Defensive Tackle Alister Vallejo Is A Must Get Player For Notre Dame

There is no question that the defensive line was a position of great importance for Notre Dame in the 2026 class, and the Fighting Irish are off to an incredibly fast start. Defensive line coach Al Washington has an outstanding trio already committed, but just how good this class ends up will be determined by how he closes.

Notre Dame is pushing for a number of talented defensive lineman in the 2026 class, and one of the top targets on the board is Liberty Hill (Texas) High School standout Alister Vallejo. If you're someone who is obsessed with recruiting rankings you might not know much about Vallejo, but if you like watching film then you know this is a really talented football player.

It doesn't take long to understand why Notre Dame has made such a hard charge for the 6-4, 295-pound lineman, and why he is a must-get player in the 2026 class.

CLASS NEED

Notre Dame landed an elite defensive end duo back in April when Ebenezer Ewetade and Rodney Dunham committed to the Irish within days of each other. This duo gives Notre Dame the kind of impact edge rushing talent it wants to add more of to the roster and gives Washington arguably the best one-two edge punch in the nation for the 2026 class.

A month later the Irish landed another must-get interior player when Bastrop (Texas) High School big man Tiki Hola committed to the Irish over USC and SMU. Edge recruiting has been picking up under Washington, but adding more impact talent up the middle is huge for him in this class. Hola was a great start to getting that done, but he'll need to add comparable talent to finish off the class.

Notre Dame offered Vallejo in mid-April, which was a bit later than other top prospects, and certainly later than some other programs on his list. Washington and the staff have been working very hard over the last month to make up ground and make sure Vallejo knows he is a player the staff absolutely wants.

Notre Dame certainly wants to add beef to the interior of the line, but the staff doesn't seem willing to sacrifice playmaking ability for size. That is why Hola was such an important pickup, and it's absolutely why Vallejo is a favorite of the staff.

Over the last two seasons, Vallejo has racked up an impressive  116 tackles, 39 tackles for loss, 18 sacks and 26 more quarterback hurries. He can be stout against the run thanks to his size/power combination, but Vallejo also possesses the athleticism, motor and disruptive skills to be an impact pass rusher and run game playmaker behind the line.

Vallejo projects as an interior player in a four-down defense, but his high school film shows a player with experience playing on the edge. In three-down looks he has the disruptive skills to also play in a 4i or 5-technique alignment, giving him ideal versatility.

DEPTH CHART OVERVIEW

If you look at Notre Dame's depth chart for 2025 you might not think defensive tackle is a position of major need. Notre Dame has 10 defensive tackles on its current interior depth chart, but once you dive beyond the current roster you get a better sense of why the staff is pushing so hard to land a talented and deep group of interior lineman in this class.

Gabriel Rubio, Jason Onye and Jared Dawson are all out of eligibility after the 2025 season. Donovan Hinish and Elijah Hughes will be done after the 2026 season. Beyond that, Armel Mukam and Brenan Vernon will be fourth-year players once Vallejo would arrive on campus, should the Irish land him. That means by the time Vallejo would finish his freshman season, Notre Dame would lose half of its current defensive tackle rotation, if not more.

There are opportunities for 2026 signees to play very early in their careers at Notre Dame, which makes recruiting the position even more important for Washington. He not only needs to add numbers, he also needs to land difference makers that won't need 3-4 years to develop. Hola is that kind of player, and Vallejo has that kind of talent as well.

There are other very talented players on the board, including California standout Khary Wilder and Florida standout Elijah Golden. Talented Illinois edge McHale Blade is also a key target for the Irish staff. All three have potential to move inside, but all three are more hybrid players instead of a more pure inside player like Vallejo. The ideal class for Notre Dame would include either Wilder or Golden as well as Vallejo. That would give Notre Dame two big time pure edge players (Dunham, Ewetade), an outstanding one-two interior punch (Hola, Vallejo) and one hybrid player with elite potential (Wilder or Golden).

That's the kind of elite, gap closing defensive line class Notre Dame needs and Washington is working for. Vallejo is an essential ingredient to making that class happen.