Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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32 APRIL 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2024 S P R I N G F O O T B A L L O V E R V I E W BY TYLER HORKA T hree-quarters of the start- ers along a Notre Dame defensive line that helped the Irish have one of the best pass efficiency defenses in college football in 2023 are back in 2024. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Run it back. It might not be intuitive for some to pair the defen- sive line with passing defense. People tend to think more of secondaries for that, and de- fensive backs are most definitely a large part of the equation. But ask senior safety Xavier Watts if he would have led the nation with 7 interceptions without a harassing defensive line playing in front of him and he'll surely say no. Look at how many of his picks were a product of a quarterback feeling uncomfortable and lofting the ball up for grabs in an area of the field that should have been off limits. Graduate students Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills are disrup- tors. The former had a success rate of 13.3 and the latter logged a clip of 15.1 per a Pro Football Focus metric that records the percentage of "wins" versus blocking on non-penalty pass- rush snaps. The only Notre Dame play- ers with better marks were linebacker JD Bertrand (20.2) and defensive back Thomas Harper (19.0). They play positions that lend themselves to coming off blocks much more easily than defensive tackles can. Notre Dame knows what it has in the middle. Cross and Mills are proven playmakers. Success of the Irish defensive line will come down to gradu- ate student defensive ends Jordan Botelho and Duke transfer RJ Oben. The former needs to play like he did in the Sun Bowl, when he had 1.5 tackles for loss and 1 sack, all the time. He only had 3 other sacks in Notre Dame's previous 12 games. The latter needs to channel his inner Javontae Jean-Baptiste, who had a stellar season in his rental year out of Ohio State. The pieces are in place for Notre Dame to have another strong showing up front this fall. They've just got to go out and do it again. DEFENSIVE LINEMEN PERSONNEL UPDATE Position Coach: Al Washington (third season) Returning Starters: Gr. DE Jordan Botelho (14 career starts), Gr. NT Howard Cross III (21) and Gr. DT Rylie Mills (23) Departing Starters: DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste (19) Projected New Starters: Gr. DE RJ Oben (23 at Duke) Top Reserves: Jr. DE Joshua Burnham, Sr. DT Jason Onye, Jr. DT Donovan Hinish Newcomers: Oben, Fr. DE Bryce Young, Fr. DE Loghan Thomas, Fr. DE Cole Mullins, Fr. DT Sean Sevillano Jr. POSITION BATTLE TO WATCH BACKUP NOSE TACKLE We know graduate student Howard Cross III is the starter at nose tackle. But with senior Gabriel Rubio taking a sabbatical — his status for the spring is still to be determined — there is an opening to back him up. Look for freshman Sean Sevil- lano Jr. — all 333 pounds of him — to be a factor. Notre Dame does not have anyone on the roster with a comparable body type to that of the big, burly Sevillano. NUMBERS TO KNOW 10.5 Tackles for loss by Javontae Jean- Baptiste in 2023, making him the only Irish player to sneak into double digits in that category. Jean-Baptiste also led the Irish with 5 sacks. It's on RJ Oben to pick up where he left off. Notre Dame needs him to. 66 Total tackles for Howard Cross III last season. That ranked second among all Power Five defensive linemen and was the high- est number for a Notre Dame defensive lineman since Trevor Laws racked up a staggering 112 stops in 2007. 90.9 Pro Football Focus pass-rushing grade for Boubacar Traore, who logged only 12 pass-rush snaps as a true fresh- man. Only 26 players of the nearly 4,000 who received a grade had a higher mark than that of Traore. ALL EYES ON … GRADUATE STUDENT RJ OBEN If Oben can come in from Duke and have a wire-to-wire impact like Javon- tae Jean-Baptiste had transferring in from Ohio State, the Notre Dame de- fensive line should not miss a beat in 2024. Oben is essentially the same size as Jean-Baptiste at 6-3, 261 pounds, and he's expected to bring a similar playing style, too. The foundation has been laid for him to have success as the Irish's starter at strong-side end. Graduate student Howard Cross III was tabbed as a second-team All-American by four media outlets last season. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER