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Spring has officially come to a close for Notre Dame and like every offseason, there's a lot to digest, a lot to take away and a lot more practice to come before they have to take the field. The bulk of the offseason awaits and the Irish still have summer workouts and 25 fall camp practices to get to before their season opener against Wisconsin in the Shamrock Series.

We saw a lot of good from the Fighting Irish defense this spring, but they still have a ways to go before they're game-ready. This is a team that's poised to do some big things this season. They're the one of the favorites to win the national title, they're one of only two teams at the P4 level with their over/under win total set at 11.5 and they have a defensive coordinator in Chris Ash heading into year two. Here are some of the main takeaways from Notre Dame's defense during the spring training session.

WHAT WE KNOW 

Heading into the spring, the defensive line was a relative question mark compared to the secondary and the linebacking corps. After spring, my feelings on the defensive line did a 180 degree turn. At one point in the offseason, prior to the start of spring, we didn't know what the interior defensive line was going to look like and it was looking like the depth at defensive end was going to be two incoming freshman. Now, after spring, my outlook has completely changed. 

This group looks the part of a high-caliber P4 defensive line. The term 'SEC size' gets thrown around a lot when talking about the trenches, and Notre Dame has that and then some. The interior is going to be a very talented a deep rotation with Jason Onye, Elijah Hughes, Armel Mukam, Tionne Gray, Francis Brewu, Cole Mullin, Sean Sevillano Jr. and Christopher Burgess. The end play will also take a step forward this season with Boubacar Traore and Bryce Young coming back, Keon Keeley coming over from Alabama, Loghan Thomas back healthy and the arrival of Ebenezer Ewetade and Rodney Dunham. 

After some injuries at linebacker, we also know what Jaiden Ausberry's ability is to play Mike linebacker. He was predominantly a Will linebacker throughout his career. But with injuries to Drayk Bowen and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Asuberry got the go as the No. 1 middle linebacker over the spring and he emerged. Linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary has a plethora of options heading into fall camp with the linebacker rotation. Bowen will definitely be back in the fall and Viliamu-Asa is working towards that as well. 

We also know this secondary is loaded from top to bottom. We didn't see much of Leonard Moore this spring, but we really didn't have to. Both safeties, especially Adon Shuler had productive springs. We watched Dallas Golden take a strong step forward before sitting out the rest of spring with a minor issue. But the biggest takeaway from the secondary was the talent in the incoming freshman class. Safety Joey O'Brien, cornerbacks Ayden Pouncey and Chaz Smith along with nickel safety Nick Reddish showed why they were arguably the best defensive backs class in the 2026 recruiting cycle. 

REMAINING QUESTIONS 

A lot of the questions revolve around the injuries we saw on defense. I'm confident the linebacking corps will be outstanding this season, but what will the rotation be? With Ausberry's emergence at Mike, does that ease Viliamu-Asa's transition back on defense? Ideally, you won't ask Viliamu-Asa to have to work back at Will linebacker and as a pass rusher and the No. 2 Mike to spell Bowen. 

The biggest question at cornerback is who plays where? Obviously Moore will be the starting boundary, but we saw Ash and new defensive backs coach and co-defensive coordinator Aaron Henry bump Christian Gray inside to nickel this spring. He showed great improvement there, but will that be his full time spot? Will he rotate with Golden who had a tremendous spring? There's a notion amongst fans and some outlets that DJ McKinney, the Colorado transfer, will step in and assume the starting role at field corner. If that happens, will there be a rotation? That will be interesting to watch unfold throughout the summer and fall camp. 

The final question, and arguably the biggest, will be Ash's approach to the season. We saw two very different looking Notre Dame defenses in 2025. Results wise, there's almost a zero percent chance we see the defense we saw against Miami, Texas A&M and Purdue solely due to player's experience in their second year in Ash's system. But will it look the same schematically, or will he let his players loose and let them attack schematically like we saw the final seven to eight games of the regular season? A lot of what we saw in the spring was vanilla, but that leaves the overarching philosophy a question. 

AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT 

Technically, the cornerbacks have to get better being more aggressive in zone, getting hands on route runners and redirecting them. Several times throughout the spring, we saw corners, nickels and safeties let receivers run free, untouched. That's an issue that has to get fixed and you're not going to sell me that was a Mike Mickens problem and now a Henry problem. That's a technical issue that has to be fixed from the top down. 

The depth on defense will also have to continue to improve. They're off to a strong start, but they'll be needed at some point throughout the season whether that's in a blow out or in meaningful minutes. The next season Notre Dame has on defense without an impactful injury will be the first time in a long time. The depth is exceptionally talented, but there's things they have to work on before they're ready to take the field in a meaningful game setting. 

Finally, and I hesitate to call this an 'area of improvement' but getting healthy will also change the outlook of this defense. Onye, Bowen, Viliamu-Asa, Golden and Moore were banged up throughout spring, which might have caused some of the softer looks we witnessed this spring. Getting back core pieces of the defense should help with that throughout summer and fall camp. 

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