Notre Dame first-year defensive coordinator Chris Ash met with the media Friday after the Irish staged their fifth football practice of the spring. Here’s everything Ash had to say. Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: What are the advantages of playing the defensive ends wider than previously in pass-rush situations
“When I got here, this defense wasn’t broken. This defense has been well-coached. It’s performed at a high level, and conceptually they’ve been doing things that I really believe in. My objective was really to identify some things we could do better or put players in positions to help their skill set. Really, we’re just taking a look at different ways to play our defensive ends to help them rush the passer, force one-on-one blocks with tight ends a bit more. We’re just checking things out in the spring. So far, so good, I think they like it.”
Q: Does that technique help against the run in any way?
“Yeah, certain fronts go against certain coverages, so there’s things we can do with certain coverages, but also things we can’t do. It’s situationally, and we can allow them to play on the edge with the talent we have. Anything to set the edge and rush the passe, and keep the ball inside of them, we like to do that.”
Q: Is this your first time being solely a defensive coordinator and not a position coach?
“In my past, I’ve always coached a position group. This is the first time I’ve coordinated as a walk-around guy. There’s pros and cons to every situation. The pro here is you can kind of be the head coach of the defense. You can go into different meetings. You can watch the drills. You get to see all the players rather than the ones you coach, outside of the film. I love that I see guys get coached, see who’s listening and responding to coaching, I get to watch different drills, help coaches with their drills from a different perspective. So, I think there’s a lot of advantages to it.”
Q: Are there any other little schematic tweaks that you’ve implemented?
“There are some terminology things that we’ve adjusted, but for the most part the concepts are the concepts. The fronts are the fronts. I’m not going to say we’re exactly the same, but we’re pretty close to mirroring what’s been done here in the past. This spring we’re just looking to enhance some things they had in the packages that they didn’t necessarily need to do because of the way the season unfolded. So, make sure that what we do have we can be really efficient at all of it.”
Q: Who’s emerging as a leader that you can see this early?
“Drayk Bowen, as the middle ‘backer, is probably the front-runner for leadership of the group. He’d the central communicator. He’s a guy that’s played a lot of football. Well-respected, intelligent guy. It all starts with him right now. There are a number of other guys, but I think he’s going to be the guy that we probably see as the leader of the group.”
Q: The rover has evolved a lot since the Mike Elko/Clark Lea days, especially as it relates to having a nickel on the field. How do you see that evolving under your leadership?
“Everybody has a different definition of different positions based on their history and experience. To me, simply what I can gather, a rover is just another linebacker. So, whether you’re in Nickel, or a Big Nickel, or a 4-3 structure with three linebackers, it’s all situational. We’re going to be no different. We’ll play primarily Nickel. We’ll have the ability where we can get bigger based on the personnel grouping and situation. What does that mean? Is that a linebacker? Is that a safety? It’s just a bigger, athletic person to play that position in certain situations.”
Q: Jaylen Sneed played a lot of roles last season, including the rover and has some aspirations to move inside. How do you view him in your scheme?
“Right now [practicing against the ND offense] we’re only getting one personnel grouping. We’re getting 11 [three wide receivers, one tight end, one running back]. That’s just the way it is, because of what they’re doing and what they have. As we get ready to prepare for opponents, we’ll make decisions on who’s going to get out there at linebacker. But Sneed, specifically, I love the kid. He’s athletic, he’s physical, he’s got positional flexibility to play inside or play outside. We’re going to put him on the field to do a lot of different things.”
Q: Is Kahanu Kia at safety?
“No, not right now.”
Q: How is Jason Onye, back from an absence last season, as well as the transfers, Jared Dawson and Elijah Hughes, fitting in?
“When you talk about the interior defensive line, you have to have depth, and you have to be able to rotate those guys. Keep them healthy and fresh, and that’s what we’re trying to establish right now. Who is that depth? With him [Onye] back, it’s a great addition to the group. Really, I look at three guys that would not have been here last year — him being one with the two transfers JD and Elijah — those are three guys that weren’t here last year that have been great additions so far this spring and look like they’re going to provide some great rotation.”
