Notre Dame Needs Stars To Emerge On Defense In 2023

If Notre Dame is going to be a title contender in 2023 it needs stars to emerge on defense

You don't win national championships simply because you have stars and standouts on your team, but you also can't win championships without them. For the Notre Dame defense, there are plenty of good football players heading into the 2023 season, but no real stars. If the Irish defense is going to play championship football it must be strong across the board, but it also needs stars to emerge.

We'll find out over the next five months if anyone on defense will step up and become that kind of player, but here are my preseason top candidates for Notre Dame.

Benjamin Morrison, Cornerback - You could argue that Morrison already fits the star category, and that is certainly accurate when you consider his preseason prognostication. Morrison is a preseason All-American by multiple outlets, and if he builds on his freshman season he can be that kind of star player. Morrison has all the tools to be an elite cornerback in 2023, but his game does need to grow from what it was as a true freshman. 

The Irish sophomore needs to be stronger and be more consistent playing the deep ball, two things that should improve with him getting an extra year in the weight room. On the whole, for Morrison it's really about him just making normal freshman to sophomore strides and avoiding the sophomore slump. If he does that I have no doubt his game will improve to the point where he is a star player.

Cam Hart, Cornerback - Morrison gets all the attention, for good reason, but for much of the 2022 season it was Hart that was Notre Dame's best cornerback. The issue for Hart the last two seasons has been consistency. There are times when you see his lack of cornerback experience shining through, and he'll give up some big plays or make a mistake that everyone sees. What that masks, however, is how good Hart is on the other snaps. When Hart is on his game the Maryland native is outstanding.

If you compare Hart's 2022 numbers (according to PFF) to other top corners like Kalen King (Penn State), Will Johnson (Michigan), Kool-Aid McKinstry (Alabama) and Cooper Dejean (Iowa), you'll see he stacks up quite nicely.

Hart - 240 yards, 50.0%, 10.9 YPC, 5.5 YPT, 3 TD, 0 INT
McKinstry - 352 yards, 46.3%, 9.5 YPC, 4.4 YPT, 1 TD, 1 INT
King - 343 yards, 45.8%, 12.7 YPC, 5.8 YPT, 1 TD, 3 INT
Johnson - 353 yards, 56.0%, 12.6 YPC, 7.1 YPT, 2 TD, 3 INT
Dejean - 422 yards, 51.4%, 11.4 YPC, 5.9 YPT, 2 TD, 5 INT
Morrison - 296 yards, 43.1%, 13.5 YPC, 5.8 YPT, 1 TD, 6 INT

King, Johnson and Dejean also played against Ohio State, and Hart allowed fewer yards (against the Buckeyes (54) than did King (93), Johnson (67) or Dejean (118). 

For Hart, the key is making more plays on the football and when he gets chances to actually haul in interceptions, and it's about being a more consistent football player. If he can do that there is little doubt that he could emerge as a star for the Irish defense.

Jordan Botelho, Defensive End - Botelho is a very intriguing player and a potential breakout defender for the Irish. He has flashed big time potential throughout his career, and in his first game replacing Isaiah Foskey, Botelho racked up a pair of sacks and had 10 quarterback pressures. All 6.5 of this tackles for loss last season came in the final six games of the season as his snaps started to improve.

Botelho certainly has double-digit sack numbers, assuming he can finally become a more consistent player. With Foskey gone, Botelho will get every opportunity to take over the Vyper position. He brings a different skillset than Foskey, with Botelho being a former linebacker. I'm curious to see how Al Golden uses him this season, but one thing we will see is Botelho attacking the quarterback. 

If he continues to be the guy we saw against South Carolina he'll have a chance to be a star player on the edge of the Irish defense. That's a must, as it's hard to imagine Notre Dame having a championship defense without having an elite edge player.

Rylie Mills, Defensive Tackle - Mills, like Botelho, is a talented player that has shown flashes. But like Botelho, there's a long gap between where he has been in his career and where he needs to be to be a star defender. After moving back and forth between defensive tackle and defensive end, Mills has now settled in at three-technique. At the very least I fully expect Mills to provide the Notre Dame defensive line with a boost in production compared to last season.

The question is will Mills just be better than what Notre Dame had, or can he become a star player for the interior of the line like we saw with former defensive tackles Sheldon Day and Jerry Tillery. As I broke down in the defensive tackle preview, Mills production at defensive tackle in 2022 was much higher on a per snap basis than both Tillery and Day during their junior seasons. Mills has the talent to make a similar senior season jump, but now he needs to actually do it.

If we're talking about the "ideal scenario" for Notre Dame, both Botelho and Mills make big senior season leaps and become standouts for the Irish defense. If that happens the Notre Dame defense is going to be very, very good.

JD Bertrand, Linebacker - With Bertrand, he'll never be the kind of star that Manti Te'o, Jaylen Smith or Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah were for the Irish. All three won the Butkus Award, Te'o and Owusu-Koramoah were unanimous All-Americans, and Smith was a consensus All-American. Asking Bertrand to be that kind of player would be incredibly unrealistic.

But there's another level I believe Bertrand is capable of getting to, and if he does that he'll be a star for the Irish defense. Bertrand had solid production last season, but his overall player was shaky early and much better later. He now has a year in the defense and at Mike under his belt, and he's poised to build on his 2022 success. 

If you look at Bertrand's production in the final six games, which included matchups against three ranked opponents, you'll realize how much better he was in the second half of the season. In fact, Bertrand's production would have projected to be 100 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 3 sacks and 7 pass break ups over the course of an entire season. That's outstanding production.

Now, if Bertrand can actually do that for an entire season, be more assignment correct and tackle better I have little doubt that he'll see a huge jump in not just production, but the overall quality of his play.

Xavier Watts, Safety - Watts is the biggest leap I'm making here, but I have always been very high on his ability. He became a regular in the defensive rotation in the second half of the season, and his production was solid. There's another level he can get it, I am confident in that. Notre Dame has also had outstanding seasons from safeties over the last decade-plus, and I have a gut feeling that Watts will be the next in line for that.

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