Notre Dame Spring Ball | Defensive Practice Observations

Notre Dame held an open practice to the media this Saturday and I mostly focused on the defense. They were the better group today and that was definitely helped by some injuries on offense.

Deion Colzie had a concussion from an earlier practice and was in a red jersey. He should be back for next practice. Chris Tyree had an ankle injury where they held him out for precautionary reasons. Joe Wilkins hobbled off after a play so he missed the back half of practice (Marcus Freeman said he’ll be okay).

That’s a lot of skill talent not on the field and when you consider the low numbers at receiver, it makes it difficult to practice at the level the offense would want to.

That’s enough about the injuries for now, let’s get into the practice…

Individual and tackling drills

- Notre Dame broke into tackling drills at the beginning of practice and I watched the linebackers versus the running backs. I know I was there to watch the defense, but the biggest takeaway from this drill was JD Price flashing elite lateral quickness to leave JD Bertrand hugging air. Bertrand had a good angle, but it didn’t matter. Price hit the turbo to the right and he was free.

- There wasn’t too much to gain from watching the linebackers in individual drills, but one thing that stood out was how trim Jordan Botelho. I noticed Al Golden really emphasizing patience on an inside run drill and Bo Bauer was also helping Botelho as well.

1 on 1 LBs vs RBs/TEs

- Jack Kiser looked good today. He’s physical in coverage while also playing under control. He did just about everything right against Michael Mayer and it still didn’t matter.

- Really nice job by Bauer vs Logan Diggs. Diggs ran an angle route and Bauer didn’t grab. He just read the route perfectly and undercut to force an incompletion.

- Marist Liufau had a terrific jam on Mitchell Evans. Liufau’s lengths helps on so many plays whether it’s block destruction or being able to get his hands in to break up passes.

- Early enrollee Jaylen Sneed had a great jam on his first rep, but didn’t stick with it. That’s just the difference between a young player and a veteran one. Grad assistant James Laurinitis was excited about the start of the play and then went to coach up Sneed at the end of it.

- Bertrand, who was wearing a cast and didn’t participate in team or inside run, really struggled in coverage in one on ones. Audric Estime, who looks twitchier, dusted him on a pivot route. Bertrand lost every rep I watched him. It was a tough drill for him.

- I didn’t get to see a lot of Nolan Ziegler in team stuff, but he looks really comfortable in coverage. His recognition is excellent and he had a pass breakup vs Evans.

- A really great battle between Kevin Bauman and Bauer. Both guys were extremely physical and Bauman made the contested catch.

- Kiser controlled the back with his punch and then won his next rep.

- Liufau looked like he might be beat against Diggs, but that length helped him win again by knocking the ball out.

- I was impressed with what I saw from Prince Kollie today. He showed awesome change of direction vs Estime and stayed patient before almost snagging a pick.

- Evans got separation vs Sneed with a win for the offense. 9 on 7 (inside run thud)

- The first group out for the defense was Jack Kiser at Rover, Bo Bauer at Mike, Marist Liufau at Will, Jacob Lacey at nose, Howard Cross at 3-tech, Rylie Mills at end, and Isaiah Foskey at Vyper.

- The second group featured NaNa Osafo-Mensah at end, Justin Ademilola at Vyper, Cross at 3-tech, Gabriel Rubio at nose, JR Tuihalmaka at Mike, Prince Kollie at Will, and Jordan Botelho at Rover.

- Tuihalamaka looks like a dude who has been in the S&C program for a couple of years already. He plays downhill and showed an ability to work through the trash inside. Him and Kollie did nice job together.

- I was watching Rubio closely today and I was maybe a bit concerned when I saw him get reached on the first play when he was too slow off the ball. He was way better the rest of the day after that. The next play he split the double team for a tackle for loss. Later he did a good job at the point of attack and let the linebackers clean up the play unblocked.

- Tyson Ford got plenty of reps inside today at 3-tech. That appears to be where he is slotting this spring. He struggled at the point of attack, which is not at all unexpected for a guy who should be a high school senior that is moving to the interior of the line.

- He played with the third team inside with Jason Onye at nose. Onye was inconsistent, but I was surprised how hard he played. His motor was good and he flashed in some instances.

Bubble drill

- This was a drill where it specifically puts the defense in a situation to defend plays on the perimeter. Clarence Lewis, who was playing the field corner today, did a really good job slipping a block to make a tackle with Kiser forcing the ball outside.

- What a battle with Mayer and Liufau on a rep. It was a great job striking and forcing Mayer on his heels by Liufau, but Mayer stuck with it and didn’t give up on the block. I loved to see two like them competing like that.

- On a swing pass to Estime, he had a silky cut back that made Tuilhalamaa miss in space.

- Great job by Phillip Riley to beat a block on one play for a TF. The next play was a win for Joe Wilkins who got under Riley’s pads and drove him.

- Bracy was very strong in this drill. His anticipation was exceptional.

- I saw some good things from Jaden Mickey on a few reps, but he got stuck on a block by Jayden Thomas on one play that he couldn’t get off of.

Team (11 on 11)

- Estime broke off a big run, to start the session and both Cross and Lacey gave up too much ground. That opened up a big hole. That must have made Cross mad because he was pretty much unblockable the rest of the reps he was in there.

The next play he got penetration and drove Andrew Kristofic into the backfield. Rylie Mills showed good patience with the mesh as well. He and Cross combined for a TFL. Cross again disrupt a play where he slanted inside and then redirected to blow the play up. Then he beat Josh Lugg for a pressure and it led to a check down where DJ Brown was in a position to light up Diggs (there was no wrapping up on this drill).

- Botelho stayed discipline in his run fit to make a play later on.

- Onye had a nice PBU where he kept working to the quarterback.

