Notre Dame Is Poised For A Youth Movement In 2023

It's hard to win a championship in college football if you don't have a lot of talented and productive veteran players, and Notre Dame certainly has that heading into the 2023 season. But Notre Dame's chance to make a run this season will be greatly impacted by the development of the youth on the roster.

Notre Dame returns 14 starters from last year's team, and 18 starters from its Gator Bowl victory over South Carolina. That last number doesn't include starting cornerback Cam Hart, who missed that game with an injury. Notre Dame also welcomes four transfers that played a ton of football last season in Sam Hartman (Wake Forest), Kaleb Smith (Virginia Tech), Javontae Jean-Baptiste (Ohio State) and Thomas Harper (Oklahoma State).

But if you study the Notre Dame roster you'll realize that veteran talent and experience will only take this team so far. If Notre Dame truly going to take a big enough jump this season to be considered legitimate title contenders the Irish will need a youth movement.

Let's take a look at the young players making noise on defense.

Of course, any discussion about young players on the Notre Dame defense must begin with preseason All-American Benjamin Morrison. He had a brilliant first season with the Irish, picking off six passes while earning Freshman All-American honors. He'll be a cornerstone of the Notre Dame defense this season.

While not technically a young player, I'm going to mention Jason Onye in this space. He's a redshirt sophomore, but Onye is still a very young football player after playing just two seasons in high school. Onye was incredibly raw when he arrived at Notre Dame, but I gave him a 4.5-star upside grade when he signed. The tools were there, but there were questions about whether or not he'd learn the finer points enough to thrive.

We need to see him do it on the field in the fall, but Onye has been a standout this spring. He's over 290 pounds now, but he's kept his athleticism. Onye is starting to turn his potential into impact play in practice, and he's pushing to become a very key part of the Irish defensive line rotation.

Notre Dame's veteran linebackers are going to play this season, but we are going to get a glimpse into the future as well. The sophomore and freshman linebacker classes are absolutely loaded, and we'll get a taste of what they can do this fall.

Sophomore Nolan Ziegler has been a spring standout and he's making serious noise at both Will and Mike linebacker. Ziegler is pushing veteran Marist Liufau, but regardless he'll get action this season. I also expect Ziegler to be a young standout on the Irish special teams.

Classmate Jaylen Sneed might not be ready for a full-time starting role just yet, but he continues to flash elite ability. Like Ziegler, he'll at minimum be a rotation player that is used as a pass rusher in nickel/dime situation. Sources indicated to IB that Sneed has been impactful in these situations during the spring.

This duo adds a significant boost in athleticism and playmaking potential to the Notre Dame linebacker corps that was short on the latter in 2022.

Freshmen Drayk Bowen and Jaiden Ausberry have impressed with their athleticism and potential this spring. This group of four young linebackers is the future at the position. Although they might not dominate the reps at linebacker this season (especially the freshmen), I fully expect them to all be key to the success of the Notre Dame special teams this season.

Sophomores Junior Tuihalamaka and Josh Burnham provide depth at the Vyper position, with Tuihalamaka providing power and advanced technique, while Burnham is arguably the best pound for pound athlete on the team. Tuihalamaka will play this season, while Burnham is still a work in progress. If the Irish coaches were smart they would make Burnham a pet project this spring and summer in hopes of doing whatever it takes to get him ready to play in the fall. You simply cannot teach his combination of elite tools.

Morrison will be joined in the secondary by classmate Jaden Mickey, who is competing for the No. 3 cornerback spot this season. Mickey has had a quality spring, showing more patience and improved fundamentals in his second season. I also expect freshman Christian Gray to force his way onto the field this season. It's uncanny how much Gray reminds me of Morrison, both in stature and athletic talent, and his instincts in coverage. Classmate Ben Minich has improved throughout the spring and is also competing for a spot in the safety rotation.

Outside of Morrison, we might not see any other freshmen and sophomores in starting roles, but we are going to see these two classes provide a lot of snaps, impact playmaking moments and they will be relied on heavily on special teams.

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