This story has been updated.
SOUTH BEND —Football coaches being secretive by nature, it may have been instructive when Aaron Henry, newly hired defensive backs coach for Notre Dame football, omitted senior Luke Talich from a laundry list of nickelback candidates this spring.
Henry, who will also serve as co-defensive coordinator to his longtime mentor, Chris Ash, rattled off the names of Christian Gray, Dallas Golden and Michigan transfer Jayden Sanders when asked about the open auditions being held at slot corner.
“We’ve been repping a multitude of guys there,” Henry said Friday morning, April 10 after practice. “Got a really, really good battle. We have a couple of really good candidates there. I’m really excited about that position.”
Roughly 10 yards away, Talich was explaining how much of his spring has been spent with veteran defensive analyst Andy Buh, who works with Irish nickelbacks. With outside linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa still rehabbing his torn ACL, Talich has been getting more work in dime packages and as a hybrid safety/strongside linebacker.
“Coach Buh has been helping me a lot, the nickel coach,” Talich said. “I’ve been meeting with him every day and getting used to that. He coached linebackers for a lot of his career, so just getting used to eye progressions and different techniques I need to use closer to the line of scrimmage is something I’m getting used to.”
A former preferred walk-on from Cody, Wyo., who added 20-plus pounds of muscle after his arrival in 2023, the 6-foot-4 Talich has pared down from 211 pounds to a listed weight of 204. He earned Ash’s trust last season to the point where his tackle-box usage spiked well beyond his core special teams role.
According to Pro Football Focus, Talich played 139 defensive snaps at either slot corner, box safety or defensive line. Another 66 snaps came at either free safety or wide corner.
“I think my speed is my edge when I’m close to the line,” Talich said. “When I’m rushing the passer, I just want to get off the ball fast. That’s been what I’ve been working on.”
Talich finished last season with 25 tackles, three interceptions and a 32.7 passer rating allowed on 136 coverage snaps. His only tackle for loss came in the season finale at Stanford.
Talich’s penchant for game-sealing picks earned him “Closer” designation from the coaching staff.
“We had a running joke there that he was like a closer in baseball,” Ash said in late November. “He would come in and close out the ninth inning and shut them down with an interception. He was on a streak there.”
Ash, a former self-made safety at FCS-level Drake University, clearly admires the product of small-town Wyoming.
“He’s become a nice little chess piece for us,” Ash said during Stanford week. “We can move him around and do a lot of different things with him. I love him. He’s got length, he’s athletic, he’s smart, really cares.
“He’s just really worked hard to improve, and we’re trying to make sure that players that are like that —they can help us win — we’re going to find roles for them. He’s definitely filled the role that we’ve used him in. … He just kept grinding, kept working and just kept getting better.”
Detailing the ‘intricacies’ of nickelback for Notre Dame
Henry, who played both safety and cornerback on Rose Bowl teams at Wisconsin, has watched the film of Notre Dame’s primary nickelback last season, Alabama grad transfer DeVonta Smith (5-11, 195).
“We had a pitbull at that position last year,” Henry said. “The goal is just to try to develop depth at that position. Guys get banged up. When you talk about secondary play, you want guys to be able to slide inside and outside.”
Golden stepped in for Smith when the veteran essentially missed five games with injuries to his right ankle and calf. Now listed at 6-foot and 191 pounds, Golden had never played in the slot until Buh got him ready for Purdue in a matter of days.
“That’s a very unique position in our defense because we ask that guy to be a good blitzer, a really good tackler, cover really well, to get to a flat (route),” Henry said. “There’s some intricacies there, but I like the battle that’s taking place right now.”
Sanders is listed at 6-foot and 195 pounds. Colorado grad transfer DJ McKinney, set for June enrollment, is 6-2 and 180 pounds with more of an outside cornerback profile.
Gray, a multiyear starter at field corner, said he was enjoying this new exposure to nickelback.
“I feel like I’ll be really good there because of my height and size and my speed,” said Gray, listed at 6-foot and 186 pounds. “I kind of like (playing) inside because I just want to hit somebody.”
For his part, Talich is trying to force himself into the equation as Buh’s latest project.
“I tend to like to watch where the ball goes,” Talich said. “If I’m in man-to-man coverage, just keeping my eyes on my key and my guy. Doing those things has definitely been a focus for me this spring. It’s one of the things coach Henry has talked to me about and something I’m trying to work on: Keeping my eyes in the right spot.”
Eyes on the prize, you might say.
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Could Luke Talich be the answer at nickel for Notre Dame football?
Reporting by Mike Berardino, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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