Notre Dame Football: Te’Von Coney is 2017 defensive MVP for Irish

The most valuable player all season on the Notre Dame football defense was somewhat surprising in junior linebacker Te’Von Coney.

Notre Dame football will take part in one of the most exciting bowl games of the postseason in college football this year. The Fighting Irish battle the No. 17 ranked LSU Tigers in the Citrus Bowl. Head coach Brian Kelly will be looking for answers from his defense after Notre Dame lost two of the final three games in the regular season.

Part of the solution for the Irish on defense can start with junior linebacker Te’Von Coney. He helped steady a Notre Dame defense that was as up and down as any in the nation in 2017. The Irish gave up 41 points in a loss to the Miami Hurricanes and 38 to the Stanford Cardinal in two of the final three games.

Yet, the Irish showed some resilience in a surprisingly good season in 2017, after winning just four games the season before. Coney’s team leading 99 total tackles and 11.5 tackles for loss helped Notre Dame respond in such a big way.

He also finished the regular season second on the team in sacks, only behind defensive tackle Jerry Tillery, with three. Moreover, Coney’s two best performances of the year came in huge wins over the USC Trojans and Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Against USC, Coney posted 11 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. He had another quality outing against Wake Forest, with 12 total tackles, three tackles for loss, and one sack. Coney was the anchor that the Notre Dame defense was looking for in 2017.

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He’ll have another tall task in front of him in stopping LSU’s superstar junior running back Derrius Guice. LSU’s backup running back, Darrel Williams, is also very talented. It will be Coney’s job to spearhead a solid effort from the Irish run defense in the Citrus Bowl.