Can the Irish defense afford putting a spy on Williams?
“There’s a different feeling about this one and I can feel it amongst our program and our players,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “I knew it last year but this year being at the end of the year at USC, you can really feel it.”
Freeman also talked about the elusive nature of Caleb Williams.
“Guys have their hands on him and he continues to stay up and that can be devastating to a defense,” Freeman said. “That can make you try to do something outside of what your responsibility is on defense. I want to make a play, I’m going to try to rush around this guy, instead of staying in my lane.
“You have to stay in your rush lanes, but you can’t play cautious. That’s always the challenge. I remember having a conversation with our D-Line and coach Washington early in the North Carolina game after that first series when Drake Maye was just kind of scrambling around.
I said, we’re not playing spy, I don’t want to just play patty cake and spy the guy. I want to rush but we have to be in our lanes. That will be the challenge with Caleb Williams. One is the coverage. We got to cover those wide outs and continue to mix up the coverage we play against him. Two is to continue to do your job. Stay in your rush lanes. If you have an opportunity to bring him down, bring him down and bring your feet and don’t dive. Don’t play spy. I like to use the term controlled aggression. We have to be aggressive, but it has to be under control.”
Source:
USC Notes: It’s Time To Worry About Notre Dame
