Farewell to the Old Guard
The offense has already been analyzed, so now let’s take a spring look at how Notre Dame’s defensive lineup is shaping up for the 2025 season.
Position: Interior Defensive Line
Scholarship players: 10
Projected starters: Gabriel Rubio and Jared Dawson
Rubio became a starter a bit earlier than expected, stepping in during the 2024 College Football Playoff after Rylie Mills suffered a season-ending knee injury against Indiana. Now in his fifth year with the team, Rubio is set to showcase his skills, likely alongside Dawson, a sixth-year player from Louisville. Dawson has played in double-digit games for the past three seasons, with career totals of 51 tackles, 14.0 tackles for loss (TFL), and 9.0 sacks.
Backing them up is Donovan Hinish, the younger brother of Kurt, who once held Notre Dame’s record for career games played (now likely held by Jack Kiser). Like Rubio, Donovan found himself in a bigger role last season due to Howard Cross III’s ankle injury late in the year. As a redshirt sophomore, he recorded 35 tackles, 5.0 TFLs, and 4.5 sacks. He is expected to continue in a backup role, joining either Elijah Hughes, a transfer from USC, or Jason Onye. Onye played in just five games last season before taking time off for personal reasons but is now back on Notre Dame’s roster. Both Hughes and Onye have limited statistics from their collegiate careers, spanning two and four seasons, respectively.
The interior depth chart also includes redshirt sophomores Armel Mukam, Brenan Vernon, and Devan Houston, along with redshirt freshman Sean Sevillano Jr. and true freshmen Davion Dixon, Gordy Sulfsted, and Joseph Reiff. Among them, Mukam and Sevillano appear to have an edge for playing time next season, while former highly regarded recruits Vernon and Houston face critical springs.
It’s crucial for this position to build as much depth as possible. The defensive interior requires both quality and quantity; however, the top talent at this position was significantly better in 2024 with Mills and Cross. Thus, the coaching staff’s focus for the interior this year should be to ensure the quality of the 2025 backups aligns more closely with that of the starters than the 2024 backups did to the starters.
Position: Defensive End
Scholarship players: 11
Projected starters: Boubacar Traore and Joshua Burnham
Could Boubacar Traore have taken over Jordan Botelho’s starting pass rusher role last season? We’ll never know, as Traore joined the lineup only after Botelho tore his ACL, and then Traore suffered a similar injury shortly after. However, since both injuries occurred in late September, there’s a good chance both players could participate in spring practices and be close to full strength by fall camp. Given their serious knee injuries, it’s encouraging that Bryce Young stepped in as a true freshman and performed well, so he may keep a starting position while Traore spends most of 2025 getting back into form.
On the other side of the line, Burnham had his best season yet as a redshirt sophomore in 2024, starting 10 of 14 games and recording 30 total tackles (6.5 for loss) and two sacks. He faced some limitations early in the season due to an ankle injury from a game against Northern Illinois but has improved year after year, and his senior season could see him reach his peak performance.
Backing up Burnham is true senior Junior Tuihalamaka. Both players were recruited as linebackers in the 2022 class but transitioned to defensive end after gaining weight. Burnham adapted to the position change more effectively than Tuihalamaka, but necessity drove Tuihalamaka to step up following the injuries to the defensive ends last season. He contributed with 33 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss (TFL), 3.0 sacks, two fumble recoveries, and one interception in 2024, including a crucial fumble recovery at the end of a half after Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton was strip-sacked.
Completing the third and fourth string on the edge are true sophomore Loghan Thomas and redshirt freshman Cole Mullins. Thomas nearly had a standout moment last season when a fumble return touchdown against Louisville was overturned by replay. Still, the coaching staff opted to burn his redshirt in 2024, which indicates their confidence in him, especially with the injuries to Botelho and Traore creating more opportunities.
Rounding out the defensive ends are true freshmen Dominik Hulak and Christopher Burgess, Jr., both three-star recruits who won’t join the team until summer.
Ultimately, this position group has significant potential with Traore, Young, and Thomas, as well as valuable experience from Botelho, Burnham, and Tuihalamaka. The concern lies in whether this talent can quickly realize its potential despite the injuries and whether the veterans have any remaining untapped promise.
Position: Linebacker
Scholarship players: 10
Projected starters: Drayk Bowen and Jaiden Ausberry
It’s unlikely that Notre Dame will revert to a three-linebacker starting lineup for its base defense, given the strength of its secondary and the appointment of new defensive coordinator Chris Ash, who also coaches safeties. However, the Irish have a wealth of talent to fill those two starting linebacker positions.
