Instant Reaction: Brauntae Johnson & Jason Onye OUT Multiple Weeks for Notre Dame

0:00This is the Lockdown podcast network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. This message is a paid partnership with Applecard. One of my favorite parts of game day is everything leading up to it, getting the house ready for a watch party, putting on my favorite team's hoodie and making one last run of the store before kickoff, you know, the routine. And with my Applecard, I can earn up to 3% unlimited daily cashback on every purchase I make with Applecard using Apple Pay. Not a month from now, but every day. Apply in the wallet app on your iPhone today. Substant to credit approval, Applecard issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch terms and more at Applecard.com. As the Irish chair of the page, their home opener against rice, Marcus Freeman provided a couple key entry updates that will have a big impact in the Notre Dame defense moving forward. That's next. You are locked on Irish, your daily podcast on the Notre Dame fighting Irish part of the

1:00Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Hello, welcome in to this instant reaction edition of Lockdown Irish, your daily home for another football. I'm Tyler Wojac today is Tuesday, September 8th. And thank you for joining me here. We're coming at you live right after Marcus Freeman's press conference leading in to the home opener against rice and right off the bat. We got a couple key entry updates regarding two starters on Notre Dame's defense. So the depth chart was distributed right before the press conference started and either Jason Oñe or Breonte Johnson were listed on the depth chart. And that is because they were listed on the injury report. Breonte Johnson is listed as out for this game with a foot injury and Jason Oñe is out with an ankle. Notre Dame linebacker King Simvile Amuasa remains questionable after he missed the season opener. But for some good news on the injury front, Marcus Freeman did say that he expects King Simvile Amuasa to play on Saturday. He's been training back, but they're probably going to have him on a pitch count. But let's talk about the two guys who are going to be out Johnson and Oñe. Marcus was a little coy about how long they were going to be out.

2:02He said a couple of weeks. I take that to mean they are both going to miss multiple games, but he did say they expect both of those guys to be back this season. Right now it seems like Johnson's is a little bit more serious. He might miss a little bit more time than Oñe. There are some conflicting reports out there. Some people are saying it's a minor injury. He could be back in four to six weeks. Some people think it's going to be a little bit longer than that. But considering Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame haven't given us a definitive answer, I don't want to speculate too much on that. But now it provides an opportunity for new guys to step in at defensive tackle. Marcus Freeman said that it is the deepest position on the team. That's what he said after training camp. And now that depth is already being tested with Jason Oñe out. Jason Oñe is a starter. And I think he's poised to have a big year once he comes back from injury. But he also missed a significant amount of time during spring practice dealing with the wrist injury. I feel bad for Oñe because he came back for a six season. And it's been just an up and down year for him so far, just dealing with the different injuries, missing practice and missing the starter summer. And now he's going to miss at least the first chunk of the season as he deals with this

3:03ankle injury. But now Frances Brew and Tionne Gray have a chance to step up. They're listed as starters on the depth chart. It's Tionne Gray or Frances Brew. But I think you're going to see a lot of it. Marcus Freeman complimented both of them for their play against Wisconsin on Sunday. I said during the reaction show that both of those guys need to play more because they were very effective when they were out there. Freeman did say the plan was for all the defensive tackles to play somewhat equal amount of reps. It didn't happen quite like that. But Tionne Gray was out there for 18 snaps. He had five tackles. Like if you're going to be that efficient when you're on the field, you're probably going to play more. And now he's definitely going to have an opportunity with Oñe out. I think we're going to see a lot more from Frances Brew on Saturday. So big injury there, but they have the guys back there. That's safety. Luke Talich is someone who Marcus Freeman said they view as a starter. Well now he is going to be the starter on Saturday against Rice. And likely for the next few games after that, Luke Talich is a senior. He's played a bunch of football at Notre Dame. He'd likely be starting on a bunch of other power for football teams from around the country.

