Which Players on Notre Dame's Defense Can Breakout in 2025?

Another spring, another opportunity for Notre Dame playmakers to make a name for themselves. Today, we take a look at players on the defensive side of the football who are ready to take that next step.

Photo by The Irish Tribune

The 2024 season was one where a lot of new contributors emerged from seemingly nowhere on both sides of the ball for the Fighting Irish. True Freshmen like Anthonie Knapp and Leonard Moore were thrust into duty after injuries hit their position groups, and both came away with Freshman All-American honors. Players like Adon Shuler and Christian Gray, who did not see much action in their first season with Notre Dame, grew to help form one of the best secondaries in the country as sophomores. Even Jeremiyah Love, who is now widely considered one of the top running backs in the nation, had never received more than ten carries in a regular-season game prior to last year's breakout campaign. In order for Notre Dame to have the level of success they did in 2024, more gems will need to be uncovered up and down the roster, and as we get deeper into spring ball and eventually enter fall camp, I want to start on the defensive side of the things, where there are three names that I feel possess the skill sets to fit the bill.

Boubacar Traore

Traore may have already been well on his way to being a household name last year if an injury hadn't cut his season short. Traore racked up three sacks, a forced fumble, and an interception in only five appearances in 2024. The 6'4" 240 240-pounder has tremendous upside as a pass rusher, which is a spot Notre Dame has been lacking consistent high-quality play from as of late.

One of Traore's go to rush moves is the "long-arm rush" which you can see him utilize above.

He creates instant leverage with his extended arm, and is able to knock the left tackle right into the lap of the QB. The play was designed to be a quick throw, but if the QB had had to hold it for even a second longer, it would have resulted in a sack.

Here is another example of Traore using the long arm, and although in this case his hand gets dangerously close to the lineman's facemask, which is a penalty, you can see the consistent power he generates with this move. Very close to getting home to the QB here as well.

What stands out to me the most in the above clip is Traore's hand usage. Every time the left tackle resets his hands, Traore is able to chop and disengage all while pursuing the quarterback. A pass rusher with a bag of counter moves is a dangerous one, and you can also see the type of upfield burst he exhibits off the snap, as there is not a lot of wasted movement when getting off the ball.

Traore is also able to provide interior pressure in a multitude of ways. Above, he is used as the inside man on a stunt play. He sells the outside rush before looping back inside, where he exhibits very good bend, not allowing the guard responsible for picking him up to even get hands on him. He then runs through the would-be chip block from the running back, and displays his closing speed, tallying a quarterback hit on the play while forcing the throwaway.

Here again, Traore is used inside on a stunt maneuver, and this time he wins with power. He plays with good pad level off the snap, and maintains his leg drive while working directly through a double team from the guard and tackle. He's able to make the QB uncomfortable enough that it results in a fumble and major loss of yardage.

It's way too early to pencil anybody in at any positions of intrigue, but Traore can provide the type of pressure that Marcus Freeman wants out of his defensive ends. It would not surprise me if he were a major factor in Notre Dame maintaining one of the best defensive units in the FBS.

Luke Talich

When looking at the safety spot, it was a tough call between Talich and Kennedy Urlacher in terms of who I thought might explode onto the scene for the Irish secondary this season. Going back to their high school days, both provided elite line of scrimmage skills, excelling at run support and being the type of enforcers you want on the back end of your defense. Where Talich gets the nod from me is the fact that he doubled as a quarterback during his senior season at Cody High, which gives him a high understanding of route concepts and QB progressions. We saw a small glimpse of that last season, and it's something that he can utilize going forward.

As mentioned above, Talich has a high football IQ, and it really shines in the above clip. Talich starts the play as the single high safety in a man moverage look, but once the tight end motions across the line of scrimmage, Talich rotates down into the box to pick him up one one-on-one. Talich immediately recognizes his assignment is staying in to block and starts to read the QB's eyes. The running back releasing into the flat is where the quarterback wants to go, and Talich is reading and breaking on the pass before the QB even releases it. He shows off his ball skills with the interception and has the straight-line speed to turn it into six points for the defense. Forget that this play came in garbage time during a blowout, this is the type of skill set that could turn Talich into a special player.

