Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2015 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 95 LINEBACKERS be a lot better to compete how we have to compete against the teams we play. We've got a long road ahead. We've got to keep grinding. "Every day's an opportunity to get better. Every day we have to go out with a purpose as a player to work on this, to get better at this and have that type of focus." Morgan had little direction to go but up after injuries thrust him into Notre Dame's start- ing lineup as a freshman middle linebacker last season. When 2014 team MVP Joe Schmidt suffered an ankle dis- location/fracture against Navy Nov. 1, the unit's heart and soul turned over the keys to a true freshman just months removed from high school. After allowing 21.1 points per game in the first eight con- tests with Schmidt, that average skyrocketed to 43.4 in the final five without him. Surely the three-touchdown difference cannot solely be attributed to that one change in personnel on an Irish defense devastated by injuries in November. But his struggles in the regular season's final month showed just how far the four-star recruit had to progress in the offseason. "Nyles is so much better," VanGorder said. "I'm really proud of him. It's important to him. He really works at it and wants to be good. Putting him out there and playing last year, that was tough for him. "The player he [became] in spring ball is really amazing. It's a real credit to him and how hard he works." While cross-training might be in Morgan's near future, priority No. 1 at the moment is making sure he's comfortable at Mike linebacker before throwing additional concepts and duties on his plate. "If there are things I can do, I'll do it," Morgan said. "It doesn't really matter to me." With junior Jaylon Smith and fifth-year senior Jarrett Grace prac- ticing after getting shelved in 2014 while recovering from multiple leg fractures, plus Schmidt serving as a de facto coach this spring while recovering from ankle surgery, it might be difficult for Morgan to assert his leadership on the unit just yet, but the Irish are encour- aged with his progress. "I think he's a lot more confident in his ability," Kelly said. "He certainly knows where to be. Jaylon is doing a lot of the communica- tion out there at the linebacker position, which is great for us. Nyles has been a bit overshad- owed by the leadership and presence of Jarrett Grace and obviously Jaylon and then Joe Schmidt. "We've got a lot of guys out there that are overshadowing him a little bit, which is fine, but he's definitely put himself in a position now where he feels comfortable communicating." With one fall and one spring in the books, Morgan's next step is clear. "He's got to become consistent and productive," VanGorder said. "He's still a little bit in that management style — he wants to be where he's supposed to be and he's satisfied with that. We've got to get a player that's capable of running and chasing and doing those things. He's got to become way more productive and use those traits." Early enrollee Te'von Coney, one of the highlights of the 2015 recruiting class, quickly impressed during his first spring practice with the Irish and is poised to contribute this fall. Even with a stacked depth chart with veteran talent, Coney figures to see time as the No. 2 Will linebacker in 2015. Unprompted, linebackers coach Mike Elston brought up Coney's name during media availability, calling him a "very instinctual player." MIKE ELSTON TRANSITIONS TO LINEBACKERS COACH The new really isn't all that new for Mike Elston, even though he changed roles during the offseason leading up to his sixth year at Notre Dame under Brian Kelly. Now the recruiting coordinator tasked with organizing the program's efforts to lure talent to South Bend, Elston also became the linebackers coach during the offseason staff after five years as the defensive line mentor. Elston played linebacker at Michigan during his collegiate career and coached the position at Central Michigan in 2006 after Kelly added new Irish defensive line coach Keith Gilmore to the Chippewa staff. With Gilmore's hiring at Notre Dame in February, Elston moved back one level of the defense and is in charge of the promising linebacking corps. "The exciting thing for me is it allows me to focus more on the whole part of the defense, from run defense to coverage," he said. "I'm familiar with that and played the role. I've coached the role before, but when you're dealing with just D-linemen the last several years, they're running off the ball and playing run and rushing the quarterback. "Now it's really good to get back in the coverage part of it. That's been great for me, and we have a great group of guys to work with. That transition has been pretty easy." Elston said there had been no surprises with the personnel there this spring because he graded every defensive down in 2014 along with the other coaches on that side of the ball. He admits he did not have to be as plugged in with the rest of the defense as he must be now as the linebackers coach. "You are in some ways [thinking about other levels of the defense] with different things that we do," he said, "but not to the extent that a linebacker has to understand the entire defense. Now I have to communicate with a player on down and distance to personnel to the backfield set to the splits and the formation, to how everybody's impacted by what he says and what he calls and the leadership role he plays. "That's been the best part of the transition." Having coached a different position group the past five years and having recruited some of the Irish linebackers out of high school, Elston already possessed a familiarity with the personnel. "He was my recruiting coordinator, so I always had that close relationship," junior linebacker Jaylon Smith said. "I'm happy for him to be able to expand his role and try out something he hasn't done since Central Michigan." — Andrew Owens Elston played linebacker at Michigan during his col- legiate career and previously coached the position at Central Michigan in 2006. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND "Nyles [Morgan] is so much better. I'm really proud of him. It's important to him. He really works at it and wants to be good. Putting him out there and playing last year, that was tough for him. The player he is today in spring ball is really amazing. It's a real credit to him and how hard he works." DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR BRIAN VANGORDER ON SOPHOMORE NYLES MORGAN