4:04And I was going to get his chance against Rice. But with Luke Talich out there, we're probably going to see a little bit more from Joey O'Brien, the true freshman. I think he's going to see some more playing time now because he's the third safety on the depth chart. Ethan Long made an appearance back on the depth chart after not being on it last week, which I thought was a little odd because he's definitely a varsity player that someone who I think has a bright future at Notre Dame, even if Joey O'Brien might have beaten him out in training camp, but you still have four quality safeties that Notre Dame can go with going forward here in these next few games. Is losing Brian Tejonsen a very significant deal, of course. He's one of the best players on the team. He might be the best safety in college football, but this is why you have depth. This is why you recruit and develop guys because injuries are going to happen in football. It seems like these are just, you know, just the nature of the game, right? Not like a soft tissue injury or anything like that. So Notre Dame is going to be without Brian Tejonsen and Jason O'Neigh for at least the next couple of games, but the good news is they have strong depth at both positions. When he was talking about the Wisconsin game, he was very complimentary of Carr Tim O'Malley

5:05from Irish Illustrated Ask Marcus. How do you strike a balance between trying to take some deep shots down field while also taking what the defense gives you and Mark. Students said, there is no balance. You just take what the defense gives you. He said, Carr did exactly what they asked him to do. He just kind of took what the defense gave him. The safeties were playing very deep. They were preventing the deep shots. In Wisconsin is good at that. We mentioned during the preview show last week, the two biggest strengths of the Wisconsin defense last season, stopping the run, preventing explosive plays. They were top 20 in both those categories last season that didn't even better defense going into this year. That's what they did. They tried to prevent explosive plays. For the most part, it worked. So CJ Carr had to dink and dunk, but Marcus from inside. Look, they're going to have their opportunities to take shots down the field. And that game, if Wisconsin is going to make it such a big priority to prevent the deep play, that's fine. You can just nickel and dime your way down the field. A couple other things that stand out from the Wisconsin game. You talked about the right car position. So obviously, Stiles Press guy got the start. Sullivan Appshar came in during the second half. I think the offensive line as a whole looked much better in the second half with Sullivan

6:06Appshar out there compared to the first half with Stiles Press guy. I thought it was interesting that Freeman said that that was the plan going in to give each guys 30 reps in that game. Now, they didn't vocalize that to the media, obviously, but rather than rotating them series by series, it was just press God. You got the first half, aperture, you got the second. Freeman said that they were intentional about that. He would not give anything away about the future. He said that they're going to figure that out. My guess is that Sullivan Appshar is going to be the starter on the depth chart. They're still listed as an orbit. Appshar is the first name listed there. So I ultimately think they're going to roll with Sullivan. Apps are going forward, but it was interesting to hear that they didn't pull Stiles Press God at halftime due to poor performance. That was always the plan going in. And when he was asked about the differences in the run game, why it worked so well in the second half, it seems like Mark's treatment in the Notre Dame coaching staff saw something based on the Wisconsin fronts because he basically said it was it was a scheme change. They saw something, but he didn't want to reveal all the details, obviously. But then he also acknowledged that the patients of the running backs in the second half really

7:07stood out there more patient with their runs and they made some really nice plays. And I think that's definitely true. Nolan James had a couple nice plays in the passing game. And he is Williams was getting to go on the ground at a couple chunk gains that one pitch play that they ran. I thought was really effective, but and he has had to be patient to sort of let the blocks get out there and see it through. We still have a few more thoughts on the press conference, but I did want to say that this special instant reaction episode is brought to you by game time. College football is full of games you plan for all year, but sometimes the best memories come from the games you almost missed. Game time makes it easy to find tickets to college football matchups you want to see with prices that include fees so you know your total cost up front. You can browse games, see a panoramic view from your seat before you buy and get tickets in just a couple of taps plus zone deals. Let you choose the section and let game time choose the seats to help save even more whether it's a rivalry game a match up feature or player you have to see in person or an under dog ready to make some noise game time makes getting to the game simple. Every college football season there are always a few games on the schedule that I look

