Football games are coming, but first some practices. It’s that time of year when the pads are strapped on, cold tubs are by the ready, and the media wait eagerly to post their Tweets once the workouts are over. In case you missed it, I covered the Notre Dame offense HERE with fall camp just around the corner. Now we’ll cover the defense as the Irish look to keep one of the nation’s best defenses firing on all cylinders.

Coordinator: Chris Ash, 1st Season

It was a quiet spring for Notre Dame’s new defensive coordinator who follows up a tremendous trio of assistants in Mike Elko, Clark Lea, and Al Golden. A bunch of sweeping changes to the scheme and utilization of players doesn’t look likely. The only major change that has been discussed recently is removing the strong-side and weak-side defensive end designations. Ash prefers the flexibility of left vs. right and trying to win matchups that way. With the modern game, I have to agree.

Returning Starters: 5/11

As we always discuss, returning starters is a bit of funny math and you can move this number around as you see fit. I am counting Josh Burnham, Drayk Bowen, Leonard Moore, Christian Gray, and Adon Shuler as returning starters to complete my number. Burnham wasn’t a 2024 opening day starter but ended up that way while playing a ton while Leonard Moore emerged as a freshman All-American after the injury of Benjamin Morrison and also played a ridiculous amount of snaps in 2024.

You could add Jordan Botelho as a 6th starter if he were healthy.

Injuries

DE Jordan Botelho
DT Davion Dixon
DT Brendan Vernon
LB Kahanu Kia
CB Chance Tucker
S Jalen Stroman

Back to Botelho, he tore his pectoral muscle in June and is set to miss a large chunk of the 2025 season at minimum. His fellow edge rusher Boubacar Traore tore his ACL last year against Louisville, didn’t participate in the spring, but was on schedule for full participation this summer. Let’s hope.

Notre Dame opens the season without Botelho. 

Davion Dixon was another pectoral injury suffered in the spring and we’ll see if he’s healthy enough for camp soon. Vernon tore his MCL during the spring and should be a more long-term injury situation.

All three of Kahanu Kia (knee), Chance Tucker (knee), and Jalen Stroman (collarbone) were out for the spring (Stroman was non-contact to be precise) and should be back and available for fall camp.

Camp Questions

#1 Re-loading the Back

The loss of All-American Xavier Watts looms large for this secondary that totaled 16 interceptions last year but brings back the bulk of its weapons from a year ago. Kennedy Urlacher looked like a possibility last year but when that didn’t happen he skedaddled off to USC. The spring saw the lanky Luke Talich make a move as a potential starter while the equally Lanky Boys like Tae Johnson and Ja’Don Blair might throw their hat in the ring along with the transfer candidate in Stroman.

#2 Finding the Right Line Mix

By my count there are 11 defensive linemen firmly in the mix for minutes to begin fall camp. If Botelho were healthy it would be 12-deep. This Irish front may not have a proven superstar yet but there are a lot of bodies to help keep things fresh. Realistically, it’ll be difficult to include more players than 3-deep across the whole line.

Periphery players like Cole Mullins and Sean Sevillano could develop into useful players but might start camp pretty far off the rotation.

#3 Cornerback Depth

With many places considering true sophomore Leonard Moore the best returning cornerback in college football it’s not difficult to believe the Irish have one of the best starting trios in the country when Christian Gray and DeVonta Smith are added to the mix. The starting positions are not a question mark but there remains big questions about the depth behind these players.

Hobbs could be thrust into a lot of playing time. 

One thing is certain, the backup ranks are extremely young. Redshirt sophomore Ben Minich was working at nickel during the spring and he’d be the oldest of the bunch. Karson Hobbs probably slots in as a valued backup cornerback and nickel based on a solid 2024. After that we’re looking at true freshmen growing up pretty fast.

New Faces to Watch

NB DeVonta Smith

Jordan Clark exceeded all expectations last year but the nickel position with Alabama transfer Smith might be one of the few spots on the roster where Notre Dame hopefully is getting a sure-fire upgrade. He was very good in coverage and has NFL talent coming out of an impressive career in Tuscaloosa. Out of all the new faces, Smith is the most exciting and should have the most immediate impact.

