Jason Onye keeps pushing for improvement in rotational role for Notre Dame
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When a reporter told Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington that senior defensive tackle Jason Onye looked the part, Washington took it one step further.
“He is the part,” Washington said Wednesday. “He looks the part; he is the part.”
The part for Onye at Notre Dame remains as a rotational player behind graduate senior and NFL prospect Rylie Mills. One season after playing meaningful snaps for the first time in his career, Onye is looking to carve out an even bigger role in 2024.
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Prior to last season, Onye played in just one game at Notre Dame: the 2022 home finale against Boston College in which the Irish won 44-0. Onye made a pair of tackles late in the blowout victory.
After a transformative offseason, Onye played in all 13 games in 2023 on the defensive line and/or special teams. The Ohio State game was the only one Onye didn’t play any snaps defensively.
"Experience is the biggest thing,” Onye said. “Being able to have actual reps, understand what you're doing. D-line is really feeling out what the O-line is doing. What to do on a reach block. When a false step is going to get you blocked out everywhere. Understanding, being technically sound, those are the biggest things I want to focus on and harp on for the upcoming season."
The 6-foot-5, 287-pound product of Warwick (R.J.) Bishop Hendricken would have been in the pole position for a starting role if Mills decided to pursue and NFL career after last season. The return of Mills certainly makes Notre Dame’s defensive line better for next season, but it could be frustrating for someone in Onye’s position.
That’s not how he’s handling it, though.
"It comes back down to me,” Onye said. “I don't want to think of it as, 'Oh, Rylie came back so this affects me.' It's about me and coming into practice every single day, going into film sessions and proving my game and seeing me get closer to the gap and closing the gap between me and Rylie — that supposed gap.
“That's my job and that's what I want to do. Just keep working, keep getting with Coach Wash and keep asking him those deep, hard questions about, ‘Where do you see Rylie? Where do you see me?’ Doing my job to close that gap."
As Notre Dame started last season hot, so did Onye. It helped that he was able to get more playing time in the early season blowouts, which led to him totaling 11 tackles in the first four games of the season while playing at least 13 defensive snaps per game.
He only recorded six tackles in the remaining nine games and surpassed 13 defensive snaps just twice against Stanford and in the Sun Bowl against Oregon State. Onye also made an impact on special teams with a pair of blocked kicks.
For as much improvement Onye made between the 2022 and 2023 seasons, he still wasn’t nearly as consistent and reliable as Mills.
“Many times during the season last year I would think I know what I'm doing or think I knew how to handle a situation, but the next thing you know it's Clemson and you let up a 20-yard run,” Onye said. “Then you're like, ‘Oh, wow.’”
With mistakes came opportunities to learn and correct them. He plans to make sure that he doesn’t repeat them in the fall.
“I'm trying to think less,” Onye said. “Just being able to believe in myself. Now I can go on the field and make those plays and do all those things.
“The plays that I missed last season, I feel like, OK, why did I miss them? I was probably in my head too much. Now I have the full confidence and full desire to go out there and do it. I'm excited for this season. I've been working in all the practices before that to get there."
Onye is practicing this spring without Gabriel Rubio, the reserve nose tackle he often played alongside. Rubio is away from the team for undisclosed reasons, but he was at practice last week as an observer and has returned to campus with an expectation that he’s back with the team in the summer.
Last season, Onye logged more defensive snaps (155) than any of the other reserve interior defensive linemen. He had 19 more snaps than Rubio and 55 more than Donovan Hinish. This spring, Onye and Hinish are working together to improve each other.
"My focus this spring is taking off and improving on the little things I didn't do well last year,” Onye said. “Right now, it's mainly get-off. I feel like I'm a very fast individual, but I feel like on the field, sometimes I saw last year I think too much and get off the ball a little slow.
“Right now after practice I'm getting in get-offs and making sure I'm the first one off the ball every rep, competing with [Hinish]. He's a fast, twitchy kid. So, me and him go at it.”
Washington has given Onye very detailed instructions on how to improve. He sees the impact Onye is on the verge of making in the fall.
“He's got to continue to work on the details of his technique, his leverage,” Washington said. “He's a different body type. He is a tall, high-hipped — if you look at him physically. So inside, the game is about leverage, so it's always going to be a little more of an investment for him. But he's improving that, and just getting comfortable with all the things we ask him to do.
“I got high expectations for Jason and his leadership. He's a leader, really is. He's naturally extroverted, and so he can reach a lot of people. He's pushing himself. He's on them every day about being uncomfortable.”
Mills and starting nose tackle Howard Cross III weren’t participating in Wednesday’s practice, so Onye prioritized teaching the younger defensive tackles some of the things he struggled with as a freshman. From foot drive to pad level, there are so many things that matter when perfecting defensive line technique.
Onye demands the same of himself. He meets with Washington regularly to critique his film and find errors in foot placement and hand usage. The more he gets those details down, the better he can unlock his best playing attributes.
"Fast and furious,” Onye said. “I'm going straight through you. I feel like I'm a strong, fast guy. I use my speed and my power to go straight through you. Drive you. Power rush. Speed rush. No matter what it is, I just feel like when I'm at my best I'm fast and physical."
With a pair of highly touted defensive linemen competing at defensive tackle — junior Tyson Ford and sophomore Brenan Vernon — behind him, Onye knows he can’t let his opportunity slip away.
“I would say since I've been here, this is the biggest room we've had,” Onye. “And the deepest, I would say. We have a bunch of new freshmen in. A bunch of sophomores, some fifth-year guys with Rylie. The transfer in, [defensive end] RJ [Oben].
“We're a bunch of close guys who have been here for a while. We're developing together, hoping to get better together to reach our goals for this season."
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