- An RPO caught Jack Kiser in no man’s land on one snap. It ended up being a big play. Tyler Buchner was good on RPOs overall.

- We didn’t see a ton of blitzing, DJ Brown came free for a sack on one play. It was out of nickel for Notre Dame.

- The starting nickel group was Liufau and Bauer Bracy in at the nickel. Kiser also worked in for Liufau as well. Mills went inside to 3-tech with Lacey on some of those snaps too.

- There was a lot of nice back and forth with the young corners on the day. Joe Wilkins beat Chance Tucker on a flag route for a big play. A couple of plays later Tucker did a good job slipping a bock and blowing up a bubble screen.

- Nice to see Aiden Gobaira get a sack. He beat Evans inside on play-action play.

Tempo drill (11 on 11)

This was them going no-huddle.

- Ramon Henderson and Brandon Joseph were starting at safety with Lewis at the field corner and Ryan Barnes at boundary. Houston Griffith and Brown played quite a bit with the ones too.

- The first play Bracy broke off of his assignment and almost had a pick.

- There was a bust up front and Mills came in from his 3-tech spot for a sack.

- Joseph blitzed and the RPO call didn’t account for him to be blocked, apparently. He forced a throw away from Buchner, which was the smart move to make.

- Ford flashed a nice rip inside for a TFL. Right now he is better at shooting gaps than holding the point of attack, but he’ll get there. OL/DL one on ones

- This was pretty much dominated by the defensive line. Justin Ademilola got the corner vs Joe Alt to kick things off. Then Mills won his rep with a violent swipe to beat Kristofic. Lacey worked a great counter to beat Zeke Correll. Cross dipped under and bent back to the quarterback to beat Lugg. Only Blake Fisher won his rep against Osita Ekwonu out of the first five.

- Rocco Spindler was way too soft vs Justin Ademilola who was rushing inside on another rep.

- Rubio moves so much better than he did last year. He is active and keeps fighting to the quarterback.

- Caleb Johsnon outside held vs Gobaira or else it could have been a win for the dfense. - Alt did a great job handling a spin move from Will Schweitzer.

- Kristofic bounced back to stuff Ford on a hard set.

- Correll was way better in the next rep in what I would call a draw against Lacey. - Alex Ehrensberger couldn’t beat Lugg and got stuck.

- Fisher looked great on just about every rep except against Foskey when the double digit sack man faked inside and jumped back out before leaning to the quarterback. It was a filthy move by Foskey. - Nice spin by Rubio to get another win.

- Josh Burnham came over to get some pass rush work and he beat Caleb Johnson around the corner.

- Alt handled Jordan Botelho who couldn’t win with a bull rush.

- Foskey was devastating as a 3-tech vs Kristofic. They need to get him matched up there more often.

- Cross won vs Michael Carmoday working at center and Mills won vs Lugg to finish off the session.

Team (11 on 11, wrapping up)

- The first play was a sack by Cross that didn’t get blown dead. Pyne got flushed out and tried to make a throw that was picked by Joseph. It was an outstanding break on the ball.

- Barnes missed a tackle in the red zone and was luckily helped by the pursuit.

- A screen was set up perfectly to Estime, but he dropped it on a ball that wasn’t great by Pyne. The timing was great, though, and they hit this same player later on.

- Great job by Lewis making the open field tackle on Diggs. Diggs was dangerous today with his burst so that tackled looked even more impressive.

- There was a big stick by Henderson on a walk-on tight end. - Kollie flashed why everyone should be excited about him when he closed in a hurry on an outlet pass to Price.

- Tucker got beat on a jump ball by Conor Ratigan for a touchdown. It was a heck of a catch.

- Bracy made another great play undercutting the route to almost get a pick vs Braden Lenzy in the end zone.

- Liufau was all over the crosser taking that option away from Buchner. Then when Buchner tried to run to get the corner for a touchdown, Liufau ran him down. Speed, speed, speed.

- Onye had a sack that largely had to do with the coverage, but he just kept fighting.

- Oh my, Estime ran right through Brown on an outside run. Good luck to everyone trying to tackle this man.

- Brown had a very dumb late hit on a throw that was over Styles’ head. He was down for a while and it could have been bad. I love how physical Brown wants to be, but pull up on your teammate (especially that teammate) on a play that was already over.

- Woof, Botelho got pancaked by walk-on Davis Sherwood. Botelho needs to get off blocks much faster than he does. That block was part of what led to a big run by Price.

- A screen to Diggs went to the house and it was the same set up as the one that was missed to Estime. Pyne has a good feel for it.

- Just when I thought Botelho looked disengaged, boom he comes in a big pop on the running back to remind people why they want to see more of him.

- Spindler absolutely drove Ford off the ball on that same play Botelho had the big hit. - Gobaira showed up with another TFL. He beat Caleb Johnson inside.

- Ehrensberger controlled Tosh Baker and he got in with a TFL.

- The day ended with a nice throw by Steve Angeli where he was flushed out of the pocket and rolling to his left. The entire team was excited about it.

Overall observations

- I liked how both offensive tackles looked on the day, but the interior of the offensive line struggled to deal with slants and in pass protection. Some of that was the play of guys like Cross, Mills, and Lacey, but that’s still something worth monitoring.

- I thought the young corners showed good flashes, but then again, they aren’t getting to go against scholarship receivers every rep. It makes it difficult to evaluate them.

- Cross is definitely a 3-tech and should stay there. He was really, really good all day. - Bauer looked good to me, but it really was how he handled himself running the defense that stood out.

- I was very encouraged by Rubio and Onye, who both worked at nose. How much was that the second team O-line wasn’t very good? That’s definitely part of it, but I thought both of them were high motor players.

- Notre Dame looks faster at linebacker and that’s a great thing.