If you've been following Notre Dame's secondary the last five years, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Mike Mickens has another talent group of guys to work with. Sophomore Leonard Moore is the best cover corner in the country, junior Christian Gray has had some ups and downs this season but still flashes, safety Adon Shuler is now a captain and redshirt freshman Tae Johnson has had an impressive start to the season now that he's in the starting lineup.
Despite their talent, this unit has a ways to go before they have the production that last season's secondary did. We might have taken for granted the job that Jordan Clark did last season at the nickel corner spot, but that's not the only issue. The Notre Dame pass defense currently ranks No. 119 in yards allowed per game (257.1), No. 74 in yards per attempt (7.2) but rank No. 16 in completion percentage allowed (56.6%). Over the last month, Mickens has seemingly played a bigger role in the design and implementation of the passing defense which has resulted in this unit playing closer to what we saw last season.
In the last three games, Notre Dame's defense has totaled 10 turnovers with nine of them being interceptions. They recorded four interceptions against Maddux Madsen at Boise State, three interceptions against NC State's quarterback CJ Bailey and two interceptions against USC's quarterback Jayden Maiava. This unit will have significantly more opportunities to run that number through the roof in their final five regular season games. The last few games have been promising, but they still have areas that need improvement.
As a defense, they've still allowed too many explosive plays. In the last three games, the Irish have allowed 18 explosive plays with 11 of them coming in the pass game (6 of the 11 explosive pass plays came against USC). This unit has also struggled with tackling. As a team, Notre Dame has missed 62 tackles this season through seven games; 29 of the 62 misses tackles have come from players in the secondary. Improved tackling will also help limit the explosive plays in the passing game, something I expect to see improve against Boston College, Navy, Pitt, Syracuse and Stanford.
This unit has come a long way from the start of the season, but still has a ways to go before they're a championship caliber, or even playoff caliber, unit. Moore and Johnson need to continue playing the way the have the last month. Nickel corner Dallas Golden needs to continue developing, but he's done some good things so far this season. Gray needs to find some level on consistency with his play and Shuler has to work on his missed tackles number. This group isn't far from becoming an elite unit, but these next five games will be extremely telling.
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