Ryan Roberts previews the Notre Dame Fighting Irish safety unit and what they could bring to Chris Ash's defense in year one.
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00:00with spring practice wrapped up for the notre dame fighting irish there is one defensive
00:03position that gives me a new perspective on chris ashe's unit could completely morph what
00:08it looks like in 2025 let's talk about it next
00:12ryan roberts from a to c sports breaking down everything notre dame football folks with spring
00:19practice blue gold game now behind us we are left to project forward to the 2025 college football
00:25season what it could potentially look like for the notre dame fighting irish and with everything
00:29i've heard and everything i've seen from spring practice it gives me an interesting perspective
00:36on what this defense is going to look like we knew about some absolutes already you knew about the
00:40cornerback position being very strong you knew about linebacker being absolutely loaded but there were
00:46some positions that weren't necessarily a weakness or weren't a worry going into the spring but the
00:53fact that you have now an opportunity to reevaluate the roster a little bit gives you both optimism
00:59and some skepticism in two degrees but i want to talk about the optimism side for a second because
01:05coming into the spring i expected the safety position to be very deep and athletic there's no
01:10doubt but would some of the young talent be able to take a step forward and put themselves in a
01:16position to have a big role in 2025 not only did that happen but i believe it happened to such a degree
01:23but now i'm left wondering does chris ash in his first year as a defensive coordinator
01:29implement things a little bit differently and do we see some just different personnel looks and
01:35schematic changes to this defense not from complete shift of 4-2-5 to a 3-4 or some other variation of
01:42a of a defense but more of does the amount of talent you have at safety morph your understanding
01:50of what we could expect how this defense looks in certain scenarios and this is what i mean by that
01:56heading into the spring you knew a don schuler was the guy on defense you knew that he was going to
02:00start at one safety spot the question was with jalen stroman the transfer from virginia tech out for the
02:06spring can some of these young guys take a step forward well folks we are now removed from the
02:11spring and we saw huge performances from bronte johnson from jaydon blair from luke talich we saw a lot of
02:20these younger safeties really take a massive step forward and now i'm left wondering do we with the
02:27size and athleticism combination we have on the back end do we see more three safety alignments a la
02:33kyle hamilton during his freshman year do we see some scenarios where let's say a luke talich who is six
02:40foot four 213 pounds by the way in obvious situations in a almost like a dime linebacker role do you put him in
02:48the middle of the field and let him spy on a quarterback or chill in short zone and be able to
02:52make plays on the football with a big nickel opportunity because think about this we haven't
02:58even seen jalen stroman yet but jalen stroman at virginia tech played a lot in like a rover role for
03:03virginia tech so is there some big nickel opportunities where instead of having one of the linebackers in
03:09as rover or even having the nickel of devonta smith or someone else do we put a safety body type there
03:15do you throw in a bronte johnson into that role do you let a jalen stroman work against tight ends or
03:21bigger slots a lot of possibilities on the table i think there's gonna be opportunities to see at
03:25least three safeties on the field a lot i don't think it's out of their own possibilities we might
03:29even see four i mean think about this and and just stick with me for a second you're in a dime look
03:35where you have a linebacker on the field that is more of a coverage player you throw in a luke talich
03:41there maybe you have your two safeties whether it's a don shuler jalen stroman but then maybe
03:45you wanted to go a little bit more of a big nickel alignment out of that or a big dime alignment out
03:50of that and in the slot now you put a bronte johnson this has completely just changed my outlook for this
03:57team it really has because mostly i was thinking hey you're gonna have two starting safeties and then
04:02two good depth players i think jadon blair i think bronte johnson i think luke talich who was a star in
04:09the blue goal game and had a really good spring and is tall and athletic i think that they are too
04:13good to keep off the field so i am excited about the safety room but i'm also excited to see what
04:18this does for the defense what does chris ash cook up with the opportunities in the back end a lot of
04:22length a lot of physicality a lot of range excited to see the safety room folks put in the comments
04:27below what do you want to see in 2025 who are the two starting safeties who do you want to see play
04:32a ton what are the the splits and snaps like all those things put them in below because i don't know if
04:37you can tell by the tone of my voice i'm so excited for what the safety position has brought
04:41and will potentially bring to this team make sure you hit that like button and hit the subscribe
04:45on the way out and as always go irish
04:47you