{"id":600785,"date":"2026-02-19T10:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/600785\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T10:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:09:12","slug":"everything-charlie-partridge-said-in-first-notre-dame-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/600785\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything Charlie Partridge said in first Notre Dame press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday morning, Notre Dame defensive line coach Charlie Partridge<\/a><\/strong> met with local reporters for the first time since his hiring in early January.<\/p>\n

Partridge discussed moving back to college from the Indianapolis Colts, Notre Dame\u2019s transfer additions on the defensive line, his philosophy on rotations and more. Here\u2019s everything he had to say.<\/p>\n

Can you take us through the process of Notre Dame\u2019s interest in you and when that really turned into something serious\/turned into you leaving the Colts?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Timing-wise, I\u2019ll leave that alone. But at the end of the day, me and Chris [Ash]<\/a><\/strong> certainly have a 30-plus-year relationship, so we communicate all the time.\u00a0When it looked like they were considering a move with Al [Washington]<\/a><\/strong> to help his career to the linebackers, there was communication with me and Chris and then communication with me and Marcus [Freeman]<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Again, I loved my experience with the Colts, and my experience in the NFL. Learned a lot.\u00a0It\u00a0was not an easy decision, but then it was. Meaning I certainly had the opportunity to stay with the Colts and all those kinds of things, but whether you guys know it or not \u2014 having covered this place, and I think you probably do \u2014 it was a pretty special place led by a pretty special head coach. And then you combine that with a pretty unique relationship with me and the defensive coordinator, it became an opportunity that was obvious.<\/p>\n

You and Chris Ash were roommates at Drake, right?<\/p>\n

We weren\u2019t roommates, but we were teammates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What about Chris has made that relationship so special over the years and led you to coach together at four different spots, including Notre Dame?\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think it is fourth or fifth, I\u2019d have to think about it. And bear with me, so it was Drake, it was Iowa State, it was Wisconsin, it was Arkansas, so this is five.\u00a0I\u2019ll\u00a0just talk about him.\u00a0Extremely, extremely intelligent. Extremely driven. As good as anybody I\u2019ve ever worked with on game day at seeing all 22 moving parts.\u00a0He\u2019s unique that way, so he\u2019s a fantastic adjuster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve always talked football through all the years, whether we\u2019re working together or not. So the opportunity now to come back together, and we\u2019ve all learned, right? He\u2019s gone on to his systems and additional systems, as have I. And to come back together now, and we\u2019ve known each other so long, it\u2019s like \u2014 you\u2019re probably too young, maybe you\u2019re not.\u00a0Remember, what was the MTV show? The Real World? Right? Stop being nice, start getting real. Me and Chris are way beyond where we have to be nice. We can have real conversations without an emotional barrier, come to a solution and there\u2019s no problem.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s hard to do because all us coaches, we\u2019re all the same. We\u2019re all, to a degree, right, we\u2019re all alphas. We all believe in what we believe in. All that stuff with me and Chris doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0We can really have real conversations and move on, which is pretty special.<\/p>\n

You really had to hit the ground running in your first week at Notre Dame with the transfer portal. You obviously have the background with Francis Brewu, but what drew you to him, to Tionne Gray and to Keon Keeley?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Quite honestly, film.\u00a0And I\u2019ll tip my hat to the personnel department. I think they had us on some really good ones. Like you said, it happens fast.\u00a0A lot\u2019s changed in the two years I was not in college football. A lot. Again, just imagine, guys.\u00a0If you include the preseason, I finished coaching my 20th game against the Texans on Sunday, closed out on Monday, grabbed some stuff and I\u2019m up here on Wednesday and we have guys visiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Obviously, communication is happening during that time. But again, I\u2019ll tip my hat to the personnel department for bringing guys on film. There\u2019s a few that we didn\u2019t go on. But I think they had us on the right guys and then it became, who can fit at Notre Dame? My background goes back to Brewu, so I knew from a talent standpoint what he had. Saw that on tape at Pitt, and I think there\u2019s still a lot of room for improvement in Brewu as we move forward. So I\u2019m excited to actually get the chance to work with him now.<\/p>\n

When did you start watching film on the guys here? As soon as you took the job? Was it part of your conversation with Chris or with Marcus, like hey, here\u2019s what we\u2019re working with?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yeah, there was conversation. The first conversation from that standpoint was probably more about, here\u2019s where we have a couple portal needs. So, the focus really was there. When I initially started watching tape, it was more system driven than leaning in on the guys. That\u2019s happened progressively over time.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to go too far in the film evaluation from last year, because I want to see them through my eyes. So I am now having some individual meetings with guys. They come in on their own and we do watch their tape.\u00a0So I want to have the conversation: Why they\u2019re doing what they\u2019re doing or not doing what I think they should be doing, and then build that to where I\u2019m making my own evaluation.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame lost some older guys, but Jason Onye was able to come back for his sixth year. Does that really help to have a guy that is entrenched in Notre Dame?\u00a0<\/p>\n

