Notre Dame football has two top 10 returning interior defensive linemen per PFF
Notre Dame could have lost both Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills to the 2024 NFL Draft. Instead, the duo decided to stay for graduate student seasons this year.
Notre Dame is a much better football team than it would have been if they left.
Cross and Mills are two of the top 10 returning interior defensive linemen in college football per Pro Football Focus. PFF has Cross at No. 3 and Mills at No. 10.
Cross had the highest 2023 PFF grade of anyone on the list at 90.1. His 29 run stops were tied for the second-most of any defensive tackles in the nation and he was fifth among Power Five tackles with 39 quarterback pressures. Cross, a second-team All-American per most services, had 66 total tackles, more than any other defensive tackle in college football.
“Cross is on the smaller side at 6-foot-1 and 284 pounds but makes up for it with his explosiveness and agility,” PFF’s Max Chadwick wrote. “He enters the sixth and final season of his career as one of the leaders of what should be an elite Notre Dame defense.”
Mills, meanwhile, had a 13.5 percent pressure rate, which was tied for fourth among FBS interior linemen. His 15.5 percent pass-rush win rate was seventh among FBS tackles.
“While on the lighter side at 295 pounds, Mills displaces offensive linemen with his size (6-foot-5) and excellent upper-body strength,” Chadwick wrote.
Chadwick believes Michigan has the best tackle tandem in the country in Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, but he noted Notre Dame is not far behind with Cross and Mills. The Wolverines and Irish are the only programs with two tackles in the returning top 10.
With Cross and Mills returning, Notre Dame retained three-fourths of its starting defensive line from 2023. Vyper defensive end Jordan Botelho is also still in South Bend. Notre Dame pulled Duke defensive end RJ Oben from the transfer portal to replace Javontae Jean-Baptiste, who was easily one of the Irish’s best defensive players in his one rental season coming in from Ohio State last year.
Here’s PFF’s full list of the top 10 returning defensive tackles.
Pro Football Focus’ top 10 returning defensive tackles
- Mason Graham, Michigan
- Deone Walker, Kentucky
- Howard Cross III, Notre Dame
- Peter Woods, Clemson
- Tyleik Williams, Ohio State
- Kenneth Grant, Michigan
- Dontay Corleone, Cincinnati
- Tonka Hemingway, South Carolina
- Aeneas Peebles, Virginia Tech
- Rylie Mills, Notre Dame
