How Notre Dame vet Bo Bauer puts Irish rookies on alert, and on a fast track
When then-Notre Dame defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman helped to recruit and land four four-star linebackers in the 2022 class, future expectations for this position group immediately skyrocketed.
Headlining that youthful LB list was January enrollee Jaylen Sneed.
On3.com actually rated Sneed as a five-star recruit, the No. 3 linebacker nationally and the top recruit in the 2022 Notre Dame class.
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Additionally, according to the On3 consensus — which is compiled from a blend of all the major recruiting services — Sneed is the highest-rated Irish linebacker recruit since Jaylon Smith 10 years ago. Smith was rated as the No. 1 linebacker and the No. 3 overall player in 2013.
Sneed was joined by fellow four-star LB classmates Junior Tuihalamaka, Nolan Ziegler and Joshua Burnham (who eventually moved to vyper DE), all of which enrolled early.
It’s a promising rookie group that rates collectively as Notre Dame’s best linebacker haul in at least 10 years.
But with three experienced seniors and a grad student atop the hierarchy list, special teams is the most likely path to playing time for these first-year LBs.
And that’s the message graduate linebacker Bo Bauer “harps on” daily to his young position-mates.
“Obviously, the quickest way to the [travel team] bus is to be on special teams,” said Bauer. “I want to see those guys there. The reason I want to is because I think they’re really athletic and good players. I just tell them, ‘You gotta buy in.’”
And Bauer is the perfect salesman.
A four-year stalwart on Irish special teams, Bauer again plans to start on each of the two coverage and two return units this season.
“I love special teams,” Bauer said. “This year, I don’t care if I start [at linebacker], I want to start on all four special teams units. That’s important to me.”
Bauer uses Prince Kollie, a freshman linebacker last season, as a case study of a rookie making an immediate impression via special teams.
Kollie recorded 14 tackles in 2021, most coming on the specialty units.
“Kollie bought in last year, did a great job for us, and now he’s got to take steps this year. It’s the same progression,” Bauer said. “You’ve got to first find a role on ‘ST,’ that’s the path for a lot of us linebackers to the next level.”
The old and the new
The 2022 veteran-rookie LB blend is an intriguing one.
The returning big four of Bauer, JD Bertrand, Marist Liufau and Jack Kiser will essentially monopolize game reps. They’ve already combined for 111 games and 26 starts.
So, armed with their experience, none of the four vets is missing the opportunity during camp to teach and help the three newbies for when their defensive reps eventually come.
Bertrand was seen chirping at TuihalamakaMonday during a practice drill, encouraging the rookie to finish a rep, and not to short-change it.
“There is so much communication that needs to happen that we have to be able to talk to each other. We have to be able to know what the person is thinking before it’s even said,” Bertrand explained. “…It’s going well. It’s one of those things that you can never be good enough at.”
Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden explained Monday that he’s been impressed with the relationship formed between the vets and the rooks over the last eight months.
It’s a pass-the-torch mentality that Golden said will make the team and the program smarter and better.
“I would say we’re a very intelligent team,” Golden said. “It’s our job to make sure they play intelligently in the situations that can win or lose the game.”
