Javontae Jean-Baptiste Is Ready To Finish His Notre Dame Career On A Strong Note

Notre Dame defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste is a Sun Bowl captain after his decision to play one more game for the Fighting Irish

Javontae Jean-Baptiste has one more college game in him. Notre Dame’s 6-4 defensive end will see his five-year college career end when he and the Fighting Irish play in the Dec. 29 Sun Bowl, but it could have ended when the regular season ended on Nov. 25 after the Irish pummeled Stanford 56-23.

With NFL dreams on his mind, there were rumors floating through social media platforms saying Jean-Baptiste was going to opt out of the bowl game but the Spring Valley, N.Y. native had other plans.

"It was all about putting my best foot forward and leaving no stone unturned,” Jean-Baptiste said of his decision to play in the Sun Bowl. "I don’t want to say there was anything I didn’t do or wish I should have done. That was it. It led me to make sure I did everything I could in my time in college.

"I feel like I didn’t have to come back to prove anything to anybody,” Jean-Baptiste continued. "But I just wanted to showcase who I was, truly. What (NFL scouts) thought before, that’s on them. What they think after I came here, that’s on them. I just feel like I came back to college to give it my all. I feel like I’ve pretty much done that.”

Teammates like Marist Liufau, Blake Fisher and Sam Hartman are among the Irish players who opted out of the Sun Bowl. Jean-Baptiste could have asked for their input and followed their lead, but he made his decision on his own.

"Mine was independent,” Jean-Baptiste said of his choice to play in the bowl. "You can look at it as guys opting out, but everyone has their own reasons. I can’t look at someone and say, ‘Well, he’s opting out so I’m opting out.’ No. Everyone has their own individual thing and their own basis for them that’s very important to them and what’s going to go on and transpire with them.”

Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said last week that he disagreed with Hartman’s decision to opt out of the bowl, but he still supported the one-year Irish quarterback. The decision Jean-Baptiste made to play was more agreeable with Freeman and his coaching staff.

"They were happy,” Jean-Baptiste said of giving them the news. "They just wanted the best for me and what the decision was, it was. It was all love for that.”

His one season at Notre Dame has been a productive one. Jean-Baptiste had 53 career tackles and eight sacks in his first four seasons at Ohio State before transferring this year. He has tallied 47 tackles and four sacks in 2023 and he now finds himself voted one of four Sun Bowl captains by his teammates.

"It means a lot,” Jean-Baptiste remarked. "I haven’t been a captain since high school. It feels good. I’m ready to lead the guys and push them to do whatever they can do.”

His efforts made the Irish one of the top defenses in the nation this season. The Irish ranked No. 8 in total defense, No. 31 in run defense and No. 1 in pass efficiency defense in defensive coordinator Al Golden’s second season.

"What made the defense so good is that everyone did their job,” Jean-Baptiste explained. "No one ever got too greedy. If their assignment was this gap they stayed in this gap and let the person whose gap that ball was going through make the play. Sometimes in defenses, a lot of people get greedy and not understand the assignments and everything. Stuff can go wrong. With us, you’ve seen it throughout the workouts and everything. You know and love and trust your brother. When you get on the field, you look to your right and left and are like, all right, I can play my hardest for this set of guys because I know they’re going to do their job.” 

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