Projecting A Notre Dame Football X-Factor Player On Defense In 2021
You know the names.
Junior safety Kyle Hamilton. Junior defensive end Isaiah Foskey. Senior defensive end Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa. Senior defensive tackle Kurt Hinish. And so on.
The Notre Dame defense has standout players across the roster who are expected to lead what could be another stout all-around unit, especially under new defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman. But what about the lesser talked about backups who could also be key cogs in making that happen?
The staff at BlueandGold.com answered the following question to shed light on three of those dark horse players: Who is one projected non-starter on defense who could be the unit’s biggest X-Factor?
Mike Singer: Justin Ademilola
We project Jayson Ademilola to start for Notre Dame at defensive tackle, but not enough people are talking about his twin brother Justin. We know that Mike Elston likes to rotate in a handful of defensive linemen, and I expect Justin to get plenty of looks this fall.
Last season, Ademilola recorded 17 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and one sack, appearing in all 12 games. He played the fourth-most snaps last season among Notre Dame’s defensive ends behind Ade Ogundeji, Daelin Hayes and Foskey, respectively. With Ogundeji and Hayes off to the NFL, Ademilola is primed to make a bigger impact on the defensive line.
We project Tagovailoa-Amosa to start at the strong-side end position, which is being dubbed the “big end” position. He was an interior player in previous years, but he’s bouncing outside. Ademilola is likely the next man in when Tagovailoa-Amosa comes out, and he can make some noise.
Patrick Engel: Jordan Botelho
He’s not a starter, but to me, sophomore defensive end Jordan Botelho can alter the trajectory for Notre Dame’s pass rush more than any other player beside the man who plays the vyper spot ahead of him, junior Isaiah Foskey.
Botelho’s violence and mean streak were on display last year when he covered kicks and played on punt return teams. His speed and burst off the edge were evident during the Blue-Gold Game, when he harassed Notre Dame’s tackles and resided in the backfield. The key to getting on the field in 2021 was harnessing them and honing his focus.
The floor for Botelho seems to be a role and stat line similar to Foskey’s in 2020 (282 snaps, 4.5 sacks). The ceiling could be forcing a tag-team with Foskey at vyper.
Notre Dame’s pass rush feels like a good bet to finish between 30th and 40th nationally in sacks for the fourth straight year. If Botelho is more productive and consistent from opener to postseason than Foskey was last year, the Irish might find themselves a bit higher and with a new Kelly era benchmark for sacks per game.
Tyler Horka: Isaiah Pryor
Foskey has been mentioned multiple times in this article already. There's a reason for that. Nobody would be shocked if the led Notre Dame in sacks at the end of the season and positioned himself to be taken fairly early in the NFL Draft.
What about the other Isaiah on Notre Dame's defense, though? It could be time for linebacker Isaiah Pryor to finally have the collegiate season most people figured he'd have regularly when he was the No. 12 safety recruit in the country in the class of 2017 according to Rivals.
Pryor has since played 31 games in an Ohio State uniform and 12 more with a golden Notre Dame helmet atop his head. He has also switched from safety to linebacker, specially rover. That's the position Butkus Award winner Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah excelled in last season.
It remains to be seen how Freeman utilizes the rover. It could be a drastic difference from former Notre Dame defensive coordinator and new Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea’s version. Either way, Pryor is in a position to get plenty of snaps there in a rotation with junior Jack Kiser and senior Paul Moala.
Kiser is the favorite to start, but he's as unproven as Pryor. Maybe in his fifth season Pryor gets it all figured out and makes significant contributions to Notre Dame's defense.
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