Confidence High For Julian Love And Irish Defense
Notre Dame has only practiced three times this spring, but cornerback Julian Love has noticed a difference.
“We have really been working hard,” Love stated. “Tuesday was a great day of battling between the offense and defense. We’re really advancing quicker than any spring I’ve been part of, and that’s great to see.”
The 5-foot-11, 193-pounder believes the experience returning for the Irish has expedited the learning process as they know how the handle spring practice.
“We have a lot of guys that played big roles last year,” explained Love. “With the experience, they know what the spring is like and what type of grind this is and what we’re working towards. It’s the mindset of where we want to be.”
In 2017, Love recorded 20 passes defended to go along with three interceptions and a bunch of confidence.
This spring Love is focused on turning a few of those pass breakups into interceptions.
“This spring, I want to be very aggressive,” said Love. “On 50-50 balls, I want to not only break up the play but try to catch it and make a difference. If you do that in the spring and take chances, it goes right into camp and the season.
“Last year was about turning to look for the ball and trying to get my hand on it. This year, I’m trying to catch the ball and have my interception numbers go up rather than a lot of pass breakups when I can catch the ball.”
Speaking of confidence, Love is a big believer in confidence over traits.
“I was telling some of the younger guys that in my opinion college football is not all about physical traits,” Love explained. “I really think it’s about the mental game and your confidence level. Everyone thinks there is a huge change from your freshman to sophomore year in terms of how strong or how fast you are. We’re getting that, but it’s about your confidence level and how you think about the game and the ability to take chances.
“Guys get that edge and make big jumps purely off of confidence. For me, it was huge. I knew I could do it.”
Love and the defense are just three practices into the Clark Lea era at Notre Dame. Lea moved into his defensive coordinator position after his longtime mentor Mike Elko left for Texas A&M, and things seem to be running smoothly to this point.
“Coach Lea is a very intelligent man,” Love stated. “Coaching linebackers, he has his feel of the game from the middle of the field, so he knows every position and knows how they correspond to each other.
“His perspective has really helped me. We got Coach Elko’s experience and his insight last year and Coach Lea has a lot to offer. It’s making for a great defense.”
The differences between Elko and Lea comes from the way they communicate and teach. Love enjoyed Elko but has also quickly embraced Lea’s coaching style.
“They are definitely different people,” said Love. “Coach Elko is a great guy, and he had a different form of communicating with players. We adapted to it and loved it.
“Coach Lea is more subtle in his approach to the game. He’s very deliberate in what he says. Guys really take to that, so everything that comes out of his mouth, guys are going to listen. We really like it.”
Lea has made sure to communicate clearly, and it starts with creating more one-on-one conversations.
“Coach Lea is pretty athletic,” Love said. “He’ll run over to you and be personable with you to deliver his messages. I think everyone appreciates it because everyone is different. He can really adapt to his players.”
Lea has taken an interest in hearing Love’s feedback from the secondary, and the two have developed a close relationship over the past few months.
“He not only tells me what he wants, but he asks my opinions on what things work for the corners and defensive backs,” stated Love. “It’s been a mixture of what he wants in terms of what we’re doing off and on the field, how we’re carrying ourselves and what he wants from me as well as what I think will work in certain situations.”
It’s also evident Love has become one of the leaders on the Irish defense and the junior doesn’t want to stop there as he has his eyes focused on becoming a captain.
“I want to give the team the best version of myself,” said Love. “I know I have something to offer. I know there are great people in line to potentially be a captain, but I know that I can offer the team something special. I think it’s through my character and it’s who I’ve always been here.
“I really care about it. If I’m not a captain, then I need to still be the leader for everybody. I know people are relying on me. No matter what, I’ll be the same person.”