Junior safety, Luke Talich, had an impressive Blue/Gold performance for the Irish on Saturday. The Cody, Wy. native made a number of stops on the day, but he made two, back-to-back, goal line stops on third and fourth down stopping Irish running back, Aneyas Williams, as he tried to push the ball in from the 2-yard line to score for the offense.
“I think it’s like, during the spring game, you don’t have a ton in, so we’re running what you can,” he explained of his two big stops. “Just fill the gap. Our mindset down at the goal line is plant the flag, so we don’t want to let them in, so I just tried to fill the hole and do my job.”
The Irish crowd reacted loudly to both stops, but the junior safety said he doesn’t often pay much attention to the crowd while on the field.
“It’s a great feeling,” he said when asked if he heard the crowd respond to his big plays. “It was similar to the pick six I had last year. I kind of black out. I don’t really know what’s going on. I don’t really hear the crowd. But, it’s fun to be a part of that. So, yeah, it’s good.”
The big stop did help him on the next play, but so did the call.
“Yeah, I think that’s a momentum change,” he said when asked if the first play motivated him on the second. “It was the same play, so I did the same thing, and it worked out, so yeah, it was good.”
The Junior is competing for playing time and a potential starting spot opposite Adon Shuler in the secondary for the 2025 season, and big plays will certainly help his cause. Talich says he’s just focused on getting better instead of who the starter is right now.
“It makes all of us better,” he said of the competition. “I think none of us are too worried about who is the starter or anything right now. We’re all just focused on getting better, and when we can, take advantage of our opportunities.”
Normally, spring practice is over after the Blue-Gold game, but this season the Irish have three remaining practices they’ll get in over the next week before it’s officially over.
“I don’t really know how these next three practices are going to go,” Talich explained of the unusual spring situation. “Coach Freeman joked that we’re going to get our work in, so I’m sure we’re going to get after it still. I don’t know how much pads and physical contact we’re going to be doing, but he’s going to challenge us mentally. I think just focus on getting better and taking advantage of those three extra practices because they’re going to carry into the summer and the fall.”
Talich led the Irish defense on Saturday with nine total tackles, and that performance should open some eyes, including the eyes of new Irish Defensive Coordinator, Chris Ash. Ash is in his first season with Notre Dame, and Talich said there hasn’t been a lot of adjustment from former Defensive Coordinator, Al Golden, to Ash.
“I think all of us have gotten more familiar with his style and his style of coaching,”he explained of the first-year coach. “It’s a little different than coach Golden, but it’s good in its own way. He’s going to push you every single day.”
The former walk-on has certainly had quite the ride since enrolling a few years ago. To go from walk-on, to earning a scholarship, to now a chance to start, things couldn’t be going much better for Talich. If he keeps making plays like the did today, the ultimate walk-on dream might come true for the 6-foot-4, 213-pound safety.
