Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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44 JUNE/JULY 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED The Irish experimented this spring with both of them on the field, a for- mation it used only 27 times last year. Mills averaged 14.1 snaps per game as a backup three-technique defensive tackle. He was decently productive in those, notching seven tackles (2.0 for loss with half a sack). Pro Football Fo- cus credited him with six quarterback pressures. He was primarily third on the depth chart, but a weekly pres- ence nonetheless. He averaged 21.6 snaps in the three late-season games primary backup Jayson Ademilola missed due to injury. Mills became the No. 2 option at three-technique tackle when Notre Dame moved 2019-20 starter Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa to defensive end. Ademilola is the expected starter there in 2021. NEXT UP? Notre Dame could double the num- ber of starters from the 2020 recruit- ing class this fall. It could also stay the same as before, with only Mayer and Lewis given that designation. The latter feels more likely than the former, but there are a couple posi- tions where a sophomore is strongly in the mix. Start on the offensive line, where the team is replacing four starters and giving tackle Tosh Baker a look as a successor. He's one of just two offen- sive linemen in the 2020 class, which was sandwiched between a four-man haul in 2019 and a five-player class in 2021. At quarterback, Drew Pyne ap- pears to have complicated Wisconsin graduate transfer Jack Coan's quest to claim the starting job this spring. Right now, those two are the group's best hope of adding under- classman starters to its résumé. Pyne's progress may make head coach Brian Kelly stretch out the quarterback race longer than antici- pated, but it's still hard to see Coan not eventually winning it. Meanwhile, Baker has taken first- and second-team reps in spring prac- tice at both tackle spots. This spring was the early stages of a front-five overhaul that won't be completed until fall camp, at the earliest. Notre Dame didn't even have 21-game starting center Jarrett Patterson avail- able for spring drills as he recovered from November foot surgery. Patterson is one of the best five linemen. Where he ends up playing is not clear and won't be until August. His landing spot will have a domino effect on Baker's chances of starting. If he's a tackle, that deflates Baker's odds. Botelho won't start over Isaiah Foskey, but he's primed to take Fos- key's 2020 role as the No. 2 vyper and sub-package starter. Twenty snaps per game from him is a reasonable expectation. He was a havoc-creator on kickoff coverage and punt return teams last year. He played 11 games, mostly on special teams. All 19 of his defensive snaps came in a September win over South Florida. The minor impact doesn't reflect Botelho's major growth in 2020. Notre Dame's second-highest-rated defen- sive signee arrived in January and frequently became his own obstacle. Not long after Notre Dame recon- vened on campus in June, he was sent home. "Jordan had a long way to go in maturity and accountability," de- fensive line coach Mike Elston said. "He realized that we're about a ho- listic development. This isn't about just you getting sacks on Saturday — which he's going to be able to do because he's a very talented player — but not to compromise the rest of our group and Coach Kelly's culture inside the program. "He's not on any lists of bad deci- sions, he's taking care of his business off the field, in schoolwork." SUPPORT SYSTEM As of May 4, 16 of the 17 players in the 2020 signing class were still with Rylie Mills worked his way into a crowded defensive tackle rotation during his rookie season. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS