Marcus Freeman expresses confidence in Notre Dame backups to replace Rylie Mills

The first round of the College Football Playoff saw Notre Dame win comfortably over Indiana. However, head coach Marcus Freeman does know that his defense suffered a major loss with the injury to defensive lineman Rylie Mills.

Mills went down with a knee injury in the second half that is now going to keep him out for the remainder of the Playoff. Still, with that difficult news, it’s still next man up for Freeman and the Irish, as he explained on The Herd.

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“All season long, which I’m sure every team deals with, we deal with injuries,” Marcus Freeman said. “We’ve lost some guys to season-ending injuries. Really important people and you feel horribly for them as an individual. Rylie is a guy that decided to come back to try and improve his draft stock. He’s a captain. But the next man has got to get the next opportunity, and he’s got to do it.”

In the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff, Notre Dame is headed to the Sugar Bowl to take on Georgia. The lights are going to be very bright in that game, but as Freeman shared, he is going to be playing the guys who have earned trust.

“I’ve always said this, you earn the trust and the opportunity way before you get thrust out there in front of the national TV. You earn that opportunity in practice and the trust from your coaches,” Freeman said. “The guys we’ll put out there have earned that trust and will do a great job.”

At the same time, it’s going to be almost impossible to replace Rylie Mills. He’s a leader on the Irish defense that the defensive line in particular can rally around. Statistically, he’s also been dominant, with 37 tackles, a team-high 8.5 tackles for loss, and a team high 7.5 sacks in 2024.

“You’re not going to replace Rylie Mills with one person,” Freeman said. “It’s multiple people who have to make up for some of the production that he’s had, but we’ll have some guys ready to roll.”

Georgia isn’t without its own injuries ahead of the Sugar Bowl. For the Bulldogs, the major injury is going to be to quarterback Carson Beck. Just as is the case with the Irish, it’s going to be next man up for the Bulldogs as each of these two teams fights for a national championship this season.