Notre Dame Has A Chance To Have A Deep And Productive Defensive Line

Notre Dame’s defensive line is one of the team’s bigger question marks coming into the season. Isaiah Foskey, the program's all-time leader in sacks, is now a member of the New Orleans Saints. The Irish also hav to replace twins Jayson and Justin Ademilola, and the 113 tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss and 17 sacks the trio racked up last season.

Despite those departures, Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington has a lot of optimism during the first week of fall training camp.

"I think we have a lot of guys that as a coach you feel confident they can execute and perform,” Washington said after Tuesday’s sixth practice of camp.

When Notre Dame broke spring practice, Washington felt good that his defensive line rotation would go eight deep, but players like freshman Brenan Vernan and sophomore Tyson Ford have already opened some eyes during camp, meaning that rotation could go even deeper.

"Vernon and Ford, they’ve really taken to the offseason,” Washington explained. "They changed their bodies. Vernon coming in as a very talented prospect and has a workmanlike mentality. Tyson Ford, working on building his toolbox, but I feel really good about the nine or 10 guys. If you look at a couple of guys being able to play a couple of different jobs, I think that’s the number we’re at.”

The top of the depth chart appears mostly the same as it was coming out of the spring. Ohio State transfer Javontae Jean-Baptiste and Nana Osafo-Mensah are at field defensive end, Howard Cross III and Jason Onye at nose, Rylie Mills and Gabriel Rubio at tackle, and Jordan Botelho and Junior Tuihalamaka at Vyper.

Ford has slimmed down to 275 pounds, which is the playing weight Mills had last season when he split time between defensive end and tackle. Ford is taking to that same role this season and looks like he could find himself in the rotation. Linebacker turned Vyper end Josh Burnham has caught Washington’s eye as well.

"Burnham No. 1 is he’s tough and dependable,” said Washington. "He’s got all the athleticism, but he’s incredibly tough. He may be outweighed in matchups but he’ll come in and mix it up. I think he’s fundamentally developed. It’s a lot, it’s not like you can just come in and play D-Line. There’s a lot of detail that goes into it. I think he’s really worked it. He’s very talented.”

If Burnham and Ford join the aforementioned list of defensive linemen on the field on game days, the Irish would have 10 players in the rotation. The freshman class of Vernon, Boubacar Traore, Devan Houstan and Armel Mukam is still a work in progress, but they have caught Washington's attention already.

"I’m very impressed with the work ethic,” Washington said of the freshmen. "Obviously the talent, they have the attributes, but they have the right mindset. Having four guys in the same class, they’re really gelling and they’ve attacked the playbook. When they first got here we were on vacation, and we’re getting calls ‘What’s this mean? What’s that mean?’ I love it.”

Washington hopes to have a firmer feel for what his rotation will look like within the next week so that he can round the numbers off to get ready for the start of the season.

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