Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546068
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2026 23 for himself and be a true game-wrecker for opponents on the Notre Dame schedule? Is former Notre Dame com- mit Keon Keeley, who went to Alabama and spent the first three years of his ca- reer with the Crimson Tide, completing the full-circle moment and becoming one of the Irish's best defensive players right before our very eyes? What about defensive tackle transfers Francis Brewu and Tionne Gray? They were picked up from the portal to be menaces in stopping the run and dictat- ing game flow at the line of scrimmage, but at least a fraction of that has to be by way of getting through to the quar- terback on passing downs. Notre Dame has not been a truly elite pass rushing team despite all the Irish have accomplished defensively during the Freeman era. Linebacking play has been solid because of continuity there. Defensive back play has been the calling card of this side of the ball because of the recruiting and development on the back end. Now, it's got to be a revolution of downright nasty defensive line play. That's the next step. It can tie all of what Notre Dame is doing on defense together and make the Irish as well rounded as they've been since Freeman arrived. "How do we just continue to attack some of those negative areas and just keep getting better and better and better and better and better?" Freeman said. 4. How Do Coaches And Players Avoid Any Letdowns From The Start? It all circles back to Notre Dame be- ing a dominant defense in September, not just in October and November. Ash admitted that wasn't how it went in 2025, and Freeman spoke at length with a small group of local reporters in South Bend in late July about the progression of the Notre Dame defense from liabil- ity in the first fourth of last season to strength in the final three-fourths. "There weren't issues in fall camp," he said. "Our defense played really well in fall camp, but it can be so different when you play yourself. You play your own team. It's like, at some point you've got to get away from each other. "When I look at the plays in Miami that maybe we gave up defensively, I mean, it's execution. So, as we look back, did we practice that call versus that concept enough? And that's my way of saying, 'Don't just say it was a great play on their part.' No, how can we self-evaluate and say, 'Did we practice the plays that they made enough?' The answer might be, 'Coach, we've never seen them run that.' Let's be more cre- ative. Let's find a way to create plays. "The thing I look back is like, did we have injuries in fall camp? Did we have guys that couldn't make it through the entire game versus Miami? Why? Let's evaluate what happened during fall camp, where they were at physically, so that we can make sure we have them for the entire game. And so, those are probably more important to me, that we can really utilize to help us as we move forward into how we practice." Essentially, he's saying he didn't envi- sion Notre Dame getting beat up against Miami and Texas A&M but it hap- pened anyway. This year, it's about do- ing what's necessary to avoid letdowns against Wisconsin, Rice and so on. ✦ Here is Blue & Gold Illustrated's projection for Notre Dame's 2026 scholarship depth chart on defense heading into fall camp Aug. 6. DEFENSE Left Defensive End No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 95 Bryce Young 6-6 260 Jr./2 11 Keon Keeley 6-5 275 R-Jr./2 14 Ebenezer Ewetade 6-4 240 Fr./4 94 Joe Reiff 6-5 264 R-Fr./4 Defensive Tackle No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 47 Jason Onye 6-5 295 R-Sr./1 88 Armel Mukam 6-3 296 R-Jr./2 or 56 Elijah Hughes 6-3 295 Sr./1 6 Christopher Burgess Jr. 6-4 300 R-Fr./4 42 Cole Mullins 6-4 280 R-So./3 90 Elijah Golden 6-4 292 Fr./4 91 Gordy Sulfsted 6-5 275 Fr./4 Nose Tackle No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 7 Francis Brewu 6-1 285 Jr./2 0 Tionne Gray 6-5 330 R-So./3 59 Sean Sevillano Jr. 6-2 320 R-So./3 60 Davion Dixon 6-2 316 R-Fr./4 55 Tiki Hola 6-3 310 Fr./4 Right Defensive End No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 5 Boubacar Traore 6-5 253 R-Jr./2 44 Rodney Dunham 6-4 242 Fr./4 10 Loghan Thomas 6-3 215 Jr./2 40 Dominik Hulak 6-3 260 R-Fr./4 Mike Linebacker No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 34 Drayk Bowen 6-2 232 Sr./1 27 Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa 6-3 230 Jr./2 19 Madden Faraimo 6-2 235 So./3 58 Thomas Davis Jr. 6-2 225 Fr./4 43 Kahanu Kia 6-2 225 R-Jr./2 Will Linebacker No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 4 Jaiden Ausberry 6-1 226 R-Jr./2 3 Jaylen Sneed 6-1 227 R-Sr./1 16 Ko'o Kia 6-2 225 R-Fr./4 35 Teddy Rezac 6-3 226 R-So./3 23 Ja'Kobe Clapper 6-1 230 Fr./4 Boundary Cornerback No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 15 Leonard Moore 6-2 197 Jr./2 12 Jayden Sanders 6-0 195 So./3 13 Ayden Pouncey 6-3 180 Fr./4 Field Cornerback No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 2 DJ McKinney 6-1 185 R-Sr./1 24 Mark Zackery IV 5-10 184 So./3 21 Khary Adams 6-1 187 Fr./4 26 Chaz Smith 6-1 172 Fr./4 Slot Cornerback No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 29 Christian Gray 6-0 186 Sr./1 1 Dallas Golden 6-0 191 So./3 32 Nick Reddish 5-10 195 Fr./4 Boundary Safety No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 8 Adon Shuler 6-0 202 R-Jr./2 28 Luke Talich 6-4 204 Sr./1 25 Brandon Logan 5-11 197 R-Fr./4 Field Safety No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 9 Brauntae Johnson 6-2 200 R-So./3 22 Ethan Long 6-2 204 R-Fr./4 20 Joey O'Brien 6-5 203 Fr./4 SPECIAL TEAMS Placekicker No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 35 Spencer Porath 6-0 200 Jr./2 36 Micah Drescher 6-5 196 Fr./4 Punter No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl./Elig. 39 Jasper Scaife 6-6 215 Fr./4 or 18 Erik Schmidt 6-2 211 So./3 BGI PRE-FALL CAMP NOTRE DAME SCHOLARSHIP DEPTH CHART