Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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36 OCT. 17, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: NAVY that's the eighth-best mark in the country — you're doing something right. Despite losing defensive tackle Landon Robinson to the NFL Draft, the Mid- shipmen have been as stingy as ever against the run. Navy has a "big three" of sorts for its run de- fense: linebackers MarcAnthony Parker and Cole- man Cauley, as well as defensive tackle Griffen Willis. They compiled 13, 12 and 12 run stops (tackles against the run that result in a failure for the offense), respectively, through Week 5. Wil- lis in particular has taken a huge step forward in Robinson's absence, but it is worth noting that he's undersized at 6-foot-1 and 280 pounds. Traditionally, the Irish countered aggressive, one- gapping Navy defensive tackles by forcibly removing them from rush lanes with their superior size. Notre Dame's smallest interior offensive lineman is 6-5, 305-pound junior left guard Anthonie Knapp, who is also its best and most physical. Knapp and company will respect Willis because he's a good player, but he should not be a problem on game day. As for the linebackers, Notre Dame has had great success kicking them out of the kitchen with gap-scheme concepts like counter. Expect a heavy dose of that and some sizable rush lanes for Nolan James Jr., Aneyas Williams and Jonaz Walton in Foxborough, Mass. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME PASSING GAME VS. NAVY PASS DEFENSE Teams haven't passed much against Navy this season, but when they have, they've been ex- OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. WR 6 Jordan Faison 5-11 185 Sr. 33 Matt Jeffery 5-11 195 Jr. WR 1 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 215 Sr. or 3 Mylan Graham 6-1 195 Jr. LT 74 Will Black 6-7 316 So. 68 Charlie Thom 6-7 295 Fr. or 65 Grayson McKeogh 6-7 303 Fr. LG 54 Anthonie Knapp 6-5 305 Jr. 57 Cam Herron 6-2 297 So. C 70 Ashton Craig 6-5 315 5th 64 Joe Otting 6-4 309 Sr. RG 75 Sullivan Absher 6-7 320 Sr. or 71 Styles Prescod 6-6 304 Jr. RT 76 Guerby Lambert 6-7 325 Jr. 78 Owen Strebig 6-8 318 So. or 68 Charlie Thom 6-7 295 Fr. TE 87 Cooper Flanagan 6-6 255 Sr. or 88 James Flanigan 6-6 253 So. WR 14 Micah Gilbert 6-2 205 Jr. 17 Elijah Burress 6-1 190 So. or 8 Jerome Bettis Jr. 6-2 207 So. QB 13 CJ Carr 6-2 215 Jr. 10 Noah Grubbs 6-4 210 Fr. or 9 Teddy Jarrard 6-4 210 Fr. RB 22 Aneyas Williams 5-10 210 Jr. or 2 Nolan James Jr. 5-10 215 So. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. DE 5 Boubacar Traore 6-5 253 Sr. 10 Loghan Thomas 6-3 221 Jr. DT 88 Armel Mukam 6-3 300 Sr. 7 Francis Brewu 6-1 285 Jr. NT 0 Tionne Gray 6-5 320 Jr. or 7 Francis Brewu 6-1 285 Jr. DE 95 Bryce Young 6-6 260 Jr. 11 Keon Keeley 6-5 275 Sr. WLB 4 Jaiden Ausberry 6-1 226 Sr. 3 Jaylen Sneed 6-1 227 5th MLB 34 Drayk Bowen 6-2 234 Sr. 27 Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa 6-3 234 Jr. or 19 Madden Faraimo 6-2 235 So. NB 29 Christian Gray 6-0 196 Sr. 1 Dallas Golden 6-0 195 So. or 12 Jayden Sanders 6-0 195 So. CB 15 Leonard Moore 6-2 197 Jr. 24 Mark Zackery IV 5-10 190 So. BOUND 8 Adon Shuler 6-0 205 Sr. 22 Ethan Long 6-2 205 So. FIELD 28 Luke Talich 6-4 222 Sr. 20 Joey O'Brien 6-5 200 Fr. CB 2 DJ McKinney 6-1 190 5th 12 Jayden Sanders 6-0 195 So. SPECIAL TEAMS Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. KO 36 Micah Drescher 6-5 196 Fr. or 18 Erik Schmidt 6-2 211 So. PK 35 Spencer Porath 6-0 200 Jr. 36 Micah Drescher 6-5 196 Fr. P 39 Jasper Scaife 6-6 222 Fr. 18 Erik Schmidt 6-2 211 So. LS 96 Joseph Vinci 6-4 233 Jr. 49 Andrew Kros 6-4 227 Sr. H 39 Jasper Scaife 6-6 222 Fr. PR 6 Jordan Faison 5-11 185 Sr. 1 Jaden Greathouse 6-1 215 Sr. or 22 Aneyas Williams 5-10 210 Jr. KR 22 Aneyas Williams 5-10 210 Jr. or 2 Nolan James Jr. 5-10 215 So. 20 Jonaz Walton 5-9 214 Fr. or 21 Kedren Young 5-11 234 Jr. NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART Senior safety and team captain Giuseppe Sessi will help anchor a Navy secondary tasked with containing Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr and the Irish passing attack. PHOTO COURTESY NAVY ATHLETICS