After his playing career ended, Mike Mickens found himself at pee-wee football games. He had no attachment to any of the kids — he just loved football. Mickens needed to be around the game.
Fifteen years later the Notre Dame secondary coach finds himself as one of the top defensive coaches in the country, instilling that same fire and passion for the game inside the Irish defensive backs.
“I just wanted to be around football,” Mickens said. “So, my wife was like, ‘If you're going to be around football like this, you better get paid for it.’ So I got into coaching … it is just rewarding. It's the best thing to playing.”
While in South Bend, Mickens has assembled a room filled with elite talent. Whether it's Leonard Moore, Christian Gray or Adon Shuler, the Irish are rolling deep in talent in the secondary.
When Mickens was recruiting Moore — who is viewed as one of the top corners in the country — he quickly recognized how special he could be.
“He had a spring practice when I went down and got to see him practice, and I knew he was going to be pretty good at that practice,” Mickens said. “Just the way he moves and everything and then I also got to see him live in the season as well. He’s a gamer.”
So five years in South Bend and Mickens now is viewed as one of the best evaluators in talent at the secondary position. What’s his secret?
“I think it starts with mentality,” Mickens said. “I think especially at the defensive back position, you've got to be competitive. So I look at that first and how they are and do they waiver when adversity hits, and we want guys that don't waiver and continue to go compete. I like to say that's like-minded people like me. So do that. And then speed and all the learning from ball skills is the physical part of it.”
Two weeks ago in Miami, Notre Dame’s secondary faced its fair share of adversity. Whether it was Karson Hobbs getting burned for a touchdown or Shuler sitting back and failing to make a play on the ball.
For Shuler, Mickens is confident the safety won’t make the same mistake twice.
“Well, we're just going to be aggressive in everything we do,” Mickens said. “We attack. That's who we are as a back end. That's who we are as a team, as a defense. So he understands that. He's a veteran guy. If that play happens again, we know the outcome is.”
As for Hobbs, he can see that competitive spirit that Mickens looks for in every DB that plays at Notre Dame.
“I mean that's a DB, right?,” Mickens said. “So, everybody sees when you get beat, everybody sees when you make a good play. So just continue to play, one play at a time.
“He's competitive. That's that part of that evaluation we talk about. We want guys to be, hey, you may get beat. How do you respond? Continue to get better, and that's what it's about. And the beautiful thing is I've been in their shoes, and I get to be able to share things with him when you get beat, right?”
It wasn’t the lockdown defense that may have come to be expected of the Irish secondary. But despite a handful of negative plays, Mickens came away confident in his group.
“It's just maturity,” Mickens said. “I mean, we are a close-knit group. We've got a great unit strength. They want to be the best. You don't get to be at Notre Dame if you don't want to be the best, and that's what they want to do, and that's how we practice.”
The Irish secondary will get another chance to prove themselves as Texas A&M comes to South Bend. The Aggies have a dynamic receiver room with some serious speed. Mario Craver and KC Concepcion will be guys the secondary is keyed in on throughout Saturday’s matchup.
“I mean they have a great, good receiving core,” Mickens said. “Obviously, they're doing a good job. Fast guys. We’ve seen (KC) Concepcion, obviously, at NC State. So good players, it's going to be a great challenge, and that's what we love.”
