Notre Dame Impact Players For 2025: No. 31 Linebacker Jaylen Sneed

Notre Dame is now 31 days away from kicking off the 2025 season against the Miami Hurricanes down in Hard Rock Stadium. The Irish will be relying on some impact players to get them through the home opener as well as getting them back to another run at the National Championship. I broke down who I believe will be the top 50 impactful players for Notre Dame this season. Let’s continue this countdown to kickoff with my No. 31 most impactful player, linebacker Jaylen Sneed. 

South Bend may be home to the deepest linebacking corps in the country and they're extremely loaded with talent heading into the 2025 season. However, the question still remains, who will step up and start at the will linebacker position? Sneed, a redshirt junior, is well in the mix. Fall camp kicked off today and the journey to August 31 is getting shorter which means we have hit the home stretch for players like Sneed to solidify themselves in the starting lineup.

What He Brings To The Table

In recent seasons, we have seen the South Carolina native play in a more niche pass rushing role for the Fighting Irish defense. Last season, he played in all 16 games and started in the final three playoff games including the National Championship. There's a push for Sneed to become a more well rounded player. His athletic traits are off the charts and have been since he got to campus in 2022.

Sneed was considered the No. 1 recruit coming out of South Carolina by Rivals, ESPN and 247Sports, but has yet to perform up to his recruiting ranking. Every player's path to success is different, and Sneed is a prime example of that. He's now entering his fourth year in the program which is a crucial time for him to crack the starting lineup given the surrounding talent in the room.

He has good size at 6-2 228 pounds and is a sideline to sideline type of backer. Sneed is an extremely twitchy edge rusher, one of the reasons he's totaled 28 total pressures and 13 hits plus sacks on the quarterback combined in the last two seasons. He racked up 51 total tackles last season, 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery for a touchdown against Navy.

What Is His Impact?

The opportunity to start is right in front of him. Sneed has played a rotational role for the Irish defense the last two, arguably three, seasons. With the departure of Jack Kiser, there's been an ongoing position battle for who replaces him in the starting lineup. This past spring, we saw Sneed take reps alongside middle linebacker Drayk Bowen with the first team, but players like Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and Jaiden Ausberry won't wait in the wings for too much longer. Sneed with have to play at a consistently high level throughout camp to solidify his spot in the starting lineup.

Regardless of who ends up with their name atop of the depth chart at the will linebacker spot, Sneed, Viliamu-Asa and Ausberry will all play. Their snap distribution last season was relatively even, and would look almost identical if it wasn't for Viliamu-Asa's injury against Army. Sneed will likely begin fall camp taking reps with the first team defense, and if he's able to play at a more consistent level, improve at taking on and getting off blocks and let his athletic tools take over, he'll be one of their better defensive players this fall. That's why Sneed is my No. 31 most impactful player for Notre Dame in 2025.

PAST TOP 50 BREAKDOWNS

No. 32 - Luke Talich
No. 33 - Jalen Stroman
No. 34 - Micah Gilbert
No. 35 - Loghan Thomas
No. 36 - Cam Williams
No. 37 - Tae Johnson
No. 38 - JaDon Blair
No. 39 - Karson Hobbs
No. 40 - Kevin Bauman
No. 41 - Ty Washington
No. 42 - Jack Larsen
No. 43 - Cole Mullins
No. 44 - Preston Zinter
No. 45 - James Flanigan
No. 46 - Noah Burnette
No. 47 - Guerby Lambert
No. 48 - Sullivan Absher
No. 49 - Jordan Botelho
No. 50 - Charles Jagusah