Notre Dame Spring Practice Report - Defense Edition
Notre Dame held an open practice today as the Irish creep towards the midway point of the spring. Here is my thoughts and my analysis of the Noter Dame defense from the practice.
OVERALL
Notre Dame was working a bunch on pressure packages and their nickel and dime sets. It was a very aggressive day for the defense, and I liked how they attacked all day. Even when they made mistakes they made them with some level of aggressiveness. It was a highly competitive session for the defense, who I felt had the better performance of the two days.
Notre Dame's dime package was interesting. The Irish had 4 players along the DL but they were in 3-3-5 personnel. They had Jordan Botelho, Junior Tuihalamaka and a defensive lineman, but I didn't write down who that was. My bad! The fourth player on the line was Nolan Ziegler, who was filling in for Jaylen Sneed, who didn't practice. The linebackers in this look were JD Bertrand and Jack Kiser inside. On the back end they had Clarence Lewis at nickel, Jaden Mickey and Benjamin Morrison outside and two safeties deep (they rotated three guys).
DEFENSIVE LINE
Notre Dame had some interesting looks in their "four-man" alignments. The first team during some of the different periods were Javontae Jean-Baptiste at big end and Junior Tuihalamaka at Vyper. Jordan Botelho also worked in at Vyper in these units with the first team. Notre Dame's first group inside was Howard Cross III and Gabriel Rubio. The second team big end was Aiden Gobaira, and Tuihalamaka was also in there with the second group. The second interior group was Rylie Mills and Jason Onye at times, and NaNa Osafo-Mensah also rotated inside. Alexander Ehrensberger also got action inside.
Up front, the interior was the more disruptive, and the combination of Rylie Mills and Jason Onye was the best of the bunch. Both Mills and Onye had very strong practices.
Mills was consistently disruptive up the middle, showing impressive quickness and playmaking ability. He was very physical at the point of attack, which is what I loved seeing. Mills had one of the best run stops of the practice, shooting inside the tackle and chasing down the ball carrier from the backside.
Onye was outstanding in pass rushing situations. He was dominant during one-on-ones, showing explosiveness off the ball and impressive closing ability. His punch stood out, and his ability to use his hands to get off blocks stood out. During team periods he continued his pass rushing production. Onye also showed the ability to blow blockers back with power moves. Onye wasn't always assignment sound during team periods, which is something he'll need to clean up.
Transfer Javontae Jean-Baptiste had a very productive practice. I know he's only listed at 255 pounds, but Jean-Baptiste looks bigger than that. I was impressed with how stout he was on the edge in the run game. He sets the edge with force and held his ground quite well. That's not something we saw him do a ton at Ohio State, so it was encouraging to see. Jean-Baptiste was an effective pass rusher for the Buckeyes, and he was very good in that department again today. He beat Blake Fisher on multiple reps and battled with Joe Alt.
An example of what makes Jean-Baptiste effective. On one pass rush during team, Jean-Baptiste used a quick burst off the edge to get a step on Fisher. Fisher recovered and shot his hands towards Jean-Baptiste, but he showed excellent hand speed and knocked Fisher's hands down before he could engage and then beat Fisher around the edge. He did this a lot.
NaNa Osafo-Mensah played inside most of the practice. He had some solid moments, but he struggled holding up at the point of attack inside. He got blown outside on the long run from Gi'Bran Payne.
Gabriel Rubio was solid today. He didn't make a ton of plays, but he held up at the point of attack, got a good push on a few snaps and he looks thicker. Rubio seemed to miss his gap on a couple of team snaps, so that will need to be cleaned up.
LINEBACKER
Veteran linebacker Jack Kiser spent most of the day inside with the defense focusing on its pressure packages. He got some Rover work during a defensive group period where they were working on playing perimeter screens and runs. Kiser was the best blitzer during the practice, showing good timing, speed and the ability to get through tight lanes. His closing speed on the ball was impressive.
Marist Liufau looked about the same as he did a year ago. He's athletic, but he just doesn't make a lot of plays. I didn't notice Liufau out of position a bunch, but he just didn't make a lot of plays on the ball.
Sophomore Nolan Ziegler got a lot of action inside. He showed good patience during the inside team run period, and his closing speed stands out. Ziegler needs work on his pass rush moves if he's going to play on the edge in nickel situations.
I spent more time watching the freshmen. The player that stood out the most is Drayk Bowen, who displayed explosive athleticism. Bowen has a lot to learn from an assignment standpoint and he's still a bit of a work in progress from a technical standpoint, but his tools are exceptional. Bowen already has good size and he showed a lot of power at the ball. But it was his athleticism that really impressed me today. Bowen absolutely explodes downhill in the run game, often running by blockers on his way to the football. His sideline speed was outstanding. On one particular play he flew downhill with a back, but the back was running a wheel route. Bowen was able to quickly veer upfield and was hip to hip with the back.
Athletically, Bowen looked every bit like the Top 100 recruit we graded him to be.
Fellow freshman Jaiden Ausberry is working to get used to playing in space (he's at rover right now). You can see him thinking a bit too much at times. When Ausberry knew what he was doing you saw a young athlete that moves with ease and plays very fast. The third freshman linebacker, Preston Zinter, looked lost for much of practice. He is clearly still swimming mentally, but there were two snaps where Zinter showed impressive skills. On one particular outside run play during team, Ausberry knocked back the lead blocker and forced the runner outside. Zinter was backside on the play, but he exploded outside and showed excellent speed to the ball carrier.
CORNERBACK
All-American Benjamin Morrison looked just like that during today's practice. His patience is exceptional and he was very sticky in coverage. He overplayed one in route in the end zone, which allowed Sam Hartman to beat him with a back shoulder throw. The rest of practice, Morrison was very good and blanketed the Irish wideouts.
Classmate Jaden Mickey had a good practice as well playing the field corner spot. Mickey can still get a bit too aggressive at times, but today he played under control much better, played double moves better and played good plays on the football. One example of him being too aggressive was jumping a quick in move by Lorenzo Styles Jr., which allowed Styles to easily beat him outside on a pivot route for what should have been a TD had Styles not dropped the ball. Mickey got too grabby when he was in tight coverage, something he'll need to correct. He has to trust his coverage more in those instances.
Junior Chance Tucker had an up-and-down day. He had a couple of very good break ups during 1on1s, but he found himself out of position a couple too many snaps and like Mickey he got a bit grabby at times when he felt he was beat. Classmate Ryan Barnes had a quality day. It got off to a bit of a rough start, but he settled in and played very well during team. Barnes broke up a pass down the field during a team period, which allowed a safety to almost pick the ball off. He ended the scrimmage by picking off a Steve Angeli pass. Barnes was running step for step with Braylon James and then outplayed the freshman for the under thrown ball.
I was very impressed by freshman cornerback Christian Gray, who reminds me of Morrison a great deal. Similar body types, similar ease of movement and he plays with similar confidence. Gray has very easy speed, which allows him to play under control and to mirror routes effectively. He locked Rico Flores Jr. down on two red zone reps, breaking up the second throw. Gray has to get a lot stronger, especially against the run, which we saw during the aforementioned perimeter drill. But from a coverage standpoint he showed excellent tools and productive during today's practice.
SAFETY
I didn't get to see a lot of the safeties during today's practice, but the lack of depth is easy to see. Freshman Ben Minich is athletic, but he needs to fill out and get a lot stronger. Veteran Ramon Henderson had some really impressive reps today, but he also shows way too much inconsistency from a finishing standpoint. If he can ever fi that he'll have a chance to be really, really good.
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