Why Howard Cross III, Rylie Mills are the dominant DL duo Notre Dame needs

This story appears in the Blue & Gold Illustrated 2024 Notre Dame Football Preview. To order your copy of the 160-page, full-color, glossy magazine, which includes opponent previews, Fighting Irish position previews and position previews like this one, click here .

This is Part 1 in a four-part series previewing the Notre Dame defensive line.

Then-Duke center Jacob Monk dove to try to stop Howard Cross III from reaching his quarterback with the Blue Devils trailing by seven and less than a minute to go. Even if it resulted in a 10-yard holding penalty, Monk needed to do something — anything — to stop what was coming.

But by then, it was too late.

Cross had beaten Monk off the ball with his lightning-quick first step. He kept his feet churning and ripped his right arm through the blocker to shed his recovery attempt. Once free, he turned the corner like an elite edge rusher and locked onto his target: eventual Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard .

Sack. Strip. Ballgame.

Incidentally, Leonard — who transferred from Duke to Notre Dame this offseason — suffered an ankle injury on the play that affected him through the season and spring practice this year.

“Howard Cross, who still owes me dinner,” Leonard said in February, somehow able to laugh about it. “I told him there’s a Ruth’s Chris right down the road. That was a lot of weight on my ankle.”

Despite the unintended future consequences, that game was Cross’ masterpiece. He finished with 13 tackles, including 3.5 for loss, an additional forced fumble that may have saved a touchdown and that game-clinching strip sack. All the traits that make Cross special were out in full force: the quick feet, the quick hands, the relentless motor and the unceasing violence.

That was the game that cemented Cross as one of the best defensive tackles in the nation, leading to consensus second-team All-America honors after the season. Despite generating some NFL Draft interest, Cross chose to return to Notre Dame for his sixth year.

“Talking to coaches, our coaches and everything like that, I feel like I can really benefit from another year,” Cross said. “And the other side of that, NFL does stand for ‘not for long,’ right? So I want to get my master’s done, make sure I can get everything I can get done at Notre Dame.”

Around that time, Cross’ partner in crime had a decision to make of his own. Rylie Mills transitioned from a tackle-end hybrid to strictly a three-technique defensive tackle, and while he did it more quietly than Cross, he had a superb season of his own.

Mills is a staple on The Athletic writer Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks List” at 6-foot-5, 295 pounds with tree-trunk arms and plus athleticism. He rag-dolls offensive linemen and engulfs ball carriers like it’s nothing, and he led all Power Five defensive tackles with 9 quarterback hits in 2023.

When it came down to it, though, Mills made the same calculation Cross did. He’s back.

“It’s huge,” Cross said. “We’re both big parts of the defense, so both of us coming back is just a really good base to build a great [defense] next year.”

While Mills and Cross are studs on their own, they might be even better together. They complement each other extraordinarily well, with Mills bringing the strength and Cross bringing the speed.

They lead a defensive front that should terrify quarterbacks and running backs alike in 2024.

Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Defensive Linemen

Listed after the class year are the years of eligibility remaining.

Vyper

Jordan Botelho (6-3, 258), Gr./1
Junior Tuihalamaka (6-2, 246), Jr./2
Boubacar Traore (6-4, 240), So./4
Loghan Thomas (6-4, 224), Fr./4

Defensive Tackle

Rylie Mills (6-5, 297), Gr./1
Jason Onye (6-5, 289), Sr./2
Donovan Hinish (6-2, 274), Jr./3
Cole Mullins (6-4, 259), Fr./4
Brenan Vernon (6-5, 262), So./4

Nose Tackle

Howard Cross III (6-1, 288), Gr./1
Gabriel Rubio (6-5, 316), Sr./2
Sean Sevillano Jr. (6-1, 320), Fr./4
Devan Houstan (6-4, 292), So./4
Armel Mukam (6-3, 302), So./4

Defensive End

RJ Oben (6-3, 262), Gr./1
Joshua Burnham (6-4, 247), Jr./3
Bryce Young (6-7, 258), Fr./4

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