A crash course in Al Golden's system at Notre Dame

During a Notre Dame staff meeting last year, Al Golden stopped the film to make a point.

He recognized that there were five freshmen who were around the ball. These were guys who had barely been on campus, were still learning the scheme and the expectations in Golden’s defense.

And they were all ready to make a play for one of the best defenses in college football.

Golden’s Notre Dame defense was known for a few things: Playing a lot of man defense, communicating well, being well-coached and having a purposeful mix of young and old players.

This past season, Notre Dame was really young at edge rusher, cornerback, outside linebacker and strong safety. But they were more experienced than any team in the country at middle linebacker, nickel corner and free safety.

The mix of young and old was by design.

The foundation of the defense is the experienced players up the spine, making checks and executing a pro-style defense.

“We do a great job communicating on the grass, which is really important,” Golden told reporters. “I can’t make the perfect call from the sideline. We have enough leadership (at Notre Dame) at linebacker and safety so that if we have to make adjustments, they will, and they have the authority to do that.”

At middle linebacker and free safety, Golden had graduate students who had spent their entire careers at Notre Dame. At corner and edge rusher, he had very explosive athletes who played sound football.

The Fighting Irish used a lot of NFL concepts. Their communication at the line of scrimmage was pro-like. They mixed up personnel on third downs. Golden took advantage of the versatility on the roster, moving players from defensive end to outside linebacker or from nickel corner to safety.

“I think how well-coordinated they are,” Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly told SI. “You’ve just got to be impressed. As a football guy, you’ve got to sit back and say, wow, that’s pretty good.”

Golden, the favorite to be the Bengals’ next defensive coordinator, isn’t expected to plop down a specific scheme and force the entire defense to adjust to “his way.” Golden is the type of coach who adjusts to the players that he has, and he’s fluent in a lot of different styles of defense.

He won’t be bringing the Notre Dame playbook to Cincinnati, but Golden’s approach with the Fighting Irish provides some clues into his overall priorities at each level of the defense.

Defensive line

The “viper” position is most closely connected to former Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown, who deployed linebacker/nickel/safety types in Jabrill Peppers and Josh Metellus at this hybrid position.

Golden borrowed from that at Notre Dame but put his own spin on it.

Similar to Michigan’s viper position, Golden’s viper was a do-it-all chess piece. He rushed the passer around the edge, dropped back in coverage and lined up in a lot of different players. But while Brown’s vipers were closer to defensive backs, Golden’s vipers were closer to defensive ends. They typically were about 6-foot-4 and around 250 pounds, and they were typically Golden’s most productive sack guys.

The viper was a part of Golden’s base defense, and the role highlighted the best athlete at the line of scrimmage.

“How dynamic would that be if we had that guy in our defense that can rush the passer on the first third down but on the next third down we’re in a different look and he’s moving around and we can blitz?” Golden said.

That was the idea.

The viper still did a fair share of dropping back in coverage, and viper Boubacar Traore had a pick six last season on a play where he simulated a pressure, dropped back and kept his eyes on the quarterback.

The size and speed of Golden’s vipers, “rovers” (another speciality position) and all of his defensive end/outside linebackers pops off the tape. In position battles, he seemed to prioritize those traits over experience.

Traore was Notre Dame’s best pass rusher before he got hurt, and he was a freshman. Bryce Young, who’s 6-foot-7, burst onto the scene during the second half of the season. Sophomore Jaylen Sneed also brought some impressive athleticism to the line of scrimmage.

At defensive tackle, Golden played a three-tech and a true nose tackle. The defensive tackles were more pass rush types, and they got a lot of production in the backfield.

Linebacker

Golden, the former Bengals’ linebackers coach, maximized what he got from his linebackers at Notre Dame. Marist Liufau and JD Bertrand grew in the system over five years (predating Golden) and became NFL Draft picks in 2024. This season, senior Jack Kiser stepped into that role as the general of the defense.

"(Kiser) is a problem solver, and I could tell him certain things and then when I get cut off he can operate it based on what he sees," Golden said.

There’s a lot of trust between Golden and his linebackers. From a traits standpoint, he values players who are versatile, can line up on and off the ball, cover and consistently tackle. But dating back to his tenure in Cincinnati, Golden has prioritized football IQ at linebacker over everything else.

