Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/699309
BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 79 transitioning from the 3-4 under Diaco to the 4-3 with VanGorder? BK: "[Under Diaco] safety play was built on half-field play in our cover-2 scheme. We were a flat-foot safety team, but now that safety has to fit all the runs we call to make this defense work. They weren't recruited for that. Max [Redfield] is a middle-of-the-field deep safety, and Elijah [Shumate] was a box safety, better suited to be close to the line of scrimmage. "And then we had some injuries back there that forced us to move guys around and found us in a tough position from a defensive back standpoint. We had some players that couldn't digest some of the things because they weren't recruited for the kind of system we were running, so they weren't capable of doing certain things. "Matthias Farley was productive at safety in the previous scheme, but he couldn't play nickel for us because he couldn't play man on the No. 2 [receiver]. So we couldn't run 25 percent of our nickel package because we didn't want to put him man to man on the inside slot receiver. [Sophomore] Shaun Crawford can play man on anybody, so we're going to run all that stuff. A lot of it was per- sonnel driven in terms of what we could and couldn't do. "We didn't want Elijah to roll down into the boundary when they were in a two-by-two set because I didn't want Elijah to play man to man on anybody. It really had a lot to do with the personnel at the nickel and safety because we recruited to a cover-2 team, or a 'spin' team where we spinning Elijah down into a box safety. For us to ask them to do certain things wasn't fair, so we pared that stuff down. It was a transition, but we've addressed it through our recruiting and we feel really confident with where we are." BGI: When VanGorder arrived with his more NFL-based scheme, the thought was that maybe you would give up more big plays, but the trade-off is you also would create more havoc to the offenses, especially at forcing turnovers. But last year Notre Dame generated only 14 turnovers, the lowest in school history. What's been the issue there? BK: "The kind of defense we want to play requires a certain player on that side of the ball. He can't be a zone defender. In our de- fensive room all we said in the past was 'stay above the cut [keep the receivers in front of you].' Now it's all about eye discipline, get on the ball. "You're going from one extreme to the other and you're trying to change an entire philo- sophical way that those guys played, and that's what we've transitioned to with the recruiting of the personnel, the guys that want to go hawk the ball, compared to re-routing, compared to staying above the cut and keeping the ball in front of you." BGI: You're well aware about the criticisms about VanGorder on the outside. His defense is fine for the NFL where players can work on it like an eight-to-five job, but it's too complex for a college student-athlete limited to the 20- hour NCAA rule. True or false? BK: "False. I've been in that meeting room. I'm in there listening to what's being taught and how it's being taught. There is nothing in there that is too complicated. We have to recruit better and execute better. At the end of the day, it's Brian's responsibility and my responsibility to make sure it gets done on de- fense. The 74th ranking in rush defense [Note: 72nd on the NCAA website at 175.6 yards per game] is unacceptable, and he knows that. Keeping the points down is the most important thing. "We were transitioning and I feel confident we will see the play on defense this year to … we were one drive away from having a chance to be in the playoffs last year. I think we'll show defensively that we will be even better." BGI: Do you feel you've had to pare back on defense the past couple of years, or find that happy medium with a simpler defense you had under Coach Diaco? BK: "I think we've learned some things. The spread offense, the no-huddle stuff, Brian is a lot more comfortable with that going from the NFL to college. I think we also learned a lot about some of the things we had as tendencies last year. "We sat down after the year and we had our coordinators meet with Ohio State's coordina- tors, and we did a full one-on-one evaluation of our entire year. They had all our film. We had some good interchange and they gave us some good insight on some things we did really well and some things we were exposed on both sides of the ball." BGI: VanGorder mentioned an area he wants to improve is getting out of the gates faster. Clemson, Stanford and Ohio State each had two touchdowns on their first two possessions against you, and there were other games with slow starts as well. Does that go back to com- plexity, and how can it be fixed? BK: "It has a lot to do with the confidence of the group and having guys in there that re- ally are clearly locked in on their assignments and what they're supposed to do. The ideal of it being too complicated is really too simple an answer. "I think it's really in the guys understanding the defense and really executing it at a higher level, and making sure it's well coached. I'm very confident in the staff we have." BGI: I hate asking this because of the im- mense respect and admiration we all have for Joe Schmidt with his heart and toughness, especially playing hurt last year. But last year Pro Football Focus, which rates every single player, had him ranked as the third- worst linebacker in all of college football. Yet because Joe couldn't be taken off the field, that's where the belief of complexity comes from because he's the only one who can set up the defense. Do you still feel it's a myth? BK: "It depends on how you look at it. Maybe it was a mistake on my part in not having him replaced. I stuck with a senior and showed the ultimate loyalty to a senior captain. Maybe I should have replaced him, and that would render the 'it's too complicated' argu- ment moot, right? "Joe did a great job of communicating, he's very smart — he had his mistakes, too." BGI: So the outside perception is either this defense is way too complex because you had to keep Schmidt on the field to make the right calls, or Nyles Morgan is not nearly as good as he was advertised to be if he couldn't play ahead of him. BK: "Or maybe we stuck with a senior cap- tain and showed ultimate respect and alle- giance to a captain [and the 2014 Team MVP]. If we look at that scenario, maybe we should have taken him off the field. We could have. I think we undersold Nyles a little bit, and he knows our defense very well. "I don't buy into just the stats [from PFF] on it. It's important we look at numbers and those things … clearly there were some games where we could have probably helped him out in certain situations." BGI: At the Will linebacker position that must replace Jaylon, is that a by-committee look? It's probably not like running back or receiver where you can rotate people in and out. BK: "We have to see what Te'von [Coney] can do in camp. He was out this spring with an injury, and that set him back. He gets a shot, Asmar [Bilal] gets a shot, and Greer Martini [also sidelined in spring because of shoulder surgery] will have a shot as well." ✦ "I've been in that meeting room. I'm in there listening to what's being taught and how it's being taught. There is nothing in there that is too complicated. We have to recruit better and execute better." KELLY ON IF BRIAN VANGORDER'S DEFENSE IS TOO COMPLEX