Vyper end Loghan Thomas enrolled as a freshman early enrollee at Notre Dame in January of 2023 lighter than any of Notre Dame’s linebackers (196 pounds on a 6-foot-4 frame) and roughly a month removed from labrum surgery on his shoulder.
And yet he did so with unaltered aspirations about how promising his future could be the following fall and beyond, even having to be held out of all 15 Irish football practices last spring.
At a heftier 224 pounds, but still 16 pounds shy of classmate and linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Thomas in 2035 played a modest 42 reserve snaps at vyper for the NCAA runners-up (14-2), with an impressive small-sample-size film grade from Pro Football Focus of 70.9.
That slotted him right between soon-to-be drafted nose guard Howard Cross III and linebacker Jaylen Sneed in terms of PFF’s ratings of Irish defensive players.
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More impactful was his contributions on special teams. Only two players on the Irish roster — Max Hurleman and Davis Sherwood — logged more than the 195 Thomas put in on kickoff return, kickoff coverage and punt return as well as being consistent and effective in those roles.
It’s those benchmarks, Thomas’ high school history of being a sprinter in track and field, his winning MVP honors at the All American Bowl National Combine in San Antonio back in January of 2023 that all suggest his big dreams could someday sync up with his present.
It’s why Thomas is featured in Inside ND Sports’ list of six players to watch during winter workouts in the run-up to spring practice.
Five others join the sophomore-to-be in that category as the most intriguing in terms of helping themselves now and the Irish later by making the most of this ongoing unusually short winter workout window ahead between the longest football season in ND history and a penciled-in/unofficial March 18 start to spring practice.
If everyone comes back healthy at the vyper position — grad senior Jordan Botelho and junior-to-be Boubacar Traore are rehabbing from season-ending September knee injuries — vyper may be a talent-gluttonous position for the Irish.
But as ND’s 34-23 loss to Ohio State in the CFP title game showed, you can never have too many pass-rushers. And Thomas has the length and the burst to eventually evolve into a difference-maker there.
Here than are the other five wannabe winter workout warriors:
Anthonie Knapp, Offensive Lineman
The sophomore-to-be in 2024 became just the 11th true freshman offensive lineman to garner at least one start since freshman eligibility was restored by the NCAA in 1972 and just the third to start a season opener, joining Sam Young (2006) and Blake Fisher (2021).
And only Knapp and Young started more than eight games as a freshman among the select group of 11. Knapp missed only the national title game, making 15 starts before suffering an ankle injury in the CFP semis against Penn State.
But Knapp’s PFF score of 62.5 doesn’t scream future NFL draft pick.
Knapp’s shortcomings, however, weren’t primarily about a too-steep learning curve but rather a 6-4, 294-pound frame that should benefit from being around director of football performance Loren Landow for another offseason.
That’s true whether Knapp stays at left tackle or gives way to 6-7, 328-pound junior-to-be Charles Jagusah and moves to an interior position.
Brenan Vernon, Defensive Tackle
The junior-to-be and former Rivals100 prospect knows this spring is an “if not now, then when” inflection point after moving from field end to defensive tackle last offseason.
The 2024 offseason and season figured to be more about adapting to the changes of playing inside and the body size and strength required doe that, rather than an upward movement up the depth chart. Yet Vernon was surprised as to how dramatic those changes were.
There are no obvious roadblocks to moving up the depth chart in the spring, but there are numbers with which to navigate. The Irish have 11 players spread over the two interior defensive line positions, and a 12th — freshman Gordy Sulfsted — arrives in June.
But if Vernon doesn’t want to get lost in that numbers game, he knows these weeks ahead of spring are critical. The 6-5 Mentor, Ohio, product was able to gain 18 pounds during the season, to get to 280, but he played only eight snaps all season spread over two games.
“The weight room is gonna be huge; just getting bigger, just getting stronger,” Vernon told Inside ND Sports last month in Atlanta. “With the weight room comes eating. You gotta eat a whole lot. That’s what it’s gonna be.
“This offseason’s gonna be huge for me. Looking to make the biggest step of improvement in all aspects of my game and myself.”
Kevin Bauman, Tight End
That the former Rivals No. 5 tight end nationally in the 2020 class elected to redeem his COVID exemption and return for a sixth year is a bit of surprise on the surface, given his career high for snaps for any of his five previous years on campus was 77 in 2022.
The oft-injured, relentlessly rehabbing Bauman, though, sort of laid out his thinking back in August of 2024, when he elected to return after missing the entire 2023 season with a second ACL tear in as many years.
“Coach [Marcus] Freeman was great,” Bauman said last August. “All of my coaches were extremely supportive of me taking some time away. My parents came down here, and I was able to sit down over a few days and talk to them, kind of weigh out pros and cons of everything.
“At the end of the day, there is a lot more that I want to accomplish here. What it came down to was when I’m done here, I want to have no regrets. How ever my time here comes to an end, how ever my time playing football comes to an end, I want to be able to say for the rest of my life that I gave it everything I could.
“I love this university. I love these guys. It’s a blessing to be back. I just want to make sure I have no regrets."
The numbers, especially this spring, line up for Bauman to find out if there’s a larger role than the 71 snaps he played in last season, only seven of which occurred in the eight post-October games.
There will be just three healthy tight ends in spring practice, with senior-to-be Eli Raridon and sophomore Jack Larsen joining Bauman, who has six career catches for 67 yards and 1 TD in his Irish career to date.
Jaylen Sneed, Linebacker
The senior-to-be had some career high points during ND’s playoff run, but due to Ohio State having three receivers — and elite ones — on the field so much in the title game, he only logged 13 snaps in that matchup.
With starting weakside linebacker Jack Kiser the only departure from the 2024 roster at the position group and three new additions as well as Kahanu Kia eventually coming back from his knee injury, there’s going to be plenty of competition to compete for Kiser’s former role.
And questions too.
Will new defensive coordinator Chris Ash embrace the concept of a five-man linebacker rotation? Will his scheme be more three-linebacker heavy or lean toward two linebackers and a nickel? Will Sneed’s old rover role even exist in the same function it did under departed DC Al Golden?
In any case, the 6-1 Sneed muscling up from 224 into the 230s is a goal of his and makes sense in terms of being more versatile and a better fit inside. But there has to be a skill set evolution that goes along with it as well if his primary responsibilities are going to be as an inside linebacker.
And that’s where Landow’s approach to individualize plans over a larger template could pay off.
Kedren Young, Running Back
In the 6-foot, 229-pound sophomore-to-be’s case, this is more about building resilience and staying healthy in 2025 than it is building muscle. And Young’s injury issues in both spring practice of 2024 and fall camp mitigated the body reshaping he accomplished as an early enrollee last winter.
The numbers don’t line up in his favor to expand on his 2024 opportunities — 21 carries for 116 yards and a TD while playing infrequently enough to glean a redshirt year. And there will be at least four other healthy running backs in spring football competing for carries and to impress new running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider — five if senior-to-be Gi’Bran Payne is all the way back from an ACL tear sustained 10 months ago.
But head coach Marcus Freeman has pointed it out, time and again, when people start to forget about Young in the deep running back mix — he has a body type and skill set no one else in the running backs room has. Getting that body ready to compete this spring and show that skill set is what winter workouts is all about for Young.
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