Defensive Secondary

[johnnd05]

This thread is for posting news and opinions on the Irish defensive secondary for the '08 season. I'll start off with a B&G.com article:

On The Corners...

by RYAN O'LEARY
Assistant Editor

It’s getting to sound a lot like a broken record. As has been the case for a couple of years now, most season previews manage to include at least a couple of jabs, if not worse, toward the Notre Dame secondary.

They’re used to hearing it by now, but that doesn’t mean they have to like it. The criticism might not always be fair, but the players know that there’s at least some truth to it – and they’re anxious to get out there and erase it once and for all.

“We really feel like we have something to prove this year, and that’s what we’re working toward,” said sophomore cornerback Darrin Walls.

Walls has only had to live with a year’s worth of jeering. Fifth-year senior Ambrose Wooden, on the other hand, is more than sick of it.

“After last year, I definitely have a huge chip on my shoulder,” he stated.

But these guys have been talking about disposing of that chip since 2004. Is there any reason to think that this season will be any different?

Actually, yes.

Depth Perception

The biggest difference, according to head coach Charlie Weis and everyone else, is the improved depth throughout the secondary. When Weis arrived in 2005, he couldn’t really bench someone for getting torched, because there weren’t many guys he could trust in a game situation. The Irish were forced to play the hand they were dealt.

Now, thanks to improved recruiting and the coaching of Bill Lewis, Weis feels a lot more comfortable with his options – and the players can all see a difference as well.

“That’s one thing I’ve noticed in the last year,” said Wooden of the improved depth. “Competition’s always good, because it pushes you to go out every day and perfect your technique and want to get better, and if you have a bad day, one day somebody can jump you. You’ve just got to go out there every day knowing that you’ve got to compete, and you’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game just like it’s a Saturday.”

Two years ago, Wooden and Mike Richardson were the unquestioned starters at cornerback. With Wooden hurt for much of last fall, senior Terrail Lambert was able to get into the mix, and he showed plenty of improvement. Now, Lambert and Wooden head into camp penciled in as the first-teamers, but while that might have been a safe perch in the past, things have changed.

Walls and Raeshon McNeil, a pair of highly-touted 2006 recruits, may not have been ready for prime time as freshmen (what rookie corner truly is?), but with a year under their belts, they’re ready to push the incumbents.

“We’re all in the same position,” Walls said. “No one’s a starter right now.”

Keep It Simple, Stupid

Another major difference, the players say, is the new scheme brought in by first-year defensive coordinator Corwin Brown. In the past, complex schemes meant a lot of thinking – which meant slower movement. Notre Dame’s corners don’t think that they’re lacking for speed, and now that they’re able to play a little more loosely, they’re expecting their true colors to show.

“It’s a real big difference,” McNeil said of Brown’s philosophy. “Not having to think as much, and getting a couple of reads versus reading three or four things before you can react, it makes you more confident as a player, and then it makes you able to do more playing. Being a mobile football player more than, say, a robot.”

“You’ve just got to do your responsibility, and that’s awesome,” added Wooden, “because you can just go out and play...just go out and have fun.”

The Learning Curve

Lastly, there’s the experience factor. Both Wooden and Lambert are now seasoned veterans – and now that the sophomores have gotten their feet wet, they’re feeling much more comfortable covering college wideouts.

“It was kind of overwhelming,” Walls said of his freshman season, “but that’s what you have to expect when you play for Notre Dame. You’re going up against the best almost every week. It was overwhelming, but at the same time I kind of expected it.

“I think going out there and playing a couple of games and getting some experience, it helps a lot.”

“Coming in as a freshman, trying to learn everything, basically in two, two and a half weeks...That’s a lot to put on a guy coming out of high school,” McNeil echoed.

Now, the only thing being put on the Irish cover men is the fact that no one thinks they’re any good. It’s their job to prove the naysayers wrong – and they’re ready to do just that.

“They haven’t heard of a lot of us,” said McNeil. “We’ve got a lot of young guys, a lot of guys that are going to be out there for the first time getting some significant time. So we’re just going to have to step it up, you know? Shock the world.”

