My affinity for Bob Diaco continues to grow. While some Irish fans still haven’t forgiven him for his defense’s first game against Navy and the option, Diaco has transformed a unit that was among the worst in Notre Dame history into the strength of the football team.
More importantly, he embodies what’s needed as a defensive coordinator. He’s a young, emotional, and fiery leader that’s done everything from work-in on block destruction drills to quote Gandhi. As passionate of a coach I’ve ever seen, Diaco successfully connects with his players because he equates the Xs and Os on the field with the Xs and Os in life -- truly believing in the principles he teaches as a guideline to survival both on and off the field.
That said, you’ve got to love Diaco just as much for his interviews. Always inclined to give you a thoughtful response while not trying to give anything proprietary away, Diaco does his best to keep the company secrets protected, but also give a respectful answer to an interviewer or question, even when it’s to his detriment. (His postgame comments after the Navy loss created such a firestorm that the coordinators were kept off limits the rest of the 2010 season.) That’s made for some curious quotes from Bob, who has tongue-tied himself more than a few times as he attempted the delicate balancing act.
Here are some updates Diaco gave earlier this week on the state of his defense, courtesy of BlueandGold.com. For those scoring at home, Diaco also used “werewolf” for the second time publicly, this time bestowing the term on safety Austin Collinsworth after deeming freshman Jarrett Grace one a few months ago. ***
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Because it’s such a great quote, here’s Diaco on Collinsworth:
“Collinsworth is having a nice spring. He’s a little werewolf, man. I love that guy. He’s hard not to like. He’s all energy. He is a high-collision player. He is fast when he steps on the gas pedal. He’s got some things, obviously, that he needs to work on, but he’s one of the more entertaining players to watch and be around. If your energy bucket is a little empty, hang around Austin a little bit and it’ll be filled back up in a hurry.”
There’s about a dozen great things about that quote, right down to the almost use of passion bucket, a Dan Patrick Show favorite. But for Irish fans wondering about the secondary and Collinsworth’s ability to jump into a three-safety rotation, this seems to support the fact that there are plenty of questions surrounding the unit, but Collinsworth isn’t one of them.
While I wasn’t in attendance for it, new IrishSportsDaily.com contributor Sean Stires also grabbed these quotes from Diaco’s presser:
On Ishaq Williams, and his improvement from last season to this year:
“Ishaq is learning how to practice,” Diaco told ISD. “He’s learning how to compete at this level and prepare to compete at this level. That’s what he’s learning how to do. There’s a lot less plays where he’s loafing or not giving effort. There’s more plays where he’s giving either the expected level of effort and then also what we would consider to be exceptional effort. There’s a lot more of those plays and a lot less of the plays where we’re just trying to get him to learn how to practice. He’s improving his game.”
On Prince Shembo, who is settling in at the ‘Cat’ linebacker position that was manned by Darius Fleming last year.
“Prince is gonna play Cat,” Diaco told ISD. “Maybe (Kelly) was speaking more to the fact that he can play Dog, and that he did play Dog all year long and that those positions are basically mirrored. He’s doing a great job and working hard out there. We’ve got a lot to replace. We had a lot of great players leave the program.”