the depth chart, and the secondary for more full quotes from Freeman and the players)

This from Drew White fits with the kind of thing Freeman did with his defense at Cincinnati with pre-snap movement from defenders.

“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.”

One thing Clark Lea did more of last season than the previous two was slant defensive linemen after the snap on run downs. That was one reason why Notre Dame had their highest tackle for loss per game average and why they were an elite defense when it came to producing Havoc.

We’ll still see slanting from the boys up front under Freeman, but as White said to ISD’s JOHN BRICE, we’ll see more eye-candy before the snap as well. I think we’ll see a lot of linebackers running free to make plays in the backfield because of it.

When it comes to the depth chart, Freeman reiterated the 1A and 1B scenario that he’d like to see with the defense at every position. He did add in this about the defensive line and the rotation Mike Elston chooses to use as well.

“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.”

So, much like 2020, it’s fair to say we’ll see a rotation of 10-12 players up front for the Irish. Freeman specifically pointing out that the D-line room might be the only place where we see it three-deep leads into the next quote Freeman had about training the inside linebackers at both Mike and Will.

“The only person on our defense that probably hasn't played Will linebacker is Drew (White). Everybody else has probably played Will linebacker in the first four practices. So now everybody else has played Mike, too, except for Marist. We're trying to figure out what's best. Maybe tomorrow I might move Marist to Mike.

“It's the ability to have multiplicity at positions, too. Drew White's started a lot of games for us. Well, if Drew White goes down, what's the plan? Who's the next-best guy? So the ability to play Mike and Will, to me, is what we have to be able to do in the linebacker room.”

If there isn’t 1Cs at linebacker and Freeman is going to go with the four best inside linebackers rather than the two best Mikes and the two best Wills, then that might open the door for JD Bertrand to break into that 1B. That’s going to be something to monitor in camp with White, Bo Bauer, Marist Liufau, and Shayne Simon the others competing at those spots.

In some years the listed two-deep might not mean as much as it does this season.

It’s no secret that Freeman wants to play more man coverage than his predecessor. Cincinnati’s corners played man to man about 20% more of the time than Notre Dame’s in 2020. Kyle Hamilton also said during his availability today that the safeties are going to play more man instead of playing the deep half, which would indicate we’ll see a lot more cover-1 with a single high safety.

Again, this Freeman quote about Mike Mickens coaching the corners to play physical isn’t revelatory based on what we know about Freeman’s scheme before he got to Notre Dame. It’s just telling us what we expected is what we will likely see with the secondary.

”Yeah, if they're anything like Mickens, they're going to be like that. That's who Mick is, and I was just laughing with Elston in the locker room and was just laughing with (Mike) Elston like, 'God, I bet he was hard to coach.' “And he said, 'Yeah, he sure was. I coached him.' But that's his mentality. He's just an aggressive dude. He's energetic. He pushes those guys. Those talk about the creed in the corners room, and the No. 3 creed. [Players will ask] 'Coach Free, what's No. 3 of the Creed? Be violent.' So that hopefully answers your question on do I think our corners are going to be able to be aggressive and play man? Absolutely.

“Why? Because I think they're unbelievably talented, but they've got a corner's coach who has that same mentality. I can see it and they've been doing it.

“I just know (Creed) No. 3.”

The corners are going to play more man and Mickens wants them to choose violence. It’s going to be an interesting development to watch this season.