Football: Mining for gold
Brown experiments with Irish defense, hopes to hit "jackpot"
Chris Hine
Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: Sports
Notre Dame is halfway through spring practice. So how did defensive coordinator Corwin Brown say his defense is doing so far? Not that bad.
"From a schematic standpoint, I think the guys are picking what we're asking them to do," Brown said after practice Monday. "We're adding a lot of things to what we did last year and we're getting a lot of looks. They're getting comfortable … We're starting to find out who does what fairly well."
Brown has been comfortable enough with the defense to move several players around and try some new looks. Rising sophomore linebacker Brian Smith has seen time on the inside of Notre Dame's 3-4 defensive scheme this spring and rising sophomore safety Harrison Smith, who's listed at 6-foot-2, 206-pounds, has taken snaps as a part of the linebacking corps. These moves, Brown said, represent an attempt to create depth on defense.
"We're trying to juggle some things around, put together some different combinations and see if we can get the same play from different spots but also create some depth just in case of injury or maybe a young guy that you plan on doesn't pan out as well or just trying to get different looks … " Brown said. "You do that with a number of different combinations and hopefully you strike gold, you hit the jackpot and then you got something special."
Brown also said he wanted to move Harrison Smith around because he has the ability to make big plays no matter where he is on the field. But Brown jokingly cautioned against giving him such glowing praise.
"If you see certain guys making plays, you kind of want to see how far you can take that, so you try to put them in different positions because you know what you have here … " Brown said. "He's a hard-working [player], he's smart, he's tough. I don't want to say too many good things about him, though, because he'll probably poop in my lunch bucket."
As for Notre Dame's secondary, Brown's specialty, David Bruton has filled some of the leadership void left by the departure of Tom Zbikowski.
"From a schematic standpoint, I think the guys are picking what we're asking them to do," Brown said after practice Monday. "We're adding a lot of things to what we did last year and we're getting a lot of looks. They're getting comfortable … We're starting to find out who does what fairly well."
Brown has been comfortable enough with the defense to move several players around and try some new looks. Rising sophomore linebacker Brian Smith has seen time on the inside of Notre Dame's 3-4 defensive scheme this spring and rising sophomore safety Harrison Smith, who's listed at 6-foot-2, 206-pounds, has taken snaps as a part of the linebacking corps. These moves, Brown said, represent an attempt to create depth on defense.
"We're trying to juggle some things around, put together some different combinations and see if we can get the same play from different spots but also create some depth just in case of injury or maybe a young guy that you plan on doesn't pan out as well or just trying to get different looks … " Brown said. "You do that with a number of different combinations and hopefully you strike gold, you hit the jackpot and then you got something special."
Brown also said he wanted to move Harrison Smith around because he has the ability to make big plays no matter where he is on the field. But Brown jokingly cautioned against giving him such glowing praise.
"If you see certain guys making plays, you kind of want to see how far you can take that, so you try to put them in different positions because you know what you have here … " Brown said. "He's a hard-working [player], he's smart, he's tough. I don't want to say too many good things about him, though, because he'll probably poop in my lunch bucket."
As for Notre Dame's secondary, Brown's specialty, David Bruton has filled some of the leadership void left by the departure of Tom Zbikowski.