Last Monday we tackled the Notre Dame offense ahead of fall camp, if you missed that coverage you can read it HERE. Today, we look at the defense and an important year for numerous reasons which we will cover below. The Irish defense has been the steadier leader on the team compared to the offense throughout most of the past but comes into 2023 with many questions and the need to rebuild several areas to bring a top unit this fall.

Here is our 18S report for the defense before camps opens in a couple days.

Coordinator: Al Golden, 2nd Season

I was pretty skeptical and unsure of the Golden hiring last year. It didn’t feel like a good fit from a personality standpoint nor was it clear what his long-term plan was going to be jumping back into the college game after a 6-year absence. Now, he’s coming off a season where the defense fell to 42nd in FEI (something that normally sends fans apoplectic when it happens to the offense!), you don’t hear a lot about him recruiting in a currently underwhelming cycle for that side of the ball (although KVA’s verbal helps a lot from Sunday!), and the situation with his unit the linebackers was frankly puzzling in 2022.

There is a ton of pressure on Al Golden (and certainly Marcus Freeman!) to sort out some of the issues from last year and build a stronger defense in 2023.

Returning Starters: 8/11

On paper, looking at this statistic of returning production things should be on the up for the Irish defense. However, just as the lower number on the offense was deceptive so too is this for the defense.

We are counting DJ Brown among the starters at safety. After all, he led all safeties in snaps during 2022. However, I’d guess most fans wouldn’t consider him a verified locked down starter, so we’ll see.

Mills is a starter on the college football all-arms team, at least. 

Also, we are counting Rylie Mills who was primarily the strong-side defensive end starter last fall. However, he ended up finishing 5th on the defensive line in snaps and is moving to a new position on the interior for 2023.

Marist Liufau is a returning starter at linebacker, although we left off during the spring with plenty of rumors and reporting that he could be moving more into a backup role.

Injuries

NT Devan Houstan (shoulder)
CB Cam Hart (shoulder)
CB Christian Gray (knee)
S/NB Thomas Harper (shoulder)
S Adon Shuler (shoulder)
S Ben Minich (thumb)

Make Notre Dame’s shoulders great again! There hasn’t been a ton of discussion about most of these injuries this off-season although it’s expected Hart and Harper will be 100% cleared for fall camp. Surely, Minich will be fine too.

A healthy Harper could be crucial to the pass defense. 

Shuler had surgery back in February and should be well on his way to returning while Gray had his knee scoped late in the spring and I don’t believe it was anything too serious. I thought Houstan had some work to do physically prior to arriving early this year and he ended up missing spring with his shoulder surgery–we likely aren’t going to hear much from him in 2023.

Camp Questions

Taking a look at the 3 most pressing questions for the Notre Dame defense coming into camp:

#1 Can they manufacture a consistent pass rush?

Notre Dame just lost the school’s all-time sack leader and is replacing him with a bunch of converted linebackers. That’s pretty dark when you think about it! The program is hoping for a massive breakout for Jordan Botelho which could happen. However, it’s a huge task to build depth at the weak-side behind Botelho and also look to other positions like linebacker or the big end rushers to also get after the quarterback.

#2 Will the run defense turn things around?

Throughout the good times in recent years for Notre Dame there was always a stout run defense that very rarely put in poor performances across the regular seasons. Last year, we saw far too many hiccups. There was a belief that the Irish defense would be a lot more disruptive and that didn’t come to fruition, either. I feel like there has to be a bit of a return to basics for some positions (hello, linebacker!) and making sure that some of the long rushing plays given up are reduced in 2023.

#3 The red zone defense won’t get worse, right?

This feels like a return to something more normal for a Power 5 team because last year was simply bizarre. Notre Dame only allowed 34 red zone attempts (tied for 10th nationally) which was pretty damn good! Giving up 32 scores and 27 touchdowns was absurd in contrast. Getting a lot better in this area–with maybe a couple turnovers included–coupled with the improvement in Notre Dame’s passing game is one of the overall team boosts that hopefully happen together in 2023.

New Faces to Watch

S Antonio Carter

Notre Dame recently added this Rhode Island transfer and he’s expected to be in the mix to win a starting job at safety. Carter was a versatile defensive back for the Rams and is coming off a season in which he totaled 10 passes defended. That’s not too shabby.

From the Colonial Association to Notre Dame. 

