We are debuting a scouting report for Notre Dame’s NFL prospects with a few twists. In case you missed it, the annual for the offense was published recently and you can read it HERE. We’ll keep the notes that explain our process for this defensive report:
*Some players, especially upperclassmen, won’t be featured in the scouting if we’re pretty confident they won’t be drafted. Anything can happen of course but we don’t need to waste time predicting a player improves tremendously in one year after not showing enough through 3 seasons, for example.
*In that same vein, there is a bias in favor of young players. Mainly the highly touted ones who haven’t proven they are unlikely to be drafted yet.
*If there are really young players who are showing a high draft spot even before they are draft eligible we’re looking at it more in the sense of a baseball prospect rights situation. In other words, a team would take them that high knowing they wouldn’t be eligible to play for a year or 2 just because they are that good already.
*Including more young players, especially those who haven’t even strapped up a Notre Dame helmet yet, makes this yearly exercise more fun as we’ll track their status if they improve or fall down in their rankings.
*We are working under the constraints of the NFL value system. For example, CBS Sports has tight end Michael Mayer going 10th overall in their 2023 mock draft. Using history and the value of tight ends, it’s very unlikely Mayer goes that high.
*Your typical NFL Draft has around 260 picks, which fluctuates depending on how many compensatory selections there may be in any given year.
Notre Dame Defense Scouting Annual 2022
| NAME | POS | ELG | NOW | FUTURE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isaiah Foskey | DE | 3 | 53 | 14 |
| Brandon Joseph | S | 3 | 46 | 34 |
| Cam Hart | CB | 3 | 212 | 97 |
| Jayson Ademilola | DT | 1 | 189 | 118 |
| Rylie Mills | DE | 3 | UDFA | 107 |
| Marist Liufau | LB | 3 | UDFA | 128 |
| Howard Cross | DT | 3 | UDFA | 151 |
| Tariq Bracy | CB | 1 | UDFA | 173 |
| Prince Kollie | LB | 3 | UDFA | 189 |
| Ramon Henderson | S | 3 | UDFA | 193 |
| Jaylen Sneed | LB | 4 | UDFA | 197 |
| Jaden Mickey | CB | 4 | UDFA | 202 |
| Aiden Gobaira | DE | 4 | UDFA | 206 |
| Jack Kiser | LB | 3 | UDFA | 217 |
| Tyson Ford | DT | 4 | UDFA | 220 |
| Bo Bauer | LB | 1 | UDFA | 228 |
| Jacob Lacey | DT | 2 | UDFA | 234 |
| Clarence Lewis | CB | 3 | UDFA | 239 |
| Justin Ademilola | DE | 2 | UDFA | 246 |
| JD Bertrand | LB | 3 | UDFA | 253 |
| Jordan Botelho | LB | 3 | UDFA | 258 |
*There was plenty of talk about Foskey leaving early this past spring and we believe it was a very good decision for him to return. We saw 5 defensive ends drafted in the first round of 2022 and 10 at this position inside the top 100. Foskey now moves up into the spotlight heading into his 4th season on campus and is starting somewhere comfortably in the 2nd round, we think, with the potential to go much, much higher given a big year where he’s expected to break several school records.
*As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Brandon Joseph popped up on an early mock draft for 2023 in the 1st round. That does seem excessive but most of the early positional rankings for 2023 (which have a chance to be very wrong!) have him somewhere inside the top 4 safeties for the upcoming draft. It’s amazing that technically Joseph has 3 years left to play but he’s likely not in this article next year.
*Cam Hart is someone with a ton of variability over his stock. I was skeptical about him flourishing at corner with his size but his debut starting campaign was very, very impressive. However, after 2022 he’d be leaving with just 2 years of starting experience and so far has 2 shoulder surgeries on his medical record.
*Jayson Ademilola is someone without a ton of variability. He was also rumored to be mulling leaving school after 2021–and while that might have been flirting with going undrafted–he’s the type of high floor/low ceiling player who should be a solid draft pick.
*Mills is firmly in the ‘show me’ category for Irish fans as he’s set to move up to starting status in year 3 on campus. He only has 5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks through 2 seasons and will have a big opportunity to flash his potential as a versatile hybrid edge rusher and tackle.
*Liufau feels like someone who will likely return for a 5th season in 2023 as he’s yet to start more than a few games so far in his career for the Irish. He could blow up nationally in 2022 but I’m straining to think of how great of a season he’d need this fall in order for the advisory board to give him the advice to leave at a position (inside linebacker) that is not highly valued at the NFL level.
*Howard Cross came on very strongly late in 2021 and is probably where our list ends for any 2023 NFL Draft hopefuls.
*The rest of the table is a very mixed bag of veterans and really young players–of course the Covid year makes it feel a lot less so when the likes of Kiser, Lewis, and Bertrand have a combined 9 years of eligibility remaining.
*If we’d have to pick one young defender to move up the list nicely this time next year watch out for Jaden Mickey. He’s unlikely to start out of the gate but is in line to play a decent amount. Right now, he’s probably the clubhouse leader to grab the most snaps among all of the 2022 freshmen defenders.
if every player above is drafted where you suggest, I would suggest that our defense this year should be outstanding! Going from 4 draftable players to 21 is a jump. However I believe that there are some, like Liufau that you have ranked as UDFA which would be a late round pick based on combine numbers and coaches impressions, even with minimal playing time. ND is not linebacker U, but they have made some solid contributions to the NFL over the last few seasons.