 

[johnnd05]

No time for backpedaling
Walls, McNeil must step up now for Irish secondary to succeed.

COMMENTARY

JEFF CARROLL
Tribune Columnist

Personality-wise, Notre Dame sophomore cornerbacks Darrin Walls and Raeshon McNeil seem like they couldn't be more different.

"I stay more to myself," says Walls, one of the most mild-mannered members of his team. "My confidence isn't based on what I say."

"I'm a little bit more vocal than he is, coming from the South," says McNeil, a North Carolina native. "It's the kind of people we are, the mentality you have. That's how it goes down down south, man."

Disparate as their public personas may be, they have something important in common when it comes to the fortunes of the 2007 Irish.

Other than quarterback Jimmy Clausen, whose spurning of hometown power USC for the up-and-coming Irish was the verbal commitment heard 'round the world, Walls and McNeil together may represent the most important recruiting grabs so far in the Charlie Weis Era. And although neither is listed as a starter on the year's first depth chart, they will get opportunities to shine in the upcoming season.

Psychologically, having the pair come of age would be very important for the momentum of the program and the mental well-being of its most ardent fans. Weis has fixed a lot of things that had ailed Notre Dame prior to his arrival. Pass defense has not been one of them.

However, he has been stockpiling defensive backs. Now some of them must emerge to help turn the unit around, and the yin and yang of the sophomore class are in the best position to do so.

When Walls offered a verbal commitment to Notre Dame in the fall of 2005, it couldn't have come at a better time.

Even though Weis' new offense was rolling up yardage and points, there was a troubling undercurrent to it all. The ND secondary was struggling every bit as much as it had the year before, when it had ranked a miserable 116th in the country in pass yardage allowed.

In a late September visit to Seattle that season, the University of Washington, coached by Tyrone Willingham no less, threw for 408 yards against the Irish secondary sieve. A week later, Purdue passed for 350.

That was on Oct. 1. Two days later Walls, a highly recruited cornerback from the Pittsburgh area, pledged his services to Notre Dame.

That gave the Irish their second consensus top 100 cornerback in the recruiting class of 2006, with McNeil already in the fold since late summer.

From that point forward, all the frustration of watching as the Notre Dame pass defense failed to progress was cushioned by the thought that help was on the way.

Now the wait is over. In the persons of Walls and McNeil it must blossom, if nothing else as a symbol that Weis and staff can identify needs, scout talent and then coach it into excellence without too much lag time.

"They've got to make huge, huge strides and the reason for it is it's their time," says ND defensive backs coach Bill Lewis. "They're here and for us to be a good secondary, we've got to be able to count on about six corners. We've got to be able to count on about six safeties.

"We've got some depth in the secondary. We've got to have those people play good for us. Depth doesn't mean anything unless it's good depth."

Secondary reclamation projects do happen, and they can happen quickly. On top of that, they can be a major component of turning your program around.

In 2004, Rutgers ranked 100th in the nation in pass efficiency defense and limped home with a 4-7 record. Last year, the Scarlet Knights vaulted all the way to eighth in the country in the category. At 11-2, they were the feel-good story in college football.

Arkansas experienced a similar turnaround from a 4-7 also-ran in 2005 to the SEC title game last year. Two years after ranking 106th in the country in pass defense, the Hogs sported a top 20 secondary last year.

Notre Dame's program, of course, is far from being in the dire straits that those two schools were in.

However, the secondary's inability to corral big plays or get off the field on third down has kept the Irish from being truly elite under Weis. Top-shelf receivers made ND's defensive backs their playthings.

When national television and writer types pick on the Irish, they usually go after the easy mark, the secondary.

"I think any type of competitor," says McNeil, "when there's criticism against you or your group, if you don't take that personally, you're not a competitor and you shouldn't play this sport."

Last season, McNeil and Walls were both given shots at meaningful minutes. They were also kept on super-tight leashes.

That won't be a luxury this year. And they know it.

"You realize real quick that you've got a lot to learn before you can really get out there and be relied on," McNeil says. "Last year was a tough year for me. I'm hoping to do more this year."

 

[johnnd05]

Published: August 16, 2007 6:00 a.m.

Notre Dame secondary matures into solid unit

By Michael Rothstein
The Journal Gazette

SOUTH BEND – Ambrose Wooden looks around these days and can’t help but feel like the old man.

Notre Dame’s fifth-year senior cornerback has even started waxing nostalgic about watching the young guys he is competing with improve.

“It’s great because you see them learning and growing, guys like Darrin Walls and Raeshon (McNeil) and all these young guys grow up in front of your face,” Wooden said. “It’s amazing.”

Same could be said for Notre Dame’s secondary, especially at cornerback.

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis has said the secondary – especially cornerback – has gone from one of the thinnest to deepest on his team over the past two years and it’s because the guys he recruited are all older and ready to play.

Wooden, though, is one of the guys Notre Dame will look to at the start of this season. He tops the depth chart along with senior Terrail Lambert, the player who replaced Wooden opposite Mike Richardson last year.

But Weis has more options this year than in the past. He can turn to the sophomores – Walls, McNeil and Munir Prince – or senior Leo Ferrine.

The competition for starting and playing time in nickel or dime situations is so strong that defensive backs coach Bill Lewis said no determinations have been made on who will play where, not even committing to whether Wooden and Lambert are the starters despite what the depth chart says.

“We’re a long way from deciding who is first, second and third,” Lewis said. “We have a lot of work to do before we do that.”

With the competition could come pressure on the supposed starters, but so far they aren’t looking at it like that.

They feel the competition is better and will likely lead to fresher bodies all around this fall even if no one actually wants to leave the game.

“In the heat of battle of course you aren’t going to want to look at it like that, but it is nice to have that luxury,” Lambert said.

It is a benefit Weis hasn’t had in his first two seasons.

He hasn’t been able to pull someone if they’ve had a bad day, and it had disastrous results (think Michigan’s Mario Manningham, Purdue’s Selwyn Lymon, North Carolina’s Hakeem Nicks, USC’s Dwayne Jarrett and LSU’s Early Doucet last year) and a defense that gave away big plays like Halloween candy.

Lewis said the secondary has cut down on giving up big plays in practice situations.

“The entire secondary has responded to what we’ve asked of them and that is what we have to improve on, our performance the past two years,” Lewis said. “They’ve approached it with an outstanding attitude.”

With new offensive starters, it’ll be difficult to match the offensive productivity the past two seasons when Notre Dame could out-score many teams.

This year, the defense – especially the secondary and cornerbacks – will need to be tighter if Notre Dame is going to be successful.

And it could end up meaning a shorter string for mistakes before a player is pulled this season, although Lewis said he isn’t sure how many guys the coaching staff will feel comfortable with.

“If you have someone that you don’t hesitate to put out there if someone makes a mistake, then you go do it,” Lewis said. “That’s what we’re going to find out between now and when we turn our attention to a depth chart and start to see who it is we feel we can trust to put on the field in a game situation.”

It is at that time that Notre Dame’s young cornerback crew will have officially grown up.

 

[johnnd05]

From the official team site:

Tom Zbikowski Selected To ESPN.com Preseason All-America Team

Senior safety already named to the preseason watch lists for the Bednarik and Nagurski Trophy as well as the Lott Award.

Aug. 15, 2007

Notre Dame's two-time All-American strong safety Tom Zbikowski was selected to the ESPN.com Preseason All-America Team. Zbikowski has also been named preseason first-team All-American by Athlon, The Sporting News and Phil Steele.

Zbikowski (Sr./Arlington Heights, Ill.) earned second-team All-America accolades from the Walter Camp Football Foundation last year and was named a third-team All-American by the Associated Press for the second straight season. He recorded 79 tackles with one forced fumble and one fumble recovery on defense and averaged 9.0 yards on 16 punt returns with one touchdown return in 2006.

Zbikowski, chosen as a 2007 Notre Dame captain for the second-consecutive season, is considered the top strong safety in the nation by Sporting News and Phil Steele while ESPN NFL Draft Analyst Mel Kiper tabbed him the top senior safety in 2007. He was also named to the preseason watch lists for the Bednarik and Nagurski Trophy as well as the Lott Award.

Notre Dame opens the 2007 season against ACC foe Georgia Tech on Sept. 1. Game time is scheduled 3:30 p.m. in Notre Dame Stadium.

 

[johnnd05]

'Sleeker' Zbikowski looking for return to 2005 form

August 19, 2007
BY MIKE HUTTON Post-Tribune staff writer

SOUTH BEND -- Tommy Zbikowski has rabbit ears.

He also has high expectations.

The hard-hitting safety for Notre Dame knows his play slipped last year after a breakout season in 2005.

And he knows people don't expect much from a team that lost 15 starters from last year, including first round draft pick Brady Quinn.

"I didn't have the season I wanted to have last year," he said. "Plus, a lot of people are saying that we are going to win one game out of the first eight. But that is old news."

That's why he's approaching this season with renewed zeal.

"Honestly, I want to go back and have fun," he said. "That's what it's all about. You know, it's a serious game. But you have to have fun. That's when I play my best. When I'm making plays and celebrating with my teammates."

Fun for Zbikowski is a good clean hit, a fumble recovery or a punt return.

Last year wasn't always fun for Zbikowski.

The season started heading the wrong direction when he reported to camp heavy after his foray into professional boxing. It went downhill even more when he was speared in the Purdue game and injured his shoulder.

Zbikowski still played in all 12 games.

But he wasn't the same Zbikowski who finished 2005 with five interceptions and two punt returns for touchdowns. The injury bothered him all year. Season-ending blowouts to USC and LSU didn't help his mood.

Charlie Weis said the biggest issue with Zbikowski last year was the injury.

"Sometimes you don't realize this kid is so tough, you don't realize a guy is playing with pain," he said

Said Zbikowski: "It was just so tough. You want to help your teammates out by making plays. But you're never going to be happy when you're not 100 percent."

Weis admitted Zbikowski was a "tad" overweight last year.

He reported to camp 10 pounds lighter this year -- at 203 pounds -- after an intense start to his summer workouts.

Zbikowski traveled to Elkhorn, Wis., to work out with John Alder, the Fitness Director for Four Lakes Athletic Club.

Alder, who started training Zbikowski at a Naperville gym when he was a freshman, calls Zbikowski an "incredibly conditioned" athlete who just needed some fine tuning.

"It was like sending Rocky to Siberia," Alder said.

Zbikowski spent part of May and most of June living with Alder and Chris Brown, a running back for the Titans. Their days were spent working on Zbikowski's explosive speed and strength, skills that help a safety make plays in quick bursts.

Alder kept Zbikowski on a 3,200 calorie diet.

"Tommy ate more grilled chicken than he has for a lifetime,"Alder said. "This (staying with Alder)keeps them away from McDonald's."

The year before, while training for his boxing debut, Zbikowski was on a 5,200-calorie a day diet. The high calorie count helped him combat three workouts a day he was doing to help in preparation for his fight at Madison Square Garden.

Zbikowski admitted he never made the transition back to a more normal diet after he stopped training.

"I kept eating the same way I did before," he said. "Now, it's a completely different diet."

Zbikowski already notices the difference in his weight.

The transition from the punt team to defense is "nothing to me now."

Weis said the new Zbikowski is "sleeker."

"That was his mainstay (his speed,)" Weis said.

Alder, who helped develop Zbikowski's boxing diet, said the football and boxing aren't necessarily complimentary training sports.

Boxing requires strength and endurance to deal with eight or nine rounds.

Defensive backs need short, quick bursts of speed.

Asked if being in good boxing shape didn't translate into being in good football shape for Zbikowski, Alder said: "We made some mistakes. We learned from it."

Weis said he has no regrets about letting Zbikowski box.

"The kid made $100,000 for 10 minutes. I wish that I did that myself," he said.

With boxing behind him, Zbikowski is now focused on getting drafted.

That goal has kept him motivated, according to Weis.

