Photo by Rick Kimball/ISD
Notre Dame Football
Can Coleman be the Answer at Free Safety?
March 28, 2017
4,996
It wasn't the smoothest first half for the Irish when they went down to Austin to take on Texas. Down seven at the break, they had given up 248 yards to the Longhorns new Veer 'n Shoot offense. The hope was that Notre Dame coaches would make the proper adjustments to stop the bleeding in the second half.
The Longhorns received the kickoff to start the 3rd quarter and after a three yard run to start the drive, quarterback Shane Buechele went deep to John Burt down the sideline. He zoomed past Nick Coleman for 72 yards and a touchdown. That play pretty much summed up the year for Coleman who went from playing a lot as one of the top three cornerbacks to barely seeing snaps after struggling against Duke in Brian VanGorder's last game at defensive coordinator.
For some players, a play like that against Texas would define their career. Some never recover. It's happened before to Irish cornerbacks.
Lo Wood was forced to come into the game and cover USC's Robert Woods back in 2011. When it happened, the touchdown almost seemed inevitable. Gary Gray never quite got over getting beat in the final minute versus Michigan in 2011. Mention Gray and Michigan and the response from a Notre Dame fan might cause some nightmares to resurface. Unfortunately those are the memories that most associate with those players.
When three true freshmen passed Coleman on the depth chart 1/3 of the way through last season, I think many felt that the Burt touchdown would be what we remembered Coleman for. It's sad that it could be that way with it only being the first game of his sophomore season, but I never saw anyone predict that Coleman would come back in 2017 to overtake the other corners on the roster. It just wouldn't have been a smart bet given what we had seen before.
Coleman isn't back in the mix at corner this spring, but that's primarily because Mike Elko and Todd Lyght elected to give him a shot at free safety. So far in the early practices, he seems to be taking advantage of the opportunity.
At the open practice on Friday, Coleman caught Josh Adams from behind to prevent a touchdown in team. Later he broke up a deep ball to Equanimeous St. Brown where he was caught out of phase and made up ground to finish through at the catch point. Later on when the offense was in the red zone, he broke on the football to knock away what would have been a touchdown to Alize Jones.
It was three plays and one practice, but considering how Notre Dame is looking for answers at both safety spots, it gave everyone a glimmer of hope that the position switch for Coleman has a chance to work out well for both him and the defense.
Earlier in the week, Brian Kelly had some very positive things to say about the transition for Coleman as well while noting that there is one important area of his game that needs to be improved.
“I think he continues to develop in tackling,” stated Kelly. “You have seen he can play the ball and he’s got athleticism. We just want him to continue to build on his tackling skills. If we go through the spring and say ‘He’s tackling well,' I think we will feel pretty good about the move.”
Every Irish fan has to be hoping that the tackling comes together for him because there appears to be a dearth of options at the spot again based on what we've seen. They are going to have to rely on some young players to show quite a bit more than they have to this point. While that very well could happen, no one will be counting on it given the recent struggles at the position.
Due to injuries and inconsistency, there hasn't been strong play from the safety position at Notre Dame since 2012. Having to potentially rely on a player who is making a position switch to carry the load at one spot isn't exactly ideal either.
However, when looking back at that great '12 defense, they had to rely on three players in the secondary who didn't come into South Bend at the position they played that season. Aside from veteran Zeke Motta, the Irish played most of the year with Matthias Farley at safety (switched over from receiver), Bennett Jackson at one corner (in his second year at corner after playing receiver), and KeiVarae Russell at the other corner (a high school running back a year earlier). No one would have guessed it at the beginning of the season, but they ended up playing pretty well that season.
Can Coleman, primarily a high school running back before playing corner at Notre Dame, switch positions and play at a level close or above those players? It appears that he legitimately has a shot at doing so, although it's still a long way until September.
In addition to those three, Kelly has had some success with position switches during his time at Notre Dame. James Onwualu became a three year starter at linebacker and a captain in his final year after starting out at receiver. CJ Prosise went from safety to receiver to running back in his final season where he displayed electrifying ability as a runner. He went from just a guy with some flashes on offense to a day two pick in the NFL Draft.
