Very excited about how the defensive pieces can fit together
I tend to look at defensive structures back-to-front. The pieces in the secondary aren't just good, they fit together really, really well.
1. You've got a true star at corner in Moore.
2. You've got a strong safety in Shuler who excels at generating havoc downhill/behind the line. He's a decent enough cover guy on the back end as well.
3. Super rangy and athletic free safety
4. Super aggressive playmaker in Gray with some susceptibility to get beat deep.
5. Experience and athleticism at corner with Sanders, McKinney, Golden, Zackery
6. Kind of a mutant guy in Talich
Shuler and Moore to the same side can be a really deadly combination. Shuler will be able to put his feet at 10 yards and unless there's an inside vertical route coming at him right away (which he'd then have to run with) he'll be free to raise hell since Moore isn't going to need any help over the top. With Johnson over the top you'll be able to play the nickel and non-Moore corner as aggressively as you'd want and that's where a guy like Gray excels in particular.
Getting Shuler in that kind of easy trigger situation changes everything up front. You can be much more aggressive with your linebackers penetrating because you will have a free hitter coming downhill in Shuler to clean up whatever gets through. I like the ability of Bryce Young and Traore to set the edge, I like the chances of a guy like Gray being able to eat double teams, and I like the odds of a guy like Brewu winning against single blocking.
Part of what killed us early on last year was we had vicious defecits at the back end. Stroman couldn't provide deep support (and when he tried to it was disastrous) so that put Shuler in the Johnson role, which was a misutilization of him. Hobbs was playing nickel with a low amount of confidence, and the pairing of Hobbs in coverage with Stroman supporting pretty much ruined the Texas A&M game. You could see Ash figuring things out in real time during that game when he finally was able to get Johnson in there and get Shuler into his more apt role as an attacking safety. Unfortunately, Shuler got ejected for targeting and it was back to square one.
With the way the secondary is setting up now, though, it's almost like we get to play with 12 guys as it will be really hard to force Shuler into pure pass coverage iwth anything but a vertical route right at him. If we can cover 4 verts we are gonna be pretty nasty against both the pass and the run
Gray to nickel is still a thing, right?
by professor 
, South Bend, IN, Thursday, April 16, 2026, 10:41 (3 days ago) @ Mike (bart)
I don't really know 'ball but given his limitations in downfield coverage this seems like a great idea to me.
I think Gray is the ultimate example of how much our
by BillyGoat , At Thanksgiving with Joe Bethersontin, Thursday, April 16, 2026, 11:03 (3 days ago) @ professor
DB talent has been upgraded. He'd have been the best corner at ND over a pretty recent like 20 year span. He's a really good player who had to play injured quite a bit out of necessity.
I freaking love Christian Gray.
by ReginaldVelJohnson , Thursday, April 16, 2026, 22:15 (2 days ago) @ BillyGoat
Not because he's our best corner, but I'll be damned if he isn't one of the best examples of playing with a short memory. Sure, would be great if we could get some more consistency, but there's something to be said for knowing that he's not going to turn into a head case and turtle after he has a bad rep.
Definitely. Both in-game and during the week. The kid
by BillyGoat , At Thanksgiving with Joe Bethersontin, Friday, April 17, 2026, 08:05 (1 day, 21 hours, 35 min. ago) @ ReginaldVelJohnson
got all sorts of criticism last year for getting beat deep and still showed up and busted his butt in the next game. We didn't find out until later that he was playing hurt. It's no more Gray's fault for struggling last year while injured than it was Tommy's fault for being the best starting QB. In both cases, the real issue was that the coaches hadn't gotten anybody better or healthier to put in instead.
I think ND fans would feel quite a bit differently about Christian if they had known all along about Gray's anatomy.
Definitely seems like it
Because people are seeing it in practice, and he's confirming it during interviews.
I still have concerns about him holding up physically, but I do think there's an ability to upgrade at corner with the talent on hand. And Gray won't have to be the sole or even primary nickel, as Golden is still there, and you could get something out of someone like Pouncey there at some point as well.
yeah the depth makes it even more fun
Talich would make a great flat-foot 10 yards deep safety, Golden is a hell of an athlete to put at the apex of a formation, Brandon Logan seems to have a ton of range, etc.
I havenʻt heard Loganʻs name at all
- No text -
Is he the guy who had the great half late last year?
Or am I thinking of Ethan Long?
That was Long
Seems like Logan may be more of a baseball player than a football player at this point?
Logan is playing baseball this spring.
He was injured and sat for basically the entire fall.
Feels like either a risky move or an intentional
by BillyGoat , At Thanksgiving with Joe Bethersontin, Friday, April 17, 2026, 10:15 (1 day, 19 hours, 26 min. ago) @ KGB
career shift on his part.