January 20, 2025 • 13 mins
Ryan Roberts previews the National Championship Game from a Notre Dame perspective
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It is twenty one minutes after three o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty on Oeggar thrilled that you are with
us today. Our buddy Ryan Roberts from A to Z
Sports is with us this. Ryan's one of these guys.
Tremendous draft evaluator joins us every year in the run
up to the draft to talk about Bengals draft possibilities.
(00:21):
He also covers Notre Dame football for A to is
the sports follow him on x at rise and draft
ends with an N Rise and Draft. There's a lot
of one to get to. Let's start with this. There
is a talent gap. I don't even think it's perceived.
I think most of us would agree there's a talent
gap between Ohio State and Notre Dame. You're a player
(00:42):
evaluator guy, how wide is the gap?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I mean it's pretty wide when you especially think about
just kind of the impact of the injuries have pat
on Notre Dame. I mean they are down multiple offensive
line at this point, They've lost a couple of really
talented defensive ends. Obviously, Rodney Mills has been out to
the playoffs and defensive tackle management Morrison only playing in
like six football games before having his season ending hip
injury as well. So I think the talent gap is there.
(01:08):
I would say though, that the thing that has been
kind of the saving grace for Notre Dame though, is
and this has been the biggest plus transition from Brian
Kelly to Marcus Freeman is Marcus Freeman in his recruiting prowess,
he has done such a tremendous job of putting together
complete classes, right Like Brian Kelly would have some recruiting
classes where the top was really strong, but then you
(01:29):
would only sign one wide receiver in a class, or
you wouldn't sign any defensive tackles in a class, and
there were just too many holes. There were too many
gaps and you would just miss on certain positions. So
I think the saving grace so right now to why
Notre Dame is fourteen to one, I think can have
a competitive football game and perhaps even winning aast Ohio
State is that the depth that coach Freeman in this
staff for Notre Dame has created has been able to
(01:50):
kind of, you know, just kind of soften those blows.
So I think the top end talent Ohio State has
the advantage. But I do think the depth for Notre
Dame is something that is keeping them in this football
game and will get a competitive game in my opinion, And.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
A lot of people would also say they've got to
control the clock, which makes a lot of sense to me.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
How do the fighting Irish do that?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, I think I think it comes down to one
your offensive line. You've had a little bit of maneuvering
with the injured Anthony Knaplast last game, but I think
that one again, the saving grace, kind of going back
to that cliche, is Charles Jagosaw coming back from injury,
wh was supposed to be your starting left tackle before
the year. You got him back. Penn States played a
lot of the game at right guard, specifically in the
(02:29):
second half, and he little dominant. Now they're moving him
over to left tackle. Rock with Spindlers good to go.
So I think your offensive line is as big as
it's been all seasons, like the pure mass, plus I
think it's as talent that it's been all season now.
Charles Jackson hasn't played a snap that left tackle this
year because of the preseason injury that he was supposed
to play a left tackle. But I do think you
have the talent up front to compete with Ohio State.
(02:50):
Jeremiah Love getting ten days off now at running back,
I think it's gonna be big for him, just kind
of being as fresh as he's been probably in a
couple of weeks. So I think him and then the
other big thing I think is Riley Leonard, you know,
just having the ability to he as I expect this
to be a game where we've seen his quarterback design
runs kick up the last couple of weeks. Now they're
in the playoffs, I wouldn't be surprised if they kind
(03:11):
of throw the whole kitchen sink at Ohio State and
they really run the football well tonight, and I think
it's going to be a huge decider if they're able
to win the football game or not. But I think
that's kind of how you move the chains, kind of
lessen the football game. And I think that you need
to probably steal a possession here and there, like whether
that is a turnover or a quick swing like whatever
it is. Maybe you fake punts like I don't know
(03:34):
what it is, but I do think you need to
try to steal possession against Ohio State. You need to
you need to force a couple turnovers I think in
this game to truly have a chance to win, and
if you do, I think it's gonna be about if
you can control the line of scrims on the offense
side of the ball.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
A lot of folks here in Cincinnati are going to
be watching this game closely through the lens of the
Bengals might hire Al Golden, and I want to ask
you a question about him specifically here in a second,
but tonight, what is the fighting Irish plan defensively against
Ohio State.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I think you have to mix the match coverages. I
know there's been a lot of talk about Notre Dame
being an almost exclusive man system on the back end.
You know they want to mix the match zone and
I think they will. I don't think there's gonna be
a game where Notre Dame is super stubborn and they
just refuse to play zone coverage. They We've seen it
against a lot of say I mean, obviously Notre Dame.
I think they play this year, but they played the
two previous years and Notre Dame had great game plans.
(04:23):
He's gonna state the previous two years one, including against CJ. Stroud. Obviously,
in those boys Marvin Harrison. So I think that it's
a mix and match coverages. You need to try to
confuse Will Howard a little bit defensively. So I expect
man zone kind of mixed in a little bit. And
Notre Dame has been really good this year with mixing
a lot of second level pressure. So I think you're
going to see some man. But I think when you
(04:44):
see man, I expect the free blitzer to come. I
expect a linebacker to come. I expect maybe a blitz
off the slot. Like. You need to be able to
create pressure and confuse Will Howard. If you can, I
think you can keep this game again. You want to
make this game ugly if you're Notre Dame like you do.
You want to see a little bit more scoring then
what Ohio State wanted to be, even though they just
had a low scoring war with the Texas. But if
(05:04):
Notre Dame has a chance to win the game, I
think you want to make this one a little bit ugly.
And make it ugly means turnovers, second level pressures, confused
Will Howard, I think is the key to trying to
win this game.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Was there a blueprint offered by Texas especially with Jeremiah
Smith who had one catch in that game. Were there
parts of that blueprint that the Fighting Iris could use themselves.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I think so in the sense that they ran a
lot of zone in that game, and it was a
lot of not just showing what you're doing pre snap,
there was a lot of post snap, you know, just
kind of rolling to different coverages. I think Norready needs
to use some of that. Again, they are a very
talented team on the secondary, even without Morrison. They have
Christian Gray, they have Leonard Moore, they have Xavier Watts,
Don Schure, they have a lot of really good defensive backs.
(05:48):
But you would be just idiotic if you just went,
I'm playing man coverage ninety nine percent of the time
against Jeremiah Smith, they make a buka like that just
would not be Why so, I think the thing that
you take from Texas is that you saw what what
posts snap movement maybe got Will Howard into a little
bit of trouble, right like, what did he see that
(06:09):
made him a little bit of confused, a little cause
a little bit of confusion. You're not going to use
it a lot because he had seen it at this point.
But if there's a big moment in the football game
where you know, whether it's you know, rolling from too
high and seeing guy down into robber coverage or whatever,
you need to pick and choose your spots and try
to find a area that I think, well, Howard is
going to get confused by.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
You mentioned Marcus Freeman, and you know, he's obviously someone
that in this part of the country we are very
familiar with. And one of the storylines tonight is he's
coaching against his alma mater. He was a defensive coordinator
at the University of Cincinnati, and I remember my role
doing the pre and post game show one of the
first times I talked to Marcus, thinking to myself like, Okay,
this guy's not going to be here for long like this,
(06:51):
this dude's going to be a head coach.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
He's just he's an impressive guy.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And I think that comes across when you watch him
talk in public settings. It comes across when you get
a chance to talk with him one on one. Talked
about what he has done from a recruiting standpoint, and
there's a lot of you see guys on that staff
as well. Gino Goaduli, Mike Denbrock was here as well,
but just give me some impressions three years into this
watching what Marcus has done to the program, even above
and beyond the recruiting that you talked about.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Why I think the big thing for him is that,
like he's very self aware of himself, which is like
a huge thing because in this in this profession, like
you need to have a lot of understanding of where
you're strong and where you're weak, and in order to
have that self growth, like I think you need to
be aware of where your gaps are, right And I
don't think we gave enough. I don't I don't think
we gave him enough credits early on and a little
(07:38):
and not enough understanding of you are never he was
never a head coach before, like his literally his first
head coaching job was in his mid thirties at the
University of Notre Dame. Like that is a daunting thing
for the other coach. Man, it is not easy, right,
And he had a couple of struggles this first year,
right like you saw it, you know, losing to Marshall,
losing to Stanford. It was just like, man, like this
(08:00):
is is this it? But then now a couple of
years down the line, you're like Okay, maybe he needed that,
right because he used that to be able to understand,
this is what we can do, this is what we
can't do, and any given Saturday we can lose. Obviously
we've proven that. But if we do those things the
right way, we're gonna lose, we're gonna win more often
than notts. Right, So he's shown a lot of self growth.
