Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2025 37 "To my USC family, thank you for the love, memories, and support over the past few years," Hughes wrote. "Being a Trojan has been an unforgettable jour- ney, and I am forever grateful. I never imagined I'd find myself on the other side of this historic rivalry, but I am looking forward to the journey ahead." Hughes and Dawson will battle in- cumbents Gabriel Rubio and Donovan Hinish for starting status along the Notre Dame defensive line. Dawson obviously has a better shot given his experience, but Hughes' presence will also be paramount. If there's a sore spot on the defensive side of the ball for the Irish, even when Cross and Mills were on the roster, it's up front and in the middle. Again, knowing that, Notre Dame did the prudent thing and tar- geted the tackle position in the portal. The Irish defense will be better for that. KICKING IT For the fourth consecutive sea- son, Notre Dame's No. 1 kicker will be a transfer portal product. In 2025, it's going to be Noah Burnette, formerly of North Carolina. He's following in the footsteps of Blake Grupe, Spencer Shrader and Mitch Jeter. The Irish had varying degrees of success with that trio and are looking for continued steadiness at the position with Burnette. Burnette has made 49 career field goals, fourth-most in Tar Heel history, with a 79 percent success rate in 37 career games. He enrolled at Notre Dame for the spring semester, so he'll get a chance to get acclimated kicking in his new sur- roundings during spring practices. The Raleigh, N.C., product's best season was 2023 when he made 19 of 20 attempts and had a long of 48. He redshirted in 2020 and did not record any statistics for the Tar Heels in 2021. He's been North Carolina's kicker for the past three seasons, though, and he's made better than 70 percent of his field goal attempts each season. In 2022, he made 15 of 21 attempts with a long of 47. He had the same make and attempt numbers in 2024 but with a long of 52. He's only had two kicks blocked in his career. On kickoffs, 28 of his 63 career at- tempts went for touchbacks. He was not the Tar Heels' primary kickoff man the past two seasons, only attempting six kickoffs. Burnette was named to the second-team All-ACC, Associated Press second-team All-ACC and All- ACC Academic teams in 2023. Notre Dame has another scholarship kicker, having flipped Milwaukee Mar- quette University's Erik Schmidt from Wisconsin and signing him in Decem- ber. The class of 2025 recruit will likely handle kicking duties at Notre Dame, but at least from a field goal perspective, he's not expected to do so as a true freshman. Burnette will have to earn his keep. Notre Dame special teams coordinator Marty Biagi isn't just going to hand him the job. Biagi did hand-pick Burnette from the portal, though, with every in- tention of having him come in and take the reins as the Irish's primary place- kicker. Burnette's first steps in doing so will come in March when he settles into the Irish Athletics Center as his new practice home. SAFETY FIRST Notre Dame believes it has more than adequate homegrown options to be Xavier Watts' successor as a starting safety. Luke Talich, Kennedy Urlacher, maybe even true freshman JaDon Blair. You can never have too much depth and experience on the roster, though, so the Irish went out and got some at safety in the form of for- mer Virginia Tech starter Jalen Stroman. Stroman entered the transfer portal immediately upon it opening in Decem- ber. He weighed his options for about a month and committed to Notre Dame Jan. 12. The 6-1, 200-pounder has regis- tered 111 career tackles across 36 games, including 55 solo stops, 2 tackles for loss, 4 passes broken up, and 2 forced fumbles. Stroman had a strong junior season for the Hokies and started seven of 11 games he played in, but in the season opener in 2024 he suffered a collarbone injury against Vanderbilt that sidelined him for the rest of the season. Stroman used his redshirt year for 2024, leaving him with one season remaining. Stroman played in double-digit contests in each of his first three seasons of college football. The 2023 season was his best year, when he posted 55 tackles (24 solo), 2 tackles for loss, 2 passes broken up and a quarterback hurry. He had a career-high 14 stops against Purdue Sept. 9, 2023. Stroman's older brother, Greg Jr., played at Virginia Tech and has been in the NFL since 2018. He's currently a cornerback for the New York Giants. He's got big shoes to fill in that vein, but he's also got big shoes to fill if he is indeed Notre Dame's top replace- ment option for Watts, a consensus All- American and one of the best at what he did in all of college football in 2024. The Irish aren't expecting Stroman to reach Watts' levels of success, but they are banking on him being a surefire starter alongside rising junior Adon Shuler in the back end of the starting defense. ✦ Former Virginia Tech safety Jalen Stroman, who has made 111 career tackles across 36 career games, will provide depth for the Irish's secondary. PHOTO COURTESY VIRGINIA TECH ATHLETICS Noah Burnette, Notre Dame's fourth straight transfer kicker, made 49 career field goals at North Carolina with a 79 percent success rate in 37 career games. PHOTO COURTESY UNC ATHLETICS