Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1538217
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2025 23 Johnson, who missed time last season with a broken bone in his foot, moved to cornerback late in the season to give Notre Dame needed depth in practice, but he's back at safety looking to impress. "He's an extremely athletic player," Freeman said. "If you listen to Tae Tae, he'll be the best wideout and the best DB. And he was pretty good in high school with both, too." Johnson will need to earn the trust of the staff with consistency in addition to his skill set. Talich has that trust because of his intelligence on the field, Freeman said. Stroman, who is the most experienced after playing in 36 games across four seasons at Virginia Tech, has to establish himself at Notre Dame after missing most of the spring due to a collarbone injury. Shuler should be able carry the leadership aspect of the position while the others grow into it. "I would consider him one of the leaders of the secondary and of the defense," Ash said, "because he's been around here for a long time. He's played a lot of ball. He's embraced that role." 3. Establish A Defensive Line Rotation Notre Dame might need a bigger meeting room for its 2025 defensive line. The Irish have 22 de- fensive linemen on the roster. Even if Notre Dame runs three deep at each position, that would leave 10 defensive linemen without regular playing time. The Irish are working to make their defensive end positions more similar than different, which will allow players to rotate on either side of the defense in addition to their original position. Until graduate student Jordan Botelho, who is recovering from a pectoral injury in June, returns to action, the Irish have five defensive ends back from last season with experience: seniors Junior Tuihalamaka and Joshua Burnham, junior Bou- bacar Traore, and sophomores Bryce Young and Loghan Thomas. All five will likely contribute in various ways. Traore and Young are the buzzworthy players who could be breakout stars, but Tuihalamaka and Burnham have experience that shouldn't be discounted. Those ends will be tasked with improv- ing upon the 31.5 sacks the entire defensive line produced last season. "We've got a lot of depth there," Ash said. "We've got some talented players, and they're competing really hard. Pass rush is one of the areas that they really embrace, and they want to be re- ally good at, and they're working at it." Replacing defensive tackles Rylie Mills and How- ard Cross III will be a challenge on the interior. The Irish have loaded up with options, but they will need to establish how deep it can go. The best bets for the top four are graduate seniors Gabriel Rubio, Jared Dawson, Jason Onye and senior Donovan Hinish. But maybe juniors Armel Mukam and Elijah Hughes or sophomore Sean Sevillano Jr. can make a leap into the rotation. "As you look to replace the defensive tackle po- sition, you're not going to replace Rylie Mills and Howard Cross III with two guys," Freeman said. "But there's a lot of confidence that the depth that we have at the position will contribute to the pro- duction being what it was. That's more important: The production has to be replaced. I'm confident." 4. Find Ways To Play Talented Linebackers Notre Dame's ability to recruit linebackers at a high level since Freeman joined the program can be seen on the current roster. Given that a nickel back typically plays more than a third linebacker, the Irish have an abundance of talent for two start- ing linebacker positions. Junior Drayk Bowen established himself as a pro- ductive middle linebacker last season with 78 tack- les, 4 tackles for loss, 3 forced fumbles, 2 passes broken up and 1 sack. The 16-game starter will be a leader in the middle of the defense this season. Notre Dame's second-best linebacker might be sophomore Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, who made his presence felt with 37 tackles in 14 games last sea- son. Notre Dame needs to figure out if Viliamu-Asa can play alongside Bowen or if he's best used in a rotation with him. Viliamu-Asa's usage could dictate the roles for senior Jaylen Sneed and junior Jaiden Ausberry. Sneed finally started to look like the prospect who received so much praise coming out of Hilton Head (S.C.) High. He did so with 51 tackles, 6 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. He put pressure on Penn State quarterback Drew Allar on the critical interception by cornerback Christian Gray, which set up Notre Dame's game-winning field goal in the College Football Playoff semifinal. Ausberry proved to be steady, too, with the fifth most tackles on the team last season, 58. His 6.5 tackles for loss were only behind Mills' 8.5 last sea- son as well. He can't be forgotten when discussing the options at linebacker. Notre Dame played five linebackers through most of last season. If Ash and Bullough are willing to go that deep again this year, perhaps freshman Madden Faraimo can get onto the field. Not many freshman linebackers look as physically ready as Faraimo does. 5. Prepare Freshmen Who Can Play Faraimo isn't the only freshman capable of find- ing a role in Notre Dame's defense. The track re- cord of Mickens suggests a freshman cornerback could very well impact the Irish this season. Any of the three freshman cornerbacks could be candidates. Cree Thomas, Dallas Golden and Mark Zackery IV were all splitting reps on the second- team defense to start camp. All three of them pro- vide some position versatility within the secondary as well. Thomas could move to safety if needed, and the duo of Golden and Zackery should be capable of nickel back duties too. Golden and Zackery didn't enroll early, but Mick- ens helped transform Benjamin Morrison in 2022 and Leonard Moore in 2024 into Freshman All- Americans as summer enrollees. The need for Thomas, Golden and Zackery might not be there yet, but camp improvement can go a long way in preparing them for situations later in the season. Freeman said he's challenged Moore to help develop the freshmen cornerbacks. "If you put pressure on yourself to bring some- body along and to make this guy better — I often say, leave this place better than you found it," Free- man said. "That's more pressure than any acco- lade, any opponent, anybody else can put on you." The size of safety JaDon Blair (6-foot-5, 205 pounds) and defensive end Christopher Burgess Jr (6-4, 275) could make them candidates to play this season, but their positions don't necessarily demand that of them. ✦ Sophomore Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, who tallied 37 tackles over 14 games in a part-time role in 2024, might be the Fighting Irish's second-best linebacker. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER