Notre Dame’s defensive coaches started the season with a good idea of what they wanted to do. Now, five games into the season, they are better able to tailor their plans to the strengths of their players.
“You start to understand what your guys can do and can do well,” Irish coach Charlie Weis said. “Now our coaching staff and our players are getting to know each other better more and more every week and getting on the same page where now you can narrow it down to `Here’s what we do well,’ and just do that.
“Schematically things are starting to fall into place where we’re expecting to see progress each week. This is no longer an evolving defense.”
The key, Weis said, has been that the players are finally comfortable enough in coordinator Rick Minter’s defense that they can simply react on the field instead of overthinking a situation while they are in the middle of it.
“Sometimes when you can’t just go out there and play because you are spending too much time thinking, it inhibits you some,” Weis said. “We’re finally starting to turn that corner and I am hoping that leads to continued improvement.”
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Next: Oct. 15 vs. Southern California, 2:30 p.m., WMAQ-Ch. 5
