In the end, Notre Dame may be able create continuity on defense after all.

On Tuesday morning, Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports reported that multiple sources informed him linebackers coach Clark Lea would replace Mike Elko as Notre Dame’s next defensive coordinator. Lea arrived at Notre Dame last year alongside Elko after a season at Wake Forest and was presumed to be the most likely defensive coordinator hire if Kelly decided to stay in-house after Elko bolted for a financial windfall at Texas A&M.

Lea checks the boxes of defensive continuity and recruiting, two important areas in whatever step Kelly wanted to take with his defense. The Irish have arguably their top defensive recruiting class enrolling this year and it was recruited to fit Elko’s 4-2-5 scheme that employs a rover linebacker. Lea will presumably keep that scheme in place and perhaps build on it through recruiting, where he was instrumental in landing four top linebackers this cycle, which includes three early enrollees.

The question about Lea is his experience coordinating a defense, which he has yet to do in his college career, having never risen up above linebackers coach during stops at Wake Forest, Syracuse, Bowling Green and UCLA.

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