Notre Dame Football vs. Navy Midshipmen Gameday Primer
Key Defensive Player for Navy: Jake Springer, LB
A converted safety, Springer has been the face of the Navy defense this season and that won’t change come gametime. The junior linebacker is a hard-hitter who does most of his damage in the opponent’s backfield. He has speed and great instincts that have been key to Navy having such a great season defensively.
On the season, Springer has tallied 42 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, seven sacks and three forced fumbles. Talk about a disrupter. Springer is all over the field for Navy, tracking down the ball-carrier and hitting him hard.
Surely Navy has seen how Notre Dame QB Ian Book seems to have ‘happy feet’ in the pocket and will look to attack him on blitz schemes with Springer. If Book and the Notre Dame O-line do not pick up blitzes from Springer and the rest of the Navy D, it could be a long afternoon.
Key Defensive Player for Notre Dame: Jamir Jones, DE
If you told me in the beginning of the season that Jamir Jones would ever be one of my ‘Key Defensive Players’ for Notre Dame at any point in the season, I would call you a liar. Well, in all actuality, in the time that Jones has seen the field this season, he has been immense and a real difference-maker.
At the beginning of the season, Jones was buried in the defensive end depth chart behind the likes of Julian Okwara, Khalid Kareem, Daelin Hayes and more. Now, with Hayes and Okwara both out with season-ending injuries, Jones has been thrust into a role that many people were not confident he would succeed in. He has proved all of those people (including myself) wrong, and has had a great impact on the Notre Dame defense this season and will continue to do so.
So far in six games played for the Irish this season, Jones has racked up 17 tackles (11 solo), four sacks and two forced fumbles. Considering how much he has played, that is unreal production from what was initially Notre Dame’s fifth or sixth DE off the bench.
Next. Notre Dame vs. Navy is about respect. dark
Jones is going to be tasked with stopping the run against Navy and forcing them inside to where his friends on the defensive line will have it all clogged up. Jones has proven to be a sure-tackler this season and that will be needed against Navy today. The senior DE will see a ton of playing time and will hope to make the most of it in a game where the Notre Dame defense really needs him.