We don't know if that kind of future is in the cards for Coleman, but he definitely has a new lease on life at safety. Up to this point it appears that the arrow is definitely pointing up for him this spring. If it continues on this trajectory, hopefully on Saturdays in the fall too.
The Longhorns received the kickoff to start the 3rd quarter and after a three yard run to start the drive, quarterback Shane Buechele went deep to John Burt down the sideline. He zoomed past Nick Coleman for 72 yards and a touchdown. That play pretty much summed up the year for Coleman who went from playing a lot as one of the top three cornerbacks to barely seeing snaps after struggling against Duke in Brian VanGorder's last game at defensive coordinator.
For some players, a play like that against Texas would define their career. Some never recover. It's happened before to Irish cornerbacks.
Lo Wood was forced to come into the game and cover USC's Robert Woods back in 2011. When it happened, the touchdown almost seemed inevitable. Gary Gray never quite got over getting beat in the final minute versus Michigan in 2011. Mention Gray and Michigan and the response from a Notre Dame fan might cause some nightmares to resurface. Unfortunately those are the memories that most associate with those players.
When three true freshmen passed Coleman on the depth chart 1/3 of the way through last season, I think many felt that the Burt touchdown would be what we remembered Coleman for. It's sad that it could be that way with it only being the first game of his sophomore season, but I never saw anyone predict that Coleman would come back in 2017 to overtake the other corners on the roster. It just wouldn't have been a smart bet given what we had seen before.
Coleman isn't back in the mix at corner this spring, but that's primarily because Mike Elko and Todd Lyght elected to give him a shot at free safety. So far in the early practices, he seems to be taking advantage of the opportunity.
At the open practice on Friday, Coleman caught Josh Adams from behind to prevent a touchdown in team. Later he broke up a deep ball to Equanimeous St. Brown where he was caught out of phase and made up ground to finish through at the catch point. Later on when the offense was in the red zone, he broke on the football to knock away what would have been a touchdown to Alize Jones.
It was three plays and one practice, but considering how Notre Dame is looking for answers at both safety spots, it gave everyone a glimmer of hope that the position switch for Coleman has a chance to work out well for both him and the defense.
Earlier in the week, Brian Kelly had some very positive things to say about the transition for Coleman as well while noting that there is one important area of his game that needs to be improved.
“I think he continues to develop in tackling,” stated Kelly. “You have seen he can play the ball and he’s got athleticism. We just want him to continue to build on his tackling skills. If we go through the spring and say ‘He’s tackling well,' I think we will feel pretty good about the move.”
Every Irish fan has to be hoping that the tackling comes together for him because there appears to be a dearth of options at the spot again based on what we've seen. They are going to have to rely on some young players to show quite a bit more than they have to this point. While that very well could happen, no one will be counting on it given the recent struggles at the position.
Due to injuries and inconsistency, there hasn't been strong play from the safety position at Notre Dame since 2012. Having to potentially rely on a player who is making a position switch to carry the load at one spot isn't exactly ideal either.
However, when looking back at that great '12 defense, they had to rely on three players in the secondary who didn't come into South Bend at the position they played that season. Aside from veteran Zeke Motta, the Irish played most of the year with Matthias Farley at safety (switched over from receiver), Bennett Jackson at one corner (in his second year at corner after playing receiver), and KeiVarae Russell at the other corner (a high school running back a year earlier). No one would have guessed it at the beginning of the season, but they ended up playing pretty well that season.
Can Coleman, primarily a high school running back before playing corner at Notre Dame, switch positions and play at a level close or above those players? It appears that he legitimately has a shot at doing so, although it's still a long way until September.
In addition to those three, Kelly has had some success with position switches during his time at Notre Dame. James Onwualu became a three year starter at linebacker and a captain in his final year after starting out at receiver. CJ Prosise went from safety to receiver to running back in his final season where he displayed electrifying ability as a runner. He went from just a guy with some flashes on offense to a day two pick in the NFL Draft.
We don't know if that kind of future is in the cards for Coleman, but he definitely has a new lease on life at safety. Up to this point it appears that the arrow is definitely pointing up for him this spring. If it continues on this trajectory, hopefully on Saturdays in the fall too.
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