When strongside defensive end Aaron Lynch enrolled at Notre Dame a semester early in 2011, many wondered if he'd have an immediate impact on the field his freshman year.
That season, he led the team in sacks with 5.5 and was tied for third in TFLs with seven.
Lynch's time in South Bend was short-lived, as he transferred to South Florida the following spring, but he did set a high bar for future freshman defensive linemen to aspire to, especially those enrolling early.
In the following years, defensive tackles Sheldon Day (2012), strong side defensive end Andrew Trumbetti (2014), defensive tackle Jerry Tillery (2015) and nose tackle Jacob Lacey (2019) enrolled early, recorded a sack during their freshman seasons and had an immediate impact on the team.
Others, even after enrolling early had to wait their turn before contributing significantly, including defensive tackle Sean Cwynar (2008), Tyler Stockton (2009), defensive end/linebacker Ishaq Williams (2011), defensive tackle Micah Dew-Treadway (2015), defensive end Daelin Hayes (2016), Kahlid Kareem (2016), linebacker Ovie Oghoufo (2018), Nana Osafo-Mensah (2019) and Hunter Spears (2019).
A few weeks ago, three more Notre Dame defensive linemen from the class of 2020 enrolled early: viper Jordan Botelho and strong side defensive ends Rylie Mills and Alexander Ehrensberger.
Given the depth defensive line coach Mike Elston has developed in recent years, none of these players are locks to play right away like they would have been five or six years ago, but all bring a unique trait to the team that could them carve out a role.
