Midweek Musings: Notre Dame And Position Group U, LB Recruiting, Irish Face Elite QB Schedule

Thoughts on Notre Dame football, Fighting Irish recruiting and college football

In this week's Midweek Musings we look at the Position Group U breakdown of the Notre Dame defense, an overview of linebacker recruiting for the Fighting Irish and 

POSITION GROUP U

One of the phrases used in college football circles is nicknaming a program based on a position group. Notre Dame was once known as "O-Line U" and many contend the Irish are in fact "Tight End U," but the defense hasn't really earned any of those honors.

Of course, the fact no team has had as many Butkus Award winners as Notre Dame has the last decade (Manti Te'o, Jaylon Smith, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah) the lack of consistency and first-round picks keeps the Irish from being able to lock that down.

Last week I used this space to talk about the areas on offense that are most important for Notre Dame to seek to earn the "Position Group U" moniker on defense.

Defensive End - Quarterback play is what fuels the current national title contenders, or at least most of the current contenders (Georgia is the exception). The best way to slow down an opposing quarterback is with a great edge rush. Notre Dame has had some talented edge rushers in the past, but it has a chance now to really take a big step towards being elite on the edge.

Isaiah Foskey had an outstanding junior season (12.5 TFL, 11 sacks) and he's back for his senior campaign. Foskey has a chance to be one of, if not the best edge players in the country. Notre Dame landed a strong edge class in 2022 (Aiden Gobaira, Tyson Ford) and have the nation's best end class in 2023 already committed. In fact, five-star edge Keon Keeley and Top 100 end Brenan Vernon committed just a day apart last summer.

Keeley and Vernon signing with Notre Dame would completely change the present and future of the edge position and could combine with Ford and Gobaira to give the Irish its best two-year haul at defensive end in over two decades.

Notre Dame is also in a good early position with some talented 2024 ends, like Arizona star Elijah Rushing.

If Al Washington can do for Notre Dame what he did coaching the DL at Boston College the Irish are about to start a very, very impressive run of edge development and recruiting. 

Linebacker - Notre Dame has been able to land and develop some elite linebackers in the last 15 years, but consistency has been an issue. Te'o, Smith and Owusu-Koramoah were great individual players but they weren't necessarily part of great linebacker units.

Notre Dame needs to get better, longer and faster at linebacker to match up against modern offenses. Linebacker is the position outside of end that gives defenses the best chance to matchup against dynamic offenses like we've seen at LSU (2019), Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma (which now moves to USC).

If Notre Dame can start putting better all-around units on the field, units with the desired length and athleticism, it can matchup with anyone in the front seven the way it is currently recruiting the defensive line.

Cornerback - I thought long and hard about putting cornerback in the No. 2 spot, but I went with linebacker because of how valuable linebackers are to matchup against modern offenses. But you have to be able to cover at a high level as well, and Notre Dame has a long, long, long way to go before it can even think about being in this conversation, but it needs to happen.

Cornerback recruiting has certainly improved, and the Benjamin Morrison-Jaden Mickey combination was the best CB class since the Irish landed Julian Love, Troy Pride and Dante Vaughn in the 2016 class. Landing Justyn Rhett in the 2023 class is a great start, but Notre Dame must finish that class off well and keep this going moving forward.

If Notre Dame's cornerback recruiting and coaching can match what we've seen at other positions in recent seasons the Irish will have outstanding defenses. I believe the coaching is there now with Mike Mickens, who is a strong developer of corners, but he needs to show he can recruit at an elite level moving forward.

Defensive Tackle - You could make an argument that defensive tackle has to be higher, but I don't agree. There is no doubt that Notre Dame must be at least good at defensive tackle, but I don't think they need to be "elite" here on a consistent basis.

If they are great there it only helps, but if Notre Dame is doing what I think it can at DE and linebacker, and is still producing similar interiors to what we have seen in recent seasons that will make for a truly outstanding front seven.

Safety - Safeties are asked to do a lot in today's game, and it's certainly an important position, but the reality is if safety is great but the other positions aren't the defense won't be very good. If the Irish are really good at the other positions but just solid at safety the defense will still be very, very good.

LB RECRUITING ON THE VERGE OF SPECIAL STATUS

Notre Dame is getting back on track with linebacker recruiting, which has been very up and down in recent seasons. The Irish did well in the 2018 and 2019 classes but then struck out in 2020 and came up short on numbers in 2021.

The four-man 2022 class of Jaylen Sneed, Josh Burnham, Nolan Ziegler and Niuafu Tuihalamaka was the nation's best and the Irish are off to a great start in 2023 with commitments from Drayk Bowen and Preston Zinter.

