Report card: Grading the Notre Dame defense in the Blue-Gold Game
The Gold Team defeated the Blue Team 24-0 in Saturday’s Blue-Gold Game at Notre Dame Stadium. This is how the offensive position groups across both sides graded according to BlueandGold.com.
Defensive tackle: A
Junior Gabriel Rubio and sophomore Tyson Ford were immovable in the middle. They made plays themselves, and they set up plays for others. The latter is just as important as the former. Notre Dame needs interior linemen who create chaos. Rubio and Ford did just that Saturday.
Graduate student Howard Cross III and junior Jason Onye were forces in their own right. Senior Rylie Mills was noticeable in plugging up the middle. That’s a core group of five tackles, and generally that’s all a team needs to be successful if they all stay healthy.
“One of our goals as a unit to show up is taking the white line,” Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington said after the game. “That’s the neutral zone. Guys that come off the line and get their hips out front. That’s something I feel they are improving on. Coming out of their hips, the ability to use their hands and getting off the blocks.”
Defensive end: B+
There was some good. There was some meh. More than anything, Notre Dame needs consistency with its edge rushers.
The good: Jordan Botelho strip-sacking Tyler Buchner, Joshua Burnham strip-sacking Kenny Minchey and Junior Tuihalamaka chasing down Steve Angeli for a soul-crushing sack. The meh: Nana Osafo-Mensah going dark after a horsecollar penalty on what would have been a major tackle for loss on the first play of the game and Ohio State transfer Javontae Jean-Baptiste not playing at all.
The defensive ends had their moments. But they need to have more of them, and the jury is still out to decide if this can be a formidable group for Notre Dame this fall.
Linebacker: A+
Notre Dame was in a position to rest its three graduate senior linebackers and give much-needed time as starters to some younger players. The result was an explosion of optimism for what those players could one day be for the Irish.
Sophomore Nolan Ziegler had a game-high 10 tackles. He worked in tandem with freshman Drayk Bowen to create a sack of Angeli. The Blue Team defense could only contain freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse, not entirely stop him, and that’s what Ziegler did — twice. He wrapped him up short of the sticks on third- and fourth-down receptions. Put simply, he was a menace against a Gold Team offense that dominated the day. That made his outing all the more impressive. His instincts are noticeable. He runs to the football intelligently and with a purpose. Possibly the worst play of Ziegler’s day was when wide receiver Jayden Thomas went right by him at the the five-yard line on the game’s first touchdown. Ziegler was uncharacteristically timid on the play.
More Notre Dame Blue-Gold Game
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• Notre Dame Blue-Gold Game: Thoughts and observations on the Irish defense
Sophomore Jaylen Sneed is steadily figuring it out. His best play of the game was a tackle of wide receiver Chris Tyree on the sideline. Sneed held contain and did not let Tyree get the corner. He finished the play with a solid hit. The trust from Notre Dame coaches in Sneed is building, and that’s only increasing his confidence.
Freshmen Preston Zinter and Jaiden Ausberry were constantly around the football all day. That’s a good thing to say about a pair of young linebackers. Zinter’s physicality is an asset, and Ausberry’s athleticism is one too. The latter is likely still kicking himself for not coming away with a would-be pick-six on an out-route intended for Tyree from Buchner. But he didn’t hang his head and made nice plays after the fact, including an open-field tackle of Tyree on the very next snap. Ausberry might be the best cover-man of the up and coming linebackers.
Defensive backs: C
It was a ho-hum day for the DBs.
Let’s get the big (bad) plays out of the way first. Clarence Lewis was beaten badly on Jayden Thomas’ 46-yard reception down the middle of the field. Lewis whiffed on an open-field tackle on Thomas’ 9-yard touchdown on a simple bubble screen, too. Junior Ryan Barnes let wideout Matt Salerno get to the outside on a corner that was disguised as a slant. Salerno eventually had multiple steps on Barnes by the time he caught the ball in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown.
Reigning freshman All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison didn’t let the deep ball beat him, but Thomas roughed him up on some short completions. Morrison easily tracked Salerno down in the backfield on a reverse attempt for a big tackle for loss. Fellow sophomore cornerback Jaden Mickey had an interception fall right into his lap on an underthrown ball off the hand of Buchner intended for Deion Colzie.
The safeties didn’t make much noise. DJ Brown, Xavier Watts and Ramon Henderson played quite a bit, but they let walk-on Marty Auer outshine them. Auer had more tackles than any of them with 6, and he seemed to be more adept at tracking the ball down than his more veteran position mates.
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