Spring Breakout Predictions For The Notre Dame Defense
One of the more entertaining parts of the offseason, and especially the spring, is learning what the new Notre Dame football team will look like. Every team is different, having to replace departed players and coaches. How well the new team looks is impacted greatly by the number of breakout players that emerge.
Notre Dame returns three defenders that have earned All-American honors, and there aren't too many open spots available. But that doesn't mean there isn't a need for breakout players to emerge on all three levels of the defense. Notre Dame is poised to be a good defensive team once again, but if the Irish are going to be one of the nation's best groups breakouts from unproven players will be a must.
There are strong options, and the spring gives us a chance to see if anyone plans to take a step forward.
Here are my predictions for breakout players for the defense this spring.
CHRISTIAN GRAY, CORNERBACK - With Benjamin Morrison and Cam Hart already on the roster, it was going to be tough for any other cornerback to make noise last season, but that's exactly what Gray did. The rookie cover man didn't play a lot of snaps (198), but when he did play he was quite good. In fact, Gray had the lowest completion percentage allowed among all the regulars in the secondary rotation.
With Hart off to the NFL, Gray now gets a chance for a more prominent role. He's a different player than Hart, but Gray has excellent skills. Is he ready for a year two breakout that allows him to step into the starting lineup? The spring is going to tell us that answer, but I predict that he is.
In fact, I won't be surprised if Gray becomes one of the top defenders on the team in 2024. That's putting quite a bit on his shoulders, but that is the kind of ability Gray has, but he's also an ideal fit for Al Golden's perimeter man schemes. By spring's end I predict Gray will. be getting plenty of attention as a breakout player for the Irish.
DRAYK BOWEN, LINEBACKER - This is part prediction and part need. After JD Bertrand's career came to a close, there was a gaping hole left in the middle of the Irish defense. Bertrand was not only a productive player, he was also the leader of the group. To some degree Bowen is being tasked with replacing both. He doesn't need to be the captain type of leader that Bertrand was off the field, but he does need to fill the role of leader on the field. That's just the nature of playing Mike linebacker.
Bowen has the size, power and athleticism to thrive at the position, he just lacks the experience. He was a bit raw coming out of high school due to the fact he played all over for Andrean, and that a chunk of his offseasons were spent playing baseball. That's still true, but Bowen has to manage all of that and work to improve his grasp of the defense and technical proficiency.
As he does this his game should take off, and I think we are going to start to see that this spring. As Bowen gets more comfortable in the defense this spring his athletic talents are going to take off and the production will follow. That's why he's a spring breakout prediction for me.
JAIDEN AUSBERRY, LINEBACKER - I have been high on Ausberry from the moment Notre Dame started recruiting him. He isn't the biggest linebacker, but his combination of high football IQ, speed and physicality is really impressive. Ausberry didn't play much as a freshman, and he'll have to beat out others to earn a prominent role in 2024, but I think he has the talent to do so.
Ausberry is currently getting snaps at Rover, but I expect him to be moved around all spring. His ability to play multiple positions should help him force his way into the rotation. I'm not ready to predict that Ausberry earns a starting role, but I do believe that by the end of spring we are going to be talking about how he has forced his way into the rotation and has emerged as a playmaker in the Irish defense.
JASON ONYE, DEFENSIVE TACKLE - Onye earned some much-needed reps last season, which were the first meaningful snaps of his career. He had some good moments, and that experience should benefit him as he enters his senior season. With Rylie Mills and Howard Cross III returning, Onye doesn't have a path to a starting role, but that doesn't mean him breaking out isn't vitally important.
Cross and Mills played a ton of snaps last season, and ideally you want to limit how much they had to be on the field. This is especially true now that Notre Dame has to play 16 games to win a championship. The problem is you can't justify taking those two stars off the field if the play and production of the backups isn't on a somewhat similar level. That was not the case in 2023, but Onye has the tools to make that true in 2024.
Onye is a long, lean, athletic interior defender that can play nose or three-technique. He showed flashes of being a playmaker inside, but now he has to do it on a more consistent basis. I think that happens this spring and Onye emerges as a weapon up the middle, which will take some of the pressure and snaps burden off of Mills and Cross.
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