Drayk Bowen, seen as the successor to Jack Kiser—Notre Dame’s all-time leader in games played—will likely have his helmet connected to Ash for in-game communication. Last season, Bowen recorded 78 total tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, and one sack. He also forced a critical fumble against Ohio State that kept Notre Dame’s slim national title hopes alive. The other starting spot could go to Ausberry, who contributed 58 tackles, 7.0 TFLs, and two fumble recoveries last year, including one against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
While Ausberry has a knack for making plays, he may have to fend off true sophomore Kyngstonn Villiamu-Asa, a former five-star recruit expected to excel as a pass-rushing linebacker. Villiamu-Asa had a solid freshman year, although his performance was hampered by a lower body injury that sidelined him at the end of the regular season and the beginning of the College Football Playoff.
Following this top trio is Jaylen Sneed, a true senior and another former five-star talent who played in all 16 games last season, showing strong improvement as the year progressed. He’s also a pass-rusher, but he falls into the “tweener” category in a defense that no longer employs a rover position.
Additionally, there are redshirt sophomore Preston Zinter and true freshman Madden Faraimo. Zinter participated in every game last year but primarily on special teams, and he faces an uphill battle with so many talented players vying for playing time. He could risk falling behind Faraimo, another five-star recruit poised to make an impact as a true freshman, similar to Villiamu-Asa last season. If that happens, Zinter may be a prime candidate to enter the transfer portal.
Completing the linebacker group are redshirt freshmen Kahanu Kia, Teddy Rezac, and Bodie Kahoun, along with true freshman Ko’o Kia. These players are seen as developmental prospects who will need to be patient in their growth at linebacker and might also need to wait if they transition to defensive end, as Kia seemed to be doing before embarking on his LDS mission trip after the 2021 season.
Position: Cornerback
Scholarship players: 8
Projected starters: Leonard Moore, Christian Gray, and DeVonta Smith
Don’t mourn what has passed; instead, celebrate what lies ahead. Benjamin Morrison is heading to the NFL after playing only half of the 2024 regular season due to a season-ending hip injury, and Jaden Mickey has transferred to Cal-Berkely after a mixed couple of years in South Bend. However, Leonard Moore—the true sophomore who emerged as a promising talent in the latter part of 2024—and Christian Gray are back.
Gray faced a challenging conclusion to the 2024 season when tasked with covering Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith in the national championship. Nevertheless, he demonstrated resilience by bouncing back from a tough game against USC with a crucial pick-six and making a diving interception against Drew Allar that helped secure a game-winning field goal against Penn State in the Orange Bowl.
Moore and Gray will be joined by Alabama transfer DeVonta Smith—unrelated to the other DeVonta Smith who recently won a Super Bowl and haunted Notre Dame fans in 2020—who will take over the starting nickel position from Jordan Clark.
The second string at cornerback likely includes true sophomore Karson Hobbs, along with true freshmen Dallas Golden and Mark Zachary IV. Both Golden and Zachary are four-star recruits ranked in the top 200, and they have the potential to make an impact similar to what Gray did to Mickey last season, though they won’t arrive on campus until the summer. Additionally, true freshman Cree Thomas, who enrolled early this spring, and fifth-year player Chance Tucker—who missed all of last season due to an ACL injury—round out the group.
As long as position coach Mike Mickens continues to excel with the Irish defense, any additional support from Chris Ash in coaching the secondary will simply be a bonus.
Position: Safety
Scholarship players: 11
Projected starters: Adon Shuler and Jalen Stroman
Talking about Ash, it will be intriguing to see how he influences a Notre Dame defense that has had a peculiar history at the safety position. For every standout like Harrison Smith, Kyle Hamilton, or Xavier Watts who achieves great success, the rest of the safeties often leave something to be desired in terms of recruiting. With Watts moving to the NFL after two All-American seasons, the responsibility now shifts to redshirt sophomore Adon Shuler.
Shuler is likely to be teamed up with Stroman, a fifth-year transfer from Virginia Tech who played in only one game last season due to injury. In his two previous seasons, he amassed 98 tackles, two tackles for loss, and four passes defended.
However, considering Stroman’s production hasn’t been stellar and he will miss the spring following surgery, it’s possible he could find himself in a similar situation as Rod Heard, a Northwestern transfer who was benched last season due to Shuler’s growth. It wouldn’t be surprising if Stroman were to face competition from Luke Talich, Kennedy Urlacher, Tae Johnson, Ben Minich, or four-star early enrollee JaDon Blair.
In addition to the returning players and the highly regarded Blair, the lineup includes redshirt freshman Taebron Bennie-Powell and three-star true freshmen Ethan Long, Anthony Sacca, and Brandon Logan.
While recognizing that the transfer portal often serves as a temporary solution for positions with gaps, Ash and Mickens need to identify at least two of the younger players at this position who can step in as reliable starters next season. This is crucial since Stroman will exhaust his eligibility after this year, and Shuler may potentially enter the 2026 NFL Draft early.
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