Experience Primed Jason Onye For Bigger A Role For Notre Dame

Earning much-needed experience in 2023 has Jason Onye ready for a breakout for Notre Dame in 2024

Notre Dame defensive lineman Jason Onye / Angela Driskell, Irish Breakdown

Notre Dame is expected to have one of the nation's top defensive tackle units in all of college football in 2024, but after a spring breakout by Jason Onye, that won't just depend on Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills.

Last spring was our first glimpse at a potential breakout from Onye. After toiling in anonymity in his first two years on the Fighting Irish roster, Onye opened eyes last spring and managed to crack the two-deep depth chart last season. 

“He is the part,” Washington said of Onye. "He looks the part, he is the part. He's got to continue to work on the details of his technique, his leverage. He's a different body type, man. He is tall, high hipped, I mean, you look at him physically. Inside the game is about leverage. So it's always going to be a little more of an investment for him. But he's improved in that, and just getting comfortable with all the things we asked them to do. 

"Experience is the biggest thing,” Onye said recently. "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 6-5, 287-pound rising senior has two remaining seasons of eligibility after tallying 17 total tackles as a reserve behind Mills and Cross last season. His primary position this season is still in a rotation, primarily behind Mills at 3-technique. But that's just fine for Onye.

"It comes back down to me,” Onye explained. "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 (defensive line) Coach (Al Washington) 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." 

Onye hadn’t played much football before he arrived at Notre Dame in 2021. His first season of organized football was his sophomore season at Bishop Hendrickson High School in Providence, RI and his senior season was canceled by the pandemic. Now heading into his fourth season of football with the Fighting Irish, Onye more than looks the part of a big time college defensive lineman. 

“He is the part,” Washington said of Onye. “He looks the part, he is the part. He's got to continue to work on the details of his technique, his leverage. He's a different body type, man. He is tall, high hipped, I mean, you look at him physically. Inside the game is about leverage. So it's always going to be a little more of an investment for him. But he's improved in that, and just getting comfortable with all the things we asked them to do. 

“I (have) high expectations for Jason and his leadership,” Washington continued. “He's a leader, really is. He's naturally extroverted and so he can reach a lot of people and he's pushing himself.”

Onye has spent a lot of time with Washington in the film room working on the finer points of the game. Things like getting off quicker at the snap of the ball. The experience he gained last season went a long way for him this spring in helping him trust what he sees and just playing his own brand of relentless football. 

"I'm trying to think less,” Onye remarked. "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.

"Fast and furious,” Onye continued. “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.”

If Onye can carry his spring emergence into the fall he'll play a major role in the interior of the Notre Dame defense being the dominant foundation upon which another elite defense is built.

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