Al Washington has been a college coach at major programs Boston College, Cincinnati, Michigan, and Ohio State before landing at Notre Dame this off-season to coach the defensive line. The 37 year-old has been coaching linebackers for the past 4 seasons and now has the opportunity to fill the shoes of long-time DL coach Mike Elston who scurried away to Ann Arbor.
He’s set up pretty nicely for his first season in South Bend.
Predicted 2022 Lineup
*Official 2022 roster size
1ST-TEAM
VYPER Isaiah Foskey, r-JR, 6-5, 260*
NOSE Howard Cross, r-JR, 6-0 7/8, 275*
TACKLE Jayson Ademilola, 5th SR, 6-3, 280*
END Justin Ademilola, 5th SR, 6-1 3/4, 255*
2ND-TEAM
VYPER Jordan Botelho, r-SO, 6-2 1/2, 245*
NOSE Jacob Lacey, SR, 6-1 5/8, 275*
TACKLE Riley Mills, r-SO, 6-5 1/8, 283*
END Nana Osafo-Mensah, r-JR, 6-3 1/8, 250*
Reserves:
END Alexander Ehrensberger, r-SO, 6-6 7/8, 255*
NOSE Aidan Keanaaina, r-SO, 6-3, 310*
NOSE Gabriel Rubio, r-FR, 6-5 1/4, 290*
END Tyson Ford, FR, 6-4, 269*
VYPER Aiden Gobaira, FR, 6-5, 230*
VYPER Will Schweitzer, r-FR, 6-4, 225*
END Jason Onye, r-FR, 6-5, 289*
TACKLE Donovan Hinish, FR, 6-2, 260
3 Questions
1) How high can Isaiah Foskey and Jayson Ademilola raise their ceilings and improve their NFL Draft stock?
As the 2021 season was winding down and we were not sure what the decisions would be for both of the players it was looking kind of scary if both decided to leave. Losing long-time veterans Kurt Hinish and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa along with these 2 would’ve been one heck of a rebuilding job for Al Washington.
But, Foskey and Ademilola (plus brother Justin) all stayed! It’s changed the dynamic from worst-case scenario for NFL decisions to feeling like–with the heavy amount of rotation used in recent years–that the defense is moving forward with an abundance of experience.
It could be a banner year for Foskey, especially. Outside of injury he’s a good bet to break Notre Dame’s all-time sack record and is the type of talent who could be the foundation of a great Irish defense with him as the unquestioned star on that side of the ball.
2) What is the plan for Jordan Botelho?
There may be no more mysterious player on the 2022 roster than Jordan Botelho. The former high 4-star recruit has dealt with some personal issues while on campus, and despite a brief amount of emerging hype before the 2021 season, has largely remained well outside the group of playmakers on Notre Dame’s defense.
Things got weird enough last year that Botelho was moved to Rover in the middle of the season due to a lack of available playing time at Vyper. That wasn’t a great sign, essentially trading 3rd-team reps at one position for 3rd-team reps at another position.
One of the big issues is that Botelho is essentially linebacker-sized and he actually remains listed as a linebacker on the roster. Last season, he effectively played a position that could be summed up as “Stand near the opposite tackle and attack the line of scrimmage.” We’re not even sure if he’s truly a Vyper or what his role will be in his 3rd season on campus.
3) Who is going to develop into the next crop of impact linemen for the Irish?
I’m focusing on 4 players this spring:
Mills – Some believed Mills was destined for a major breakthrough season in 2021 especially after a nice sack in the opener against Florida State. Then, outside of a couple sacks against Virginia he’d go on to have a very quiet year including not playing all that much in a few games.
Rubio – Such was the depth chart last year that any playing time grabbed by Rubio would’ve been an impressive feat. As it happened, he didn’t appear ready and seemed like one of those situations where he put on a redshirt early with an eye toward 2022.
Ford – We gave him a grade of 94 as a recruit.
Gobaira – We gave him a grade of 93 as a recruit.
I suspect at least 2 of these players are going to be making a lot of noise in 2022. The two freshmen in Ford and Gobaira are particularly intriguing, too. Both are enrolled early and are joined with Jordan Botelho as our highest-rated defensive linemen over the last 4 cycles.
Overview
There is a lot to like about this unit. I repeat, a lot. Without question this is the strongest position group on the team and one that has to be a force driving the team to get better all off-season.
There will be the pressure for the to players to perform but for spring practice I’m mostly focused on the ability to develop even more depth for the next generation of starters. I’m sure the staff must feel pretty good about Foskey, the Ademilola brothers, plus Cross really came on strong in 2021 and looks to be a sneaky good breakout star.
Players like Mills, Botelho, and Nana are key backups who need to start shining this spring. If we start hearing good things about them (let’s throw one of the true freshmen in there for good measure) it might be worth a point or two in the spread against Ohio State.
It will be interesting to see if Washington substitutes players as aggressively as Elston was doing lately. It seems like our depth isn’t as strong this year, so he may do less substituting just out of necessity.
I really hope so. I like the idea of rotating on the d-line to keep fresh legs in there and to keep the players from being worn down at the end of the game.
This is the best ND defensive line room since when? The early 90s?
I might say 2012, that line was very, very good.
Yea who was on the 2012 DL?
Tuitt, Lewis-Moore, Nix and???
As far as top-end talent from that alone 2012 would seem to have a clear edge.
Is our DL room really that great this year? It certainly has potential and Foskey will obviously be a really good player but is he a 1st round type talent and even if so who are the other future pros that will get significant PT this year?
Freshman Sheldon Day rounded out the group. Not real great depth but that’s so hard to achieve.
Someone needs to make a decent jump outside of Foskey to make this year a really great line.
That was pretty much it, they were running the 3-4. Sheldon Day was a freshman and would rotate in and so would Kona Schwenke (RIP) but I think he had injury issues that season.
I’ve said it here before but the depth developed over the last 5 years is so impressive relative to the previous decade plus. I mean rubio, ford, gobiara come in and we all just assume they will definitely redshirt. Most years they would have been expected and required to play right away. I mean hinish and MTA had to be rotation guys as undersized unheralded freshmen.