Observations from Notre Dame football fall camp practice No. 17: Defense

Notre Dame practiced for the 17th time in fall camp Tuesday. Here are observations from the Fighting Irish defense from the five periods made available to the media.

• Practice started with some 11-on-11 tempo reps once again. Notre Dame graduate student corner Cam Hart, recently named a team captain, returned to action. He made his presence known with a pass breakup on a throw intended for junior wide receiver Jayden Thomas on the second snap of the session.

• Graduate student linebacker Marist Liufau was all over a check down to sophomore running back Gi’Bran Payne on the next play. Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman went through some progressions but was forced to take the short throw over the middle. If he held the ball any longer, Hartman would have been sacked by senior defensive tackle Rylie Mills who absolutely bulldozed his way right through junior right guard Rocco Spindler.

• Hart was held by sophomore wide receiver Tobias Merriweather on a bubble screen to senior Chris Tyree. It looked like Hart fought through the hold well enough to make the tackle anyway if the drill would have been live.

• Notre Dame senior corner Clarence Lewis got beat by freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse on a well-designed and executed play by the second-team Irish offense. Everything was going left, and Greathouse worked right. QB Steve Angeli eventually did too after a play-action boot. Greathouse was wide-open, and if the play was live Lewis would have been in a tough spot trying to make an open-field tackle against one of Notre Dame’s most elusive wideouts. Advantage, offense.

• Angeli also completed a slip screen to Penn State running back transfer running back Devyn Ford. It looked like sophomore linebacker Jaylen Sneed would have run him out of bounds near the line of scrimmage if the play was live. It was nice contain by Sneed to not lose his assignment in the flat.

• Notre Dame’s “Bash Brothers” — junior defensive tackles Jason Onye and Gabriel Rubio — converged on the A gap on the penultimate rep of 11-on-11 to limit Ford to a yard or two at the most. The completely worked over the interior of the Notre Dame offensive line.

• On the final rep of 11-on-11, freshman linebacker Drayk Bowen made a quick break on the ball when he recognized an out-route developing for freshman tight end Cooper Flanagan. Angeli must’ve seen Bowen darting toward the passing lane, so he threw the ball too quickly for Flanagan to make a play. Bowen might have gotten his hand on the ball, too. If Bowen did not make a play, Lewis was likely beat for another completion.

• Navy prep has started in earnest. The Notre Dame defensive backs worked on filling run gaps against scout team players. The scout team repeatedly ran plays toward the sideline, and it was the job of the Notre Dame secondary to not let the ball carrier get downfield. Corners Hart and sophomores Benjamin Morrison and Jaden Mickey were active in this drill.

• Every position group worked on tackling drills for a couple periods. Hart and Mickey stood out among the corners for their violence in taking tackling dummies to the ground. Sneed and Bowen impressed among the linebackers, continuing their strong showings throughout the day. The safeties worked on shoe-string tackles, lunging at dummies being dragged away from them by other players or graduate assistants. Senior Xavier Watts made the most athletic-looking plays among Notre Dame’s back-end players.

• Notre Dame kicker Spencer Shrader did not have a particularly good day. By Blue & Gold’s count, he only made 4-of-8 attempts on kicks ranging from 25 to 35 yards. He made 3-of-4 from 25 and 1-of-4 from 35. His miss tended to be a pull, wide-left.

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