Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 103 *** Luke will take on a new role during his final season in South Bend. In 2015, the Irish had planned on freshman Shaun Crawford taking over the nickel back position, but a torn ACL in preseason camp changed the outlook of the secondary. This spring, Notre Dame cross‑ trained both Luke and Crawford at nickel back for additional flexibility this fall. "At first it was a little different, but I like it," Luke said. "You're more involved in the action. I'm blitzing a little bit more. It's definitely a good feeling. "I love nickel, so it's a different side of things. It's a little more exposure. There's a little bit more field to work with when you're covering a guy. I like to switch it up. I've been learning a lot. It's good." Belles likes the idea of a part‑time nickel role after seeing Luke succeed there in high school. "He was really good at corner blitzing for us, so I know they're going to break him off the edge a little bit more this year," Belles said. "As much as you throw at Cole, he can handle." Defensive backs coach Todd Lyght, who was teammates with Belles at Notre Dame, admits the lack of a true nickel hurt the defense in 2015. "If we get into situations where we are playing cover‑1 where Cole and Shaun could match up inside and outside, we can have that positional flexibility, so it would be hard for offenses to know exactly what we're doing," Lyght said. "[The NFL] plays a lot of matchup defense, so you get in the best matchups and want the speed guy on the speed guy, the big‑ ger corner on the bigger receiver ... That's what we're trying to move to and we can do that with guys moving inside and outside. "We moved Cole inside, so he's picking up the nickel position. Cole is one of our smarter players in the back end and he's doing a great job of moving inside and understanding how we want to do things and where we want him to play, and he can be really good for us inside at the nickel position." During the spring, the added job description worked well for Luke — as did the increased leadership role, which coaches and players alike noticed from the senior. "He's done a great job in his leadership role," Lyght said. "Cole is kind of a laid‑back person. He likes to lead from the back. I told him I need him leading the charge from the front. I'm really proud of him for that. "His communication when he's on the field — because he's such a smart and savvy player, of helping guys get lined up, helping identify offensive formations and what they want to try to do to us defensively — he's done a great job with that." As Belles can attest, you never know when Luke might be there to rally his teammates and change the direction of a season. ✦ One year after his teammate KeiVarae Russell was selected in the third round of the NFL Draft, cornerback Cole Luke might be the next Irish defensive back to go early. Luke enters a critical senior season as far as his draft stock is concerned, with current projections ranging from the second round to a late-round pick. "There's not one thing I look at him and say he's aw- ful at or he does this really well," said Scott Wright, the founder of DraftCountdown.com. "He does everything pretty well from what I've seen. … Physically, he looks the part. He's a big corner. He seems to be able to run down the field with receivers. "He's going to be in the mix to be among the top senior cornerbacks going into next year." Steve Belles, Luke's high school head coach at Chan- dler (Ariz.) Hamilton High School, thinks the future bodes well for his former player. "You just never know. I know he can cover people, so the bottom line is the NFL and same thing with college, if you can cover people then you have an opportunity to play at the highest level, and I think he'll get that," said Belles, who played at Notre Dame from 1986-89. "Where he'll go with it all depends. That level of football is different for ev- erybody. "If he makes it, he'll do a great job doing it just like his uncle [former All-Pro safety Darren Woodson] did." One aspect working in Luke's favor is that he has faced some of the na- tion's top receivers in his three seasons at Notre Dame, two of which were as a starter. "He's not afraid of the moment," head coach Brian Kelly said. "There is no question. And I think that helps. If you're sloppy in your technique, if you're not disciplined in what you do, it doesn't m a t t e r i f y o u p l ay against NFL players. It's not going to help you if your technique is poor. "Coach Lyght does a really good job every day of pounding that home about discipline, technique, playing the ball in the air, all the fundamentals that you have to have at that position. We're getting bet - ter there." This offseason, Lyght has stressed to Luke the need to become a better tackler. "It's just something Coach Lyght has been emphasiz- ing a lot to me, to be a little more physical," Luke said. "That's just something I took to heart and have been working on in practice. It's good to finally have an op- portunity to go out and lay it on the line and prove you can do that. It's good to go live and see the hard work has paid off." Overall, it's part of an effort to put forth the best senior year he can. If he does that, the NFL opportuni- ties will follow. "Cole, I thought had a great developmental year [in 2014]," defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder said. "I don't think he's played as well as he hoped to [last] season. But he really understands the game. He's very bright. "He does a good job managing a game, adjusting during a game. But I think he would have liked to have been more productive." — Andrew Owens Luke is projected to follow in the footsteps of his uncle, Darren Woodson — who was a safety for the Dallas Cowboys from 1992‑2004 and was a five‑time Pro Bowler and three‑time Super Bowl champion — and play in the NFL. PHOTO BY ANDREW IVINS LUKE AT THE NEXT LEVEL