Notre Dame's defensive line reloads with portal talent and returning stars, promising a ferocious 2026 season despite key departures.
It's likely Notre Dame's acquisitions in the portal have come to a close barring unforeseen circumstances. The Irish have added high level talent in the portal with multiple years of eligibility remaining. They went out and picked up Francis Brewu from Pitt a few days ago and have just picked up Tionne Gray, and interior defensive lineman from Oregon.
They also picked up Keon Keeley, a former five-star Notre Dame commit from the 2023 class. On top of that, Armel Mukam announced he would withdraw his name from the transfer portal and the incoming freshman class has the opportunity to be special.
Despite losing key players like Jared Dawson and Gabriel Rubio to graduation, Donovan Hinish to retirement, Josh Burnham entering the portal and the future of Jason Onye hanging in the balance of the NCAA, there was cause for concern for Notre Dame's defensive line. Now that the portal cycle has come to a likely end, we have a pretty good idea of what this room will look like.
This defensive line has the opportunity to be better than what it was in 2025, and that wasn't due to the lack of production from last season. As a defense, Notre Dame finished the year with 285 total pressures and 79 hits plus sacks on the quarterback. Out of their total amount of pressures and hits plus sacks, 205 pressures and 52 hits plus sacks came from the defensive line unit.
For this position group, you have to evaluate all aspects, not just what you lost. Losing Dawson, Rubio, Burnham, Hinish and potentially Onye is a blow and I won't try to paint the picture that it isn't. But you look at what Notre Dame brought in from the high school recruiting trail, the transfer portal and the production and talent they return from the 2025 roster, this unit has the opportunity to be special in 2026 under Charlie Partridge's tutelage.
Let's start with the defensive end rotation. I'd argue that a rotation that will consist of Boubacar Traore, Bryce Young, Keon Keeley, Loghan Thomas and potentially Rodney Dunham and Ebenezer Ewetade is Top 10 in the country in pure talent. Traore and Young's returning production along from 2025 is enough to put them amongst the best in the country. Last season, the two starting ends combined for 57 tackles, 12.0 tackles for a loss, 60 total pressures and 27 hits plus sacks in 12 games.
At Alabama, Keeley finished the 2025 season with 13 total tackles, 3.0 tackles for a loss, nine total pressures and five total hits plus sacks on the quarterback in just 100 pass rushing snaps. His opportunities were limited, but he was relatively efficient in those opportunities. If you have him the same amount of pass rush snaps as Young, Keeley would have finished the season with 10 hits plus sacks on the quarterback.
In terms of talent, the edge rotation in South Bend might be the most talented in the country from top to bottom. The lack of experience amongst the depth is certainly a question. But players like Keeley and Thomas have played meaningful football in their careers. Dunham and Ewetade are extremely talented players and will also have their opportunities to play.
The interior of the defensive line is where most of the concern came from once the portal opened. At one point in time, the most experienced returner that you had was Elijah Hughes who transferred in from USC this past offseason. Amongst the returners on Notre Dame's roster, he still is from a snap count perspective, but adding Brewu and retaining Mukam changes the conversation entirely.
A few weeks ago, it wasn't a question of 'how good can this interior be?' It was more of a question of if this unit would be good in general. Now, they've added Brewu and Gray, retained Mukam and have significant talent coming in from the freshman class with Tiki Hola and Elijah Golden, the outlook on the interior of the defensive line has changed drastically.
They also have players like Davion Dixon, Sean Sevillano, Cole Mullins, Gordy Sulfsted and potentially Christopher Burgess who will have their opportunities to crack the rotation. Add in Partridge's experience and reputation coaching stout defensive lines throughout his career, the outlook on Notre Dame's defensive line is night and day different than what it was on New Years Day.
With all that being said, there are still some things they have to work out. The interior is loaded with guys with tons of experience like the defensive tackle position was throughout most of Marcus Freeman's tenure. Brewu is now your most experienced interior guy having playing 484 snaps in 2025. The depth at defensive end and defensive is still unproven. Picking up Gray was massive, literally and figuratively, but he's still a young player with three years of eligibility left
The talent in the room is exceptional and it might be the most talented Notre Dame defensive line from top to bottom that I've seen in my lifetime as a fan and covering the team. If Partridge and defensive coordinator Chris Ash can continue developing this talent, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the Fighting Irish defensive line was one of the Top 5 units in the country at the end of 2026.
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