Notre Dame’s defense was already sturdy against the run last season, but the Irish believe there’s a next layer to unlock - and it starts with how the linebackers handle movement in front of them.
Senior middle linebacker Drayk Bowen has been at the center of that conversation. A two-time co-captain and Notre Dame’s leading tackler a year ago with 67 total tackles, Bowen still sees the biggest growth area in the run game, especially now that coordinator Chris Ash is asking the defense to do more shifting up front than it did under Al Golden.
“For me last year playing off movement was something that we didn’t do necessarily with (Al) Golden, so that was a learning adjustment,” Bowen said this week ahead of Thursday’s fall camp opener. “That’s going to be one area where I’m going to hopefully excel is playing off movement, shooting gaps when I see it open and playing really downhill.”
Bowen’s spring was limited to mental reps while he recovered from hip surgery, but that time away still gave him a useful look at the scheme.
“Seeing it in the spring, being out, being able to just watch and see how the D-line moves, see how linebackers can fit, see what running backs are doing, I think that really helped me,” said Bowen, the 2022 Indiana Mr. Football who starred at Andrean High School in Merrillville.
The numbers show why the adjustment matters. Notre Dame finished eighth nationally in rushing defense last season, according to Pro Football Focus, but the Irish were only 17 th in tackling efficiency.
Bowen’s own tackling profile also changed from one season to the next. In Notre Dame’s 2024 run to the College Football Playoff final, he was charged with five missed tackles and a 5.7% missed tackle rate across 16 games. Last season, while playing 25% fewer games, he finished with 12 missed tackles - one per game - and a missed tackle rate that nearly tripled to 16.4%.
Ash said the key for the linebackers is understanding how the front’s movement changes the picture behind it.
“For a linebacker, when the front is aligned, there’s open gaps,” Ash said Thursday, Aug. 6.
“And most of the time they have a primary to a secondary gap. We’ll make some calls where those D-linemen are going to move.
They’re going to change gaps, whether it’s one gap or two gaps.”
That means the linebackers have to process the movement fast and fit the right space.
“They have to know what the movement is up front and what that’s going to do to their gap responsibility,” Ash said. “More so it’s what it’s going to do to the ball.
The ball is the issue. We’re aware of where open space may be, but we have to be able to fit off movement and know where it’s going to send the ball and make sure we have linebackers in those spots.”
Notre Dame missed 40 tackles against the run last season. Backup linebackers Jaiden Ausberry and Madden Faraimo were responsible for eight of them combined, with Ausberry missing five and Faraimo three. Bowen led the team with six missed tackles in that category, while Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa went through 10-plus games without a missed tackle against the run.
Ash said the approach changes the math for everyone in the front seven.
“If you’re not a big movement team in the run game, then it is a different deal,” Ash said. “If you want to try to move and get an opportunity for (tackles for loss) and things like that, then they have to learn how to fit off the ball.”
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