Notre Dame’s defense enters 2025 with experience across the board, but the focus in camp has been adjusting to new defensive coordinator Chris Ash’s tweaks.
Ash has been clear that he isn’t overhauling the Irish defense, but even small changes take time to master. The benefit for Ash is a veteran second-level willing to learn.
“It's been interesting,” stated linebackers coach Max Bullough. “It's been a great [offseason] because we've been able to learn a lot. Anytime a new coordinator comes in, you learn a lot of new football. Whether you bring in a lot of stuff or don't. We're doing a lot of different things that we did in the past. Not a bunch of different things, but kind of different. It's all the same. It's kind of hard to explain, but you learn a lot.
“You learn a lot of football. You learn how someone else talks about it, how they think about ball, how they see things. Our guys have taken it in stride. Each and every day, it's a learning environment for the coaches and for the players in a springtime like this and now in a fall camp, because we're learning how each other work.”
Part of that process is understanding how Ash wants practices, installs, and meetings to run. Bullough said it’s not a negative, but rather just a transition.
“We're learning what the expectations are from Coach Ash,” Bullough explained. “What the expectations are out of these calls, what are these calls for. Sometimes you're calling calls, the offense is running the ball, and we're calling a pass play on defense because we're not necessarily synced up in practice. With some of that stuff, too, working through that, saying, ‘Hey guys, listen, this isn't for this particular situation. We're just trying to get the call in.’ It's been a learning experience for me, and I think the guys, too. I think they're taking it well.”
In addition to teaching new tweaks to his linebackers, Bullough is tasked with building depth and keeping players engaged.
It’s not a secret Notre Dame returns four linebackers who could start, so finding ways to involve the linebackers after them is the key to building a deep room, but also developing talent to push Jaiden Ausberry, Drayk Bowen, Jaylen Sneed and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa.
Bullough has leaned on transparency with his players as he knows what it’s like to be on a depth chart.
“We've got a big room,” stated Bullough. “That's as much up to them as it is to me. I try to keep the environment. I just tell the truth. I tell it how it is. I've been in their shoes. I don't try to sugarcoat stuff or give them coach-talk. I just tell them how it is. What's cool about being at Notre Dame is they get it. We go watch film together. We're all watching the same thing. No one's going to be like, ‘Hey, I should be playing’ when they're not doing the right things on film. Knock on wood, we don't really have that issue.
“It's like, ‘Hey, the guys that are playing are the guys that are elite, talent level, but are also operating at an elite level.’ It becomes clear on tape. I think that's what kind of saves our room. I really do.”
When it comes to the four-man rotation, Bullough was pretty firm that it would be the number heading into the season-opener at Miami.
“Right now, it's a four-man rotation,” Bullough said after having a five-man rotation a year ago. “You're just taking one person away. We have guys that obviously are in that bubble, that want to get up to the next bubble and as they grow and as they become ready for it, they will be.”
Freshman linebacker Madden Faraimo would be one of those players in that bubble. The California native was an early enrollee, so fall camp isn’t the first time he’s getting his feet wet against college competition, but Faraimo still has to catch up to an experienced room to earn playing time.
“Just like any guy that comes in and starts playing football in college, first they have to come and they have to learn the defense,” Bullough explained. “They have to learn where they're supposed to be. They have to learn how they align, where their alignments are and who they're working with. Then they have to be able to do it for real, live against an offense.
“It's got to slow down. They've got to learn it. They've got to talk to you in a meeting about it. And then they've got to be able to go do it full speed against the offense that we're seeing every day. That’s a process.”
Bullough is encouraged by the growth from Faraimo, but was open about what the freshman has to do to get on the field.
“We all know it was kind of insane how fast Kyngstonn was ready to play,” Bullough said. “I think Madden is on a great track to be exactly where he's going to want to be at the end of this season. He is progressing each and every day. He is doing the things that he needs to do to put himself in position, but there will never be a time when someone's going to play because they have talent. You will play when you are executing at the exact same or higher level than those four guys who have played.”
And speaking of Notre Dame’s sensational sophomore backer, Viliamu-Asa is continuing to keep his head down and working.
“He has had a great camp,” Bullough stated. “Kyngstonn is a pro. I say it every time. He comes in. He takes care of his business. He eats right. He does what he's supposed to do. He knows the answers. He answers any questions in the meeting. He's there watching film late.
“He understands football. He understands spatial awareness. He has some very special abilities in terms of being able to bend, in his shoulder, and hip separation. He's a guy who can do it all. He can line up with the best of the best third-down rushers that we have on the team too, and also be what he is at linebacker. The sky is the limit and we plan on using all those aspects that he has.”
How will the rotation look in Miami? That’s to be determined outside of all four will get snaps as Bullough is aware the weather will likely play a factor in the game.
“In the first game, that's always a factor,” said Bullough. “It's different with different players. It looks different for different players. Like some people, three or four reps, and there's no reason to have them out there. Other people, three or four reps is when they really get going.
“It's just kind of a case-by-case basis. I do think that game is going to be one that's going to be more based on if we need fresh legs out there and every game is different. It's its own animal.”
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