But I think just from him from a personal level,
(08:21):
he's a perfect mixture. To me, because you mentioned it,
like in interviews, he's great. He's got kind of this
like stoic energy to him right where he just kind
of seems like he's always cool, calm and collective, but
when the players talk about him, like he has a
really good balance of being the being the guy that
needs to be a little bit of a dictator at times,
(08:42):
but also like I'm approachable, like come talk to me,
we can figure this out. So I think it's the
balance that he has from energy, from being stoic, from
being just a good person overall. So I think he's
a great leader, and I think that balance is something
that really stands out about him all the time.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Ryan Roberts with us A to C Sports covering Notre
Bame college football the NFL Draft on x at rise
in Draft. Let me go back to Al Golden here
because he's the favorite I think to be the new
defensive coordinator for the Bengals and the obviously coach linebackers
here before he went to Notre Dame.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Do I want him to be the DC of the Bengals.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I think so. Man. I've been so impressed with coach Golden,
especially last few years, because he was another guy. In
the twenty twenty two season when it was his first
year at Notre Dame, a lot of Notre Dame fans
were not sold on him at all because I think
they have went up like twenty one points per game
his first year. But again, he had not called a
defense since like two thousand and five when he was
at the University of Virginia. Like he had not called
a defense in a long long time. But there's a
(09:40):
reason he was a head coaching commodity on the college level.
There's a reason that the Cincinnai Bengals wanted him as
a linebacker coach in general, and why so many NFL
people have such a high opinion of him. And he's
really smart, Like he's just such a he's got kind
of it's funny, it's a different energy, but like he
also comes off stoic, similar to Coach Free, and like
he just he has the answers, it seems, and he
(10:02):
doesn't ever seem like he's frazzled, like he just like
he doesn't have it, Like he doesn't have an answer.
Even if he doesn't have it, he doesn't show it,
which I think is a big thing for a coordinator,
especially the growth that we've seen from year one to
year two, last season with Coach Golden, and the year
two to year three. I mean, he has built a
team that when he first got there, they could not
(10:22):
force turnovers. Like they just couldn't well for whatever reason,
they just were not a team that could take the
ball away. Well, they had like thirty two forced turnovers
this year. Defensively, they leave all college football. And a
big reason for it is he's incredibly smart with his
second level pressures. He's gonna play a lot of man,
but then he's gonna sneak in that occasional robber coverage
or something that's gonna get a quarterback in trouble. And
more than anything, I think that this is very important
(10:45):
for building a culture in a program. He's consistent with everything,
Like even after the year one struggles, he didn't say
I'm gonna scrap everything because that didn't work. Year one
was about growth, Year two was about growth. It's always
about we're doing what we've leave in and we're gonna
get better at it. So I cannot think more highly
of coach Gold. And I called it an unconventional hire
(11:06):
at first, because again he hadn't been he had not
been a main defensive play caller in a long time,
and he was just a linebacker coach in the NFL.
So it was just a very strange hire. And strange
doesn't mean bad, it doesn't mean good. It's just it's unconventional,
Like we just don't know what to make of it.
But three years downline, he has turned. If he's not
the best defensive coordinator touch fotball, then the guy he's
(11:28):
going against, Jim Knowles, it probably is for Ohio State, right,
So I think it's a tremendous hire. He's obviously been
in the NFL, he's been with Cincinnati. He kind of
knows that program, the organization inside and now so I
think he's gonna do a tremendous job. Man, He's gonna
be a big loss if he does leave Notre Dame,
but he he's done a great job with the Irish absolutely,
all right.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
One more put on your NFL draft evaluation cap for me?
