Versatility Will Be Key For Irish In Replacing Jaylon Smith And Joe Schmidt
The Irish lost two of three linebacker starters this offseason, with Mike linebacker Joe Schmidt having graduated and Will linebacker Jaylon Smith off to the NFL with a future made murky by a torn ACL and LCL suffered in the Fiesta Bowl.
Notre Dame lost six starters from last year’s defense, and the two departed linebackers represent a combined 60 starts that will not return to the squad this fall.
“When you say Jaylon, the first thing that comes to my mind is production,” Elston said. “Someone’s got to replace the production. Jaylon wasn’t a verbal leader per se. Joe was that guy. Jaylon was a production man.
“He made everybody else around him better because he was going to make up for you. You got reached as a defensive tackle, what’s he going to do? He’s going to get to the ball and make the tackle. It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter what happens in front of him. Jaylon made up for a lot of things. He was productive.
“Jaylon wasn’t an excellent leader like Joe. He led in a different way, but when you say Jaylon to me I’m thinking how are we going to replace his production. That’s where Asmar [Bilal] and Te’von need to make up for that. There needs to be production there.”
Sophomore Te’von Coney and junior Greer Martini sat out all of spring practice, which was a much larger hit to the former’s 2016 prospects than it was for Martini. Coney learned behind Smith last season as a freshman and is competing with Bilal for the starting Will position, but missing out on 15 practices certainly didn’t help Coney’s chances.
Martini, meanwhile, played each of the last two seasons and remains an option at all three linebacker positions with his versatility.
At Mike linebacker, Notre Dame will usher in a new starter in junior Nyles Morgan. Regardless of the criticism Schmidt drew for his play last season outside the walls of the Guglielmino Athletics Complex, the Irish coaches — who saw him and Morgan every day in practice — opted to stick with the veteran throughout the season. Now that he is a junior and has the position to himself, Morgan is likely to star in the middle of the Notre Dame defense.
“Once Nyles became the guy and Joe left the campus and he was done, and Nyles wasn’t looking over his shoulder when he was out there, that’s when I saw a different demeanor from him and a different confidence and different swag,” Elston said. “He knew this is my time and I’m going to take it. I’m not going to relinquish it anymore.”
Although no single player will come close to replacing Smith’s impact in 2016, it is possible that the Irish have an overall better linebacking corps this season.
First, Morgan must be as talented as he has looked in practice this spring. Second, the starter at Will in either Coney or Bilal must not be a liability in their first season as starter. Both have the tools to succeed in that role in Notre Dame’s defense.
One factor to keep in mind moving toward fall camp is the versatility of this group. Notre Dame didn’t have the benefit of taking advantage of cross-training in games last season because Smith and Schmidt were never going to be taken off the field.
While Morgan is expected to be an every-down player, Notre Dame can mix and match to play to the strengths of Martini, Bilal, Coney, senior James Onwualu and others whether it be in the base or nickel packages.
When defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder arrived two years ago, we heard a lot about sub packages and versatility and cross-training. Now could be the time Irish fans finally see it come to fruition, especially with the linebackers.