Report card: Grading the Notre Dame defense halfway through 2023 season
Notre Dame is No. 11 in the country in total defense through six games in 2023. It speaks to the job defensive coordinator Al Golden has done with his players, and it speaks to those players stepping up for the Irish this season.
Here are BlueandGold.com‘s midseason position group grades.
Defensive line: B
Graduate defensive tackle Howard Cross III is that dominant player Notre Dame badly needed on its front four. He has 19 quarterback pressures, four more than the next-highest total. It’s been more quiet than Cross, but senior DT Rylie Mills is starting to become that player reporters saw dominate in fall camp, compiling a 20.4 percent pass rush win rate — more than even Cross at 17.5.
Mills comes off the field in Notre Dame’s “Spear” package in favor of a third safety, which is why he has 105 pass rush snaps to Cross’ 147. He needs to be on the field in more of those passing situations.
On the edge, Ohio State graduate transfer Javontae Jean-Baptiste’s sacks haven’t come yet, but he’s been plenty disruptive against the run and is tied with Mills at 14 pressures. The big disappointment here is the Vyper position, as senior Jordan Botelho has a 3.5 percent pass rush win rate in 134 snaps. It’s time to give sophomore Joshua Burnham more reps at Vyper, not only because he’s been productive in limited action but to help Botelho. If Burnham cuts into his playing time, even just a little bit, I suspect Botelho would become more productive.
This grade would have been lower before the Duke game, which was a good step toward becoming a productive pass-rushing defensive line.
Linebackers: B
Notre Dame has a bit of a predicament. First of all, it does not benefit the Irish to play three linebackers on most plays. Second, graduate linebacker Jack Kiser has played very well this season against the run in limited snaps. Third, fellow graduate student JD Bertrand hasn’t performed quite as well, but his leadership and communication skills make it difficult to take him off the field. And fourth, graduate student Marist Liufau has not been perfect, but there are times when he looks like Notre Dame’s defensive player.
How does Golden solve this situation, which is more or less a good problem to have? More rotation among the graduates should be No. 1 on the list, because Kiser is too good to sit.
Sophomore Jaylen Sneed was not as ready to make an impact as the Irish hoped, which hurts the pass rush more than anything else. Overall, the linebackers have been good, but it feels like they could be better later in the season if Golden pushes the right buttons.
Cornerbacks: A+
Sophomore Benjamin Morrison and graduate student Cam Hart are the backbone of this defense. As most foresaw, they’re a true strength in a group that badly needed one, but I don’t know if we thought they would be this good. Expectations for Hart and Morrison were high, and they exceeded them.
Nickel cornerback Thomas Harper got picked on a little bit against Ohio State, but when the assignment is Emeka Egbuka and Hart and Morrison are locking the outside down, that will happen. I don’t blame Harper for Egbuka’s big day, and his ability against the run allows Notre Dame to play nickel more often. When the Irish can do that, it is exceptionally difficult to pass against them.
Safeties: A-
Aside from graduate student DJ Brown dropping an interception on Ohio State’s final drive and senior Xavier Watts missing a tackle on TreVeyon Henderson’s 61-yard touchdown run in that game, when is the last time you thought, “That safety messed up” when watching the Notre Dame defense?
I’m not sure anything comes to mind. Notre Dame plays its safeties more than it had before with the advent of the Spear package, and Brown, Watts and senior Ramon Henderson have been steady presences on the back end. They also have 4 interceptions among the three of them, which is 3 more than the safety room had last season combined.
Before the season, I wrote that the safety room would be worse than it was last year. That was dead wrong, and if BlueandGold.com did that “better or worse” series after fall camp, my preseason opinion on the safeties would have been different. The Irish could see it then and they can really see it now: Brown, Watts and Henderson stepped up.
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