Notre Dame Cornerbacks Ready to Shine, Irish Preparing for Elements at NC State

Notre Dame’s cornerbacks held the attention of most who watched practice over the last eight months following a big 2022. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the Irish defensive backs got the better of the offense for most of the spring and fall camp. 

Two games into the year, Notre Dame’s secondary will get its first chance to truly shine as the Fighting Irish will head to NC State to face quarterback Brennan Armstrong. 

Irish head coach Marcus Freeman believes his cornerbacks have played well despite the lack of action or even being taken out of the game by Navy. 

”They’ve been really doing a great job,” Freeman said. “The first game, it’s a triple-option offense. A lot of their plan was to put the corners away from where they were running the ball. Last game, I felt they did a good job of taking advantage of the opportunities that came their way, which there weren’t many. I know one pass was caught on Benjamin Morrison, but I’ve really been pleased with the way they’ve performed. We’re going to need them.” 

Armstrong, a graduate transfer from Virginia, went a quiet 15-for-26 for 155 yards in NC State’s opening win over UConn, while adding 96 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. 

Notre Dame is very well aware Armstrong can get hot in the air (4,449 passing yards and 31 touchdowns in 2021) and Freeman believes NC State will test his cornerbacks all over the field on Saturday afternoon. 

“We know they’ll be challenged down the field this week,” explained Freeman. “I love the depth of the room with Cam Hart, Benjamin Morrison, Jaden Mickey. You’ll see Christian Gray and obviously Clarence Lewis. It’s a deep room. You all might not see the production that really relates to that room, but in terms of doing their job, they’ve been doing a really good job.” 

Armstrong has been a polarizing passer in the ACC over the last few years, but it also seems he’s a volume passer as his best games have come with a ton of attempts. 

A year ago for Virginia, Armstrong recorded just one 300-yard game and it came on 34 attempts in a 34-17 loss to Louisville.

In 2021, the 6-foot-2, 212-pounder had six games where he threw for over 400 yards, but Armstrong put the ball in the air 40 times in five of those games. In fact, Armstrong threw it more than 34 times in every game outside of the season-opener (31 attempts) in 2021. 

FIRST ROAD GAME
Notre Dame traveled to Ireland in week 0, so Notre Dame’s freshmen and youngsters should have a bit of a routine down, but the trip to Raleigh will be very different as it’s a true road game. 

The noon start will surely help Notre Dame as the environment won’t be as crazy as say a primetime kickoff, yet Freeman has prepared his younger players this week for what will be a hostile environment at NC State. 

”You try to explain what it’s going to be like,” stated Freeman. “You try to show them a video and tell them this is kind of the environment you’re going into. Nothing is going to be able to catch them up until they get the experience of going there and playing in a hostile environment. You try to give them a visual of what it’s going to be like. You try to do crowd noise in practice so they understand how to execute with non-verbal communication.

“Until you’re actually in that element, you can’t simulate it. We have to do a good job of being able to execute to take out some of the distractions, the crowd noise and the things that aren’t within the white lines.” 

RAIN IN RALEIGH?
As it stands now...Saturday boasts a 59 percent chance of rain in Raleigh. We won’t dive into the 9-fo-26 outing by DeShone Kizer or the 1.6 yards per rush that happened in 2016, but it’s worth noting Freeman made the Irish practice in the rain during fall camp. 

”We’ve had a few wet ball practices where we intentionally went out in the rain during fall camp and had to make sure we understood no matter the elements, we have to go out and perform,” Freeman stated. 

And no, Notre Dame won’t see hurricane elements if it does rain on Saturday, but in case there is a drizzle, Freeman and his staff have discussed plans for dealing with the elements as they did two weeks ago in Ireland. 

“We have a plan,” said Freeman. “We are always in communication in terms of playing complimentary football and what’s necessary. We’ll definitely have a plan, but also have communication in terms of what’s best for both sides of the ball. Is it under center? Is it in the gun? How can we make sure that we have a chance to execute and not hurt ourselves because we don’t have a plan for the elements that could be there on Saturday.”

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