Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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38 OCT. 11, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: NORTH CAROLINA STATE What should help the Irish secondary is the Wolfpack's inability to consistently protect Bailey. Only 12 quarterbacks faced more defensive pressures than Bailey through Week 5, per PFF. Those resulted in nearly two sacks per game. Notre Dame has needed the aid of its linebackers to produce pressure, and that could be a recipe for success against the Wolfpack. North Carolina State's pass protection weaknesses have primarily been on the interior, and the linebackers may be able to shoot some gaps while the defensive tackles try to win their match- ups. Advantage: North Carolina State NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. NORTH CAROLINA STATE RUN DEFENSE The running back tandem of junior Jer- emiyah Love and redshirt junior Jadar- ian Price remains the strength of Notre Dame's offense. With an increased work- load since the season opener at Miami, the Irish rushing attack has delivered in significant ways. Love averaged 5.2 yards per carry, Price racked up 6.8 yards per carry and the duo combined for 11 rushing touchdowns in the first four games. Their rushing touchdown total was better than 95 FBS teams through Week 5. Though Love and Price both have the ability to break long runs, they only to- taled six runs of 20 or more yards in Notre Dame's first four games. North Carolina State has been susceptible to explosive runs, allowing five of 30 yards or more — three of which ended in the end zone — through five games. The Wolfpack have relied on lineback- ers Caden Fordham and Sean Brown to be the primary run stoppers. PFF cred- ited Fordham with 27 tackles on running plays, which ranked in a tie for fifth in the FBS through Week 5. Fordham, a captain, led North Carolina State's defense with 10.4 tackles per game through five games, which ranked 11th in the country. Brown is a converted safety in his sec- ond season as a linebacker. He led the Wolfpack with 96 tackles last season and tallied 44 in the first five games this season. No other North Carolina State defender beyond Brown and Fordham re- corded more than 23 tackles by the end of September. The Wolfpack doesn't play with a lot of size on its defensive edges. The top two ends on one side weigh 263 (Sebas- tian Harsh) and 265 (Chase Bond). The other edge is manned by 252-pound Cian Slone and 237-pound Tra Thomas. That could give Notre Dame some prime op- portunities to lean on off-tackle runs. The Irish offensive line tends to play better OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. WR 0 Malachi Fields 6-4 222 R-Sr. 14 Micah Gilbert 6-2 204 R-Fr. WR 1 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 215 Jr. or 2 Will Pauling 5-10 190 R-Sr. LT 54 Anthonie Knapp 6-4 300 So. 71 Styles Prescod 6-6 292 R-Fr. LG 74 Billy Schrauth 6-4 310 R-Jr. 55 Chris Terek 6-6 322 R-So. C 70 Ashton Craig 6-5 310 R-Jr. 64 Joe Otting 6-4 308 R-So. RG 76 Guerby Lambert 6-7 335 R-Fr. or 75 Sullivan Absher 6-8 327 R-So. RT 59 Aamil Wagner 6-6 300 R-Jr. 76 Guerby Lambert 6-7 335 R-Fr. TE 9 Eli Raridon 6-7 252 Sr. 7 Ty Washington 6-4 248 R-Jr. or 85 Jack Larsen 6-3 250 R-Fr. WR 6 Jordan Faison 5-10 185 Jr. 11 KK Smith 6-0 176 R-So. QB 13 CJ Carr 6-3 210 R-Fr. 8 Kenny Minchey 6-2 208 R-So. RB 4 Jeremiyah Love 6-0 214 Jr. 24 Jadarian Price 5-11 210 R-Jr. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. DE 5 Boubacar Traore 6-4 250 R-So. 44 Junior Tuihalamaka 6-2 255 Sr. or 12 Jordan Botelho 6-3 260 R-Sr. DT 47 Jason Onye 6-5 302 R-Sr. 97 Gabriel Rubio 6-5 321 R-Sr. DT 41 Donovan Hinish 6-2 277 Sr. 93 Jared Dawson 6-1 288 Gr. DE 95 Bryce Young 6-7 271 So. 40 Joshua Burnham 6-4 260 R-Jr. WILL 3 Jaylen Sneed 6-2 230 R-Jr. 4 Jaiden Ausberry 6-2 228 R-So. MIKE 34 Drayk Bowen 6-2 235 Jr. 27 Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa 6-3 230 So. CB 15 Leonard Moore 6-2 195 So. 14 Dallas Golden 6-0 187 Fr. BS 8 Adon Shuler 6-0 205 R-So. 28 Luke Talich 6-4 210 Jr. FS 7 Jalen Stroman 6-1 201 R-Sr. 9 Tae Johnson 6-2 192 R-Fr. CB 6 Christian Gray 6-0 190 Jr. 24 Mark Zackery IV 5-11 175 Fr. NIC 0 DeVonta Smith 5-11 195 R-Sr. 21 Karson Hobbs 6-1 189 So. SPECIAL TEAMS Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. KO 48 Marcello Diomede 6-1 195 Jr. PK 98 Noah Burnette 5-10 185 Gr. P 16 James Rendell 6-6 225 Gr. 18 Erik Schmidt 6-2 210 Fr. LS 96 Joseph Vinci 6-4 232 So. 49 Andrew Kros 6-4 225 Jr. H 10 Tyler Buchner 6-1 206 Sr. 16 Anthony Rezac 6-3 201 So. PR 6 Jordan Faison 5-10 185 Jr. or 2 Will Pauling 5-10 190 R-Sr. KR 4 Jeremiyah Love 6-0 214 Jr. or 24 Jadarian Price 5-11 210 R-Jr. NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART Travali Price, a graduate student defensive tackle, had 11 total stops, 3 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks through five games. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS