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Notre Dame Football All-Decade Team: Linebacker

By Nathan Erbach

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 08: Heisman finalists linebacker Manti Te'o of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish poses with the Heisman Memorial Trophy Award after a press conference prior to the 78th Heisman Trophy Presentation at the Marriott Marquis on December 8, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 08: Heisman finalists linebacker Manti Te'o of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish poses with the Heisman Memorial Trophy Award after a press conference prior to the 78th Heisman Trophy Presentation at the Marriott Marquis on December 8, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /
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ARLINGTON, TEXAS – DECEMBER 29: Te’von Coney #4 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts after a play in the third quarter against the Clemson Tigers during the College Football Playoff Semifinal Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium on December 29, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Maybe the two best Notre Dame football players of this decade are on this list, making it hard for others to receiver praise. In general, however, Notre Dame hasn’t had much trouble churning out quality linebackers under Brian Kelly

While Manti Te’o and Jaylon Smith dominate the football talk of the Notre Dame 2010s decade, other linebackers have been terrific in an Irish uniform — including Drue Tranquill and Te’Von Coney — the other two guys mentioned for this list. Te’o and Tranquill were considered by many as the heart and soul of the team during their prospective careers, while Smith and Coney were simply dynamic athletes that stuffed the stat sheets.

No disrespect to Coney or Tranquill, but it is impossible to create an All-Decade team without the other two on there, but not many programs would have a better second-team unit.

Te’Von Coney (2015-2018)

Coney was a 4 star recruit out of Florida in 2015, and he played a role on the Notre Dame football team from the start of his freshman year — appearing in 12 games on special teams and as a reserve linebacker. In 2016, he would start nine games, ranking fourth on the team in tackles with 61, but it was his junior and senior years is where he would really shine. While he only started 7 games in 2017, he essentially rotated with Greer Martini and Nyles Morgan and turned it on late in the season. He would finish the season for the team lead in tackles (116) and tackles for loss (13.5) while also registering 3 sacks — good for 2nd on the team. Coney really made headway against the run and in blitz packages, continuously wreaking havoc behind the line of scrimmage.

In 2018, Coney would one up his 2017 season, starting all 13 games and leading the team in tackles for the second straight season. He also became more reliable in pass coverage, intercepting one pass while defending 4 others — the only season he held any of these stats.

Coney finished his Notre Dame career with over 300 tackles and 23.5 tackles for loss. It came as a surprise to many Irish fans when he went undrafted in the 2019 draft after his dominant career in South Bend, but this was due in large part to teams feeling he was a two-down linebacker at the next level. The Raiders signed Coney as an UDFA and he appeared in all four preseason games before signing with the Raiders as a practice squad player — where he spent the entire season.

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