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Defensive Scrimmage Report - Aug. 20

Bryan Driskell

Football Analyst
Apr 19, 2015
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Granger, IN
Notre Dame held its first annual New & Gold Game today this afternoon inside of the newly renovated Notre Dame Stadium.

The format was similar to that of the spring’s Blue-Gold Game, with the first team offense battling the first team defense in the early going and the second team units matching up. It was a four-quarter format with 15-minute quarters and a halftime.

My thoughts on the defense’s performance:

DEFENSIVE END

· Notre Dame’s defensive ends are really good. They’ve been good all fall camp, but today they were especially good because they were all playing at high level together, especially the sophomores.

· Sophomore Daelin Hayes continued his outstanding all camp. What we saw today, and what we saw all fall camp, is a more consistent player from an assignment standpoint. He reacted properly to motions, was assignment sound and when put in position to get after the quarterback he was a force with his combination of speed and power moves.

· This was the best I’ve seen Julian Okwara all camp. My criticism of Okwara in the three previous practices that were open was his tendency to get too cute with moves, and he failed to trust in/rely on his speed. Today Okwara was flying off the ball and was very disruptive. He blew past starting right tackle Tommy Kraemer for a sack, negating a long touchdown from quarterback Brandon Wimbush to Equanimeous St. Brown.

· Sophomore Khalid Kareem was really, really impressive during today’s scrimmage. He was impactful in the run game as an edge setter and penetrator, and he was impactful as a pass rusher. Kareem looks to be in better shape, which is allowing him to get off the line better than we saw in the spring.

· Kareem’s punch has really improved and he did a really nice job using his powerful hands to beat his opponents with an assortment of power moves. On one effective rush he came off the line quickly, got lower than right tackle Robert Hainsey, shocked Hainsey with his hands and rode the talented freshman tackle into the quarterback.

· Classmate Adetokunbo Ogundeji also had some quality moments, using his quickness and improved power to get into the backfield. He had a nice breakup of a quick pass during the scrimmage.

· Freshman Kofi Wardlow is a ways away from a strength and technique standpoint, but observers at today’s scrimmage got to see a young man whose athleticism gives him a chance to be a really good player down the road. Only Hayes shows a better first step than Wardlow, who got into the backfield on multiple occasions. Now, where he got in trouble is he didn’t read screens really well and when blockers got locked on he didn’t know how to get off.

DEFENSIVE TACKLE

· Junior Jerry Tillery really handled himself well today. His pad level was very good, he did a good job getting extension with his hands and his effort seemed to be improved. Obviously I did not see every rep he took, but every time I saw him he was playing hard and finishing off plays.

· Even more important, Tillery made plays today. His best rep was on a perimeter run away where he beat a tackle up the field and then hustled down the line to bring Josh Adams down on a run away from him. I’m not sure who he beat, but later in the scrimmage he blew up a guard and drilled the back in the backfield.

· Jonathan Bonner had a good day, holding up well at the point of attack and showing good penetration skills in the pass game. It was the most disruptive I’ve seen Bonner.

· My concern remains what comes onto the field behind him. While Bonner and Tillery performed well today, their backups were far more erratic.

· Freshman Kurt Hinish had some good moments when he was able to use his quickness off the ball to get penetration. He had a strong push on a 4th down run late in the scrimmage to stop the offense short of the first down.

· At other times he struggled to hold up at the point of attack. Notre Dame’s starting linemen knocked him back a few times, and a double team from freshman Joshua Lugg and I think Liam Eichenberg washed Hinish way down inside, opening up an easy cutback lane for Dexter Williams on a zone run.

· Classmate Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa had a similarly up-and-down performance. Hinish is a bit more powerful at the point of attack but Tagovailoa-Amosa is the better pass rusher.

· Both freshmen can help, no question, but they will have to be used wisely early on.

· If juniors Micah Dew-Treadway and Brandon Tiassum could play with greater consistency the freshmen wouldn’t be needed as much. There were good moments from both juniors, and Tiassum had two of the more impressive players from a defensive tackle in the scrimmage. When he’s motivated and giving full effort he’s a good football player. The issue is on other snaps I saw him getting driven off the ball because he just stood up at the snap and got knocked back.

· The key for Notre Dame the next two weeks on defense is getting the interior rotation settled. If the staff can get a rotation going and the players on the field are giving full effort the Irish should be okay whenever Bonner and Tillery have to come off the field.
 
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