Q: How much cross-training are you doing inside?
“Certain guys. The ends are the ends. The inside guys are the inside guys. In certain situations we can move ends inside. If there’s ever an occasion to take an inside guy and put him on the end — that’s not typically what you’d do. It’s more natural for the guys outside to go play inside. They’re going to learn all the positions but the edge guys are the edge guys.”
Q: How far along can you get injured transfer safety Jalen Stroman with just doing mental reps?
“Well, mental reps are still valuable reps. Our expectation is that he’s learning everything. We just can’t really evaluate what he can do movement-wise and what he is as a playmaker other than what we saw on film from Virginia Tech. He’s out in the walk-through, so he’s getting the mental reps. He’s locked in on the sideline, so he’s developing. He’s a pro, man. He just goes and does his work every day. He’s locked in. He’s studying. He’s got great questions. So, our expectation is that when he’s healthy, he’ll be ready to go.”
Q: What did he do best in that healthy 2023 season?
“Kind of like what we talked about, what you want on defense. He was fast and physical.”
Q: Is defense a 4-2-5 game now on the college level?
“I don’t know if I’d say 4-2-5, but it’s a Nickel game. Basically that’s what college football and the NFL has become, primarily Nickel. Now, whether you call it 4-2, you call it 3-3-5, or whatever, you’re typically going to have five DBs and then it just matters what the rest of the structure is. Some guys will call a D-End ‘a linebacker.’ They don’t have a D-End in there, and they call it linebacker and they call it a 3-3-5. So I don’t get caught up in all that. Whatever your personnel forces you to do, that’s what you are. But you’re primarily going to have five DBs in there.”
Q: You have a personnel that now includes Devonta Smith. Is that like a Christmas in March gift for you?
“This place isn’t living in the portal and rebuilding the team every year in the portal, but the few additions that were brought in on defense specifically, I think they’re all going to be able to contribute.”
Q: [Kind of a repeat of an earlier question] Can you talk about how you used Maxx Crosby in Vegas and the 7-technique shift in alignment with the defensive ends?
“We’re just messing around and giving them some opportunities to play on the edge, helping them in their pass rush. It forces tight ends to have to block pretty good players one-on-one. Also can set the edge in the run game, keep the ball inside, not let it get outside and get beat on the perimeter. We’re just dabbling with some different things, like I said before. I’m just here trying to find some ways that maybe we can make some little tweaks that we can get better on what they have done in the past. It’s something we’re messing around with this spring.”
Q: What are your impressions of Bryce Young?
“It’s still too early to say exactly what he’s improved on completely, but the sky is the limit for the kid. I don’t think he has any idea how good he can be. He’s big. He’s physical. He’s athletic. He has a lot of talent. He’s still learning the game. Just has to be a consistent player and detail some things out. I really like what I see so far. The whole front, we’re not where we need to be yet, but man we’ve got some pieces that we can work with that I think we can build this defense around.”
Q: Have you talked to Al Golden?
“I have not. I actually thought about it. I know he’s very busy with what he’s doing in Cincinnati, and I’ve been pretty busy here. I’ve never met him, but I have a ton of respect for him, not only here but what he’s done in his career. He’s a good football coach, a good person, I’ve just never had the fortune to meet him or be around him a lot.”
Q: In some ways if you were him talk about the players, it might influence you? You want fresh eyes?
“Yeah. I don’t really want someone else’s opinion to help formulate mine. I want to formulate my own. But this whole defensive staff — as a coordinator, you’re only as good as the defensive staff and the players you have. I’m very fortunate, I feel like I hit the football lottery coming here, because in place, you’re plopped in a chair with a very good staff, with really good people and you have good players. And that doesn’t happen all the time in this profession.”
Q: You have a lot of good young safeties. What are your impressions of them so far?…
“We do, they’re developing and getting better. I really like what I see from that group. We have a long way to go for them to truly master what we do. But man, they’re working hard every single day, and what I see is guys that can run. And I know they can hit, so I’m not worried about that. They can run, they can cover. So we can play man. We can play zone with them. There’s talent back there.”
