Nolan Ziegler opens up on relationship with Al Golden

Last year, Nolan Ziegler arrived on campus at Notre Dame as Al Golden was gearing up for his first season as defensive coordinator. Amid his second spring with the Fighting Irish, Zielger said he’s still learning from the former NFL linebackers coach.

Ziegler, who appeared in one game in 2022, told reporters about his relationship with Golden following practice this week. Golden has plenty of experience at both the collegiate and professional levels, and Ziegler said he’s always learning new things about the linebacker position from his coordinator.

“It’s definitely grown,” Ziegler said of the bond with Golden. “He knows all about the game. I’m learning things from him every day. He’s a pro level coach. I’ve just got to take everything day by day that he’s coaching me about and just implement it out in the field.”

This year marks the first time since 2020 that Notre Dame’s linebackers coach has been around for multiple years. Clark Lea held the role from 2017-20 before leaving to become the head coach at Vanderbilt, and Freeman took over for him in 2021. After his promotion to head coach in wake of Brian Kelly’s departure, Golden came in to take the role, meaning the linebackers had three position coaches in three years.

That continuity is already showing on the field now that Golden doesn’t have to implement his system. So far, he’s seeing some good things through spring practice.

“I notice a huge difference,” Golden said, via On3 and Blue and Gold’s Patrick Engel. “Last year was a confluence of a lot of different things meeting in spring ball. Myself and the systems I’ve been part of, the personnel that was here, Marcus’ system and even to some extent, the guys who were here before Marcus – [Mike Mickens and Chris O’Leary] – some of the things they learned from Clark (Lea). All of that came together last year. It was overwhelming trying to get it calmed down.

“That was the first order of priority for me this offseason. Don’t just pick the plays you’re going to run in the spring, look at the opponents first to see what we need to run. We probably practiced some things last spring we didn’t need to, and as the season evolved, we needed X, Y, and Z. Now we’re practicing X, Y and Z, and these other things are gone. … It has really been a good offseason in terms of that.”