Finishing off the 2023 linebacker class on a strong note is absolutely a must.

Notre Dame has four players on the board and they are in at least a good position with all four. Notre Dame must land at least one of the players left on the board.

Jaiden Ausberry - The Baton Rouge, La. native and Top 50 national recruit was on campus in mid-March for his second visit to campus. Notre Dame has done a tremendous job with Ausberry, a 6-0, 205-pound defender that has the kind of athleticism/instincts combination you want in an elite linebacker. Getting him out of the South will be a challenge, but Ausberry is a different kind of young man and the staff has done a great job in this recruitment so far. Ausberry picking Notre Dame would be an absolute coup.

Samuel M'Pemba - This has been a bit of a strange recruitment. M'Pemba considered Notre Dame his leader early in the process and they are high on his board now, but I'm not as confident in Notre Dame landing him as I was a few months ago. At 6-4 and 230 pounds he's much bigger than your typical rover and he could play multiple positions in the Irish defense, including end. He's a five-star recruit based on his upside, and he would give the Irish a very intriguing weapon should the staff be able to land him.

Derion Gullette - Gullette is one of the most underrated players in the country. He's a 6-3, 225-pound linebacker that also had over 1,400 receiving yards last season and averaged a double-double for his hoops team. He's still very much in the infancy stages of his recruitment and he's still a work in progress at linebacker. Gullette seems to have high early interest in Notre Dame and he's working on getting on campus this summer. Until he visits its hard to know Notre Dame's chances, but they are starting off well.

Ta'Mere Robinson - Notre Dame was once very high on Robinson's list, but after having to back off to see how bad his fall knee injury was the Irish seem to have faded a bit. The staff still wants to get him back on campus, but until Robinson makes another visit the Irish should be viewed as being in trail position for Robinson.

IRISH TO FACE EXCELLENT QB SCHEDULE

One of the things that has helped Notre Dame be so good on offense in recent seasons is that the Irish simply have not faced a lot of big-time quarterbacks. That absolutely will NOT be the case in 2022. Notre Dame is facing a loaded quarterback slate this season, and the Irish defense will need to be at its best.

CJ Stroud, Ohio State - Stroud came into last season without having ever thrown a pass in college football, and in his first season as the starter he passed for 4,435 yards and 44 touchdowns while completing 71.9% of his throws. Stroud was picked off just six times.

Caleb Williams, USC - Williams didn't start the entire year but when he was handed the job he thrived. The California native passed for 1,912 yards and 21 touchdowns while completing 64.5% of his passes. Williams was picked off just four times and also rushed for 435 yards and six more scores.

Phil Jurkovec, Boston College - Jurkovec got off to a brilliant start last season, throwing for 325 yards while completing 67.8% of his throws in just five quarterbacks before freaking his hand. He wasn't the same when he returned but BC still went 4-2 when he started and 2-4 when he was out. 

DJ Uiagalelei, Clemson - Uiagelelei threw for 439 yards against Notre Dame back in 2020 but he had a rough 2021 season. A poor line, shaky play-calling and inconsistent receiver play were factors, but he must get a lot better. He's already lost weight and is reportedly having a big spring.

Tanner McKee, Stanford - McKee should have all the rust from his mission shaken off already. He had some impressive moments last season during a season in which he passed for 2,327 yards and 15 touchdowns behind a bad line. The OL should be better and his weapons should be healthy, expect a jump from McKee.

Jaren Hall, BYU - Hall missed three full games but when he was healthy he was quite good. Hall passed for 2,583 yards and 20 touchdowns (just 5 picks) and rushed for 307 yards and three more scores. He threw for at least 276 yards in six of his final seven games and had 11 touchdown passes in the final four games.

Garrett Shrader, Syracuse - Shrader didn't have numbers that will impress you last season after transferring in from Mississippi State. He passed for just 1,445 yards and nine scores (52.6% completions) but he had 781 rushing yards and 14 scores. He ended the season with a strong game against Pittsburgh and he should see a big jump this fall.

Grant Wells, Marshall - Wells is poised for a major breakout this season after passing for 2,091 yards and 18 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman in 2020 and then 3,535 yards and racked up 23 total touchdowns in 2021. Marshall also returns a lot of talented weapons, and Wells is going to put up big numbers.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman joined Steve Smith of the NFL Network to talk about the Irish players at the Pro Day.

We're breaking down #ProDay with @nflnetwork's Steve Smith and @Marcus_Freeman1#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/mXTE6ltfoz

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) March 25, 2022

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Notre Dame's wide receivers are being coached much, much better. Here's a look at the Notre Dame receivers putting in work from the most recent open practice.

Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge

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Notre Dame 2023 Scholarship Offers
Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Defense

Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board

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