Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1534445
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MAY 2025 17 four is a higher number than usual in a 4-2-5 defense. It just doesn't seem like it because they played five in 2024. But Viliamu-Asa was arguably the best defensive player on the field in the Blue- Gold Game, and one of Notre Dame's greatest strengths on defense is four ex- tremely talented linebackers with sig- nificant, high-level experience. There's no reason to mess with that. FRESHMAN WIDEOUTS MAKE AN IMPACT Notre Dame's much-maligned group of freshman wide receivers looked good in the Blue-Gold Game. Elijah Burress and Scrap Richardson both scored touchdowns. Jerome Bettis Jr. caught 2 passes for 19 yards. Burress has generated a ton of buzz in spring practice and looks the part whenever reporters got a chance to see him. Bettis' ceiling is less clear-cut, but he's technically sound. Richardson is not an instant-impact wideout, but anyone who moves as well as he does is worth investing time to develop. Most believed that the wide receivers were the most underwhelming posi- tion group in the 2025 recruiting class. Someone forgot to tell them. ✦ Senior running back Jadarian Price led all rushers with 6 carries for 44 yards (7.3 per attempt) and a long run of 22 yards. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER K. Young 3 34 11.3 0 28 K. Smith 3 19 6.3 0 11 Larsen 2 41 20.5 0 24 Payne 2 32 16.0 0 24 Richardson 2 22 11.0 1 16 Raridon 2 21 10.5 0 15 Burress 2 21 10.5 1 19 Bettis 2 19 9.5 0 16 Southall 1 27 27.0 1 27 Garrity 1 24 24.0 0 24 Totals 28 384 13.7 3 37 Defense Solo Ast. Total Sacks TFL Int. PBU Talich 3 6 9 0-0 1-1 0 0 Brown 5 0 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 Hughes 3 2 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 Long 3 2 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 Mullins 1 4 5 0-0 0.5-2 0 0 Hobbs 3 1 4 0-0 1-2 0 2 Mukam 2 2 4 0-0 0.5-1 0 0 B. Young 2 2 4 1-8 1.5-10 0 0 Ausberry 1 3 4 0-0 0.5-1 0 0 Faraimo 1 3 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 Sevillano 1 3 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 Dawson 3 0 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 Powlus 3 0 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 Johnson 2 1 3 0-0 0-0 0 1 Viliamu-Asa 2 1 3 0-0 2-8 0 0 Thomas 1 2 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 Bennie-Powell 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0 1 Gray 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 Kahoun 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0 1 Minich 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 Onye 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 Zinter 1 1 2 1-7 1-7 0 0 Shuler 0 2 2 0.0-0 0-0 0 0 Reader 1 0 1 0.0-0 0-0 0 0 Sneed 1 0 1 0.0-0 0-0 0 0 Saldate 1 0 1 0.0-0 0-0 0 0 Dunn 0 0 0 0.0-0 0-0 0 1 Totals 48 36 84 2-15 8-29 1 6