Al Washington Enters A "Prove It" Season For Notre Dame

Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington needs a bounce back season in 2023 if he's going to be successful

Hiring Al Washington to coach the defensive line was one of the bigger splash hires that Marcus Freeman made after getting promoted to the head coach role. Al Washington was coming off an outstanding linebacker haul and his reputation as a coach was strong.

His first year at Notre Dame was disappointing, as the defensive line failed to play up to expectations and the Irish suffered some brutal recruiting misses. In fact, Washington wasn't the primary recruiter for three of the four signees in the class. His recruiting woes have carried into the 2024 class as well.

Simply put, Notre Dame cannot reach its potential as a program if its defensive line coach isn't thriving on the field and on the recruiting trail. This is especially true in 2023, as Washington's ability to build up an unproven but talented defensive line will be a driving force in Notre Dame making a big leap on defense, or the Irish failing to put a championship caliber defense on the field.

Washington has drawn plenty of ire from fans and he's certainly been a target for frequent criticism from me both in writing and in our shows. Washington has a chance to bounce back and become a fan favorite. In order to do that he'll need to reverse his fortunes over the next nine months.

Here are five things Washington must do to rebuild his reputation, build up the defensive line and do what it takes to reward Freeman for bringing him in, and keeping him on staff after a disappointing first year.

MAXIMIZE THE VYPER TALENT

Despite losing all-time sack leader Isaiah Foskey, Notre Dame has a chance to be really, really good at the Vyper position in 2023. There is a lot of talent to work with, but Washington will need to do a great job coaching and developing the depth chart if the production and overall play is going to match the talent.

Senior Jordan Botelho didn't have a single regular season game where he got more than 17 snaps, and there were five regular season games where he didn't play a snap on defense. In those limited snap, however, Botelho showed potential as a pass rusher. He played just 40 pass rush snaps during the regular season (according to Pro Football Focus), but in those limited snaps Botelho had eight total pressures.

When Foskey chose to skip the bowl game, Botelho was thrust into the starting lineup, and he was dominant. Botelho had 10 pressures on 37 pass rush snaps. His pass rush win rate in 2022 was outstanding, and we finally saw him turn his immense potential into production. Washington needs to make sure that Botelho stays focused and builds on his strong finish to the 2022 campaign.

Behind him are two young but talented young players, and how Washington builds them up will ultimately define the success at the position.

Sophomore Josh Burnham is a 6-4, 240+ pound freaky athlete that has a 37" vertical jump, a 10'5" broad jump, ran a 4.6 in high school and he has truly elite length. Burnham was a Top 100 recruit coming out of high school, and for good reason. I would argue that Burnham is pound-for-pound the best athlete on the Notre Dame defense.

A good coach is going to salivate over the idea of working with an athlete like Burnham. According to sources, Burnham is also performing well in the weight room this offseason and his strength has exploded. It's now up to Washington to put in the work and emphasis with Burnham to enhance the technical parts of his game, and to help Burnham - a converted linebacker - gain the edge experience to turn his elite athleticism into production.

Classmate Junior Tuihalamaka also moved over from linebacker, and although he lacks the length and athleticism that Burnham brings to the table, he's a high football IQ player that possesses good power for the edge and a motor that I love. 

Simply put, there's way, way too much raw talent at this position for it not to be a strength of the defense in 2023. It just needs good coaching and development, and if Washington can get this trio going the Vyper position could end up producing even more than it did a year ago with Foskey, who was an All-American. That would give the Irish defense a chance to really up its pass rushing game, which is a must.

GET RYLIE MILLS GOING

Another talented player that has yet to tap into his full potential is senior Rylie Mills. One of the bigger defensive linemen, Mills has played both defensive end and three-technique during his career, and he appears poised to move back inside this season. Mills has shown flashes of being an impact player, but consistency has been an issue for him.

Mills is a very strong defender that has plus-athleticism for an interior player. The mark of a good coach is being able to take a player like Mills and develop him into a difference maker. Doing that in one season is asking a lot, but Mills and Washington are now going into their second season together.

