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Notre Dame football is set to take on the Texas A&M Aggies this weekend, traveling to Kyle Field for the game Saturday night. In preparation, the Irish staff has released the depth chart for the first game. There were some obvious listings, and surprises as well.
Here is the defensive depth chart, which had some interesting listings. It’s projected to be a tremendous unit, with both proven and younger talent. This side of the ball is very exciting.
Defensive line
DE - RJ Oben
DE - Joshua Burnham or Bryce Young
NT - Howard Cross
NT - Donovan Hinish
DT - Rylie Mills
DT - Jason Onye
DT - Armel Mukam
VYPER - Jordan Botelho
VYPER - Boubacar Traore or Junior Tuihalamaka
At the big end position, there isn’t any surprise that Oben is listed as the starter. It also isn’t surprising that Burnham is listed behind him. One cool thing to see is Young making the ascension to the second team, lining him up for some playing time early on. That is one of the deeper units on the team.
Traore made a huge step this offseason. He’s set for a lot of playing time behind Botelho, and look for him to get more and more playing time as the season goes on. Being more impactful at vyper is very important, and will be worth monitoring.
Having Hinish and Onye behind the dynamic duo of Cross and Mills was not at all surprising. After the injury to Gabriel Rubio, that was very expected. One cool note was seeing Mukam, who has had a great offseason since returning from a shoulder injury. That was the only spot that listed a three-deep, which is very notable.
Linebacker
MLB - Drayk Bowen
MLB - Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa
WLB - Jack Kiser
WLB - Jaiden Ausberry
ROVER - Jaylen Sneed
ROVER - Jaiden Ausberry
Notre Dame made it very known that there are five linebackers that they like, and that will play. We saw that with the listing, and there were very few surprises. Ausberry is poised to play a lot as the top backup at two different spots. This is a young (sans Dr. Kiser) and an exciting group.
Secondary
BC - Benjamin Morrison
BC - Leonard Moore
FC - Christian Gray
FC - Jaden Mickey
BS - Adon Shuler
BS - Luke Talich or Kennedy Urlacher
FS - Xavier Watts
FS - Rod Heard
NICKEL - Jordan Clark
NICKEL - Karson Hobbs
This is another group that had very few surprises. We knew who the starting cornerbacks were going to be, and who the main backup would be as well. The depth did take a hit with the injury to Chance Tucker, but should be a tremendous group.
The safety group did have a slight surprise. After projecting Heard to start opposite Watts most of the offseason, he now seems settled in as his main backup. That means that Shuler made a huge move, and is now the listed starter. Heard will play but it was great to see Shuler, Talich, and Urlacher make a big move.
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