Do I want Al Golden to coach Jack Sawyer in
Cincinnati next year?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
It's an easy one, right because obviously know the Ohio
states with that thing or whatever. But there are a
lot of parallels with him and Sam Hubbard, who I
knowed you guys know very well obviously in Bengals world,
right so, and obviously in the Ohio state the Cincinnati
connection there too. So I think it's a really easy one.
I will say, though, I would like Cincinnati get a
little bit more dynamic on the other side of Trey Hendrickson,
(12:18):
Like he's obviously been one of the more productive passwords
in the NFL, but I want somebody on the other
side that's gonna really kind of take attention away from him.
And I kind of think of Jack Sawyer similar to
how I think about Sam Hubbard. I think Sam Hubbard
Jack Sawyer are gonna be really good run defenders in
the NFL, and they're gonna be They're gonna be key
to a pass rush, right, like they're gonna maintain gap integrity.
(12:39):
They're going to, you know, get some cleanup sacks and
cover sacks. I don't think there's anything necessarily dynamic about him,
so I think it's a clean fit. I wouldn't be
I wouldn't mind it if it was at the right valuation.
But I do think that I still would like, for
Cincinnati's sake and that defensive stake, because I know they
not play well at all this year, to get a
little bit more dynamic of front on the other side
(13:00):
of Trey Henderson. Like I think that finding somebody that's
an impactful dude that sometimes you're going to do one
on one with Trey Henderson instead because you just can't,
you know, put enough bodies on player X across from him.
So I think we'd like a little bit more dynamic
in kind of just that second guy. But I do
think that Jack Sawyer is a high floor player who's
gonna play in the NFL for a long time.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I would agree with that. I'll let you run, man.
Ryan Roberts rise in Draft on x A to Z
Sports covering the NFL Draft and Notre Dame the Fighting Irish,
obviously taking on Ohio State tonight. Good stuff from Ryan
will have you back as we get into draft season,
which we're not there yet. That doesn't kick into hyperdrive
until we get to the Combine and we're still a
(13:42):
few weeks away from that. Nonetheless, we appreciate the time
twenty minutes or twenty five minutes away from five o'clock
sports headlines, and you gotta stop comparing the reds of
the Dodgers. That's next to ESPN fifteen thirty
It is twenty one minutes after three o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty on Oeggar thrilled that you are with
us today. Our buddy Ryan Roberts from A to Z
Sports is with us this. Ryan's one of these guys.
Tremendous draft evaluator joins us every year in the run
up to the draft to talk about Bengals draft possibilities.
(00:21):
He also covers Notre Dame football for A to is
the sports follow him on x at rise and draft
ends with an N Rise and Draft. There's a lot
of one to get to. Let's start with this. There
is a talent gap. I don't even think it's perceived.
I think most of us would agree there's a talent
gap between Ohio State and Notre Dame. You're a player
(00:42):
evaluator guy, how wide is the gap?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I mean it's pretty wide when you especially think about
just kind of the impact of the injuries have pat
on Notre Dame. I mean they are down multiple offensive
line at this point, They've lost a couple of really
talented defensive ends. Obviously, Rodney Mills has been out to
the playoffs and defensive tackle management Morrison only playing in
like six football games before having his season ending hip
injury as well. So I think the talent gap is there.
(01:08):
I would say though, that the thing that has been
kind of the saving grace for Notre Dame though, is
and this has been the biggest plus transition from Brian
Kelly to Marcus Freeman is Marcus Freeman in his recruiting prowess,
he has done such a tremendous job of putting together
complete classes, right Like Brian Kelly would have some recruiting
classes where the top was really strong, but then you
(01:29):
would only sign one wide receiver in a class, or
you wouldn't sign any defensive tackles in a class, and
there were just too many holes. There were too many
gaps and you would just miss on certain positions. So
I think the saving grace so right now to why
Notre Dame is fourteen to one, I think can have
a competitive football game and perhaps even winning aast Ohio
State is that the depth that coach Freeman in this
staff for Notre Dame has created has been able to
(01:50):
kind of, you know, just kind of soften those blows.