Right now Mills has been about potential during his career, and if Washington can help Mills get to the point where his production matches his tools it will give the defense a much-needed impact player up the middle. That is key to Notre Dame putting a defensive line on the field capable of anchoring a playoff caliber defense.

BUILD UP THE YOUNG PLAYERS

Notre Dame doesn't return a great deal of experience up front, but the defensive line is actually very deep and has plenty of talent. Much of the best talent is young, so it will be an even bigger challenge to get them ready to go, but that's exactly what Washington must do.

One of the issues I've gathered about Washington is that he didn't do a very good job coaching the entire depth chart in 2022. That can be an issue for a first year coach, but as stated above, that's not an excuse anymore. Washington must not only be able to continue developing his veterans, he must also be able to build up the younger players.

There's simply too much raw young talent to ignore the entire depth chart. Washington needs to continue building up the veterans, get more from rising juniors Gabriel Rubio and Jason Onye and find a way to get something from Aidan Keanaaina.

A key challenge, however, is really spending this offseason working to get more and more out of young linemen like Tyson Ford, Aiden Gobaira, Donovan Hinish and Devan Houstan. It's easy for coaches to focus on older players who need less work, but that would be a mistake for Washington. He needs to spend just as much time, if not more, getting this four-man group rolling this spring.

The reality is Ford and Gobaira are two of the more talented defensive linemen on the roster. A good coach will make them pet projects during the spring and will find ways to push their buttons. If Washington can get one or both of these two young defenders going this spring it adds a long, athletic and talented player to the rotation that it lacked a season ago. If he can get both rolling, and possibly get either Hinish or Houstan rolling inside the defensive line will be able to throw waves of talented defenders at opponents in 2023, which will help make up for the fact that right now it lacks a truly elite player up the middle.

Washington has a deep depth chart, the key is coaching it all, developing it all and getting it to the point where he can utilize a deeper group of players. That not only allows the defensive line to remain fresh by using the aforementioned waves of players, it also allows Washington to have a wider array of skillsets to utilize from week to week.

GET SOME BIG RECRUITING WINS

Step one for Washington is getting the most out of the talented players he already has on the roster. Doing that will not only help the defense play big time football, it will also result in the kind of production and play that makes it easier to sell his vision to recruits.

The biggest surprise of Washington's first season was his poor recruiting results. He lost commit Keon Keeley, failed to land big-time lineman Jason Moore and has already lost a commit in the 2024 class in Brandon Davis-Swain. Notre Dame has also slipped with five-star defensive tackle Justin Scott, who is a from a Catholic school in Chicago.

Washington has a chance to bounce back with the 2024 class. Landing Owen Wafle is a really good start. Wafle had an outstanding junior season and now ranks as a Top 150 caliber recruit on the Irish Breakdown board. The key for Washington is now building onto the class with big time talents. The way things are trending right now, Notre Dame will land some quality prospect and a high ceiling or two player, but it's not the kind of class you want and need to have a championship caliber defensive line.

So what does Washington need to do to rebuild his recruiting reputation? For one, land Scott. There is zero excuse not to land him. Elite talent from a Chicago Catholic school, and a young man that puts a premium on academics. He's built for a place like Notre Dame, but Washington has not done a good job recruiting Scott so far. If he can fix that and add Scott that goes a very long way towards rebuilding his recruiting reputation.

That's a great start, but he'll need to do more. Notre Dame will be hosting Arizona star edge rusher Elijah Rushing in June. Right now the Irish are trailing several other programs for Rushing, but if Washington can rebound and somehow pull off the upset and land Rushing it would give the Irish a pair of truly elite recruits and would completely change how Washington is viewed. It would also give the Irish one of the best defensive line hauls in the country. If they miss on Rushing and land another player of his caliber it would accomplish the same thing, but Rushing is arguably the best fit for the Irish.

This is a lot in one offseason, but that's what is needed for Notre Dame and Washington. If he can accomplish most of what I wrote about above it would quickly make Washington a fan favorite. More importantly, it would give Notre Dame an outstanding defensive line that would anchor one of the best defenses in college football.

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Irish Breakdown Content

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Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Offense
2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Defense

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