DT Jared Dawson

Recall above the deep defensive line where working out who the starters will be on the interior especially needs to be an emphasis during fall camp. Dawson had a nice career at Louisville progressing towards 7 tackles for loss in just 10 games last year. Maybe he’s just a quality depth piece but Dawson might be good enough to make a big impact.

S JaDon Blair

If you checked out during the off-season and are just coming back to the football team ahead of 2025 we must alert you that Notre Dame has a potential Dude at safety from the freshman class who is an absurd 6’5″ ball hawk. Blair was a blue-chip recruit (no. 155 overall in the Composite) and might be on his way to outperforming that ranking with the Irish.

The NFL is already drooling over Blair’s length. 

S Jalen Stroman

Surely the coaching staff brought Stroman in to be a starter at safety and they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt for the vast majority of transfers into the program. Still, Stroman missed all but a handful of snaps last year with a collarbone injury that needed to be re-addressed once he arrived at Notre Dame and he hasn’t started a ton of game in his career, either.

5 Quick Thoughts

1) My pick for “this guy needs a strong fall camp” is Gabriel Rubio. The loss of Rylie Mills and Howard Cross is probably the biggest obstacle to overcome on the defense (if not the entire team) and the interior of the defensive line doesn’t have a no-doubt leader heading into 2025.

2) If we assume Leonard Moore is tagged as the best player on the defense, who will be 2nd best? Is this the camp where linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa asserts himself and easily grabs that title?

3) But wait! Am I sleeping on rising junior middle linebacker Drayk Bowen? According to the fine folks over at Pro Football Focus I sure am as they have tabbed Bowen as the most valuable returning player at his position. Also featuring Jeremiyah Love and Leonard Moore.

I don’t know if Bowen’s reputation among Irish fans is quite this high but he did make some spectacular plays in 2024 and didn’t get enough credit for moving into a starting role while being a rock in the middle.

4) Many expected veteran linebacker Jaylen Sneed to transfer out this past off-season, not necessarily due to being disgruntled (that seems to be behind him now), but more so to find a new home where he’ll see the field a lot more in his final season. I’m super curious to see how Chris Ash incorporates Sneed in this defense and if he’ll fill a more consistent role than in the past.

5) Veteran 18S commentator CardinalBaseball noted in the offense fall camp preview that Notre Dame is on a run with a summer enrollee being the best overall freshman in recent years. You can give a shout towards defensive lineman Chris Burgess or cornerback Dallas Golden continuing that tradition.

Redshirt Watch

This article for last year saw me wonder if anyone outside of KVA (he was a lock as an early enrollee who was already impressing among a young linebacker unit) would burn a year of eligibility. A handful more did in Leonard Moore, Karson Hobbs, Loghan Thomas, and Bryce Young.

Burn It: Madden Faraimo, Dallas Golden, Chris Burgess, JaDon Blair

This is a very nice collection of true freshmen that most years would easily see the field and use a year of eligibility.

Borderline: Cree Thomas, Ethan Long

My guess is that Thomas is truly a borderline guy who might get pressed into action due to injuries. Meanwhile, Long was here in the spring and looks to be really mature with a special teams role possibly carved out early in his career.

Keep It: Mark Zackery, Dominik Hulak, Davion Dixon, Gordy Sulfstead, Joe Reiff, Ko’o Kia, Anthony Sacca, Brandon Logan

We need some depth at corner but this 2025 class is deep and Zackery came in weighing a buck-70. Famous last words, but I can’t see anyone else playing a lot from this list above. Who will I be hilariously wrong about??

Freshmen Numbers

DE Dominik Hulak #30
DL Joe Reiff #94
DL Chris Burgess #33
DL Davion Dixon #60
DL Gordy Sulfstead #91
LB Anthony Sacca #39
LB Ko’o Kia #45
LB Madden Faraimo #19
CB Cree Thomas #20
CB Dallas Golden #14
CB Mark Zackery #24
S Ja’Don Blair #11
S Brandon Logan #29
S Ethan Long #22
K Erik Schmidt #18

BLUE denotes early enrolled freshmen.