8:10at in a media with it immediately think I've got to find a way to be there for that one. And this year it's obvious it's the rematch between Notre Dame and Miami in South Bend because you know as much as I love watching college football from my couch, there really is nothing like experiencing a big game in person, especially in South Bend, the atmosphere of the crowd and everything that comes with the Notre Dame football Saturday and when I'm looking for tickets, being able to see the view from my seat and know the total price up front makes that decision a whole lot easier. Get your friends together, get your tickets and tell them it's game time, download the game time app, create an account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again, create an account and use code locked on for $20 off. Today's episode is brought to you by the Dell XPS. I'm Wes Goldberg from Lockdown NBA Daily and Lockdown Heat. So what does it feel like to have a better laptop like the Dell XPS powered by Intel Core? With a premium design that's thin and light, it feels smooth. With a responsive touch screen, it feels fast and precise. And with long lasting battery life, it feels like non-stop energy with a laptop that can

9:10keep up. Built for those who want better, the Dell XPS. Built for you. All right. A few more thoughts from Mark Sramon's press conference leading into the game against Rice. I think my personal favorite moment from the entire presser was when he was asked about Anthony and I. And Mark Sramon just cracked a smile and he just said, I love now. And that's about the most glowing praise you're going to get for Freeman. And that's not to say he's not very complimentary. He was complimentary of a lot of different guys. He complimented both the right guards, press God, absur, car, a bunch of other people who had really strong performances during the game. But if you watch the game back and you watch out Anthony Natt played against Wisconsin, that dude played like a man possessed. He was a maller out there. I thought he had the best offensive performance of any player on Notre Dame. Just completely dominated a few guys on the Wisconsin defensive front, opened up some great lanes for the iris to run through.

10:10And I think he's going to be one of the best guards in the country. At this point, I wonder if this is going to be Anthony Natt's last season at Notre Dame because he is a player who could get drafted pretty high next April in the NFL draft. But Notre Dame has him for this season. And it's a good thing because he is a very good player. Marcus Freeman compared him to Joe Alt. You know, the same guy who went top five now granted they played different positions now, even though Natt played left tackle for the past two years. But Joe Alt was one of the best offensive linemen to come through Notre Dame in recent history. And that's a pretty high bar. So the fact that Marcus looks at Anthony Natt in the same way as Joe Alt should tell you just how highly the entire coaching staff thinks of him. And for good reason, he's a really good player. He's probably the best offensive lineman that Notre Dame has right now. And they are going to lean on him going forward. There's also a good moment about Xavier Watts. Freeman was asked about position changes during the middle of the season. And he just mentioned that he's a very Watts worked out. And he admitted that he wish he could take credit for it because he was the defensive coordinator at the time was actually Brian Kelly's idea. So that was a fun moment as well.

11:12But as we start to look ahead to this game against Rice, you know, a big topic of conversation was not the personnel on rice, right? They're not a very good football team. But Notre Dame is playing a game on short rest. They played Sunday night. How was Marcus Freeman going to approach practice this week? And in classic Marcus Freeman fashion, he said, we're going to be physical. They're going to have what they call their bloody Tuesday practice. They're going to have the pads on. They're going to have a physical violent practice. And there are some other coaches who might not do that. Just two days removed from playing a very physical game against Wisconsin. But this is the nature of Marcus Freeman. This is the culture that he wants with his football program. So they are not going to take their foot off the gas. But Marcus Freeman made a point that they have to improve week to week. He specifically said in 2024, they didn't improve from week one to week two. As a matter of fact, they regressed in that regression ultimately cost them a game against Northern Illinois. I think Marcus Freeman is being very intentional. He said he thought a lot about the approach to practice, the approach to meetings and everything

