Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa takes a massive leap, finding an impact nose tackle, and other defensive spring position battles to watch for Notre Dame

Notre Dame football opens up spring practice on March 19. Although spring practice is starting to lose some of its luster, it is still an important couple of weeks for the Fighting Irish coaches to evaluate. This will, in some instances, a make or break moment for specific competitions.

On the defensive side of the football, there is a lot of talent coming back in 2025. There is, however, a lot of veteran talent that needs to be replaced, including Jack Kiser, Xavier Watts, Howard Cross III, and Rylie Mills. Here are the positions with the fiercest battles that are ready to take place, beginning next week. 

WILL LINEBACKER

One of the positions we have seen reach a whole other level under head coach Marcus Freeman is linebacker, and that should be very unsurprising. We know that Drayk Bowen, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Jaiden Ausberry, and Jaylen Sneed are all going to play a lot. The only question will be who earns the starting WILL linebacker spot vacated by Jack Kiser.

While Sneed is the oldest of the group, this feels like a Viliamu-Asa versus Ausberry battle to start next to Bowen. Both players bring a different skill set. In theory, Viliamu-Asa feels like a more natural fit into the base alignment, but the types of offenses they go against will determine a lot.

NOSE TACKLE

With Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills heading to the NFL, the interior defensive line is going to look a ton different heading into the 2025 season. In theory, Donovan Hinish is the next man up at nose tackle. It will, however, be interesting to see if Notre Dame moves things around this year. Hinish does seem like a more natural fit at three technique ideally.

In an ideal work, it feels like Gabriel Rubio would be a better fit at nose tackle. The addition of Louisville transfer Jared Dawson could also figure into this conversation. Both players are over 300 pounds, and feel like great potential fits.

SAFETY

We all know that Adon Shuler is going to lock down one of the safety positions this fall. The better question is who will be lined up next to him on the majority of the snaps. There are several players that are going to be fighting for that job, including Virginia Tech transfer Jalen Stroman, Brauntae Johnson, JaDon Blair, Kennedy Urlacher, and Luke Talich.

Whoever does win that starting job, this team feels like one that can utilize a lot of different looks at safety. Each brings a very unique selling point to the defense. Stroman is the most experienced option by a landslide but a couple of those younger players have a much higher athletic upside.