The Notre Dame safety unit is scary good

AtoZ Sports

Ryan Roberts previews the Notre Dame Fighting Irish safety unit and what they could bring to Chris Ash's defense in year one.

Transcript

00:00with spring practice wrapped up for the notre dame fighting irish there is one defensive

00:03position that gives me a new perspective on chris ashe's unit could completely morph what

00:08it looks like in 2025 let's talk about it next

00:12ryan roberts from a to c sports breaking down everything notre dame football folks with spring

00:19practice blue gold game now behind us we are left to project forward to the 2025 college football

00:25season what it could potentially look like for the notre dame fighting irish and with everything

00:29i've heard and everything i've seen from spring practice it gives me an interesting perspective

00:36on what this defense is going to look like we knew about some absolutes already you knew about the

00:40cornerback position being very strong you knew about linebacker being absolutely loaded but there were

00:46some positions that weren't necessarily a weakness or weren't a worry going into the spring but the

00:53fact that you have now an opportunity to reevaluate the roster a little bit gives you both optimism

00:59and some skepticism in two degrees but i want to talk about the optimism side for a second because

01:05coming into the spring i expected the safety position to be very deep and athletic there's no

01:10doubt but would some of the young talent be able to take a step forward and put themselves in a

01:16position to have a big role in 2025 not only did that happen but i believe it happened to such a degree

01:23but now i'm left wondering does chris ash in his first year as a defensive coordinator

01:29implement things a little bit differently and do we see some just different personnel looks and

01:35schematic changes to this defense not from complete shift of 4-2-5 to a 3-4 or some other variation of

01:42a of a defense but more of does the amount of talent you have at safety morph your understanding

01:50of what we could expect how this defense looks in certain scenarios and this is what i mean by that

01:56heading into the spring you knew a don schuler was the guy on defense you knew that he was going to

02:00start at one safety spot the question was with jalen stroman the transfer from virginia tech out for the

02:06spring can some of these young guys take a step forward well folks we are now removed from the

02:11spring and we saw huge performances from bronte johnson from jaydon blair from luke talich we saw a lot of

02:20these younger safeties really take a massive step forward and now i'm left wondering do we with the

02:27size and athleticism combination we have on the back end do we see more three safety alignments a la

02:33kyle hamilton during his freshman year do we see some scenarios where let's say a luke talich who is six

02:40foot four 213 pounds by the way in obvious situations in a almost like a dime linebacker role do you put him in

02:48the middle of the field and let him spy on a quarterback or chill in short zone and be able to

02:52make plays on the football with a big nickel opportunity because think about this we haven't

02:58even seen jalen stroman yet but jalen stroman at virginia tech played a lot in like a rover role for

03:03virginia tech so is there some big nickel opportunities where instead of having one of the linebackers in

03:09as rover or even having the nickel of devonta smith or someone else do we put a safety body type there

03:15do you throw in a bronte johnson into that role do you let a jalen stroman work against tight ends or

03:21bigger slots a lot of possibilities on the table i think there's gonna be opportunities to see at

03:25least three safeties on the field a lot i don't think it's out of their own possibilities we might

03:29even see four i mean think about this and and just stick with me for a second you're in a dime look

03:35where you have a linebacker on the field that is more of a coverage player you throw in a luke talich

03:41there maybe you have your two safeties whether it's a don shuler jalen stroman but then maybe

03:45you wanted to go a little bit more of a big nickel alignment out of that or a big dime alignment out

03:50of that and in the slot now you put a bronte johnson this has completely just changed my outlook for this

03:57team it really has because mostly i was thinking hey you're gonna have two starting safeties and then

04:02two good depth players i think jadon blair i think bronte johnson i think luke talich who was a star in

04:09the blue goal game and had a really good spring and is tall and athletic i think that they are too

04:13good to keep off the field so i am excited about the safety room but i'm also excited to see what

04:18this does for the defense what does chris ash cook up with the opportunities in the back end a lot of

04:22length a lot of physicality a lot of range excited to see the safety room folks put in the comments

04:27below what do you want to see in 2025 who are the two starting safeties who do you want to see play

04:32a ton what are the the splits and snaps like all those things put them in below because i don't know if

04:37you can tell by the tone of my voice i'm so excited for what the safety position has brought

04:41and will potentially bring to this team make sure you hit that like button and hit the subscribe

04:45on the way out and as always go irish

04:47you

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