In the 2020 pre-draft process, he gave all of the linebackers at the Senior Bowl a test. Akeem Davis-Gaither did so well that Golden kept his test. Logan Wilson left a similar impression.

Wilson would be at the center of Golden’s defense in Cincinnati.

Cornerback

The game-within-the-game in the national title game against Ohio State was between Notre Dame’s corners and Ohio State’s receivers. Notre Dame played more man than any defense all season, and they didn’t change who they were when they faced the best receiving core in the country.

Ohio State’s talent at receiver won the day, and Jeremiah Smith’s deep catch at the end clinched the win.

(Tangent: In Zac Taylor’s last game with the Rams, Jared Goff played so poorly in the Rams’ 13-3 loss to the Patriots in the Super Bowl that it eventually led to Goff getting run out of town in LA. I’ve never heard anyone discuss that game in a conversation about Taylor. Final games at previous stops aren’t relevant, and Notre Dame’s struggles against a more talented Ohio State team doesn’t really reveal anything about Golden).

This season, Golden’s star outside cornerback suffered a season-ending injury in October. The Fighting Irish leaned on two underclassmen the rest of the way, and Notre Dame’s defense had plenty of great moments down the stretch.

Freshman corner Leonard Moore should be a Bengal in a few years. He has the combination of size, athleticism, length and power that every team is looking for. Sophomore Christian Gray has a lot of those traits.

Golden played so much man defense because he had the athletic, playmaking and physical corners who could handle it.

The big question going forward is Golden’s confidence in Cam Taylor-Britt, DJ Turner and Dax Hill to play that style of aggressive coverage on the outside.

The most interesting move that Notre Dame made in the transfer portal entering 2024 was at nickel corner. The one starter that they added was nickel Jordan Clark.

Here’s how Golden described Clark.

"Obviously a football kid. Instinctive. However you want to phrase it: savvy, moxie. Just a guy that can figure it out. "

“When you put everything together, you have a heck of a football player. You have football IQ, you have moxie, you have resolve, problem-solving, lateral quickness. He's just one of those kids that he finds a way.”

That sounds a lot like the intangible traits that have been used to describe a young Mike Hilton. In August, Clark specifically mentioned Hilton as one of the players he studies on film, in addition to Tyrann Mathieu and Kenny Moore.

Notre Dame’s activity to add Clark in the transfer portal shows how much the slot corner position matters in Golden’s defense.

Safety

“I like watching Jessie Bates,” Notre Dame star free safety Jordan Watts said. “I feel like I'm a similar player to him.”

Watts is a projected second-round pick and was all over the field all season. Golden’s Cover-1 man defense at Notre Dame was dependent on a free safety who could swoop in, make plays and also support the young corners around him. Watts excelled in his role.

Golden said that Watts improved in three specific areas in 2024.

The most important one was his communication and his ability to fix calls with pre-snap adjustments. Golden said that there were dozens of plays on tape this season where Watts was

“physically, demonstrably and audibly changing something on our defense.”

“That’s command,” Golden said. “If you run (the defense), then 11 guys will be playing the same thing. If you don’t run it, we won’t have guys playing on the same page.”

Second, Golden praised Watts for his improvements as a tackler. Some of the most fun plays of the year for Notre Dame featured Watts screaming across the field and finishing a play with a big hit.

“Sometimes the window to your soul on defense is how well your defensive backs tackle,” Golden said.

Third, Golden said that Watts improved in man coverage when he matched up against slot corners or tight ends. The Bengals have historically avoided using their free safeties in that way, but Golden used Watts’ ability to cover as a changeup that kept the defense more versatile.

Over at strong safety, something very interesting happened in 2024.

Notre Dame brought in grad transfer safety Rod Heard in from Northwestern. Heard ended up losing a training camp position battle to redshirt freshman Adon Shuler. That set of events feels very similar to the Bengals bringing in Vonn Bell but then replacing him with Jordan Battle.

“(Shuler) is instinctive and he’s physical,” Golden said. “He’s still learning. He’s still growing. But he’s always around the office, always studying film, always asking questions.”

While Shuler won the position battle, Heard became Golden’s chess piece for third down packages. Heard lined up at nickel, at safety and did a little bit of everything, allowing Golden to get more creative with his third down game plans. Golden builds those game plans around his personnel, and Heard’s versatility off of the bench allowed him to run some more pro-style concepts in true passing situations.