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Notre Dame Football All-Decade Team: Safety

By Nathan Erbach

EL PASO, TX - DECEMBER 30: Safety Harrison Smith #22 celebrates a pass interception with Robert Blanton #12 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during play against the Miami Hurricanes at Sun Bowl on December 30, 2010 in El Paso, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
EL PASO, TX - DECEMBER 30: Safety Harrison Smith #22 celebrates a pass interception with Robert Blanton #12 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during play against the Miami Hurricanes at Sun Bowl on December 30, 2010 in El Paso, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame Football
TEMPE, AZ – NOVEMBER 08: Safety Max Redfield #10 and cornerback Matthias Farley #41 of Notre Dame football lead teammates onto the field before the college football game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Sun Devil Stadium on November 8, 2014 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Fighting Irish 55-31. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

While one guy on this list definitely separates himself above the rest in both his college and now NFL career, Notre Dame football has had very good safety play from a multitude of players over the last 10 years.

The four players discussed on this list are Harrison Smith, Matthias Farley, Jalen Elliott and Alohi Gilman. Before we start, I want to mention that while Farley was technically listed at corner for the majority of his Irish career, it certainly felt like he played a glorified safety role as well as nickel corner. Obviously, Elliott and Gilman are the two recent guys, and hopefully will find success in the league, but two years of really solid play landed both on this list. Smith, as mentioned in the opening, is the crown jewel of Notre Dame safeties after his first round selection and Hall of Fame worthy career with the Minnesota Vikings.

Matthias Farley (2011-2015)

After redshirting his true freshman season, Farley found great success in the back-end of the Irish defense throughout the remaining four years in South Bend. He started 11 games in 2012 when Notre Dame went undefeated in the regular season, 8 games in 2013, 4 in 2014 and 3 in 2015. Farley, as you can see, transitioned into more of a role player as his career went on, but even though he wasn’t listed as a starter for many of those games, he was a leader on the field and essentially played starter snaps.

Throughout his Notre Dame career, Farley had the clutch gene and the knack for finding the football. It always seemed he was the one making a play on the ball late in the game or in a big spot. This is evident with his 8 career interceptions. On top of the INTs, he also recorded nearly 200 tackles during his time in college, as well as, 9.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.

Farley would go undrafted in the 2016 draft, but was picked up by the Arizona Cardinals as an UDFA. While he was eventually waived in the last round of cuts, he was picked up the next day by the Indianapolis Colts. During his rookie season, he was mostly used in a reserve role and on special teams, but in 2017 he was named the starter at strong safety where he compiled 98 tackles and 2 INTs. The next year he would only appear in 5 game before going on IR with numerous injuries. He was waived by the Colts before this season, but was again picked up quickly – this time by the New York Jets – where he appeared in 13 games.

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