It does.\u00a0It helps me. Again, this is a unique place. You better care about school if you\u2019re at Notre Dame.\u00a0And guys that have been here know that, understand that. Not that other schools don\u2019t. Online classes don\u2019t really exist here, things like that that don\u2019t exist. You have to go to class. You have to engage with your professor, which as you and I know, that\u2019s a great thing. It\u2019s a learning curve for maybe a guy or two, and having guys that have been through the quote-unquote system here is a huge advantage.<\/p>\n

You said a lot of things have changed in two years. Specifically with early enrollment, five years ago you\u2019d have four or five guys enroll early. Now you have four guys that didn\u2019t enroll early. Is that refreshing for the spring, because you know what you have?\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is. It does.\u00a0I\u2019d have to get deep in on the state of college football, but at least now, you know who your team is for a year. And since you have those kids, the majority of them coming in early, you\u2019re with that 2026 team for roughly a calendar year.So I do think it\u2019s great that, one, they\u2019re able to get in here early now and do some of those things. Two, with the portal window not being available in the spring, we\u2019ve got our team.<\/p>\n

One of the bigger groups on Notre Dame is the defensive line. Does that that work itself out,\u00a0\u00a0beginning on Day 1 in spring? Or does it start working itself out as soon as you can see them?\u00a0<\/p>\n

From a numbers standpoint?<\/p>\n

Just a numbers standpoint.<\/p>\n

It will be \u2014 and this isn\u2019t coach speak \u2014 it really will be an evaluation that never stops. Ever. Mid-game, if there\u2019s someone that\u2019s not playing well, we\u2019ll flip. Bottom line is what those numbers should create, with hopefully high-quality numbers, is competition. So you just can\u2019t rest.\u00a0You just can\u2019t. You can\u2019t rely on what you did yesterday. You have to do it again today.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a position that\u2019s one of the few that lends itself to a deep rotation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For sure.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something you\u2019ve embraced in your coaching career. Where did you learn that from?<\/p>\n

As far as going deep into the rotation, that\u2019s actually a question I can pinpoint pretty quick. My first year at Wisconsin, so you\u2019re looking at 2008. There was a group of first-line guys that had a ton of experience that were really far along in their game, with a group of guys with limited experience.\u00a0They didn\u2019t look the same, so I made a mistake. I played that first line too much.\u00a0And late in games and late in the season, as that started to exponentially become an issue, they started to break down and wear down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I made a decision going into \u201809 that regardless of how ready that next person or group is, I have to get them in. Depending on how ready they are is when and how much I get them in.\u00a0And now you fast forward however many years that equates to, now I\u2019ve got math in my head. So, not to get too deep into the weeds, but there\u2019s two D-tackles. Roughly, on average, 80 plays a game, so you\u2019ve got 160 reps of D-tackle opportunity. If you have four guys, so you\u2019re talking two deep, and they\u2019re evenly, they\u2019re all going to get about 40 apiece.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rewind back to when I had Calijah [at Pitt].\u00a0I needed Calijah Kancey<\/a><\/strong> on the field every moment that he could stand. So now I\u2019m trying to figure out, what is his rep count? What can you manage? So roughly 60. That leaves 100 for the remaining.\u00a0If they\u2019re equal, you\u2019re around 33. So, I\u2019ve gotten to a point where I can manage that during the game, spot guys, etc.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is it a little easier to sell that in portal recruiting and recruiting nowadays? Like, hey, you don\u2019t want 70 reps in a game because you\u2019re going to wear down.<\/p>\n

Absolutely. And you\u2019re not going to do that in the NFL. You\u2019re not, right? Like, on average, it\u2019s 60 plays a game, and the top guys are playing 40.\u00a0It\u2019s just how it is.<\/p>\n

Why are you a good match with Chris Ash?<\/p>\n

Oh, man. I just think that we\u2019ve known each other so long. I think we both love to learn. I mean that. We really embrace watching tape, learning other systems, trying to figure it out ourselves, talking to each other, seeing if it fits what we do, what we have player-wise and then coming to a solution that makes sense wherever we are. We\u2019ve bounced ideas off each other, obviously, when we were together, even when we were not. <\/p>\n

I have a ton of respect for Chris\u2019s vision on game day. We talked about that earlier. He\u2019s really gifted now being able to see 22 moving parts and solved issues on game day as good as anyone I\u2019ve been with, and I have a lot of respect for that. So he says, what do you think of this D-line adjustment? I take it a little bit more to the heart, even though his background is more secondary because of his incredible vision on game day. So there\u2019s no ego that gets in the way with me and him. One, because we\u2019ve known each other so we can disagree and rule and my respect for his vision on game day, that helps our back and forth.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m assuming that\u2019s not always the case, on a staff.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not. For sure. Absolutely.<\/p>\n

Marcus talked a lot last year about Notre Dame marrying rush and coverage. To that end, are there times when you know what adjustment Chris wants to make before he makes it?<\/p>\n

There are times, for sure. Without a doubt. He says we\u2019re going through the tape, you\u2019re right. Chris, are you doing this because of that? Or vice versa. Charlie, how do you see this? Or Charlie, I know you did this last year with Lou in Indianapolis. How did this work for you? I\u2019ve\u00a0 been thinking about it. So yeah, I mean we do know how to make things work together.<\/p>\n

