Marcus Freeman addresses challenge of replacing Notre Dame's defensive line talent

Notre Dame, led by quarterback Riley Leonard and a ferocious defense, came one game shy of a National Championship last season. Head coach Marcus Freeman however remains hungry to win the big one and has a good shot this season with a strong returning core on both sides of the ball.

Freeman addressed the challenge of replacing last season’s defensive line talent on the May 29 edition of “Always College Football” with Greg McElroy.

“It’s going to be hard to replace two productive defensive tackles in Howard Cross and Rylie Mills,” Freeman said. “Two guys that are extremely good football players and will do great things at the next level. Now, we’re gonna have to replace that production with multiple guys. That’s where I feel like we have a lot of depth. We’ve had three guys that have played here with Donovan Hinish, Gabriel Rubio and Jason Onye. But then you add two transfers, so who’s gonna be those guys that we continuously roll in there to replace that production? You’re not replacing that production with two guys.”

Cross and Mills were two major contributors on a Fighting Irish defense which made its first run to the National Championship since 2013. Cross, who signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an UDFA, recorded 27 tackles and four sacks last season. Mills, who was selected in the fifth round by the Seattle Seahawks, totaled 37 tackles and a team-leading 7.5 sacks.

“Now at the end position we’re pretty deep,” Freeman boasted. “You’re gonna be returning two guys with Boubacar [Traore] and Jordan [Botehlo] off of injury, they haven’t had spring ball but they’ll be ready for the fall. But you have three returning starters between Junior Tuihalamaka, Joshua Burnham and Bryce Young. All three of those guys have started, so we’re deep.”

Last season, Notre Dame’s defense allowed just 15.5 points per game (fourth in NCAA) and 307.4 yards per game (11th in NCAA). The Fighting Irish was on a different level through its first three College Football Playoff games, as no opposing quarterback threw for more than 237 yards and no opposing running back rushed for more than 84 yards.

In those three wins, Notre Dame allowed just six touchdowns and forced four turnovers.

“What last season told us is that you have to have depth,” Freeman continued. “That’s what I told our players. There’s another example we have to use this year. Don’t make a permanent decision based off the first game. It’s a long season. Injuries happen, things happen and we’re going to need everybody. That’s what I continuously remind our young people that sometimes the greatest things in life take time. Don’t let what’s happening right now determine what’s going to be the future.”