New coach Brian Jean-Mary embraces an experienced but thin linebacker unit, leaning on Ausberry and Sneed amidst injuries for a talented 2026 outlook.
As we look forward to the 2026 college football season, Notre Dame will have arguably the deepest and most talented linebacking corps in the country. They return all five players who were in the rotation last season including Drayk Bowen their middle linebacker and defensive captain from the 2025 roster. The Irish also return Jaiden Ausberry who started the majority of the season at Will linebacker along with Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Jaylen Sneed and Madden Faraimo.
Today, however, the depth in the linebacking room is looking very thin as Bowen, Faraimo and Kahanu Kia are limited this spring while Viliamu-Asa is still working his way back from a knee injury. Despite the limited depth, new linebacker coach Brian Jean-Mary is getting acclimated to his new unit, which is exceptionally deep and talented. Ausberry and Sneed have been relied on to take the first team reps this spring, and their experience is playing a big factor.
"The number on thing they bring is experience and that’s as valuable in college football as anything right now," Jean-Mary said about Ausberry and Sneed. "Obviously they bring a lot of playmaking ability and athleticism to the linebacker position. Both of them mainly play the weakside linebacker, so you have two very athletic guys that are used to playing in space."
Ausberry has taken the lion's share of reps at the middle linebacker position while Bowen, Viliamu-Asa, Faraimo and Kia are out or limited with injuries. The Louisiana native has quietly been one of the best players Notre Dame has on the defensive side of the football over the last couple of seasons. But in Jean-Mary's eyes, there's been nothing surprising about Ausberry's game.
"He knows as much as we do the things that he has to get better at," Jean-Mary said about the redshirt junior. "He’s got all the experience and is super, super talented. I’ve seen a kid that plays in the secondary so you know the athleticism is there. With him, it’s just taking his game to the next level as a blitzer and making more plays on the ball in coverage."
Faraimo, a rising sophomore, is seemingly the heir-apparent at the middle linebacker position once Bowen exhausts his eligibility. Unfortunately, we haven't seen the California native in much capacity this spring in team reps due to a healing wrist, but Notre Dame's new linebacker's coach is extremely high on the 6-2, 235-pound backer.
"The experience he had last year are invaluable," Jean-Mary shared. "Just the little bit I’ve seen from his games and then seeing the little bit that we’ve been able to get with him, you can see the growth. One, he’s more comfortable and two, he knows where he needs to fit. Now it just comes back to the production part."
"He’s very talented obviously, athletic, a big guy that can do a lot of things," Jean-Mary continued. "We want to see him take it to the next level as far as making more plays on the ball and then seeing some of the athleticism show up with some of the blitzes and tackles for loss, sacks and those things."
For two of the veteran players in the room, Bowen and Viliamu-Asa, Jean-Mary's message is simple: remain focused. It's easy to assume that both veteran linebackers are in a position to coast based on what they've done in previous seasons. But there's another level they can get to and that's what Jean-Mary's task has been to Bowen and Viliamu-Asa this offseason.
"They have to get better," Jean-Mary explained. "There are a lot of ways you can get better as a football player. The worst thing that can happen if you’re not on the grass and actually going full speed is that you let your mind wander. There are a lot of mental reps they can get. They have the communicator, so they can hear all the calls that Coach [Chris] Ash is making. They’re like assistant coaches right now. They’re grabbing the guys as they come off the field and saying, ‘This is what you can correct, this is what I saw."
Notre Dame's defense is poised for an exceptional season and when you factor in how they ended the final seven to eight games of 2025, they have an argument to be considered a top five unit heading into 2026. They have a long way to go before they're the top dog in the country, but this linebacking corps will be a driving factor in their overall success.
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