After pulling his name from the transfer portal, the powerful Canadian interior lineman looks to transform raw athletic upside into a breakout season within a revamped Irish rotation.
At the beginning of the offseason, the outlook of Notre Dame's defensive tackle room was looking bleak. Interior linemen Gabriel Rubio and Jared Dawson were headed to the NFL Draft, Donovan Hinish elected to retire from football, Jason Onye was seemingly out of eligibility but was petitioning the NCAA for a sixth year and Armel Mukam had entered his name into the portal. On top of that, the room was without a coach with Al Washington moving over to coach linebackers, at the time, and then eventually departing for the Miami Dolphins.
Thankfully, the outlook of the room turned around rather quickly. By the end of January, Notre Dame had hired veteran defensive line coach Charlie Partridge, Onye was granted a sixth year of eligibility, they picked up Tionne Gray and Francis Brewu from the portal and Mukam withdrew his name from the portal. That turnaround ignited the hype around the Fighting Irish interior defensive line, and throughout the spring, we saw flashes across the board.
Mukam was a player we saw take first team reps from the start of spring practice, into the jersey game and in the annual Blue-Gold game. Mukam has always been an extremely talented player, but has yet to breakout onto the scene. Coming out of high school, he was ranked as a three-star recruit by ESPN and Rivals. On3 and 247Sports had him ranked as a four-star but only 247Sports had him ranked inside the Top 200.
Irish Breakdown had him ranked as one of the lower players in the 2023 class but he had one of the highest upside grades along with defensive end Boubacar Traore. The 6-3, 296-pound defensive tackle has always had a high upside, but has yet to turn that into full-time production.
He only played in one game as a true freshman in 2023 against Wake Forest. In 2024, he played in six games in the regular season and recorded three total pressures and two run stops. This past season, he continued to improve and earn more time playing in nine games, totaling 69 snaps. In the 33 pass rushing snaps he played, Mukam totaled five pressures, one hit on the quarterback and one run stop.
This is a big year for the Canada native. He elected to withdraw his name from the portal and turn to South Bend to be a key piece in a deep and talented rotation. This spring, we saw some good things from Mukam. He reshaped his body and looks ready to take on a heavier workload, his athleticism continued to flash and his football IQ grew throughout the spring.
As of today, on paper, the Notre Dame defensive tackle room looks deep, stout and very, very talented. But they're going to need some players to play to their potential. Defensive coordinator Chris Ash's philosophy is to be stout up the middle, and they have the ability to do that. Mukam can play a big role on this year's defense, be a key piece in the rotation and potential start. His emergence will set the foundation for how good this defensive tackle room can be.
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