"I think that the reason why he made the decision to come back wasn't because he loved going to school," Weis said. "He already graduated. He's coming back here because he knows that his worth should be higher than where it ended up last year based on what ended up happening. The good thing about a guy like that is, now he does have a chip on his shoulder and his weight is down and he's ready to go. Obviously, the team greatly benefits by having a guy like that who's a good football player with something to prove."

Zbikowski doesn't dismiss the draft talk by Weis outright.

But he does have a different spin on why he's back.

"I want to come back and play the way I know how to play," he said. "The rest of that stuff will take care of itself."

Cornerback Terrail Lambert, who has played with Zbikowski for three years, said he is already on his way back to his 2005 form.

"He's moving more fluidly," he said. "It looks effortless."

 

[johnnd05]

August 23. 2007 6:59AM

Bruton becomes Big Daddy

ERIC HANSEN
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- The phone calls never eat up too many anytime minutes. Twenty-one-month-old Jaden's vocabulary doesn't allow for that.

"It's the greatest thing in the world, those phone calls," Notre Dame junior safety David Bruton said. "He doesn't say much beyond, 'Hey Daddy' and 'football' and 'Go Irish', but it's great. And the amazing thing is he's learned how to use speed-dial all by himself."

And David Bruton has learned balance.

Bruton's physical transformation from a spindly 180-pound understudy last season to a 6-foot-2, 210-pound force at free safety wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for an even more dramatic inner evolution.

A year ago, his speed made him a nice commodity on special teams, but mentally and emotionally his life was in overload. Fatherhood bled into football. Academic challenges blurred with growing pains. Bruton was backsliding on the depth chart at safety and 250 miles away from the person he was joined at the heart with, his son.

"It was time to grow up," the Miamisburg, Ohio, product said. "And I got a lot of help doing that. My family helped me. I have a couple of friends, who had kids at a young age, who helped me. And some of my teammates were real helpful.

"I learned how to separate things, so I wasn't dealing with everything at every moment. When it's football, it's football. When it's outside stuff, it's outside stuff. You need to learn to bring the best of yourself to the task at hand. Once I learned how to do that, life just kind of started to move in fast forward."

With the possible exception of defensive end Justin Brown, no Irish player has changed the trajectory of his career so sharply over the past year than Bruton.

"He looks like a man amongst boys out there," said ND head coach Charlie Weis, whose Irish open the season Sept. 1 against Georgia Tech. "It's nice to see that tall, rangy kid, who's now close to 210 and that can run like a deer, out there hitting people and covering ground. Even though everyone knows he's been penciled in as a starter the whole time, just the fact he's elevated his play to that kind of caliber, I wouldn't say it is a surprise, but it's what you were hoping for."

Still, there are mental hurdles -- like the memory of last year's rout by USC in which Bruton was repeatedly torched for long gains when he relieved injured starter Chinedum Ndukwe.

Nerves and timidity, not the lack of physical skills, did him in. And in the days that followed, it consumed him. Every day for three weeks, Bruton would watch the USC tape, beating himself up mentally each time, questioning his ability and his potential.

"Putting that behind me is part of the maturity thing," Bruton said. "Every defensive back gets beat. The great ones have the ability to move past that."

Bruton's physical makeover meant more time away from Jaden than usual. The safety went to first session of summer school, meaning he arrived back on campus weeks before most of the rest of his teammates did.

Jaden, meanwhile, lives back in the Dayton area with his mom, but did come up every other weekend during the spring and is expected to attend some of the Irish home games this fall -- until the weather turns ugly.

"If he sees a helmet, he tries to put it on," Bruton said. "He knows what's going on."

So touched by the love of his son is Bruton that when football ends, the sociology/political science double-major is contemplating going into social work and helping other young parents through the tough decisions that confront them.

But all of a sudden football doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon. The focus and the fire -- not to mention playing next to ultra-intense Tom Zbikowski -- have recast Bruton's future.

"I try not to make it too complicated," he said. "I just want to go out and make plays and have fun -- not be so tense. I have no real goals in terms of stats, just to be a little bit better than I was the day before. If I can do that, everything else will take care of itself."

 

[Sureal]

Good to see that he has a relationship with his son. A strong family unit is extremely important.