END
Q: What are the advantages of playing the defensive ends wider than previously in pass-rush situations
“When I got here, this defense wasn’t broken. This defense has been well-coached. It’s performed at a high level, and conceptually they’ve been doing things that I really believe in. My objective was really to identify some things we could do better or put players in positions to help their skill set. Really, we’re just taking a look at different ways to play our defensive ends to help them rush the passer, force one-on-one blocks with tight ends a bit more. We’re just checking things out in the spring. So far, so good, I think they like it.”
Q: Does that technique help against the run in any way?
“Yeah, certain fronts go against certain coverages, so there’s things we can do with certain coverages, but also things we can’t do. It’s situationally, and we can allow them to play on the edge with the talent we have. Anything to set the edge and rush the passe, and keep the ball inside of them, we like to do that.”
Q: Is this your first time being solely a defensive coordinator and not a position coach?
“In my past, I’ve always coached a position group. This is the first time I’ve coordinated as a walk-around guy. There’s pros and cons to every situation. The pro here is you can kind of be the head coach of the defense. You can go into different meetings. You can watch the drills. You get to see all the players rather than the ones you coach, outside of the film. I love that I see guys get coached, see who’s listening and responding to coaching, I get to watch different drills, help coaches with their drills from a different perspective. So, I think there’s a lot of advantages to it.”
Q: Are there any other little schematic tweaks that you’ve implemented?
“There are some terminology things that we’ve adjusted, but for the most part the concepts are the concepts. The fronts are the fronts. I’m not going to say we’re exactly the same, but we’re pretty close to mirroring what’s been done here in the past. This spring we’re just looking to enhance some things they had in the packages that they didn’t necessarily need to do because of the way the season unfolded. So, make sure that what we do have we can be really efficient at all of it.”
Q: Who’s emerging as a leader that you can see this early?
“Drayk Bowen, as the middle ‘backer, is probably the front-runner for leadership of the group. He’d the central communicator. He’s a guy that’s played a lot of football. Well-respected, intelligent guy. It all starts with him right now. There are a number of other guys, but I think he’s going to be the guy that we probably see as the leader of the group.”
Q: The rover has evolved a lot since the Mike Elko/Clark Lea days, especially as it relates to having a nickel on the field. How do you see that evolving under your leadership?
“Everybody has a different definition of different positions based on their history and experience. To me, simply what I can gather, a rover is just another linebacker. So, whether you’re in Nickel, or a Big Nickel, or a 4-3 structure with three linebackers, it’s all situational. We’re going to be no different. We’ll play primarily Nickel. We’ll have the ability where we can get bigger based on the personnel grouping and situation. What does that mean? Is that a linebacker? Is that a safety? It’s just a bigger, athletic person to play that position in certain situations.”
Q: Jaylen Sneed played a lot of roles last season, including the rover and has some aspirations to move inside. How do you view him in your scheme?
“Right now [practicing against the ND offense] we’re only getting one personnel grouping. We’re getting 11 [three wide receivers, one tight end, one running back]. That’s just the way it is, because of what they’re doing and what they have. As we get ready to prepare for opponents, we’ll make decisions on who’s going to get out there at linebacker. But Sneed, specifically, I love the kid. He’s athletic, he’s physical, he’s got positional flexibility to play inside or play outside. We’re going to put him on the field to do a lot of different things.”
Q: Is Kahanu Kia at safety?
“No, not right now.”
Q: How is Jason Onye, back from an absence last season, as well as the transfers, Jared Dawson and Elijah Hughes, fitting in?
“When you talk about the interior defensive line, you have to have depth, and you have to be able to rotate those guys. Keep them healthy and fresh, and that’s what we’re trying to establish right now. Who is that depth? With him [Onye] back, it’s a great addition to the group. Really, I look at three guys that would not have been here last year — him being one with the two transfers JD and Elijah — those are three guys that weren’t here last year that have been great additions so far this spring and look like they’re going to provide some great rotation.”
Q: How much cross-training are you doing inside?
“Certain guys. The ends are the ends. The inside guys are the inside guys. In certain situations we can move ends inside. If there’s ever an occasion to take an inside guy and put him on the end — that’s not typically what you’d do. It’s more natural for the guys outside to go play inside. They’re going to learn all the positions but the edge guys are the edge guys.”
Q: How far along can you get injured transfer safety Jalen Stroman with just doing mental reps?
“Well, mental reps are still valuable reps. Our expectation is that he’s learning everything. We just can’t really evaluate what he can do movement-wise and what he is as a playmaker other than what we saw on film from Virginia Tech. He’s out in the walk-through, so he’s getting the mental reps. He’s locked in on the sideline, so he’s developing. He’s a pro, man. He just goes and does his work every day. He’s locked in. He’s studying. He’s got great questions. So, our expectation is that when he’s healthy, he’ll be ready to go.”
Q: What did he do best in that healthy 2023 season?
“Kind of like what we talked about, what you want on defense. He was fast and physical.”
Q: Is defense a 4-2-5 game now on the college level?
“I don’t know if I’d say 4-2-5, but it’s a Nickel game. Basically that’s what college football and the NFL has become, primarily Nickel. Now, whether you call it 4-2, you call it 3-3-5, or whatever, you’re typically going to have five DBs and then it just matters what the rest of the structure is. Some guys will call a D-End ‘a linebacker.’ They don’t have a D-End in there, and they call it linebacker and they call it a 3-3-5. So I don’t get caught up in all that. Whatever your personnel forces you to do, that’s what you are. But you’re primarily going to have five DBs in there.”
Q: You have a personnel that now includes Devonta Smith. Is that like a Christmas in March gift for you?
“This place isn’t living in the portal and rebuilding the team every year in the portal, but the few additions that were brought in on defense specifically, I think they’re all going to be able to contribute.”
Q: [Kind of a repeat of an earlier question] Can you talk about how you used Maxx Crosby in Vegas and the 7-technique shift in alignment with the defensive ends?
“We’re just messing around and giving them some opportunities to play on the edge, helping them in their pass rush. It forces tight ends to have to block pretty good players one-on-one. Also can set the edge in the run game, keep the ball inside, not let it get outside and get beat on the perimeter. We’re just dabbling with some different things, like I said before. I’m just here trying to find some ways that maybe we can make some little tweaks that we can get better on what they have done in the past. It’s something we’re messing around with this spring.”
Q: What are your impressions of Bryce Young?
“It’s still too early to say exactly what he’s improved on completely, but the sky is the limit for the kid. I don’t think he has any idea how good he can be. He’s big. He’s physical. He’s athletic. He has a lot of talent. He’s still learning the game. Just has to be a consistent player and detail some things out. I really like what I see so far. The whole front, we’re not where we need to be yet, but man we’ve got some pieces that we can work with that I think we can build this defense around.”
Q: Have you talked to Al Golden?
“I have not. I actually thought about it. I know he’s very busy with what he’s doing in Cincinnati, and I’ve been pretty busy here. I’ve never met him, but I have a ton of respect for him, not only here but what he’s done in his career. He’s a good football coach, a good person, I’ve just never had the fortune to meet him or be around him a lot.”
Q: In some ways if you were him talk about the players, it might influence you? You want fresh eyes?
“Yeah. I don’t really want someone else’s opinion to help formulate mine. I want to formulate my own. But this whole defensive staff — as a coordinator, you’re only as good as the defensive staff and the players you have. I’m very fortunate, I feel like I hit the football lottery coming here, because in place, you’re plopped in a chair with a very good staff, with really good people and you have good players. And that doesn’t happen all the time in this profession.”
Q: You have a lot of good young safeties. What are your impressions of them so far?…
“We do, they’re developing and getting better. I really like what I see from that group. We have a long way to go for them to truly master what we do. But man, they’re working hard every single day, and what I see is guys that can run. And I know they can hit, so I’m not worried about that. They can run, they can cover. So we can play man. We can play zone with them. There’s talent back there.”
END
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