Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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28 PRESEASON 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 15. DE BRYCE YOUNG Young's freshman season couldn't have gone much better. Did he become a surefire starter and someone Notre Dame couldn't afford to take off the field like Moore? No, but it's pretty difficult to do that right away at defensive end. He still appeared in all 16 games, totaling 23 tack- les — 7 of which came on third down — and 3 blocked kicks, tying for second in the national and first among freshmen. It was a solid foundation-setting sea- son for Young. He cleared himself some space on the runway to really take off as a sophomore. Don't be shocked if he ac- tually is that can't-miss starter this fall. 16. NB DEVONTA SMITH "Smitty," as his teammates call him, is Notre Dame's third annual graduate transfer nickel back. The Irish would be hard-pressed to find a better fit for the position than the former Alabama starter, who left the SEC to be closer to family after the birth of his son, Chrome. Standing at 5-foot-11, 195 pounds, the Cincinnati native is bigger than Jordan Clark and comes in with better coverage metrics than Thomas Harper. Clark and Harper were both excellent in South Bend; they were huge reasons Notre Dame's pass defense has been elite for two years. If Smith matches or exceeds their produc- tion, expect the Irish to make it three. 17. DT GABRIEL RUBIO Rubio doesn't really disappear. You know what you're going to get from him, and it's usually good. He had at least one tackle in each of the 11 games he played in last season. The consistency is there. Now, time for the explosion. It feels, in a way, that everything's been building for Rubio to this graduate season. Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills are no longer manning the middle of the Notre Dame defensive line. There are starting tackle spots up for grabs, and Rubio has as good of a chance as anyone to secure one of them and run with it. 18. LB JAYLEN SNEED At this portion of the top 25, you have to start thinking about the value of each player's role. Sneed has always been an incomplete linebacker. But when he's on, he's productive as both an off-ball play- maker and a situational edge rusher. Par- ticularly if Notre Dame gets thin at defen- sive end again, Sneed's presence is huge. Sneed also gained good weight over the offseason, which linebackers coach Max Bullough said has "transformed his ceiling." Irish fans might be skeptical at this point in Sneed's career, but he's improved every season so far. And even if he's exactly what he was last year, he still belongs on this list. 19. C ASHTON CRAIG Say Craig got injured early in the 2025 season. Do you know who his potential replacements at center would be? Hint: There isn't a senior like Pat Coogan, very experienced at the time of his 2024 replacement of Craig after Week 3, Notre Dame could turn to. It would either be one of two redshirt sophomores in Joe Otting or Sullivan Absher, neither of whom played 100 of- fensive snaps in the 2024 season, or true freshman Cam Herron, who obviously still has much to learn about centering a college football offensive line. Craig's importance is straightforward: He's Notre Dame's best center, by far. 20. WR JORDAN FAISON Denbrock believes a healthy Faison could have become a household name last year — and still can in 2025. Ankle injuries hampered his season, but he reminded Notre Dame fans what he can do in a 7-catch, 89-yard game against Indiana in the College Football Playoff. Faison's value comes from his speed and playmaking ability, both after the catch and on downfield passes. He makes Notre Dame's offense more dy- namic in ways none of his projected co-starters can. Health, as well as a ramp-up period after playing lacrosse in the spring, are question marks with Faison but he's a good player who hasn't reached his ceiling yet. 21. DT JASON ONYE It says a lot about Onye that he could miss the final 11 games of the 2024 sea- son because of a mental health concern and he still shows up comfortably in these rankings. His outlook for the 2025 season is a lot like that of Rubio, who also missed time in 2024 for a non- injury-related reason; they both have much more room to be themselves and make impacts this year without Cross and Mills on the Notre Dame roster. Onye can do a little bit of everything; he had 1.5 sacks against Purdue plus 2 quarterback hurries, 1 pass broken up and 1 blocked kick across the five games he played in 2024. 22. RB JADARIAN PRICE One-trick pony? Yeah. Boom or bust? A little bit. Replaceable, with Love in front of him and several talented backs behind him? Sure, to some extent. But Price provides one massive element for Notre Dame's offense: explosiveness. More than any player on the Irish, aside from arguably Love, Price has the ability to take a mundane rep and turn it into something special. He flipped Notre Dame's Week 1 matchup at Texas A&M on its head with a 47-yard touch- down run, fueled by a vicious jump cut. He also filled in well for Love (knee) twice down the stretch, in wins over USC and Georgia. Price might not be the THE POLL The top 25 was put together by seven BGI staffers who each sent in their own top 25 ballots. It was tabulated the same way as the Associated Press Top 25: A first-place vote re- ceived 25 points, a second-place vote received 24 points and so on and so forth. The tiebreaker system works as follows: 1) Most first-place votes, 2) Most total votes, 3) Highest vote. Rk. Name, Pos. Points (1st-place votes) 1. Jeremiyah Love, RB 172 (4) 2. CJ Carr, QB 166 (2) 3. Leonard Moore, CB 166 (1) 4. Drayk Bowen, LB 142 5. Adon Shuler, S 133 6. Boubacar Traore, DE 129 7. Malachi Fields, WR 127 8. Jaden Greathouse, WR 123 9. Aamil Wagner, OT 122 10. Eli Raridon, TE 98 11. Anthonie Knapp, OT 92 12. Christian Gray, CB 89 13. Billy Schrauth, OG 80 14. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, LB 78 15. Bryce Young, DE 74 16. DeVonta Smith, NB 72 17. Gabriel Rubio, DT 65 18. Jaylen Sneed, LB 57 19. Ashton Craig, C 50 20. Jordan Faison, WR 45 21. Jason Onye, DT 41 22. Jadarian Price, RB 37 23. Jared Dawson, DT 27 24. Will Pauling, WR 20 25. Luke Talich, S 16