College Football

Notre Dame Football: Why I'm Optimistic About The Irish In '17. Part 3 - Defense

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:21 p.m. ET

Fansided, Kevin Sinclair/FanSided via Slap the Sign

There’s nowhere to go but up for the Irish defense in ’17.

I’ll admit it. I still have concerns about this defense, especially up front. I do have have many reasons for optimism though. It starts with Mike Elko.

Notre Dame’s defense under BVG was putrid. In ’16, the Irish defense finished poorly in many crucial categories. #45 in total defense, #109 in turnovers gained and #75 in sacks isn’t going to get you into the playoff discussion.

Enter Mike Elko, who was one of 2 FBS coaches who fielded a defense that finished in the top 20 in turnovers gained, sacks, red zone defense and scoring defense. He did this with Wake Forest talent.

I feel Notre Dame has several players with serious untapped potential. I’m very excited to see what he can do with the personnel at Notre Dame as he has a track record of developing talent at the college level.

The 4-2-5 defense is a much better fit than whatever it was that BVG was running. With many “tweener” type players on this defense, the rover position makes sense and they have some great candidates in Drue Tranquill and Spencer Perry among others.

The quarterback of this defense will again be senior captain Nyles Morgan.

Morgan showed he was a capable starting Mike in ’16. Marquel Lee, Wake Forest’s MLB last year, had a huge showing while not possessing the elite talent of Morgan. One thing to look for regarding Nyles is his sack total. He’ll be sent on blitzes a lot more often in this new scheme.

I expect big things from #5

The defensive line remains my #1 concern. I do believe the staff shake-up to be something that can get Notre Dame’s defense productive again.

With the use of a stand-up weak-side defensive end who has more of a “buck” like responsibility, I expect more production out of Daelin Hayes, a 5 star player coming out of high school (per Rivals). All eyes will be on him when the defense is on the field, no doubt.

Julian Okwara has also put in work in the weight room and looks to be more of a force after entering the ’16 season at only 228 pounds.

Julian Okwara and Jalen Elliot have been getting after it @NDFootball pic.twitter.com/uE97ob3EEi

— Kevin Sinclair (@fightingirishk1) January 28, 2017

Considering the defensive line only registered three sacks last year, and their top two defensive lineman, Jarron Jones and Isaac Rochell, have moved on, my concerns about the DL are justified. Several players are going to have to step up for this defense to be relevant.

Jerry Tillery is on the top of that list. With his size and skill, there’s no reason for him to continue to have low numbers. Hopefully a shake-up in scheme will put him in position to make more plays.

The defensive backfield will be much more experienced this year. At times, Notre Dame had four freshman in the backfield in ’16. Dangerous way to go.

Cornerbacks Love, Vaughn and Pride Jr. return with starts under their belts and tons of talent. Watkins will be back healthy but I’m not so sure about Crawford. A torn achilles is a nasty injury but hopefully he will return as he’s an important piece of the puzzle.

At safety, Notre Dame returns a young pair in Studstill and Jalen Elliot who look to be starters. Both have a ton of upside but will need to improve to secure the back end of the Irish defense.

Both were exposed a little in the run game but with starts under their belts, and a full off season to polish up their skills for a simplified Mike Elko defense, I expect them to perform better in ’17.

This wraps up my trio of articles regarding why I’m excited about this season.

Stay tuned to SlapTheSign.com for Freshman Breakdowns.