Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540994
14 NOV. 8, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY ERIC HANSEN T his past weekend was once what the dream looked like for Notre Dame defensive tackle Jason Onye. Family and friends filing into Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Mass., making the hour's drive from North Providence, R.I., to watch him play football — all of which actually happened Satur- day, when the No. 12-ranked Irish clashed with host Boston College. But in the original ver- sion of his dream, he was wearing a Boston College uniform in that matchup — and every Sat- urday game day. "Growing up, it was my dream school," Onye said with a big grin after a recent practice, "until I found better." The 6-foot-5, 302-pound redshirt senior has redefined both his dreams and his reality after walking away from football for mental health reasons dur- ing a bye week last season, five games into a march that would culminate in the Irish playing for the national title Jan. 20 in Atlanta. Now what stands for both is appreci- ating a second chance. At life. At foot- ball. At taking life one moment at a time. And making the most of it. "Left foot, right foot," Onye said. He's probably in line to make his third straight start, Nov. 8 versus Navy, in place of his injured best friend, fellow redshirt senior Gabe Rubio, the latter likely still out with a left elbow injury suffered in the run-up to Notre Dame's 34-24 takedown of Southern Cal Oct. 18. "He's my rock," Onye said of Rubio. "I would just say we just 'get' each other." Onye has always gotten Notre Dame. Just more than ever before in his football reboot. "I felt so strongly about Notre Dame before. Never thought about transfer- ring, never thought about leaving, never thought about any of that. It's just the fact of it just kind of confirmed my beliefs. "Just showed me that the people here really care about you more than football. I feel like if something happened like that to any other player across the country, they probably wouldn't be on the team anymore." And heading into the Boston College game, Onye was coming off his best career showing in terms of film grades from Pro Football Focus, which showed up in a standard stat line as 4 tackles. But in PFF's nuanced grading system, Onye's 87.2 score was the highest of any player in the Southern Cal-Notre Dame game on either side of the ball, in 38 snaps on defense. This is the version of Onye head coach Marcus Freeman saw in August when he said Onye had the best training camp of any defensive lineman he's coached at SECOND SECOND CHANCE CHANCE Jason Onye is savoring another– opportunity at Notre Dame and in life