12:12leading up to the game against rice because it is a short week. And even though rice is not a very good football team, Notre Dame has lost to inferior opponents before, especially during the month of September. So even if rice doesn't present a whole lot of challenges from a personnel standpoint, Notre Dame has to focus on internal challenges and making sure that they are ready to play against rice on Saturday. He said another reason that they have to get in pads and have physical practices because rice offensively is kind of a unique offense. It's not like the full triple option like Navy, you're not going to see the same service academy style, but it's actually more closely aligned with that than like your modern traditional offense. So given the fact that it's a much different look that Notre Dame is going to see that most of the season, they have to prepare for that accordingly. They have to be able to practice specifically for their defense. They need to be able to make those reads and be able to act on those different looks in the game on Saturday in an order to do that marks for him to please that they need to hit and practice. You know, obviously if it works out great and if Notre Dame starts off slow, maybe people

13:16criticize it or if they look a little bit banged up early on, you know, it's just one of those things where it's difficult to say what the right answer is now and we're just going to have to evaluate after the fact. But I was not surprised at all that this is the route that marks for him chose because he wants to have hard practices. He wants to have physical football teams and this is the culture that he has in the program. So I'm certainly not going to question it right here and it did not surprise me one bit. Last note, I want to say about the press conference. Mark Srimon spoke very highly of Notre Dame quarterback coach, Gina Godouly. If you had not heard, Gina Godouly's father passed last week as well in the same week that Notre Dame safety. And on Trouler lost his father. And that's a lot for two people to deal with, two very important people to the Notre Dame football program. And Eric Hanson from Blue and Gold was just asking him about, you know, how Gina handled that both as a coach, but also as a family man and Marcus just sort of raved about, Gina how he handled that entire process and the things that he did in this personal life and the way that he was able to focus and do what he needed to do for this team and these

14:19players and all of that stuff. And Gina Godouly is one of those guys who's been around the program for a long time. You know, he's not an offensive coordinator. So we probably don't talk about him as much, but he's been the quarterback coach at Notre Dame now for several years. And Marcus Srimon said he is a very, very important piece to this football program. So prayers and thoughts go out to Gina. Prayers and thoughts go out to it on Trouler who, like I said, his father passed away last week as well. But, you know, just a reminder that during the season, these guys are human too. And even though football sort of dominates our lives for these next few months, they're still humans. They have things that they have to deal with in their personal life and credit to Gina and credit to Aidan for everything that they were able to do last week and then put it all together on the field and in the coaches booth on Saturday. All right. That is going to do it for this instant reaction episode. Thanks as always for tuning in. Make this your first watch or listen to the day. As I said, we're going to be doing these instant reaction episodes. Typically, they're going to be Monday afternoon after Mark Srimon's press conference, but this week, given the fact that the game was on Sunday, he had his press conference on Tuesday. We're going to be right back here Wednesday morning, Luke Smith, three things we liked and

15:20didn't like from the game against Wisconsin. And then we will turn the page to the game against rice on this show. So make sure that you're subscribed on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. So that way you don't miss any of our game week content. But that's going to do it for this one. We'll see you Wednesday. The Lockdown Podcast Network is brought to you by Fandall. Baseball fans, if you think you know who's hitting a home or today, Fandall is giving you a free chance to call your shot with daily dingers. It's easy to play. Just make your free pick for who you think will hit a home run in their game. If you're right, you'll receive a profit boost to use on your next bet for a chance at extra winnix. Best of all, you can make a free pick every day throughout the MLBCs. So are you ready to play your game today? Join all the action at fandall.com. That's fandall.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a home. Play ball and swing for the fences on Fandall, an official partner of the MLB. This crisp, smooth, Madelo is for the traditions that make college football Saturday's sacred. That Madelo poured into the marinade that makes your tailgate dish legendary. That Madelo tall boy that pairs perfectly with your lucky jersey. And that ice-cold Madelo held high as you belt out the fight song you know entirely

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