Keep up the good work Burton, I rootin' for you and Jaden...

 

[johnnd05]

And here's a little perspective on the coaches:

Lewis, Brown join forces in Irish secondary

By Tim Prister, IrishIllustrated.com Senior Editor – Rivals.com

Corwin Brown was born in the eighth year of Bill Lewis' coaching career.

Brown began playing for Michigan when Lewis was coaching at his eighth different college, including his second stint as a head coach.

Brown began his coaching career during Lewis 38th year as a coach.

The 37-year-old Brown and the 66-year-old Lewis are a couple of generations removed from one another. But they're on the same page when it comes to coaching the Irish secondary.

"We think an awful lot alike as far as secondary coverage concepts, and it's been a very smooth transition having him come in," said Lewis, now in his third year with the Irish.

"I welcome him because he is one heckuva coach and I feel like I can learn from Corwin. Together, we can be sound in our ideas and sound in our approach."

While the gap in age and experience within the game is extreme, both are best known for their work in NFL secondaries.

Lewis landed his job at Notre Dame due in great part to the way his Miami Dolphins' secondary (1996-2004) performed against the New England Patriots, whose offense was coordinated by none other than Charlie Weis.

Weis has commented on several occasions how his efforts to dissect the Dolphins' pass defense were made much more difficult by Lewis work with the Miami secondary. So Weis went out and hired him when he landed the Notre Dame job.

Brown began his coaching career with the Virginia Cavaliers as a special teams coach. But he made a real name for himself from 2004-06 as the New York Jets' secondary coach under head coaches Herman Edwards and Eric Mangini.

In 2005, Brown oversaw a Jets secondary that allowed an average of only 172.2 yards passing per game—second-best in the NFL.

Weis was aware of Brown from his playing days with the Patriots and Jets when Weis was a part of those staffs. Weis wanted to hire Brown when he first got the Notre Dame head coaching job. But Brown was just getting his feet wet as a defensive backs coach with the Jets.

A couple of years later, Weis opened up the defensive coordinator's job for Brown.

Brown welcomes the opportunity to coach with Lewis, whose work he appreciated from afar while playing for the Patriots, Jets and Detroit Lions.

"When (Lewis) was in Miami, there was a certain way his guys played," Brown said. "As a student, I always admired that and watched that.

"So to be able to work with him now is great. I rely on Bill a lot. Bill knows a lot of ball."

As defensive coordinator, Brown is responsible for the outside linebackers as well while Brian Polian is in charge of the inside linebackers. But Brown is the type to roam around the defense during the course of a practice, particularly in the secondary—his area of expertise.

"(Brown) did it in the spring and he'll do it in the fall," said Lewis of Brown's movement from position to position. "He's been a big help.

"He'll leave the whole linebacker crew to Brian in certain periods and come with me where we can split the secondary. One of us will take the safeties and the other will take the corners. One of us will take the strong side and the other will take the weak side. One will take the left side and the other will take the right side.

"I think the more you do that, the more you get individual technique work. When I've got the whole group, you've got to be able to mesh corner responsibility with safety responsibility, and you have to do a lot of combination drills. Corwin's approach has been a tremendous addition to (the secondary)."

The need for versatility isn't limited to the players.

"Players have to be flexible, so coaches have to be flexible," Brown said.

Brown downplays a relative youngster like himself directing a veteran like Lewis.

"At the end of the day, it's football," Brown said. "You've got to see what allows people to learn and to execute.

"There is some give and take. Sometimes the players have to give; sometimes (the coaches) have to give. Whatever it is, you've got to get it done, just as long as it's within your beliefs."

• Fun 'n games—As evidenced by his tremendous impact on Notre Dame's recruiting campaign, Corwin Brown enjoys every aspect of coaching.

"When I wake up in the morning, everything that pertains to my job, I'm having fun," Brown said. "This is not work because I'm getting a chance to develop young guys.

"We want people to feel a certain way about Notre Dame. We've got a lot of pride here and we play a certain way. We're here to have fun."

Updated on Thursday, Aug 9, 2007 2:31 pm, EDT