So I think the top end talent Ohio State has
the advantage. But I do think the depth for Notre
Dame is something that is keeping them in this football
game and will get a competitive game in my opinion, And.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
A lot of people would also say they've got to
control the clock, which makes a lot of sense to me.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
How do the fighting Irish do that?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, I think I think it comes down to one
your offensive line. You've had a little bit of maneuvering
with the injured Anthony Knaplast last game, but I think
that one again, the saving grace, kind of going back
to that cliche, is Charles Jagosaw coming back from injury,
wh was supposed to be your starting left tackle before
the year. You got him back. Penn States played a
lot of the game at right guard, specifically in the
(02:29):
second half, and he little dominant. Now they're moving him
over to left tackle. Rock with Spindlers good to go.
So I think your offensive line is as big as
it's been all seasons, like the pure mass, plus I
think it's as talent that it's been all season now.
Charles Jackson hasn't played a snap that left tackle this
year because of the preseason injury that he was supposed
to play a left tackle. But I do think you
have the talent up front to compete with Ohio State.
(02:50):
Jeremiah Love getting ten days off now at running back,
I think it's gonna be big for him, just kind
of being as fresh as he's been probably in a
couple of weeks. So I think him and then the
other big thing I think is Riley Leonard, you know,
just having the ability to he as I expect this
to be a game where we've seen his quarterback design
runs kick up the last couple of weeks. Now they're
in the playoffs, I wouldn't be surprised if they kind
(03:11):
of throw the whole kitchen sink at Ohio State and
they really run the football well tonight, and I think
it's going to be a huge decider if they're able
to win the football game or not. But I think
that's kind of how you move the chains, kind of
lessen the football game. And I think that you need
to probably steal a possession here and there, like whether
that is a turnover or a quick swing like whatever
it is. Maybe you fake punts like I don't know
(03:34):
what it is, but I do think you need to
try to steal possession against Ohio State. You need to
you need to force a couple turnovers I think in
this game to truly have a chance to win, and
if you do, I think it's gonna be about if
you can control the line of scrims on the offense
side of the ball.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
A lot of folks here in Cincinnati are going to
be watching this game closely through the lens of the
Bengals might hire Al Golden, and I want to ask
you a question about him specifically here in a second,
but tonight, what is the fighting Irish plan defensively against
Ohio State.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
I think you have to mix the match coverages. I
know there's been a lot of talk about Notre Dame
being an almost exclusive man system on the back end.
You know they want to mix the match zone and
I think they will. I don't think there's gonna be
a game where Notre Dame is super stubborn and they
just refuse to play zone coverage. They We've seen it
against a lot of say I mean, obviously Notre Dame.
I think they play this year, but they played the
two previous years and Notre Dame had great game plans.
(04:23):
He's gonna state the previous two years one, including against CJ. Stroud. Obviously,
in those boys Marvin Harrison. So I think that it's
a mix and match coverages. You need to try to
confuse Will Howard a little bit defensively. So I expect
man zone kind of mixed in a little bit. And
Notre Dame has been really good this year with mixing
a lot of second level pressure. So I think you're
going to see some man. But I think when you
(04:44):
see man, I expect the free blitzer to come. I
expect a linebacker to come. I expect maybe a blitz
off the slot. Like. You need to be able to
create pressure and confuse Will Howard. If you can, I
think you can keep this game again. You want to
make this game ugly if you're Notre Dame like you do.
You want to see a little bit more scoring then
what Ohio State wanted to be, even though they just
had a low scoring war with the Texas. But if
(05:04):
Notre Dame has a chance to win the game, I
think you want to make this one a little bit ugly.
And make it ugly means turnovers, second level pressures, confused
Will Howard, I think is the key to trying to
win this game.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Was there a blueprint offered by Texas especially with Jeremiah
Smith who had one catch in that game. Were there
parts of that blueprint that the Fighting Iris could use themselves.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I think so in the sense that they ran a
lot of zone in that game, and it was a
lot of not just showing what you're doing pre snap,
there was a lot of post snap, you know, just
kind of rolling to different coverages. I think Norready needs
to use some of that. Again, they are a very
talented team on the secondary, even without Morrison. They have
Christian Gray, they have Leonard Moore, they have Xavier Watts,
Don Schure, they have a lot of really good defensive backs.
(05:48):
But you would be just idiotic if you just went,
I'm playing man coverage ninety nine percent of the time
against Jeremiah Smith, they make a buka like that just
would not be Why so, I think the thing that
you take from Texas is that you saw what what
posts snap movement maybe got Will Howard into a little
bit of trouble, right like, what did he see that
(06:09):
made him a little bit of confused, a little cause
a little bit of confusion. You're not going to use
it a lot because he had seen it at this point.
But if there's a big moment in the football game
where you know, whether it's you know, rolling from too
high and seeing guy down into robber coverage or whatever,
you need to pick and choose your spots and try
to find a area that I think, well, Howard is
going to get confused by.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
You mentioned Marcus Freeman, and you know, he's obviously someone
that in this part of the country we are very
familiar with. And one of the storylines tonight is he's
coaching against his alma mater. He was a defensive coordinator
at the University of Cincinnati, and I remember my role
doing the pre and post game show one of the
first times I talked to Marcus, thinking to myself like, Okay,
this guy's not going to be here for long like this,
(06:51):
this dude's going to be a head coach.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
He's just he's an impressive guy.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And I think that comes across when you watch him
talk in public settings. It comes across when you get
a chance to talk with him one on one. Talked
about what he has done from a recruiting standpoint, and
there's a lot of you see guys on that staff
as well. Gino Goaduli, Mike Denbrock was here as well,
but just give me some impressions three years into this
watching what Marcus has done to the program, even above
and beyond the recruiting that you talked about.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Why I think the big thing for him is that,
like he's very self aware of himself, which is like
a huge thing because in this in this profession, like
you need to have a lot of understanding of where
you're strong and where you're weak, and in order to
have that self growth, like I think you need to
be aware of where your gaps are, right And I
don't think we gave enough. I don't I don't think
we gave him enough credits early on and a little
(07:38):
and not enough understanding of you are never he was
never a head coach before, like his literally his first
head coaching job was in his mid thirties at the
University of Notre Dame. Like that is a daunting thing
for the other coach. Man, it is not easy, right,
And he had a couple of struggles this first year,
right like you saw it, you know, losing to Marshall,
losing to Stanford. It was just like, man, like this
(08:00):
is is this it? But then now a couple of
years down the line, you're like Okay, maybe he needed that,
right because he used that to be able to understand,
this is what we can do, this is what we
can't do, and any given Saturday we can lose. Obviously
we've proven that. But if we do those things the
right way, we're gonna lose, we're gonna win more often
than notts. Right, So he's shown a lot of self growth.
But I think just from him from a personal level,
(08:21):
he's a perfect mixture. To me, because you mentioned it,
like in interviews, he's great. He's got kind of this
like stoic energy to him right where he just kind
of seems like he's always cool, calm and collective, but
when the players talk about him, like he has a
really good balance of being the being the guy that
needs to be a little bit of a dictator at times,
(08:42):
but also like I'm approachable, like come talk to me,
we can figure this out. So I think it's the
balance that he has from energy, from being stoic, from
being just a good person overall. So I think he's
a great leader, and I think that balance is something
that really stands out about him all the time.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Ryan Roberts with us A to C Sports covering Notre
Bame college football the NFL Draft on x at rise
in Draft. Let me go back to Al Golden here
because he's the favorite I think to be the new
defensive coordinator for the Bengals and the obviously coach linebackers
here before he went to Notre Dame.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Do I want him to be the DC of the Bengals.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I think so. Man. I've been so impressed with coach Golden,
especially last few years, because he was another guy. In
the twenty twenty two season when it was his first
year at Notre Dame, a lot of Notre Dame fans
were not sold on him at all because I think
they have went up like twenty one points per game
his first year. But again, he had not called a
defense since like two thousand and five when he was
at the University of Virginia. Like he had not called
a defense in a long long time. But there's a
(09:40):
reason he was a head coaching commodity on the college level.
There's a reason that the Cincinnai Bengals wanted him as
a linebacker coach in general, and why so many NFL
people have such a high opinion of him. And he's
really smart, Like he's just such a he's got kind
of it's funny, it's a different energy, but like he
also comes off stoic, similar to Coach Free, and like
he just he has the answers, it seems, and he
(10:02):
doesn't ever seem like he's frazzled, like he just like
he doesn't have it, Like he doesn't have an answer.
