Story Poster
Photo by Rick Kimball/ISD
Notre Dame Football

Tranquill Feeling Comfortable in New Defense and New Position

August 2, 2017
3,654

Last year at this time Drue Tranquill was healthy after two ACL injuries and was ready to make an impact at safety. This year he's finally coming off a year without a major injury, but he's in the middle of a major transition on the field.

No longer a safety, Tranquill has moved to linebacker. Specifically, the Rover position. Although he came in as a defensive back, linebacker always seemed like a more natural fit for his future and the transition has been a smooth one so far. He closed out spring ball strong and was a standout performer on day one of fall camp.

"Starting at safety heavy in the spring and transitioning to Rover, having to pick things up on the fly, (It was) a little bit difficult," admitted Tranquill. "Some experience under my belt, obviously you would expect to be better and I felt better today.”

It's not just transitioning to a new position that Tranquill has to worry about, though. Him and his teammates are still in the process of mastering the new defense that is being installed by coordinator Mike Elko. Tranquill doesn't see the beginning of camp as something new. It's more like a continuation from where they left off.

“I think in terms of the defense, fall camp is the start going into the season. But being in a new defense we saw it as practice 16. We’ve got to pick up right where we left off. I thought we did a good job, but I think the heat might have got to us a little bit early in terms of guys just getting fatigued and losing focus of their technique, their footwork, and their assignments. We’ve got an opportunity to watch film, come back, and get better tomorrow.”

One area that is not new for Tranquill this season is being placed in a leadership role. With so many young players in the secondary last year, he had to take that on in 2016. This year is a bit different in that there are more leaders on the team and the coaches have purposely structured it that way.

That structure has allowed for more responsibility on the player's shoulders when it comes to the locker room and player-run practices in the summer, which is something Tranquill embraced.

“I think the biggest thing I’ve seen this year is just putting it into the player’s hands and allowing this to be a player run team with the captains. You know we have a great, great group of captains and we’ve got a great group of guys underneath the captains that make this whole ship run."

With the added responsibility, there has also been improved communication. The coaches are trusting the players more and in return the players are more open with the coaches.

“I think the players are now not necessarily talking amongst each other when they feel things aren’t going their way or they want to see a change," Tranquill said. "They are coming to the captains. They are coming to the older guys and then we are able to verbalize it to the coaches so you don’t see that rift between players and coaches and organizations.”

When you struggle like the team did last season, it's easy to lose some of that trust with players and coaches. This new structure that has been implemented by Brian Kelly, and put into practice by players like Tranquill, has helped build a bridge between the two groups when it comes to communicating any potential issues.

Right now it doesn't appear that Tranquill himself is having many issues with his new position. Deep coverage wasn't his strongest area, but playing closer to the line of scrimmage appears to be the right move to make him more productive in that area of his game. He was around the ball a lot yesterday and came through with a pick six in half-skelly.

Things should only look better for him once the Irish put on the pads for the first time this Saturday. It could be another step in his transition from a solid player to a great one this season.
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.