S/NB Thomas Harper

Harper was enrolled for the spring but didn’t participate fully due to the shoulder injury mentioned above. Most believe he was brought in to Notre Dame as the nickelback replacing Tariq Bracy, although he could factor in as a true safety, too. In 4 seasons at Oklahoma State, Harper totaled 93 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions, and 6 passes defended. Those aren’t amazing numbers but the Irish are hoping he’s a great fit in this defense.

DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste

Yet another grad transfer! JJB was here this spring and turned some heads during media portions while also looking a little less athletic and disruptive than we hoped. Then, he didn’t play in the Blue-Gold Game and the public didn’t get a good look at him in his new home. Across 33 games with Ohio State, JJB totaled 8 sacks and 4-5 of those coming in 2023 would be awfully nice.

DE Brenan Vernon

Vernon wasn’t on campus for spring and if he had been I would be making a bigger deal about his 2023 season. I wouldn’t expect much right out of the gate during fall camp, although it’ll be smart to keep an eye on Vernon and where he fits into the defensive line. He could be a versatile pass rusher early in his career and could prove useful even as a freshman.

Key Positional Battles

Rover vs. Nickel 

The days of Jack Kiser barely staying on the field appear to be over. If the spring was any preview, he’ll be juggling responsibilities between Will linebacker and the Rover positions. Notre Dame relied a lot on a nickel corner last year and we’ll see if that is continued without the veteran Bracy filling that role. Of course, we’ll learn nothing about this in the opener against Navy.

Notre Dame should be relying on Kiser much more in 2023.

Weak-Side Defensive End

Jordan Botelho should be the unquestioned starter which really doesn’t make this a huge battle of any sort. Still, we’ll need to see if Botelho is ready to play a ton of snaps and if not how the depth chart looks behind him. Players like Junior Tuihalamaka and Josh Burnham could be key backups but they lack pass rushing experience.

Strong-Side Defensive End

Jean-Baptise came from Columbus probably thinking he will be starting. However, things during the spring weren’t always super clear about the pecking order at this position. Rising 5th-year senior NaNa Osafo-Mensah developed nicely in 2022 and could be sharing most of the 1st-team reps with JJB in 2023. We could also see Rylie Mills moved back out here on occasion.

3rd and 4th Corner

Cam Hart and Benjamin Morrison are locked in as the 2 starting corners. Clarence Lewis is coming off a rejuvenating 2022 and rising sophomore Jaden Mickey showed enough flashes last fall, as well. Even early enrollee Christian Gray was surprising before his injury late in the spring. The plethora of options feels as good as anytime in recent memory. In conjunction with the corners we’ll see who will be stepping up as the nickel corners.

Gray: Another excellent freshman corner debut?

Everything at Safety

You can’t re-write history but it would’ve been awfully interesting to see how safety shakes out in 2023 if Peyton Bowen didn’t jump ship. As things stand before fall camp we are expecting a battle between 4 players (DJ Brown, Xavier Watts, Ramon Henderson, and Antonio Carter) with a side of Thomas Harper thrown in at times. The 18S sports book likes all of these players seeing the field, although a big jump from one of them is welcome.

Redshirt Watch

Out of the 10 defensive players who signed in 2022 only 3 burned a year of eligibility in linebacker-turned-defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka and corners Benjamin Morrison and Jaden Mickey. Of course, Morrison was a freak who wasn’t enrolled early and still finished the season as a freshman All-American.

My guess is we’ll see 4 or 5 from the 2023 class use up a year with an eye especially towards special teams. I doubt any of the defensive lineman will be much of a factor outside of Vernon. I got the sense from the spring that both Drayk Bowen and Preston Zinter could be worked into special teams immediately. Jaiden Ausberry is a little light for defensive snaps at linebacer but could also be a strong special teams player. Would they want to burn so much eligibility with veteran linebackers still blocking the way, though?

With a pair of grad transfers at safety/nickel I doubt either Ben Minich or Adon Shuler are playing more than 4 games. There are a lot of corners on the roster (9 if you include Harper as a nickel) and typically it’s not worth rushing either Christian Gray or Micah Bell. Still, either one of those are good special teams assets, and as we mentioned in the offense preview, Bell could be a punt returner candidate.

Freshmen Numbers

DE Brenan Vernon #17
DE Armel Mukam #93
DT Boubacar Traore #51
DT Devan Houstan #98
LB Drayk Bowen #34
LB Preston Zinter #25
LB Jaiden Ausberry #23
CB Micah Bell #16
CB Christian Gray #29
S Adon Shuler #21
S Ben Minich #22

*Blue italics indicated true freshmen who enrolled early back in January.