SOUTH BEND — As Notre Dame football breaks in three new position coaches on defense, holdovers can take heart from the example of former Irish All-America running back Jeremiyah Love.
Rapidly climbing mock draft boards in advance of this week’s NFL Scouting Combine, Love believes he benefited greatly from the teaching of two position coaches, Deland McCullough and Ja’Juan Seider, during his three-year college career.
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“That was the best thing that could ever happen to me, having two different position coaches,” Love said in December ahead of his third-place finish at the Heisman Trophy ceremony. “Initially I was with coach Deland for two years. From him I learned a lot. I learned to be D3: Detailed, dependable and disciplined.”
McCullough, who recruited Love out of Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis, recently returned to the college game at Oklahoma after spending 2025 with the Las Vegas Raiders.
“The details are the most important thing about football,” Love said. “You have to be detailed. You have to be where you need to be at the right time. I learned that from Coach D.”
Seider, hired last February after seven years at Penn State, added his input to Love’s overall grasp of the game’s nuances. Along with Jadarian Price, also a potential early-round pick in late April, Love fronted the sport’s most devastating backfield combination last fall.
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“From coach Seider, I learned more about football as a whole,” Love said. “I learned how to uncover defenses, how to understand the game from a quarterback’s perspective, because coach Seider played quarterback (at West Virginia and Florida A&M).
“He brought that perspective into the running back room. I feel like everything came full circle with those two guys in understanding their teachings, and I’m a better player because of it.”
Seider’s previous pairing at Penn State, Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, could be drafted by the end of Day 2 as well.
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Fresh voices bring fresh perspectives
The introduction of alternative coaching perspectives will be a major offseason story for the Irish defense.
Co-defensive coordinator Aaron Henry was hired from Illinois to replace defensive backs coach Mike Mickens after he left for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.
Former Michigan linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary will follow Max Bullough after he returned to his alma mater, Michigan State, as co-DC.
And former Indianapolis Colts defensive line coach Charlie Partridge, hired in early January, replaces Al Washington after four seasons in South Bend. Washington initially switched to linebackers coach but has since headed to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
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“I know (in) the NFL every team is different,” Oregon transfer defensive tackle Tionne Gray said. “Coming to a new scheme, coming to a new defense, I’m going to understand this and learn it, so when I get to the NFL, I have more experience on two different defenses.”
Gray also considered following former Ducks defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi to California, where he was named head coach in December, along with overtures from Clemson and Missouri.
Defensive backs Jayden Sanders and DJ McKinney, formerly of Michigan and Colorado, signed with the Irish in part to work with Mickens, who had been on staff since 2020.
Instead, they must adjust to the teachings of Henry, a former Wisconsin defensive back who spent time at Arkansas, Rutgers, N.C. State and Vanderbilt before his five-year stint in Urbana-Champaign.
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“I wouldn’t say it’s a bummer,” said Sanders, a Texan who started two games and appeared in 11 others as a freshman. “I’m just building a relationship with coach Henry. It’s just a new coach and seeing what he wants.”
Henry “is a great guy,” Sanders said, but such turnover “is not really something I can control.”
The ex-Wolverine noted that adjusting to a new position coach, for better or worse, “happens every day in college football.”
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: How Notre Dame football could benefit from fresh coaching voices
