DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste Thriving at Notre Dame
Notre Dame needed to bolster the edge of its defensive line heading into the offseason and Ohio State graduate transfer Javontae Jean-Baptiste quickly became the perfect fit.
The 6-foot-4, 260-pounder not only arrived with experience, but a ceiling that wasn’t tapped into in Columbus.
Now, it required work on Jean-Baptiste’s part to reach to another level, but it’s clear the New Jersesy has ascended while at Notre Dame. Jean Baptiste sits No. 4 on the team with 44 tackles and leads the Irish with 7.0 tackles for loss to go with 2.5 sacks.
Jean-Baptiste had carved out a niche on Twitch while at Ohio State, but he dialed that back over the last year to focus on his last year of college football.
“At first I was trying to do it a little bit, but then I just had to be focused on the mission and just wanting to be the best version of myself,” explained Jean-Baptiste. “So, I had to set other things down just so I could really put all my attention on one thing and that's just what I had to do. I feel like that's what I've been doing.”
Now, it doesn’t mean he gave up video games and other hobbies, but Jean-Baptiste found a routine at Notre Dame, which is vital to success anywhere.
It’s the little details that can lead to a productive season and that’s exactly what Jean-Baptiste has been focused on over the last 10 months.
“If it is coming into the building early just to get those extra meetings in with Coach Wash, or staying after practice and going and watching film with the D-staff and just trying to see what the plan is and what we're always trying to do,” stated Jean-Baptiste. You can get asked to do something, but if you really don't understand, you've got to question it.
“I just wanted to put myself in a position where I'm able to understand how they think and know that I can think just like the way they are, and try to anticipate what's going on and use that for my leverage.”
One goal for Jean-Baptiste was to show his ability to excel against the run. While at Ohio State, Jean-Baptiste was used primarily against the pass, so there was some development needed to show NFL scouts he could be a difference-maker in the run game.
“I feel like the development of me playing the run has been good,” Jean-Baptiste explained. “Just got more time to showcase my stuff with playing the run and being in those situations. At the end of the day, it just comes down to mano a mano when you're playing the run. It's one-on-one. Are you going to beat the block or be blocked?”
Jean-Baptiste’s transition to South Bend was smooth as he attended high school at Bergen Catholic (N.J.), which is similar to Notre Dame, but he admits learning the finer points of Al Golden’s defense was tough at first.
“I would just say the amount of plays that we have and knowing in this defense you really have this one job to do and you have to trust everyone else to do their job,” said Jean-Baptiste. “If everyone else does that, then everything should go perfectly fine. Even if a call is eh, if everyone does their job, they still have to line up and play.”
Adjusting to new teammates and a different culture was another piece to the puzzle, but there was some carryover from Ohio State in terms of goals and expectations.
That said, Notre Dame’s offseason workouts proved to be building blocks for Jean-Baptiste and his teammates as he quickly showed he was willing to work for this team.
“Just going through the whole process of being around them and going through workouts with them and seeing the determination and the grit that they had going through those hard workouts,” Jean-Baptiste said of his teammates. “Sometimes you would do things like, 'why are we doing this?' But it's not easy. It's a hard choice. Anybody can make a choice that I don't want to do.
“It's that split decision or that one second, where you're like, complaining that you don't want to be somewhere and correct yourself like, no, I want to be here. I want to get better. That's what I've seen from the guys in the room. That's why it's easy to play for them because I know if I'm gonna go, they're going to go hard, too.”
The culture and chemistry led Notre Dame to having one of the nation’s top defenses and it’s something Jean-Baptiste has enjoyed and taken a great deal of pride in.
“That's just something that means a lot because if only one guy on defense is playing good, then they're able to single him out. But once everyone starts playing, then it's hard to kind of pinpoint on one target because you never know. If someone's playing good, then another person should be able to show up. That's what I like about this Notre Dame defense and we have guys all over the place that can cause mismatches.”
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