Reporters watched a full Notre Dame practice Tuesday night, which means we got the clearest sense of the Irish depth chart that we\u2019ll have until the official list comes out before Notre Dame takes on Navy on Aug. 26.<\/p>\n
Here is Blue & Gold\u2019s projection for the Irish defense and special teams, along with any changes since our last depth chart July 30.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Note: Players were only listed at two spots if they play two positions that are completely different. For example, Notre Dame sees weak-side linebacker (Will) and Rover as somewhat interchangeable, but it does not feel the same way about free safety and slot cornerback.<\/em><\/p>\n Graduate student Javontae Jean-Baptiste<\/a><\/strong> ORGraduate student Nana Osafo-Mensah<\/a><\/strong>Sophomore Tyson Ford<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The rest: Sophomore Aiden Gobaira<\/a><\/strong>, freshman Brenan Vernon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>Jean-Baptiste moves ahead of Osafo-Mensah. The longtime Notre Dame DE played enough to still be considered the co-starter, but the first-team reps dipped slightly in the Ohio State transfer\u2019s favor. Jean-Baptiste will handle most pass-heavy situations, while Osafo-Mensah will play on run downs.<\/p>\n Senior Rylie Mills<\/a><\/strong>Junior Jason Onye<\/a><\/strong>Sophomore Donovan Hinish<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The rest: Freshman Armel Mukam<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>Ford exits the three-technique section. Tuesday\u2019s practice reinforced what Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington told us Aug. 1: Ford\u2019s work is mostly coming at defensive end. That opens the door to the three-deep for Hinish.<\/p>\n Graduate student Howard Cross III<\/a><\/strong>Junior Gabriel Rubio<\/a><\/strong>Senior Aidan Keanaaina<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The rest: Freshman Devan Houston<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>None.<\/p>\n Senior Jordan Botelho<\/a><\/strong>Sophomore Joshua Burnham<\/a><\/strong> ORSophomore Junior Tuihalamaka<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The rest: Freshman Boubacar Traore<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>An \u201cor\u201d appears, to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter\u2019s shock and horror.<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>And unlike last time when Tuihalamaka looked solidly ahead of Burnham, Burnham is now slightly ahead of Tuihalamaka. This says more about Burnham, who looked terrific Tuesday, than it does about Tuihalamaka. Blue & Gold\u2019s belief is that Tuihalamaka is slightly banged up, but it doesn\u2019t sound serious.<\/p>\n Graduate student JD Bertrand<\/a><\/strong>Sophomore Nolan Ziegler<\/a><\/strong>Freshman Drayk Bowen<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes<\/strong>: None. Ziegler has been absent from the last few practices due to a medical circumstance, a source told Blue & Gold, but he hopes to return later this week. Notre Dame defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Al Golden said Ziegler will play rotational snaps this season if healthy.<\/p>\n Graduate student Marist Liufau<\/a><\/strong>Freshman Jaiden Ausberry<\/a><\/strong> ORFreshman Preston Zinter<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>Sophomore Jaylen Sneed<\/a><\/strong> not listed here due to the aforementioned two-position policy, but if Liufau went down, he would likely step in. Also, my impression of Ausberry is that his skillset is tailor-made for the Will position, so he goes here instead of Rover.<\/p>\n Graduate student Jack Kiser<\/a><\/strong>Sophomore Jaylen Sneed<\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>Ausberry to Will, but that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n Graduate student Cam Hart<\/a><\/strong>Sophomore Jaden Mickey<\/a><\/strong>Freshman Christian Gray<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The rest: Junior Ryan Barnes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>Gray moves up, as he has solidified himself ahead of Barnes, junior Chance Tucker and fellow freshman Micah Bell as Notre Dame\u2019s fifth outside cornerback. He looked like a veteran during Tuesday\u2019s practice, and he\u2019ll see the field sooner than later.<\/p>\n Sophomore Benjamin Morrison<\/a><\/strong>Senior Clarence Lewis<\/a><\/strong>Junior Chance Tucker<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The rest: Freshman Micah Bell<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>Lewis, who will factor in at outside cornerback more than I previously thought, moves into the three-deep on the field CB side. He should still primarily play in the slot, but he helped out on the outside when Hart went down.<\/p>\n Graduate student Thomas Harper<\/a><\/strong> ORSenior Clarence LewisSenior Ramon Henderson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>None, but Henderson is there for a different reason than he was last time. Henderson was part of Notre Dame\u2019s new three-safety package, and he was the one playing closest to the line of scrimmage.<\/p>\n Senior Xavier Watts<\/a><\/strong>Graduate student Antonio Carter II<\/a><\/strong>Freshman Ben Minich<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>None. Watts looks like he\u2019s about to have a big year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Senior DJ Brown<\/a><\/strong> ORSenior Ramon Henderson<\/a><\/strong>Freshman Adon Shuler<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The rest: Freshman Luke Talich<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>A few. First, Henderson moves up to co-starter status with Brown. That says more about the former than it does about the latter. Second, Harper has not taken a full-team rep at safety all camp, so he\u2019s no longer listed here. And third, even though he\u2019s a walk-on (which is why he was not listed last time), Notre Dame coaches believe Talich has sky-high potential and could help out on special teams this season.<\/p>\n Graduate student Spencer Shrader<\/a><\/strong>Sophomore Zac Yoakam<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>None.<\/p>\n Sophomore Dylan Devezin<\/strong>Sophomore Bryce McFerson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>None.<\/p>\n Graduate student Michael Vinson<\/strong>Sophomore Rino Monteforte<\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>None.<\/p>\n Sophomore Zac Yoakam ORSophomore Bryce McFersonGraduate student Spencer Shrader<\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>None, but this remains a complete guess. Reporters have not seen the kickoff team in action yet. Yoakam kicked off in 2022, but it was supposed to be McFerson before he got hurt.<\/p>\n Sophomore Bryce McFersonGraduate student Ben Krimm<\/strong>Senior Bryan Dowd<\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>The strong-legged McFerson looks like he\u2019ll be the punter, so the \u201cor\u201d that resided between him and Krimm is no more.<\/p>\n Senior Chris Tyree<\/a><\/strong>Sophomore Gi\u2019Bran Payne<\/a><\/strong> ORSophomore Jaden Mickey<\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>None, but the second two are still guesses.<\/p>\n Senior Chris Tyree ORGraduate student Matt Salerno<\/a><\/strong> ORFreshman Jaden Greathouse<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Changes: <\/strong>Tyree caught the first punt from McFerson during Tuesday\u2019s practice, followed by Salerno, then Greathouse. Last time reporters saw the punt returners in action, it was Salerno, Greathouse and Tyree, respectively. Blue & Gold still believes Notre Dame might not completely decide on a starter by Aug. 26.<\/p>\n The post Projecting the Notre Dame defense depth chart at the midway point of 2023 fall camp<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reporters watched a full Notre Dame practice Tuesday night, which means we got the clearest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Strong-side defensive end<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Three-technique defensive tackle<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Nose tackle<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Vyper<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Middle linebacker (Mike)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Weak-side linebacker (Will)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Rover<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Boundary cornerback<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Field cornerback<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Nickel cornerback<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Strong safety<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Free safety<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Kicker<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Holder<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Long snapper<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Kickoff specialist<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Punter<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Kickoff returner<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Punt returner<\/strong><\/h2>\n