58 days until Notre Dame football: Does Jack Kiser deserve more snaps?

The player with the best tackles per snap ratio on the 2022 Notre Dame roster was not JD Bertrand, who has led the Fighting Irish in total tackles in each of the last two seasons. It was Jack Kiser.

Kiser had 58 total tackles in just 338 defensive snaps. He recorded a tackle on 17.2 percent of his snaps. Bertrand had 82 total tackles on 580 snaps for a rate of 14.1 percent.

Kiser and Bertrand are two of three graduate student linebackers who lead Notre Dame into the 2023 season as projected starters. The other is Marist Liufau, who led the Irish with 646 defensive snaps last season. He had 51 total tackles to turn in a rate of one tackle every 12-13 snaps, or a percentage of 7.9.

From a pure tackling standpoint, Bertrand was more than twice as effective as Liufau. Kiser was that and then some, with room to spare. This list of Notre Dame players who recorded a tackle on a higher percentage of their snaps than Liufau did is lengthy. Here it is, among players who played in more than one game:

Linebacker Jaylen Sneed: 7 tackles, 39 snaps (17.9 percent)Linebacker Prince Kollie: 19 tackles, 136 snaps (14.0)Safety Xavier Watts: 39 tackles, 366 snaps (10.7)Safety Houston Griffith: 33 tackles, 304 snaps (10.4)Safety DJ Brown: 48 tackles, 504 snaps (9.5)Defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio: 17 tackles, 184 snaps (9.2)Defensive end Jordan Botelho: 11 tackles, 127 snaps (8.7)Defensive end Isaiah Foskey: 45 tackles, 563 snaps (8.0)Defensive end Justin Ademilola: 39 tackles, 485 snaps (8.0)

Sneed’s sample size was very small, but he played on the same level as Kiser when he was on the field. Can anyone blame Kollie for transferring to Vanderbilt? He had the third-best tackling percentage on the team of anyone who played at least 100 snaps. He said in the spring he felt he should have been a starter by the last month of the season. Liufau continued to play over him anyway.

When Notre Dame fans clamor for younger linebackers to challenge the elder statesmen for playing time, the reality is Kiser and Bertrand have earned their keep. It’s Liufau who might need replacing.

In his defense, there was a lot thrown his way last year. The injury he suffered before the 2021 season was gruesome and tough to come back from. A new defensive coordinator amplified the difficulty of the comeback. He could return to form in 2023 after relearning his limitations, pushing past them to some degree and gaining comfort in Al Golden‘s system.

For Kiser, it’s about staying healthy enough to be a full-go option on a weekly basis. He had some nagging ailments that prevented him from playing as much as Bertrand and Liufau. Through Week 7, he was on pace to play 423 snaps in a 13-game season. He ended up at 338. He only played five snaps vs. UNLV and seven vs. Clemson.

When Notre Dame went to nickel personnel, the two linebackers on the field were usually Bertrand and Liufau. Kiser and Liufau play different positions — will linebacker and rover, respectively — but Kiser is nimble enough and versatile enough to play will in a nickel look. If it was health that made the Notre Dame coaching staff side with Liufau, that’s one thing. If it was anything else, well, there really was not any reasonable justification for it.

Kiser has proven to be one of Notre Dame’s three-best linebackers. If he’s not banged up, he should be on the field more in 2023 than he was in 2022. Sure, he was on pace for 85 more snaps before his body started taking a toll. But even if he remained on the same pace, he would have played 223 fewer snaps than Liufau. The respective tackling percentages do not legitimize that disparity.

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