Junior Isaiah Foskey is still listed as a defensive end on Notre Dame’s roster, and the menacing pass rush specialist remains arguably the most disruptive of the nine on the Irish defense.
But because of his freakish athleticism and positional versatility, Foskey is being asked by first-year defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman this season to do much more than just chase down opposing quarterbacks.
Depending on down and distance and the specific defensive play call, Foskey is often being moved from his usual position on the edge and lined up off the line of scrimmage and closer to the middle of the defense as a linebacker, and the early returns have exceeded expectations for this quick study.
Foskey led the team with 3.5 sacks through Notre Dame’s first three games. He was also fourth on the Irish with 15 total tackles and has made himself one the most valuable members of the defensive front seven.
Statistically speaking, Foskey seems to have already mastered his new linebacker role. Yet, by his own admission, harnessing the necessary patience and recognition needed to play linebacker instead of relying on a more barbaric swarming and attacking approach as a rush end remains a work in progress.
“At linebacker, in the middle of the field, you have to see basically everything, it opens up my eyes,” Foskey said. “At defensive end, my eyes are at the tackle and transition to the quarterback and guards pulling. But at linebacker, you see everything. You have to have an open vision to see everything going on.”
Foskey made an immediate impact playing two positions in the season opener against Florida State with a dominating performance that included eight tackles, two sacks and high marks from his coaches.
“This was a game that [Foskey] needed to be in,” Irish head coach Brian Kelly said immediately after Notre Dame’s 41-38 overtime win versus the Seminoles. “This was dropping into the flat, covering the back leaking out. They wanted to throw a throwback screen and he’s in good position.”
Foskey admits that pass coverage is the toughest new assignment to learn at linebacker, but he’s becoming more comfortable with it through every practice and game.
“Now, I’m excited when I see a tight end I’m about to cover, a receiver I’m about to cover or a running back I’m about to cover,” Foskey explained. “I already know I can stick with them, and get my hands on them, and stay with them.”
Foskey has always been a gifted rush end, but was never considered an every-down player until this season.
As a situational pass rusher in 2020, Foskey played less than one third of the Irish defensive snaps, yet still finished second on the team with 4.5 sacks.
“He’s a playmaker,” Kelly said last season of Foskey’s big production in limited snaps. “You take all of the athleticism he has, it’s no good unless you know what you’re doing and you do it the right way and he does that, good for him.
“He takes his role very serious. You can see that in the way he plays.”
At 260 pounds and a lanky 6-foot-5 — with a wingspan that stretches well beyond that — Foskey fits the mold of today’s prototypical NFL edge rusher and he passes the eye test better than anyone on the Irish defense, save perhaps for All-American safety Kyle Hamilton.
After redshirting as a freshman in 2019 and then adding an extra or “free” year of eligibility in 2020 because of the pandemic, Foskey is actually considered a first-year player this season and will still have three more years of eligibility beginning in 2022. Though, with a bright NFL future ahead, it’s highly unlikely he will use all of it.
In fact, given the opportunity to fully showcase his vast talents at two positions this year, don’t be overly surprised if this is Foskey’s last season at Notre Dame and he puts his name into the 2022 NFL Draft.
“With me going back and forth [between positions] and faking — I’m going up and going back — I saw the tackle getting a little confused and shifting his weight,” Foskey explained of the matchup problems he’s creating for opposing linemen as a dual-purpose player. “I saw a big difference with that.”
Biding His Time
Because of the talent and depth at defensive end for Notre Dame, Foskey waited and played behind — and learned from — some great teammates during his first two seasons.
As a freshman in 2019, Foskey worked behind the standout line tandem of Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem, two 2020 NFL Draft picks. And in 2020, Foskey played behind fifth-year starters Daelin Hayes and Ade Ogundeji, two more draft selections.
And now with the starting role all Foskey’s, one of his biggest fans is excited to see what his friend and former player can accomplish this season and beyond.
Justin Alumbaugh coached Foskey at prep power De La Salle High School near Oakland in Northern California.
De La Salle has produced dozens of college stars and more than its share of NFL players since becoming a football powerhouse about 30 years ago. At one point through the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Spartans won a national high school record 151 consecutive games.
Notre Dame All-America lineman Aaron Taylor (1990-93) and standout Irish defensive tackle Derek Landri (2003-06) are both members of the proud De La Salle football fraternity.
“Isaiah is an awesome player and an awesome young man,” Alumbaugh said. “He’s making the most of every opportunity right now which will bring him many more as he goes. He has such a high upside, the sky really is the limit for Isaiah.”
Meeting The Best
Even as a high-profile, front-line player from one of the top college football programs in the country, Foskey still remains awed and inspired by the NFL luminaries he’ll someday play with and against when he takes his next career step.
So when a chance meeting in May at a workout facility in Pittsburgh brought Foskey together with Aaron Donald, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, the Irish defensive end summoned the courage to introduce himself to this future NFL Hall of Famer.
Donald — an eight-year defensive lineman with the Los Angeles Rams, a five-time All-Pro selection and one of the best pass rushers of all time — was training at the same facility where Irish graduate student Kurt Hinish works out when he’s back home.
Foskey was in Pittsburgh on a trip with his father and joined Hinish for a workout, obviously oblivious that an NFL legend would also be working at the same gym.
At 6-foot-1 and a chiseled 280 pounds, Donald is built like a Greek god and presumably wouldn’t want his workout interrupted by a college kid.
“You see [Donald] on TV and see how big he is,” Foskey said. “Then you see him in person, he’s way bigger than I could even imagine.”
Foskey kept an eye on Donald and waited until his workout was finished to approach what many consider the best NFL defensive player of the last decade.
“It was surreal meeting him in person,” Foskey recalled.
Foskey peppered Donald with questions and said he took away many lessons from his visit with the man who has made 57.5 NFL sacks in just the last four seasons.
“It was a great experience,” Foskey said.
Foskey’s biggest takeaway was when Donald told him never to overthink the game and study film intently to find matchup advantages to use against upcoming opponents.
“I’ve been working on that, trying to simplify my game,” Foskey said. “Try not to do anything spectacular just for the look of your highlight.”
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