By John Brice
Special Contributor
The text messages are sent at all hours of the day, and, yes, sometimes that means one of the recipients might be in class.
Still, augmenting the constant time they spend around one another with additional digital dissections, Notre Dame’s linebackers are in their own collective right a proven commodity on a team featuring staunch offensive and defensive lines.
After all, Bo Bauer, JD Bertrand, Jack Kiser and Marist Liufau possess 120 games’ experience and more than 300 career tackles among the quartet.
Communication is the bedrock.
“These are great guys, we work together. It’s like, ‘All right, hey, if we don’t understand this, we should get together,’” says Bauer, the long-haired, free-spirited middle linebacker with a panache for special teams. “We can text because people are separated or doing class, but I have a question and people can get back to you in the group chat.
“It’s just this constant flow of communication to set that. And it’s spending time outside. With these guys, I’ve been with them so long, it’s some of my best friends. It’s like a connection you can’t really replicate in any other way.”
No player focuses solely on his singular studies, nor does he focus simply on a lone spot on the field.
As defensive coordinator Al Golden brings with him the knowledge of a pair of head-coaching stints at both Temple and Miami (Fla.), as well as lengthy NFL service, the Irish are training in all directions.
Literally.
Golden’s charge, at the behest of head coach Marcus Freeman, is to deploy Notre Dame’s linebackers with an eye for versatility – be that running east to west or up and down the depth chart.
“That’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” says Golden, a cornerstone hire on Freeman’s inaugural staff. “We talk about not just vertical depth, but horizontal depth. Guys being able to play different positions horizontally but also vertically; having a 3 go with the 2s. Having a 2 challenge with the 1s one day, taking a 1 and putting him with the 2s so that they’re communicating with other groups or combinations, if you will. That’s going to make us stronger.
“That’s Coach Freeman’s baby; he has us challenging those guys by different periods. And they just don’t know when it’s going to be their turn. You could be a 3, but you know what, you’re going with the 2s today. And here we go, that’s your shot.”
Irish players are embracing that challenge both on and off the field in preseason camp. Golden intends Monday night’s work to feature more rolls of the depth-chart dice.
“It’s great for morale,” Golden says. “It breeds energy and excitement to the practice and obviously everybody’s got to be on call.
“That’s the design. We’ll be back here (Monday night) for our walk-through, and we’ll mix up the groups. A 2 D-end might be a 1 D-end, the 1s might be with the 2s, there might be a 3 D-tackle that’s with the 2s. Whatever the case may be, try to build our depth and really grow this team.”
It helps that the group not only is anchored by those four veterans but also is being infused with considerable young talent as well, from rising sophomore Prince Kollie to heralded 2022 signees Jaylen Sneed and Junior Tuihalamaka.
“I think it’s very unique,” says Liufau, returning from a season-ending broken leg suffered last August, of the linebacker corps’ diverse skill-sets. “I think it adds a lot of value to our defense, for sure.
“It adds a lot of value to the guys, I mean just being able to do more things is so valuable nowadays as linebackers, especially. I think that’s great for the room.”
It’s an element that likewise marries with the camp’s other top-down theme: urgency. The Irish are just 26 days from their season-opening tilt at Ohio State.
“Coach Freeman talked about urgency; we just don’t have a lot of time,” says Golden. “I said to the staff (Monday) morning on defense, I’m so excited about the way they’re executing the installations because we can’t afford to have a bad installation day.
“Because that’s it, once we’re done with these installations, we’re moving on.”
East, west, north, south. The Irish are covering all directions.