SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - The Notre Dame football team has had one of the nation’s best defenses the past few years under defensive coordinator Al Golden. That success prompted the Cincinnati Bengals to offer Golden their defensive coordinator position and he accepted.
Marcus Freeman hired Chris Ash to replace Golden. He has extensive experience as a coordinator, including time as the co-defensive coordinator for the 2014 national champion Ohio State Buckeyes under Urban Meyer.
Ash inherits a lot of good players who are coming back to play, but he has some holes to fill on the defensive line. Howard Cross and Rylie Mills are off to the NFL or elsewhere after filling the two interior defensive line spots the past couple years. Cross played a lot of the last season banged up and wasn’t himself, although he still played pretty well. Mills got hurt during the playoff run and was badly missed against Ohio State. Who will replace them?
Gabriel Rubio filled in for Mills at the end of the season and he will likely start in 2025. He’s a big boy at 6 foot 5 and 315 pounds. Jason Onye will be back in 2025 after missing most of the 2024 season because of personal reasons. He has nice size as well at 6 foot 5 and 291 pounds. Donovan Hinish returns as well, and he played a lot last year. The Irish also picked up Jared Dawson in the transfer portal. He played a lot of football for Louisville and provides more depth at the position.
The defensive end position is loaded. Bryce Young played a lot as a true freshman and will likely start at big end. He has All-American written all over him. On the other side Jordan Botelho and Boubacar Traore both return after injuries cut their seasons short last year, Josh Burnham also comes back and he played significant time last year.
Ash has said he wants to build on the success the Irish have had in recent years. If he can get the most out of this defensive line and avoid the bad luck the team had with injuries last year the Irish defense should once again be very good.
Tomorrow we will take a look at the linebackers
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