Notre Dame Football: Replacing Julian Love Will Take A Team Effort
The void left by Notre Dame cornerback Julian Love is not one that can be filled by a single player.
When Julian Love left the Cotton Bowl, the Clemson offense jumped on the Notre Dame defense. Clemson scored 20 points in the second quarter, all when Love left the game. Momentum was lost. The game — for all intents and purposes — was over.
Troy Pride Jr. and Donte Vaughn didn’t hold up in coverage. Trevor Lawrence took deep shots and eviscerated the secondary. It was clear just how much Love meant to the Irish. The lock-down, All-American corner was irreplaceable in the Cotton Bowl — even for a quarter.
Now, in 2019, the Irish will need to replace Julian Love for an entire season.
Vaughn will be the favorite to win the role of No. 1 corner in Spring practices, but that isn’t a given. Troy Pride Jr. would be Vaughn’s most likely challenger, but it is always possible that a younger player makes a huge leap. It isn’t worth holding your breath that happens, though. It is more important that Notre Dame finds a way to develop Vaughn and Pride Jr. into legitimate No. 1 corners. They have the most experience, and they have the natural talent. Both of them are capable of making the leap to the next level, and they’ll definitely improve.
The question is, by how much?
The job of training these student athletes falls to Terry Joseph and Todd Lyght. Joseph has been at a number of major programs, as a coach, including Nebraska and Tennessee. Lyght is a former Notre Dame and NFL cornerback himself. He’s been at Notre Dame since 2015. These are both capable instructors, and Lyght is the one who coached Love up from an undersized, three star recruit.
The two of them will need to draw on their coaching talents once again.
One thing the Notre Dame defense will probably need to do to alleviate pressure on the corners is play more zone. This — especially against more athletic players — will allow the secondary to lean on one another. When playing man to man, they’re left on an island, alone. The Irish will probably look to pressure the quarterback more through various blitz packages. They’ll do this in order to reduce the amount of time corners need to spend in coverage.
More important than any corner will be safety Alohi Gilman. He will be the best Irish defender in 2019. It will be his job to clean up the corners’ messes and not let a mistake turn into points for opponents. Gilman will also need to play defensive quarterback and help properly position the corners while making sure assignments are understood on every play. Gilman will need to take up to mantle of a Harrison Smith or a Tom Zbikowski if the Notre Dame secondary is going to remain strong in 2019.
Next. 2019 Look Ahead: Safeties. dark
Replacing Julian Love isn’t easy, and it isn’t one person’s job. It requires the entire secondary — from seniors to freshman — to step up. It will require great coaching and leadership. It will require excellent play calling. Hopefully, all of this comes together for the Irish. Otherwise, there is a good chance they’ll lose some games on the back of poor secondary play.