Notre Dame Football: 3 takeaways from win over Ball State

1. Safety is no longer a position of weakness for the Irish

After a year of irrelevance from Jalen Elliott and Nick Coleman in the back end of the Irish secondary, defensive coordinator Clark Lea has found a way to get the most out of his safeties. Elliott and Coleman combined for zero interceptions and only one tackle for loss in 2017, but the combination of Elliott and Alohi Gilman has already resulted in two interceptions.

Gilman, a former Navy transfer, joined the Irish after sitting out the entire 2017 season due to NCAA transfer regulations. Gilman was a loud presence on the Notre Dame scout team last season, sometimes getting kicked out in light of his aggressive playing style. Irish fans have already seen this playing style in action, a nice change of pace from last season.

Despite starting for the Irish throughout the 2017 season, Elliott wasn’t a lock for the starting role this year. The addition of Gilman eventually slated Coleman over to starting safety, but the injury to nickelback Shaun Crawford gave the Notre Dame coaching staff reason to shift Coleman into that role while keeping Elliott in as a starter.

It’s not exactly clear which switch was flipped here, but it is clear that the safety position has seen a resurgence, at least for now. Perhaps it’s a newfound confidence in a strong supporting cast, but there’s also the possibility that Elliott and Gilman simply play exceptionally well off of one another. Regardless, Notre Dame fans could get used to watching more of this for Saturdays to come.