Notre Dame Defense Must Answer Key Spring Questions
While the Notre Dame offense will look to build a new foundation with a new coordinator, the Fighting Irish defense enters year three of the Al Golden era. Despite the return of some very important players, this group will look a bit different in 2024, and the spring gives us our first glance at what the defense will eventually mold into.
The offense is looking to establish itself, but the defense did that in 2023. Year three of the Golden era is now about re-loading and continuing its strong play, if not getting even better. In order to get there the Irish defense will need to answer some very important questions.
Here are the biggest questions I have about the defense heading into the spring, and how well these questions get addressed will determine if Golden, Mike Mickens, Al Washington and Max Bullough can ensure that what we saw in 2023 was the beginning of things to come, and not just a one-hit wonder.
1. Who Steps Up At Linebacker - Notre Dame lost 63 career starts at linebacker with JD Bertrand and Marist Liufau turning down sixth year opportunities to head to the NFL. Replacing the production won't be an issue, but replacing the experience, leadership and knowledge of the defense will be much harder.
Sixth year senior Jack Kiser will be part of the lineup in some capacity, but who plays alongside him remains to be seen. Sophomore Drayk Bowen will battle to replace Bertrand, and his emergence this spring is vitally important. Bowen is much bigger than Bertrand, he's an explosive athlete and he oozes potential. The question is can he learn the defense and do the little things well enough to be a leader of the defense. This spring is a key period for Bowen along that process, and he'll attempt to learn all that while also playing baseball.
Jaylen Sneed gets a shot to earn a regular spot in the rotation. Now a junior, Sneed is facing a critical period in his career. Sneed is an outstanding athlete, but he hasn't shown that he can do the technical and assignment aspects of linebacker play well enough to be a regular in the rotation. If he can figure that part out Sneed will earn a starting spot and the Irish defense will have a top level disruptive athlete at linebacker.
A player to watch this spring is sophomore Jaiden Ausberry, who was my top ranked defensive recruit in the 2023 class. Ausberry played both Rover and Will last season, and he gets a shot to force his way into the rotation this spring. Ausberry's combination of athleticism, football IQ and power is something that could really boost the linebacker corps if he can pick up the defense and get comfortable with the system.
Freshman Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and sophomore Preston Zinter are two more talented players that will be battling this spring. There is loads of talent at linebacker, but outside of Kiser its very young and very inexperienced. How quickly can this group figure things out and start playing consistently and making plays will have a major impact on the defense.
2. How Do They Fill Cam Hart's Shoes - Veteran cornerback Cam Hart was an unheralded but outstanding member of last year's elite defense. Replacing him won't be easy, but the good news is Notre Dame has a couple of talented players ready to battle to replace him.
Sophomore Christian Gray and junior Jaden Mickey will both play a bunch this season, but just how that rotation shakes out remains to be seen. Will one player emerge as the starter, with the other being a rotation player, or will the two share the position? This spring will tell us a lot about that.
Gray and Mickey are different players, so the answer to this will impact how Golden plays coverage this season. Gray has elite man coverage potential, and he flashed it throughout his rookie season. Mickey is more of a downhill run stopper that thrives best in zone looks.
Watching these two compete this spring is going to be fun, but also impactful on the direction the defense goes in the fall.
3. Will The Defensive End/Vyper Groups Improve - The defensive end position was really good for Notre Dame last season, but the Vyper position was a major problem area. Notre Dame will need to replace its top two ends, but the entire Vyper position returns. So the question is can the Irish match (and hopefully surpass) the production it got at end last season while also improving at Vyper, which would make the edge group as a whole an improved group.
At end, Duke transfer RJ Oben and talented rising junior Josh Burnham will get first cracks at replacing the departed ends. Burnham is a long, powerful young lineman with loads of potential, but he's still learning the finer points of the position. Oben has been a quality pass rusher throughout his career, but now he'll need to develop a more advanced all-around game.
Rising juniors Tyson Ford and Aiden Gobaira could also get a shot to battle at end this spring, as will elite incoming freshman Bryce Young. The potential for the end position to be really good is high, but now we need to see it.
The question is more about Vyper, and whether or not that position can do more. Jordan Botelho had a very disappointing season in 2023, racking up just 4.5 tackles for loss and four sacks in his first year as a starter. He finished the season well, but that was against Oregon State's backup tackles. Notre Dame desperately needs Botelho to show in the regular season the kind of impact production he's made in each of the last two bowl games.
Junior Tuihalamaka also had a rough season as he transitioned from linebacker. With a year at Vyper under his belt the hope and expectation is that his game will be much improved. It will need to be much improved. Despite playing 166 snaps last season, Tuihalamaka failed to register a single tackle for loss or sack, and according to Pro Football Focus he had just four total pressures. Botelho and Tuihalamaka combined for just 22 total pressures, far below the 57 that was produced the previous season by Isaiah Foskey and Justin Ademilola.
Keep an eye on rising sophomore Boubacar Traore, who is the most physically gifted Vyper on the roster. He's incredibly talented, but also quite raw. Him breaking out in some capacity could play a huge role in the Irish defense getting the kind of production it needs at Vyper.
4. Can The Young Safeties Step Up - Notre Dame returns All-American safety Xavier Watts, and in the fall veteran Northwestern defensive back Rod Heard will arrive. This spring, however, the depth chart behind Watts will be very, very young. It will be made up of sophomores Adon Shuler, Luke Talich and Ben Minich, and freshman Kennedy Urlacher.
There is no way around it, if Notre Dame is going to get good play from the entire safety position it needs the young players to step up. At least two of that young group will need to force their way into the rotation. If they don't emerge it will leave that position quite vulnerable, but it could also impact Watts, who would be forced to focus more on the play around him.
This is a big spring for those young players, who don't have the opportunity to develop at a slower pace like we see at other positions.
5. Who Takes Advantage Up The Middle - Notre Dame returns arguably the best interior defensive line duo in the country with Rylie Mills and Howard Cross III coming back. The depth behind those two standouts is less certain.
With Gabriel Rubio out this spring, an opportunity has arisen for the rest of the defensive tackles. Senior Jason Onye got his first taste of action last season, and it should benefit him heading into 2024. Onye is a potential breakout player due to his combination of size and athleticism. If he's going to break out we'll start to see that this spring. Junior Donovan Hinish also got some action last season, and he could see the biggest benefit from Rubio being out.
There are three talented sophomores I'm keeping an eye on this spring. Brenan Vernon, Armel Mukam and Devan Houstan are a very long, athletic and talented young trio. The trio combined for just 21 snaps last season, so they are unproven, and their ability to contribute is unknown. They will get their chance this spring, and if at least one player from this group can emerge the interior depth chart will be just fine. If more than one of the players from this group has a breakout spring the interior depth could be truly outstanding.
Like I've talked about with several positions, there's lots of potential here, but potential doesn't win games, production does. Who steps up this spring and turns their potential into impact play?
6. What Adjustments Will Be Made - Golden will have a different looking defensive group in 2024 with different strengths, and different vulnerabilities. He doesn't need to change his philosophy, of course, but as is the case with every other team that had key departures, he'll need to adapt his defense to fit the current personnel. That means more talented personnel in some instances, but also far less experienced personnel. How well he adapts to the current reality will play a key role in whether or not Notre Dame can build on its outstanding 2023 season and establish the program as one that makes putting big time defenses on the field a regular occurrence.
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