Notre Dame Impact Players For 2025: No. 35 Defensive End Loghan Thomas

Notre Dame is now 37 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. 37 most impactful player, redshirt freshman edge rusher Loghan Thomas.

The Irish have high hopes for making another run to the national title game this season. In order to do so, they will have to generate a more consistent pass rush, especially in the post season. With Rylie Mills now playing in the NFL, defensive line coach Al Washington will have to get his unit ready for this fall.Notre Dame will have to find a way to generate more pressure off the edge, and Thomas possesses a skillset that makes him a lethal weapon as a pass rusher.

What He Brings To The Table

Thomas is a 6-4, long and twitchy edge rusher. The Katy, Texas native played in seven games last year, including two in the post season. The sample size with him is limited, but what we did see was extremely promising. His athleticism and length flashed in his 28 pass rushing snaps from 2024 and Thomas was extremely efficient in those snaps. He generated four hits plus sacks on the quarterback in just 28 pass rushing snaps.

If you project Thomas' efficiency rate and give him the same amount of pass rushing snaps as Junior Tuihalamaka, he would have finished the season with 29 hits plus sacks on the quarterback. With that being said, it's unlikely he would have finished the year with those numbers, Abdul Carter at Penn State last season had 23 hits plus sacks on the quarterback in 16 games. Point is, Thomas is a very efficient player and is one of the twitchiest edge players they have. He has very comparable athleticism to Boubacar Traore and Bryce Young.

What Is His Impact

Fact of the matter is Notre Dame needs to be able to generate a more consistent pass rush, specifically in the playoffs. They weren't able to get pressure in the first half against Penn State or at all against Ohio State in the National Championship game. With their two All-American defensive tackles now in the NFL, the deep edge rotation for Notre Dame will have to pick it up this fall.

We've seen Thomas flash in games against Stanford, Georgia Tech and Indiana where he picked up a sack in the second half. At the bare minimum, he's a quality depth piece that will add to the rotation that consists of Josh Burnham, Traore, Young, Tuihalamaka and Mullins. At his peak, he's a force on third down and ends the season with one of the higher pass rushing efficiency rates in the country.

The knock on him is his weight; Thomas is only 218 pounds as an edge rusher compared to other members of this unit who range from 247 pounds up to 273 pounds. Will he be able to hold up over a 16 game season of being a key piece in the rotation? That's a legitimate question, but his athleticism, efficiency and length as an edge rusher is undeniable and the main reasons I ranked him as Notre Dame's No. 35 most impactful player for the 2025 season.

PAST TOP 50 BREAKDOWNS

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