Notre Dame youngsters who should be given more important roles from HC Marcus Freeman and the Irish staff moving forward

Notre Dame football is busy on a bye week, trying to regroup following a 27 to 24 loss to the Miami Hurricanes last weekend. These are opportunities for head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish staff to begin finding answers to problems from the first game. You never want to jump off the deep end after one game, but there are still some problem areas that need attention.

For this version of the Notre Dame team, I believe that some answers could be found with the young talent on the roster. There are four players that I would expect to play a ton more moving forward, or at least they should. It is a talented group with a ton of upside that they bring to the table.

LB Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa

At 6-3 and 230 plus pounds, Viliamu-Asa is a tremendous athlete who could play MIKE, WILL, and also rush the passer off the edge. KVA managed to play in just 36 snaps during the matchup against the Hurricanes. That just isn't nearly enough. With the versatility that Viliamu-Asa possesses, he needs to be on the field the majority of the time. He was, by a decent margin, Notre Dame's best defender last weekend. KVA could be a dynamic weapon for defensive coordinator Chris Ash. We need to see No. 27 on the field more moving forward.

WR Micah Gilbert 

With Malachi Fields playing the majority of the snaps into the boundary, there isn't going to be a ton of reps for Gilbert on the table. Gilbert brings a longer frame that Notre Dame needs more of, and could pair with Fields to create some mismatches. At 6-2 and 204 pounds, Gilbert is a good athlete with underrated route running ability, and understands how to outleverage defensive backs for the football. He managed to catch two passes for 17 yards and a touchdown during the season opener. Gilbert appears to have nice chemistry with Carr, a fellow member of the 2024 recruiting class.

EDGE Loghan Thomas

Without googling it, how many snaps did Thomas play against Miami? The answer is one, a single snap. The Irish defense struggled to create pressure consistently on quarterback Carson Beck outside of Boubacar Traore. It would have been nice to have seen Thomas in some obvious passing situations. The sophomore is only 220 pounds, so Thomas isn't going to play a ton of reps until he gets bigger. His speed and bend combination is outstanding, however, and it needs to be used in some capacity.

S Tae Johnson

We saw the redshirt freshman play some cornerback last year out of necessity, but he transitioned back to safety this offseason. At 6-2 and 190 pounds, Johnson is the rangiest athlete that Notre Dame has on the back end. Johnson did play against the Miami Hurricanes, but he didn't play a ton of snaps. With Adon Shuler, Jalen Stroman, and Luke Talich all being more of downhill players at safety, having more of a true free safety type would be a great thing to have. You have to get those ball skills, length, and range on the field.