On game day, when everything is so compressed, is that when that helps the most?<\/p>\n

Yeah, a hundred percent. \u201cCharlie, we\u2019re having an issue here. What do you think?\u201d Or, \u201cCharlie, I\u2019m thinking this,\u201d and it can\u2019t be much longer than that.<\/p>\n

Why do you love coaching the defensive line?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a combination, I think, of a couple things. That\u2019s a great question. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever been asked that. When you find what you\u2019re supposed to do, whatever your walk in that line of thinking is, you kind of grab onto it and hold onto it tight.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m passionate about technique. I really am. I love when you tell a guy to push his right big toe in the ground and that helps him get control of his left foot, and he looks at you and smiles, that carries a lot of gratification for me. So, those little things, those little technique things. Then you combine that with our piece of the scheme, like you said, marrying it with coverage. If we\u2019re in split safety as opposed to middle closed and you got an extra guy in the fit whatever. Being able to teach those D-linemen big picture so they understand why we\u2019re doing something a little different, and then you tell \u2019em to put his right big toe in the ground and he starts to put things together. <\/p>\n

I really, really enjoy that, and probably shouldn\u2019t go here, but part of the reason I made the move to the Colts, one, it was an opportunity to grow and to learn and to experience it, but all the losing the opportunity to develop a guy over time was hurting my heart.<\/p>\n

Did you enjoy working with pros?<\/p>\n

More than I expected. Because I had a couple other chances to do it, and I didn\u2019t have interest because I was enjoying the development. Well, then as all the moving things were happening in college football, it felt right. [Former Colts defensive coordinator] Gus Bradley<\/strong>\u2018s fantastic. [Colts general manager] Chris Ballard<\/strong> is a person I think the world of. [Colts head coach] Shane [Steichen]<\/strong>, whatever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So I go there, but my apprehension was, I anticipated big egos from the players, like they would not want to learn. Boy, was I dead, dead wrong. I mean, dead wrong. As long as you\u2019re the same guy every day as a coach. Don\u2019t be moody, don\u2019t be, just try to do everything you can to be the same. We\u2019re all human, but try to be the same guy every day.\u00a0Prove you know what you\u2019re talking about and help them in any little way, I mean, you got \u2019em.<\/p>\n

And that was fun. It was fun having high-level conversations with these guys. Once there was some trust built, I did thoroughly enjoy it. You asked a question earlier about coming here and those kinds of things, the uniqueness of this place and Marcus and Chris, that all played into that decision to come here, too. In a good way.<\/p>\n

Is college more technique-driven? More for you to teach?<\/p>\n

It is, and the thing I did learn in the 20-some odd years I was in college before my two-year hiatus in the NFL, even within the room, you\u2019re having different conversations within the room. And it took me a while to really wrap my arms around, one, getting some of the younger guys in together so I can have these conversations. Older guys together, a little bit higher-level conversation. <\/p>\n

It happens in the NFL, too. My conversations with, I won\u2019t say a name, but I\u2019ll say one of the names, right. With Rookie X as compared to DeForest Buckner<\/a><\/strong>, those are completely different conversations, right? It\u2019s true to a different degree here as well. I mean, I\u2019m having a different conversation between Rodney [Dunham]<\/a><\/strong> than I am with Boubacar [Traroe]<\/a><\/strong>. I mean, you just are.<\/p>\n

Tionne said he\u2019s 325 pounds, and he wants to drop down to 315. Do you want that for him at Notre Dame?<\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s my belief on that. Again, you\u2019ve got weight target goals. For me it\u2019s a little bit about lean body mass, right? And there\u2019s a million studies out there that the more you can have lean body mass as opposed to not, your risk of injury goes dramatically down. So, obviously, movement skills, as long as he loses the right 10 pounds to go from 25 to 15, I\u2019m good. There are some guys that can carry 323. Grover Stewart<\/a><\/strong>. He was 320 with freaky lean body mass. It\u2019s more about that to me than the other.<\/p>\n

Then with Francis, does it matter what his weight is? He\u2019s so strong, it seems like it just works for him.<\/p>\n

Without trying to go too deep into stuff, I\u2019ve been doing this a while, right? So Calijah Kancey hovered around 280, but he was quick as could be. Go back to this past year, [Adetomiwa Adebawore<\/a><\/strong>] out of Northwestern was in the 280 range, playing the same position as DeForest Buckner. It\u2019s relative to person. You understand what I\u2019m saying? <\/p>\n

So, there\u2019s certain technique things that each guy\u2019s going to have to lean in on a little bit different to maybe get the same job done, and with a guy who\u2019s maybe a little lighter, yes, he\u2019s strong, but the reality is 650 pounds is 650 pounds. So, he\u2019s going to have to do some technique things, absolutely clean, to do what we believe he can do. He\u2019s working his tail off in that.<\/p>\n

Pound for pound, he\u2019s the strongest?<\/p>\n

He\u2019s strong. He\u2019s strong. Without a doubt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday morning, Notre Dame defensive line coach Charlie Partridge met with local reporters for the first time…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":600786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-600785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116096753322301519","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}