Mike Mickens earned his shot with the Baltimore Ravens.
LSU and Texas may have long carried the “DBU” label, but over the last several years, no coach in the country has developed more high-end collegiate defensive backs than Mickens.
When Mickens arrived in South Bend ahead of the 2020 season, Notre Dame’s cornerback room was underwhelming by elite-program standards. No offense to the players who were in place, but a group consisting of TaRiq Bracy, Shaun Crawford, Houston Griffith, Cam Hart, Clarence Lewis, Caleb Offord, and KJ Wallace is a far cry from what the room looks like on January 26, 2026.
There are plenty of coaches who can develop talent. Mickens separated himself because he could both develop and evaluate and his evaluations proved to be elite.
Sauce Gardner. Benjamin Morrison. Leonard Moore. None entered college as elite prospects and all were Freshman All-Americans.
Composite Rankings
Sauce Gardner: 83.44
Benjamin Morrison: 90.00
Leonard Moore: 89.40
Gardner was barely ranked. Morrison and Moore were considered low four-star prospects. Gardner left Cincinnati as the No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Morrison became a second-round pick, falling only due to pre-draft hip surgery. Moore is currently on pace to be a Top-10 selection in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Those outcomes matter because they highlight what Mickens consistently saw before the rest of the sport caught up.
It’s also worth noting that Xavier Watts developed into an All-American once Mickens took over the entire secondary, while Tae Johnson and Adon Shuler have come into their own at the safety position.
That eye for talent is what Notre Dame will struggle most to replace. It’s what elevated Mickens from a good coach to an elite one. The silver lining is that Notre Dame is now positioned to recruit the very best secondary prospects in the country, as it did in the 2026 cycle.
When discussing lasting impact at Notre Dame, Mickens belongs in the conversation with any position coach who has passed through South Bend.
Marcus Freeman has already proven he can make high-level defensive hires. Al Golden, Max Bullough, Al Washington, and Chris Ash all hit high marks.
Development must remain the top priority moving forward. Notre Dame’s roster is built to win now, but it also features a wave of elite freshmen and sophomores who will be relied upon for depth and production.
There will not be a shortage of talented coaches looking to capitalize on the room Mickens built, so Freeman will have his choice of elite coaches to fill the spot.
There will be no shortage of talented coaches eager to inherit the room Mickens built. Freeman will have his choice among elite candidates.
It’s not difficult to see the appeal of coaching Leonard Moore or Dallas Golden, Tae Johnson, or early enrollees like Khary Adams, Joey O’Brien, and Ayden Pouncey.
That doesn’t diminish the importance of recruiting. Notre Dame is simply in a different position than it was when Mickens was hired. The Irish enter 2026 with the best odds to win the national title (+600 on FanDuel), making development paramount, especially as younger players will need to develop to provide depth.
Another intriguing possibility is Freeman addressing the opening with two hires. Before Mickens oversaw the entire secondary, he coached cornerbacks while Chris O’Leary handled safeties. With no limit on total staff size, Freeman has flexibility, especially considering it’s somewhat rare for one coach to manage the entire secondary.
The NCAA’s only restriction is that no more than 10 assistants may recruit off-campus. Notre Dame has taken a unique approach in recent years, frequently deploying graduate assistants and analysts on the road instead of position coaches or coordinators. It’s difficult to argue against the results.
That structure creates an opportunity for Freeman to pair a veteran developer with a younger, high-energy recruiter, which potentially solves multiple needs at once.
The timing of the hire will also be worth monitoring. Freeman has no immediate urgency, as spring ball won't start for a while, giving him time to identify the best solution.
That said, Notre Dame currently has three defensive backs committed, and prolonged uncertainty isn’t ideal.
2027 cornerbacks Ace Alston and Xavier Hasan are two of the best in the country, which means they’ve likely already taken several phone calls from other schools in the last 12 hours.
At the end of the day, Mickens left Notre Dame’s secondary far better than he found it. The foundation is strong. The program is positioned to land a premier replacement. That’s the mark of elite coaching and a healthy program.
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