One of Talich's most impressive traits is his ability to key run from a deep zone and close on the ball carrier in a hurry. Here he is at the top of the screen hovering around the LOS. The pitch play goes away from him, but he does an excellent job of taking the proper angle to get through traffic, breaking down in space and making the textbook tackle. One of the things that made Xavier Watts so special was his ability to help against the run game, and Talich is cut from the same cloth.

In another example of high level run support, Talich is lined up to the strong side of the formation, and blows up not one, but two lead blockers at the point of attack and maintains his balance en route to helping bring down Bryson Daily who was one of the nation's top rushers from the QB position a season ago.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Adon Schuler is a lock to start at one of the safety positions next year. Who his main running mate will be on the back end remains the question. Whoever it is will be tasked with helping soften the blow of losing a player like Xavier Watts, and although Luke Talich has big shoes to fill, I am banking that he is a name Irish fans should get familiar with.

Bryce Young

There is no such thing as getting too much pressure on opposing quarterbacks, so back to the defensive line we go. "Physical freak" is probably not a strong enough term to describe Young, who at 6'7" and 260 pounds, gives you some inside/outside versatility. On top of that, he was a special teams menace as a freshman, recording two blocked field goals and a blocked punt. If Young can start to scratch the top end of his potential, then Notre Dame may be home to one of the best pass rushers in the country when it opens the season at Miami on Labor Day 2025.

This is not a flashy highlight play, but your biggest players need to show up in the biggest moments like third down, fourth down, and around the goal line. Here on 3rd and 11, Stanford calls a QB keeper for a very athletic Ashton Daniels, who had already burned the Irish defense a little earlier in the game. Bryce Young is off the ball in a hurry, and once he reads QB run, he closes from the backside and stops Daniels well short of the first down marker. There were some blockers out in front for Daniels, so if Young didn't make the stop, there is an outside shot he picks up the first.

To be a quality defensive end, you must be able to set the edge. Here is another third down play where the defense needs to get off the field. Stanford pulls the left guard across the formation as the lead blocker but Young is just too gifted of an athlete and beats him to his spot with ease to take down the ball carrier and force a punt.

This is where I start to get really excited about what Young can bring as a rusher. The first thing that flashes on film is how much faster he gets off the ball compared to everyone else. He is four yards upfield in a flash, and that puts a lot of pressure on the offensive tackle to have to try to recover. Beyond that, once he disengages from a block, look at the speed he closes on the QB with. This play will go down as nothing more than a QB pressure on the stat sheet, but it is the traits he displays on any given play that project a very high ceiling for what he could become.

On this play, Young is working against the left guard and is just about flawless. Once again shows elite upfield burst, which he pairs with maintaining a very good pad level. He executes a picture perfect rip move and then flattens his path to the QB who was rolling in the opposite direction. His speed at 6'7" and 260 pounds is eye popping.

Bryce Young uses a bit of the long-arm rush that we talked about earlier in this play, which allows him to maintain space between him and the right tackle, not allowing him to get hands into his chest. After that, he just wins with pure speed and gets the sack on third down in the opening round of the playoff against Indiana. Big players, big moments.

I expect Bryce Young to take a huge step as a sophomore, and the pairing of him and fellow defensive end breakout candidate Boubacar Traore, could end up being quite the combination. Young has elite athleticism for the position, and now it's all about getting as many reps under his belt between now and the opening kickoff of week one.

New defensive coordinator Chris Ash will have plenty of talent at his disposal, including some proven commodities and some players just itching for their opportunity. I truly believe each player mentioned in this article will play a role and make an impact on this upcoming season and in some cases, earn some nationwide recognition. It's always exciting to see who is next to carry the torch of past greats and recently departed players, and Notre Dame sure has their fill of candidates when it comes to defense.