ND to Blitz 80% of the Time, Clausen Greatly Improved

Jon Tenuta spoke at the Notre Dame celebrity golf tournament last week and some interesting things to say.  Notre Dame fans better be ready to see a lot of blitzing this fall because apparently, Tenuta and Corwin Brown intent to send everything but the kitchen sink at opposing offenses.

Jim Morse nearly fell backwards in his chair.

Knute Rockne, reportedly, rolled over in his grave.

Such was the reaction when new Notre Dame assistant head coach for defense Jon Tenuta told the crowd of local Irish-backers on Friday that, this fall, the team will “blitz about 80 percent of the time.

To which, Morse, the former ND captain and long-time area booster, shot back: “We haven’t blitzed that much in 10 years, total!”

Last year we didn’t get nearly enough pressure on opposing quarterbacks so it’s great to hear Tenuta speak of applying that much pressure. Considering the secondary should be a strength this year, we should have the personnel to allow for that much blitzing as well.

Tenuta also made mention of the improvements by both Jimmy Clausen and the offensive line since game one of last season when Tenuta’s Georgia Tech defense embarrassed the Irish offense.

The most encouraging thing that Tenuta said on Friday, even more than his promise to throw everything and the kitchen sink at the opposition, is that the Jimmy Clausen and the offensive line he saw this spring was a night-and-day improvement from the outfit his Georgia Tech team drubbed last fall.

Considering how inept the Irish offense was in that game, that might not be saying a whole lot, but it’s still nice to hear.