Sean Sevillano Jr. Is Ready For First Notre Dame Spring Opportunity
The numbers Sean Sevillano, Jr put up in high school are legit. Some might think the 198 total tackles (162 of them solo) that are listed on the Notre Dame early enrollee’s MaxPreps page must be a mistake. Numbers like that would be hard enough for a 215-pound high school linebacker to accrue, let alone a 330-pound defensive tackle line Sevillano.
"It was not a misprint,” Sevillano said of his high school stats after arriving at Notre Dame. "I just have a lot of fun playing the game of football and getting after it. The numbers were certainly impressive, but it wasn’t what I was chasing. I was chasing wins and ultimately, we didn’t get the result we wanted in high school.”
Sevillano accrued those numbers playing for Clearwater Academy International in Florida in just three seasons. He followed his 69 solo-tackle, 19-sack junior season with 88 solo tackles (94 total) and seven more sacks as a senior last fall. He committed to Notre Dame in June of 2023, prior to his senior season, and leaned on Fighting Irish defensive line coach Al Washington as a resource for improvement in his final high school season.
"Notre Dame was a great resource,” Sevillano remarked. "Coach Wash was great. Effort on the field. Chasing plays, all that. I think it all accumulated to what I was able to put out this fall.”
Sevillano is originally from Winnipeg, Canada and only moved to Florida prior to his sophomore year in 2021 when he was 15-years old. He took his lumps as a sophomore playing against older competition before stepping up his game in 2022.
"I went from playing when I was 13 pre-COVID to playing against 18, 17, 19-year-old guys in high school so I was getting acclimated to that and really figuring out how things went,” Sevillano recalled. "The flip of the switch was realizing my potential.
"There were obviously some great guys in front of my those (early) years. The DT – Isaiah Hastings – went to Alabama,” Sevillano continued. "Several guys from that class signed division one. The coach at Clearwater Academy was great. All very supportive of my career and really helped me through that.”
Sevillano is listed at 339 pounds on Notre Dame’s prespring roster. He is one of just two Fighting Irish defensive linemen (Rylie Mills, 305) who weigh at least 300 pounds. His goal is to work with new Director of Football Performance Loren Landow to chisel a few pounds off his frame in his first experience working with a college strength coach.
"I would say I’m going to work down a little bit closer to 320,” Sevillano said. "I’ll ultimately always be strong but to increase that speed. I take a lot of pride in chasing plays, chasing down guys in my senior film. You can see me going to chase down screens. It’s something I really love to do. But yeah, I want to work down to that weight and try and maximize my speed as much as I can.”
Size is something that is in short supply on Notre Dame’s interior defensive line. Sevillano’s size makes him a perfect fit to play behind the likes of Howard Cross III and Devan Houstan at nose.
"(Washington) sees me being a nose tackle,” Sevillano remarked. "Pretty low center of gravity, pretty heavy guy. Other than that, he just sees me as someone he’d like to come in and contribute pretty early. That’s something I’m really looking to do; come into spring ball and make a great impression and get my career started off pretty early.
"I’m beyond ready,” Sevillano continued. "This has been my goal since I realized I could do this, and I could play football at a high level. I’ve communicated to Coach Wash and all the coaches here that I’m ready to play, I’m ready to make a statement because ultimately, I’m playing for this university but I’m also playing for my family, my name on the back and my reputation.”
The opportunity to show himself should be there for Sevillano this spring. Fellow nose tackle Gabriel Rubio announced in January that he would not be with the team during the spring semester, leaving Cross, Houstan and Sevillano as the three primary nose tackles on the roster during spring practice, which officially begins on March 7.
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