Brandon Joseph Brings Confidence, Playmaking Ability To The Notre Dame Secondary

Great safety play and Notre Dame have gone hand in hand over the last decade. Notre Dame’s newest safety, Northwestern transfer Brandon Joseph, is the latest in the line at the position.

Harrison Smith was a star early in the last decade, and he ended up as a first round NFL Draft pick. The play on the back end of the Irish defense elevated again in 2018 when Alohi Gilman (a Navy transfer) first played for the Irish. He and Jalen Elliott helped fuel a defensive rise that propelled Notre Dame to its first College Football Playoff appearance. Safety play rose to another level during Kyle Hamilton’s 2019 freshman season when he played alongside Gilman and Elliott.

With Hamilton off to the Baltimore Ravens after being selected No. 14 overall in this year’s NFL Draft, Joseph now enters the spotlight. The senior was a consensus All-American in 2020 after tying for the nation lead with six interceptions as helped the Wildcats earn a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game. He brings not only much needed experience to the Fighting Irish secondary, but also a high level of confidence.

"It's intelligence,” Joseph said, when asked about his ball skills. "I consider myself the smartest guy on the field at all times. It came from my knowledge of being an offensive player in high school. I played quarterback and receiver.”

Joseph played those offensive positions when he was growing up in College Station, Texas. He played on the 7-on-7 camp circuit for most of his life. All those reps have helped him develop a sixth sense for where the ball is going.

"Tracking, seeing the ball in the air and being able to track it is a receiver quality,” Joseph said. "A lot of DBs don't have it, and then knowing the quarterback's progression and what quarterbacks really think. They look here and when they look there, they're going to throw it, not knowing I'm right here. It's really an intelligence piece that gives me an extra step. That's what plays into my ball-hawking.”

Joseph has found himself around the ball more often than not through his first three seasons of college football. He played in just four games as a freshman in 2019, then became the ultimate ball hawk with six interceptions in just nine games in the pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season and added three more picks last season.

He flashed those skills again during the final Notre Dame practice that was open to the media. On one of the few deep balls of the day thrown, Joseph snatched Drew Pyne’s underthrown deep throw like a hawk snaring a squirrel for lunch.

"My job back there as a post safety is not to let anything (get) deep,” Joseph explained. “That was what I was doing on that play. I was back there on the post and I was able to hang out on top, read the quarterback and make that break. That's my specialty, you could say, being back there on top and not letting anything go over my head. I was playing to my strengths.”

Joseph will be playing both safety positions this season, and the two spots do have some unique aspects.

"A key to the boundary safety is tackling and that's something I've been working on all offseason,” Joseph began. “I think that's a part of my game I need to improve and I've been working to improve it. Tackling is a key aspect that comes with being a boundary safety.

"To the field, covering, in my mind, I'm the best zone player in the country, undoubtedly,” he boldly continued. “I keep working on my man skills every day because whenever you get to the field, that's where all the open field is. There are a lot of aspects of being a good safety. When it comes to boundary, it's more tackling, covering tight ends, getting physical with tight ends, fitting run gaps. When it comes to the field, it's more coverage.”

Notre Dame’s game at Ohio State will be the first time playing the Buckeyes for everyone on the Fighting Irish roster, except for Joseph. He saw them twice in his Northwestern career, including in the 2020 Big Ten Championship Game.

"It helps confidence for sure, Joseph said of his last experience against OSU. “I know I've been out there before. I've played against them on a much bigger stage in the Big 10 Championship. Defensively, especially the defensive backfield of that game, we did our job. For me to know I've already done that, I was 19 years old at the time I did that and now I'm 21, that confidence is there and I'm excited to play them again.”

Joseph’s highlight play in that 22-10 Ohio State win was a one-handed interception off future first round NFL Draft pick Justin Fields. It’s one his current teammates have quizzed him on.

“I was guarding him, saw the ball and I grabbed it,” Joseph recalled. “I had no intentions on going up with one hand. It just kind of happened like that. The guys have asked about that for sure.”

Confidence and the abilities to back it up. All Joseph needs now is a game to go out and show it. He’ll get it Sept. 3 in Columbus. 

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