Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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102 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2015 FOOTBALL PREVIEW in, focused and he really wants to get it right. It's the heightened alert of importance that he wants to do things the right way." Redfield was able to play loose in August thanks to the strong leadership and com- munication showed by fifth-year senior and team captain Austin Collinsworth, who was the quarterback of the Irish secondary. It was Collinsworth who was responsible for getting the secondary players in position and making all the calls. It allowed Redfield to just line up and do his job. Two days before the season opener against Rice, however, Collinsworth went down with a knee injury. He would end up missing the next four games and never returned to good health. Without Collinsworth in the lineup, that burden of leadership and communication was thrust upon Redfield and then-junior Elijah Shumate. "He has to do more," head coach Brian Kelly said of Redfield after Collinsworth went down. "The dynamics have changed, and that's why it's more important that we put more on his plate. We were hoping that we wouldn't have to do that, but the situation has changed and he has to pick up more of the slack." Redfield simply was not ready for that role — and neither was Shumate — and it became immediately apparent. Notre Dame gave up a 26-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter of the victory over Rice on a blown coverage and another 30-yard gain on a blown assignment on the back end. Redfield bounced back a week later, rack- ing up six tackles and picking off Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner to help lead Notre Dame to a 31-0 blowout victory. Late in that game, Redfield was flagged for a personal foul when he crushed Gardner after Shumate picked off the Michigan quarterback and ran it back for an apparent touchdown late in the fourth quarter. A week later, Redfield was ejected in the second quarter after being flagged for another personal foul, this time on a head-to-head hit against Purdue quarterback Danny Etling. It was not a dirty play, but the ejection seemed to impact Redfield into tentativeness. A snowball effect seemed to overcome him. He was being asked to lead, but was not ready for that role. He was being asked to serve as the primary communicator, another role he was not prepared for as a sophomore. Then came the back-to-back games with personal fouls, the second of which caused him to be ejected. The mental impact took its toll on Redfield, who was wildly inconsistent over the next several weeks. He was good against the run, evidenced by two double-digit tackle perfor- mances (10 stops against both North Carolina and Arizona State) and a quality performance against Navy (seven tackles). Even though he was producing at times in the run game, Redfield was struggling mightily in pass defense. On the season, Redfield had just two passes broken up and one intercep- tion, numbers that are not good enough for any safety in the Irish defense. He was not the factor in pass coverage he needed to be and his production, and assertiveness, did not match his athletic ability. That was never more prominent than in the Florida State game, when the Seminoles caught pass after pass in the second half against the Irish safeties, including several right in front of Redfield. Florida State quar- terback Jameis Winston completed 15 of 16 passes for 181 yards in the second half, leading the Seminoles to a come-from-behind victory. Three games later, Redfield had lost his grip on the starting role and was replaced by true freshman Drue Tranquill. "We felt like we weren't getting the kind of production we wanted there, and that's why we went with Drue," Kelly said of his decision to bench Redfield prior to Notre Dame's 43-40 overtime loss to Northwestern. Seven days later, Tranquill was lost for the season with a knee injury and Redfield re- turned to the starting lineup in the regular- season finale against USC, the school he was once committed to. Redfield made five tackles in the opening quarter of the loss, but went down with a broken rib and missed the rest of the game. His roller-coaster ride of a regular season had finally come to a close. Redfield would recover and was back in the lineup when Notre Dame prepped for its Music City Bowl matchup against LSU. In fact, Redfield looked as good as he did all season, capping off the 2014 campaign with the best performance of his career. He racked up 14 tackles (10 solo) in Notre Dame's 31-28 upset victory over LSU. His dominant per- formance earned him All-Bowl Team honors from CBSSports.com, NFL.com, USA Today and ESPN.com. His biggest stop came late in the second quarter, when Redfield stuffed LSU holder Brad Kragthorpe short of the goal line on a fake field goal attempt. That helped Notre Dame go into the break with a 21-14 lead and gave the Irish a great deal of momentum. "Max Redfield had a terrific bowl game," Kelly said of Redfield's performance "It all came together for him in that game, where we saw the realization of athletic ability with football knowledge. There was a bit of a dis- connect there. There was this real field safety, range safety, athletic ability, but not getting that football piece together. "We saw that physicality. The spring is to build on the kind of success he had with LSU. "It all came together for him in that game, where we saw the realization of athletic ability with football knowledge." HEAD COACH BRIAN KELLY ON REDFIELD'S 14-TACKLE PERFORMANCE IN THE MUSIC CITY BOWL Redfield racked up 14 stops (10 solo) in Notre Dame's 31-28 victory over LSU in the Music City Bowl, earn- ing All-Bowl Team honors from several media outlets in the process. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA