I am very optimistic about this years defense !

[Bodizephax]

LINEBACKER!! Tons of great athletes at linebacker. Barajas, Coney, Morgan, Omwualo, Martini. I think they will be better all around then the 2015 crew even though we lose Jaylon Smith. Greer Martini may be the Hardnosed Crable/Stonebreaker type line backer. Morgan can hit and has speed. I believe he will have a breakout year this year as an experienced Junior. He won't have to worry about Joe Schmidt in front of him anymore.
Rod Barajas is up to a strong 237 pounds ala Jaylon and is quite an athlete, Stud !
Tevon Coney looked great last year as a true freshman ! He is a hardnosed linebacker with an eye for the tackle ! He reminds me of a young Mike Singletary ! Stud !
James O has great athleticism and leadership and is poised to make the Junior leap in production!

DEFENSIVE LINE !! This is the deepest the Irish have been on the defensive line in a long time.
Lots of experience and strong bodies.
Isaac Rochelle !! Monster !! Poised for a breakout year !! Not fat like Junior Tuitt
Jarron Jones !! Monster if he stays healthy !! Will help others get a pass rush !! Will command double and triple teams ! Jerry Tillery ! Another huge Monster for the middle of the line !! Has the athleticism to get qb sacks !! Also will take on double teams !!
Daniel Cage is shorter but is powerfull and is entering his Junior year !! Looked good last year but will have added power after more work with Longo !
Andrew Trumbetti !! Has made some big plays his first two years but should be a monster this year after his third year in with Longo. All the big bodies in the middle will open up some pass rush lanes for The Itallian Stallion !
Grant Blankenship is another big body to add depth ! Stand up for Texas !
Jay Hayes is a highly rated recruit out of highschool who got pissed off last year because of lack of playing time--I like that attitude !! He is going to be a bigtime player this year !! He is mean and loves football !! He could care less about being in student government !! He just wants to sack quarterbacks and cause disruption in the backfield !! Notre Dame could use more animals like Jay Hayes !
5 star dend recruit Daelin Hayes will be teeing off on QBS on third and long !! I predict 5 sacks for the freshman ! He is a beast at six foot three and a half and 257 pounds !
Mountain dew Treadway is becoming a manimal before our very eyes !! Will be great for depth !!
Brandon "the assassin "Tiassum will get playing time.
Last year Sheldon Day was the stud on the Defensive line. Too bad he did not have the depth around him like we have this year ! And let us not forget about Elijah Taylor!! Ohio State wanted him !
DEFENSIVE BACKS !!
Cole Luke is a senior and has played a lot of good football. IMO-- He is a better cornerback than K. Russell ever was and the stats prove it. He just doesn't get the hype Russell did. I believe he will be close to a Lockdown corner than we have had in a while.
We also get back Shawn Crawford who was going to be the starting nickel back before he got hurt before the season started last year !I Stud !!
Nick Watkins another experienced stud! And Devin Butler is back !
Mykelletti Williams may play corner or safety ! Got some good experience late last season !
What about our best safety who got hurt last year after the Georgia Tech game--Drue Tranquill--a hardnosed football player (who could also care less about student government-- he is too busy loving football and the Ladies and getting a 3.5 gpa in mechanical engeneering!!) He won't get fooled again !
And damn it !! I forgot about a 2016 future AllAmerican !! Max Redfield !! He will have a great year like Harrison Smith !! Won't get fooled again !
And lets not forget about the seven or eight freshman dbacks that are coming in this year ! A big recruiting class to provide a lot of talented depth behind the starters !!

This defense is just going to get better and better as the season goes along !!
The schedule is set up for a playoff run !
BVG has his players !!
Lets roll !!
Go Irish !!
Beat Texas !

 

[BGI User 1596]

Defensive Coach not so good.

 

[Duo]

Bodi..........

Just curious??? Is there anything at all about ND football that you're not extremely optimistic about?

 

[napy2121]

This would be the time to be really optimistic. We lost a ton of talent even as I like some of the points op made.

 

[john0gaunt]

Agree completely with Bodi. And the glue that holds it all together and makes it all work is the scheme and coaching of BVG. The guy has ACOY awards to back it up.

Coach Kelly isn't running out poaching old retread coaches from around CFB like what is done in ohio and michigan. He's bringing in the next generation coaching talent with NFL pedigree and excellent CFB experience. Kelly just won't sit still. Every year he upgrades.

 

[NDCap]

Jaylon Smith made very tackle last year . Morgan will be an upgrade . Coney ? James O ? I hope some of these LB's live up to their hype. They are inexperienced but might be talented. We shall see.

 

[stu4don]

We lost seven guys from a mediocre d last year... Our two best pass rushers. Our two best linebackers (and our defensive QB and maybe the best LB in college football.) Our best safety and our best cornerback. A bunch of these guys will be drafted. I love the optimism but i'm gonna hold back until I see a game or two. Feels like a rebuilding year for our d. A lot of young guys trying to learn BVG's a-hem, system...

 

[Bodizephax]

We lost seven guys from a mediocre d last year... Our two best pass rushers. Our two best linebackers (and our defensive QB and maybe the best LB in college football.) Our best safety and our best cornerback. A bunch of these guys will be drafted. I love the optimism but i'm gonna hold back until I see a game or two. Feels like a rebuilding year for our d. A lot of young guys trying to learn BVG's a-hem, system...

Joe S. is gone. The defense will improve dramatically IMO. Joe was a warrior but he played hurt all year and it showed. I think the coaches rolled the dice and came up short (a couple points to Clemson and a couple to Stanford--both on the road). They probably thought they could win them all by going with Joe (he knew the defense) but maybe they should have tried some of the younger studs and gambled. I am not a coach so I am probably wrong--it is just a wild opinion from a fan ---not a perceived fact like those given by the board genius--Perse.

 

[NDCap]

There are some very good freshmen in this class. Hayes, Kareem and Studstill may become excellent players . IMO the sleeper of this class is Jamir Jones . I hope they keep him at LB. He is 6-3 6-4 and about 240 . He is a player. The DL will have some great height on the interior line. This will disrupt some downfield passes by some very inexperienced QB's . Jones and tiller can block passes. A big part of the pass rush. I would like to see Trumbetti become a poor man's Joey Bosa and Hayes become an Alabama type LB 6-4 250. The LB's are small.

 

[floridairish]

You're not wrong. All the talent in the world means nothing if you don't know where you're going and what you're supposed to be doing.

It's ironic that all the pseudo Internet forum coaches were giggling like school girls when BVG was hired. ND was going to start "attacking" being "multiple" playing in the "opponents backfield" and "confusing" the opponents offense.

Well, for the 4 or 5 people on this board who've been around the game for a few minutes. We can tell you that being multiple and complex can not only confuse the opponents, but it can confuse your players as well. There's a lot to be said for playing a simple but sound scheme and executing. But the pseudo Internet forum coaches did not like Bob Diacos "Vanilla" defense either.

Moral of the story. The pseudo Internet forum coaches know nothing about football.

 

[captstabbin]

Bodi..........

Just curious??? Is there anything at all about ND football that you're not extremely optimistic about?

As if being overly optimistic about ND football is a crime.....only for negative people I guess.

PREACH BROTHER BODI!

 

[Duo]

Bodi..........

Just curious??? Is there anything at all about ND football that you're not extremely optimistic about?

OK, let me restate this in a more positive manner. (For anyone that thinks the question above is a........"crime". )

Is there any area of the ND football team where you would like to see improvements? Let's say small improvements or even small adjustments to the offense or the defense?

 

[MTIrish98]

The LBs will need to stay healthy with so little depth, but I think modest improvement might be in order.

 

[mirer03]

competition in the secondary is a good thing this year. First time in a while we can have real competition there. Have to put the best players on the field, and I think ND will grow as a more balanced defense this year. Coach Gilmore needs another year to get the depth he prefers at dline but is on the right track, not a better coach in the country of developing dlineman from potential to stars. I'm not sold on bvg yet... But I accept that the change in scheme takes at less three years. I think this results in a more cohesive unit this year and ideally gets rod of the "top complicated" talk.

 

[end_23]

The defense department?