Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa Playing ‘At A High Level’ Despite Irish’s Defensive Struggles

It’s no secret at this point that the Notre Dame defense is playing nowhere near the level that was expected of them prior to the season. 

Despite that, Marcus Freeman is still trying to find the brighter spots in a pair of defensive performances that have left a lot of Irish fans in a dark place. 

One of those bright spots has been Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa. 

“Kyng’s (Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa) been playing at a high level,” Freeman said. “We've been using (Jaylen) Sneed and Kyng with some pass rush situations to try to give us a little help on third down.”

Overall, Freeman has been satisfied with what the core group of linebackers have been putting on tape, Viliamu-Asa included.

“They're playing as expected and we're gonna obviously always expect more, but I'm confident in those four guys,” Freeman said. “They're putting in great work. I don’t know what their statistics say but they've been grading pretty well and they got to continue to improve just like everybody else.” 

As for Viliamu-Asa, he understands that Notre Dame doesn’t have time on its side when it comes to fixing the defenses' overall issues. 

“To get where we want to be there has to be a quick fix, ” Viliamu-Asa said. “We can’t go out there and play the same way we played on Saturday. We have to fix what we can fix and improve on everything we can.” 

Viliamu-Asa believes that fixing those issues will have to happen before Saturday, and it has to start on the practice field.

“We just have to be intentional with what we do in practice,” Viliamu-Asa said. “We have to have urgency, fix what mistakes we make in practice and not let them slide.” 

Freeman also recognizes that the defense will have to make changes during the week in order to reap the benefits on Saturday. 

“It's the daily practice habits, the daily preparation, it's the understanding of exactly what you're supposed to do and how to get it done,” Freeman said. “And ultimately, that's gonna lead to a better performance on Saturday.

“What I wanna see is elevate and improve today in meetings, in conversations, in walkthroughs, in all those things that we have right in front of us.” 

As for the Inland Empire, California native, he’ll be working on improving his pass rush skills. 

“Having better hands,” Viliamu-Asa said. “Anytime I get to come off the edge, having a great get-off, and helping my teammates out with pass rush lanes and getting guys through to get to the quarterback.”

Through two games, Viliamu-Asa has racked up seven tackles, one and a half of those resulting in a loss of yards. 

A big topic of conversation surrounding South Bend in the last three weeks has been about defensive coordinator Chris Ash and how drastically he has changed the Irish’s defensive scheme. 

Viliamu-Asa is just concerned with executing, no matter the scheme or call on a given play. 

“Regardless of what he calls, we have to go out there and execute it,” Viliamu-Asa. “That’s all there is.

“Just have to focus on the game plan and play Notre Dame Football.”

When asked how he’ll know whether or not the defense has turned a corner Saturday against Purdue, Viliamu-Asa boiled it down to three keys. 

“Violence, communication, and great fundamentals,” Viliamu-Asa said.