Notre Dame Defensive Players to Watch vs. Ohio State

After holding Ohio State to just one first-half touchdown last season, the Notre Dame defense will look to replicate their performance, this time over the span of four quarters.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be looking to replicate their formula from last season's matchup with Ohio State, which saw them hold the Buckeyes to just one first-half touchdown. But they will have to do it without their sack leader and former All-American edge rusher Isaiah Foskey from a season ago.

The Irish would undoubtedly love to have Foskey, the now NFL edge rusher, for their Week 4 matchup with Ohio State, as he racked up 11 sacks last fall. But they do still have a lot of returning talent defensively.

The Irish return 72 percent of their defensive production from 2022, according to ESPN, and will face an Ohio State offense that brings back just 57 percent.

LB JD Bertrand 

The inside linebacker for Notre Dame led the team in tackles last season with 82 and is part of a position group that Phil Steele ranked as the seventh-best in college football. So far, Bertrand has recorded 13 tackles and one pass deflection.

After totaling just three tackles against the Buckeyes last time out, Bertrand went on to have two double-digit tackling games. The senior out of Alpharetta, Georgia, is a leader of the Irish defense from the second level. 

Edge Jordan Botelho 

As mentioned above, without Foskey, the Irish don't have their leading pass-rusher from last season, which means they are looking to Botelho, among others, to step up.

Botelho, a Honolulu, Hawaii, native, recorded just 4.5 sacks for the Irish in 2022. Two of his 4.5 sacks came in the Taxslayer Gator Bowl win over South Carolina. Botelho has nine tackles with one sack to start the season, which ties him for first on the team.

Botelho and the Irish defense will face a much younger Buckeyes offensive line than in 2022, as both starting offensive tackles Paris Johnson Jr. and DaWand Jones departed for the NFL. Thus making the battle in the trenches all the more interesting. 

CB Benjamin Morrison 

Facing one of, if not the best receiver in college football, Marvin Harrison Jr., an elite performance from the Irish's No. 1 cornerback is essential. 

As a true freshman, Morrison led the Irish in interceptions with six, of which one was returned 97 yards for a touchdown, and he already has one to start this season. Morrison will likely face his toughest test of the season defending Harrison and Emeka Egbuka, both potential first-round NFL Draft picks.