Even if he doesn't have it, he doesn't show it,
which I think is a big thing for a coordinator,
especially the growth that we've seen from year one to
year two, last season with Coach Golden, and the year
two to year three. I mean, he has built a
team that when he first got there, they could not
(10:22):
force turnovers. Like they just couldn't well for whatever reason,
they just were not a team that could take the
ball away. Well, they had like thirty two forced turnovers
this year. Defensively, they leave all college football. And a
big reason for it is he's incredibly smart with his
second level pressures. He's gonna play a lot of man,
but then he's gonna sneak in that occasional robber coverage
or something that's gonna get a quarterback in trouble. And
more than anything, I think that this is very important
(10:45):
for building a culture in a program. He's consistent with everything,
Like even after the year one struggles, he didn't say
I'm gonna scrap everything because that didn't work. Year one
was about growth, Year two was about growth. It's always
about we're doing what we've leave in and we're gonna
get better at it. So I cannot think more highly
of coach Gold. And I called it an unconventional hire
(11:06):
at first, because again he hadn't been he had not
been a main defensive play caller in a long time,
and he was just a linebacker coach in the NFL.
So it was just a very strange hire. And strange
doesn't mean bad, it doesn't mean good. It's just it's unconventional,
Like we just don't know what to make of it.
But three years downline, he has turned. If he's not
the best defensive coordinator touch fotball, then the guy he's
(11:28):
going against, Jim Knowles, it probably is for Ohio State, right,
So I think it's a tremendous hire. He's obviously been
in the NFL, he's been with Cincinnati. He kind of
knows that program, the organization inside and now so I
think he's gonna do a tremendous job. Man, He's gonna
be a big loss if he does leave Notre Dame,
but he he's done a great job with the Irish absolutely,
all right.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
One more put on your NFL draft evaluation cap for me?
Do I want Al Golden to coach Jack Sawyer in
Cincinnati next year?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
It's an easy one, right because obviously know the Ohio
states with that thing or whatever. But there are a
lot of parallels with him and Sam Hubbard, who I
knowed you guys know very well obviously in Bengals world,
right so, and obviously in the Ohio state the Cincinnati
connection there too. So I think it's a really easy one.
I will say, though, I would like Cincinnati get a
little bit more dynamic on the other side of Trey Hendrickson,
(12:18):
Like he's obviously been one of the more productive passwords
in the NFL, but I want somebody on the other
side that's gonna really kind of take attention away from him.
And I kind of think of Jack Sawyer similar to
how I think about Sam Hubbard. I think Sam Hubbard
Jack Sawyer are gonna be really good run defenders in
the NFL, and they're gonna be They're gonna be key
to a pass rush, right, like they're gonna maintain gap integrity.
(12:39):
They're going to, you know, get some cleanup sacks and
cover sacks. I don't think there's anything necessarily dynamic about him,
so I think it's a clean fit. I wouldn't be
I wouldn't mind it if it was at the right valuation.
But I do think that I still would like, for
Cincinnati's sake and that defensive stake, because I know they
not play well at all this year, to get a
little bit more dynamic of front on the other side
(13:00):
of Trey Henderson. Like I think that finding somebody that's
an impactful dude that sometimes you're going to do one
on one with Trey Henderson instead because you just can't,
you know, put enough bodies on player X across from him.
So I think we'd like a little bit more dynamic
in kind of just that second guy. But I do
think that Jack Sawyer is a high floor player who's
gonna play in the NFL for a long time.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I would agree with that. I'll let you run, man.
Ryan Roberts rise in Draft on x A to Z
Sports covering the NFL Draft and Notre Dame the Fighting Irish,
obviously taking on Ohio State tonight. Good stuff from Ryan
will have you back as we get into draft season,
which we're not there yet. That doesn't kick into hyperdrive
until we get to the Combine and we're still a
(13:42):
few weeks away from that. Nonetheless, we appreciate the time
twenty minutes or twenty five minutes away from five o'clock
sports headlines, and you gotta stop comparing the reds of
the Dodgers. That's next to ESPN fifteen thirty
Mo Egger News
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