Notre Dame Football: 3 position battles to watch for 2020

2. Buck Linebacker

Dating back to the losses of Te’von Coney and Drue Tranquill prior to the 2019 season, the linebacker position was expected to be a position of weakness for an Irish team tasked with filling holes across the defensive front. Juniors Drew White and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah would quickly quell the majority of those fears, much thanks to the guidance of defensive coordinator Clark Lea.

Irish fans will again be looking for Lea to work some magic after the departure of Asmar Bilal, an experienced senior who had been with the team since 2015. With White and Owusu-Koramoah holding down middle linebacker and rover, respectively, Lea will have senior Jordan Genmark Heath and junior Jack Lamb at his disposal to replace Bilal at weakside linebacker.

Neither Genmark Heath nor Lamb were particularly active outside of special teams in 2019, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be serviceable options at the position in 2020. While Genmark Heath saw action in every game last season, it was Lamb who made more noise on the scoresheet, logging two tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.

For better or worse, neither of these players have been able to distance themselves from one another up to this point in time, so it’s possible that a one-two punch emerges when all is said and done. While timeshares at the linebacker position are somewhat rare, Lea has earned the right to throw whatever combination he wants on the field given his unit’s production over the past few years.