On whether Notre Dame will have a defense ranked between 4 and 12 this fall…
O’Malley: “I think there are three keys to this. Al Golden returns for the third year, in addition to the veterans he has. They are two keys together. He has to graduate the student defensive tackles in Howard Cross and rylie mills that I was, everyone was surprised that they came back.
“He has a six-year-old linebacker, Jack Kisser, which Pro Football Focus loves, was the only linebacker to return. He has award winner Bronko Nagurski at safety, who is the second best player in the secondary because Benjamin Morrison is better than Xavier Wattsbut Xavier Watts had a better year last season.”
“Promising corner Christian Gray maybe one day it will be better than Cam Hart. Although I will say that Cam Hart last year was extremely underrated. I always say there’s going to be a Cam Hart to Christian Gray handover and people get really mad at me, because they’re like, ‘Christian Gray is just a sophomore.’ That’s my point. He is only a second year student. He has to play this season as a sophomore. He also tells what you do as a sophomore, but I think it will be very good.
“He still has to win mickey jade who returns He has been playing for two years Notre Dame. They brought in Jordan Clark, Ryan Clark’s son from Arizona State be the nickel. They brought in Rod Heard, a 27-game starter at safety in Northwest to start alongside Xavier Watts, and I mentioned starts for a reason: Al Golden’s defense is an NFL defense. He brought in a veteran safety, a veteran nickelback. He has veterans everywhere. They can run this defense exactly how he wants.
“They are going to miss Javontae Jean-Baptistewho was truly a revelation Ohio State. He was a much better player for Notre Dame. They just received RJ Oben from Duke as a pass rusher on the strong side. I mention it because, again, Notre Dame scouted RJ Oben facing Blake Fisher and joe alt and they thought, ‘We want that guy.’ So, that’s an automatic scouting advantage for Notre Dame.
“At the Vyper position, which is their pass-rushing end, there’s a fifth-year senior there. Jordan Botelho. There is a promising boy, Boubacar Traoré, who everyone loves. We joke that it’s been simplified by switching from the odd-looking No. 1 51 to No. 5. So when you see No. 5 coming off the edge, you automatically look like you’re a better pass rusher no matter what. .
“It’s an impressive defense. They lost JD Bertrand and Marista Liufau, which had started for three years. But the core of linebackers will be around Jack Kiser. They are all young guys. There will be four to fill two spots, and Notre Dame has become a nickel defense anyway.
“So, I think Notre Dame’s speed at linebacker, I can’t say it’s an improvement because JD Bertrand had a very good year last year, but they improved in some ways. JD Bertrand in space against TreVeyon Henderson and Ohio State on the passing route was a problem. It may not be such a big problem for Jaiden Ausberrywho is a boy Louisiana entering. I could work at Nickel; could work as a linebacker.
“So, it’s a defense that will be fun to watch, but it has seven veterans coming out next year, and we’re going to have the opposite conversation when we talk next May or June.”
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