After getting pleasant surprises out of Jordan Botelho and Boubacar Traore in the first five games of the season, Notre Dame enters the middle portion of its schedule trying to fill the void created by injuries to both Vyper defensive ends. Botelho was lost for the season when he injured his knee against Purdue and Traore suffered the same fate two weeks later against Louisville.
The duo combined for 6.0 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks and 23 tackles in their brief time on the field before their injuries. No other duo on the defense has combined for that kind of production through the first five games. A strong case could be made that Botelho and Traore were Notre Dame's two best defensive linemen so far this season.
The Irish expect to have another edge defender, Josh Burnham , back in the fold when they host Stanford this Saturday. The junior is coming back from a high ankle sprain that he suffered at the end of the Northern Illinois game a month ago. Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman will look to Burnham to give the Irish depth at both the Vyper and defensive end spots.
"Josh is a guy that could play either field end or Vyper for us,” Freeman explained. " RJ Oben and Bryce Young , obviously, have done a good job at the field end position, and Junior ( Tuihalamaka ) has done a really good job stepping up at the Vyper position, as well as Loghan Thomas getting some reps. So, you have five quality individuals that can play the end position for us and we've got to have guys step up, just like Junior has done. I'm confident that if something would happen again that we'll have to have another guy step up.”
Burnham is listed at No. 2 on the depth chart at both End and Vyper for the matchup against Stanford. Oben is ahead of him at defensive end and Tuihalamaka is No. 1 at Vyper, with Thomas No. 3 on the depth chart. To our knowledge, the Irish did not experiment with any possible position switches during their bye week to try to bolster the depth on either side.
"Burnham is a guy we know who can play both,” Freeman said. "We feel RJ and Bryce are true field ends for us and then Junior and Loghan are true vypers for what we need them to do. Burnham, right now, would be the only one who would cross-train. Again, if there’s injuries that could happen, you have to have a Plan B and Plan C. And we do have that ready to go if something unforeseen happens.”
Thomas saw primarily special teams action through Notre Dame’s first four games of the season but he was thrust into action at Vyper after Traore’s injury against Louisville. The true freshman had a quarterback hurry and looked like he had a fumble return for a touchdown when Benjamin Morrison ’s blitz dislodged the ball from Cardinal quarterback Tyler Shough , but instant replay changed the call to an incomplete pass. Either way, Thomas looked prepared for the moment when he was called on.
"I think it starts off with his development in high school,” Freeman said of Thomas’s readiness. "He played at a great high school football program where he was challenged to be a really dominant football player in high school and he came in here and had an injury, but was committed to learning the playbook, committed to rehabbing and putting his body to be in a position where he can play college football. He's going to get bigger and stronger and faster as we continue to move forward.
"But it's his commitment to being the best player he can be that's giving him a chance to play,” Freeman continued. "I've said this before, but what prevents guys from high school (from) playing early in college is just the ability to play fast and he's a guy that it hasn't taken him long to play fast because I think the development started in high school where he had to learn a college-type defense. So, he's been a guy that's just gotten better and now we're seeing more and more on the football field.”
The 6-4 Thomas started his career playing at Paetow (Texas) High School. He helped the Panthers win the 5A Texas state championship in 2021 and then after moving to Ohio he helped Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward High School win a 2023 state title to cap his high school career.
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