How Irish captain Isaiah Foskey is squeezing every drop out of his time at Notre Dame

For Notre Dame senior Isaiah Foskey, everything he had already experienced this offseason before becoming a team captain last week all served as validation that he made the right decision in returning to school for one last go-around. 

Foskey joins graduate students Avery Davis, Jarrett Patterson and Bo Bauer, fellow senior JD Bertrand and junior Michael Mayer as the six Irish captains this season. 

“It’s a life-changing decision, and it will be,” Foskey explained when he made his choice to return. “I feel like I made the right decision to come back. This is the best decision I’ve made.”

Finding Foskey

If anyone was trying to locate Foskey around the Notre Dame campus this summer, chances are they didn’t find him.

From stops in New York City and Omaha, Neb., in the U.S., to Italy and Ireland overseas, Foskey stayed on the move this summer. 

Where to begin? 

• Foskey spent some time with the Manning Brothers, Peyton and Eli, while the two Super Bowl quarterbacks made a fly-by through town for an ESPN film project. Foskey posed for a pic with the Mannings outside of Knute Rockne’s final home near campus.

• In May, Foskey traveled to Chicago with head coach Marcus Freeman and some teammates to participate in the NBC Sports Summit.

• Shortly after that, Foskey was off to Milan, Italy, where he and a group of teammates traveled to study abroad for about two weeks.

• From there, Foskey and his housemate Bertrand made a trip to Dublin, Ireland, where they attended a local charity event and posed for pictures to promote Notre Dame’s 2023 season opener there against Navy. 

• In early June, Foskey and Bertrand were off to Knoxville, Tenn., and Omaha, Neb., to support the Notre Dame baseball team during its magical postseason run. 

• And finally, a week before training camp opened, Foskey showed up at Yankee Stadium along with Freeman and teammates Justin and Jayson Ademilola.

• And, sometime during his busy summer travel schedule, Foskey took a trip to Las Vegas to film a video spoof based on the movie “The Hangover” as a clever way for Fighting Irish Media to unveil this year’s Shamrock Series uniforms.

Foskey explained how the unique opportunities that Notre Dame provided him this summer wouldn’t happen anywhere else. 

“Notre Dame has a big name and I feel like everyone wants to be part of the Notre Dame culture, the Notre Dame family, wants to at least touch Notre Dame,” Foskey said. “So I’ve been given a chance to make an impact with that.”

Welcome to Notre Dame

Foskey arrived to campus in 2019 as a promising four-star recruit, but one who the On3 Consensus ranked as only the No. 14 edge and No. 204 overall player in his class. 

With a deep talent pool ahead of him, Foskey redshirted as a freshman that year while he waited, studied, and learned from some terrific teammates. As a rookie, Foskey practiced behind the standout line tandem of Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem, two eventual NFL Draft picks.  

As a sophomore in 2020, Foskey earned a spot as a situational pass rusher and excelled. 

While playing less than one-third of the Irish defensive snaps that season, and working behind fifth-year senior starters Daelin Hayes and Ade Ogundeji — two more NFL Draft selections — Foskey still recorded 20 tackles and was second on the team with 4.5 sacks. 

Last season, Foskey finished fourth on the team in tackles (52) and recorded 11 sacks, the third most in Notre Dame history for a single season, falling just short of the record 13.5 sacks Justin Tuck posted in 2003. Foskey also tied for the national lead last season with 6 forced fumbles. 

Foskey’s work earned him third-team All-American honors from Phil Steele, and a Day 2 (second round) draft grade from The NFL College Advisory Board if he chose to leave Notre Dame as a junior last season.

A glowing projection indeed, but Day 2 isn’t what Foskey has in mind.

“I want to become a first-round pick, the first one off the board,” Foskey said. “I liked the second round, like being in it, but that’s not the biggest goal. They said they want to see more consistency, play to play and game to game.”

With more to accomplish and his improvement orders in place, Foskey put NFL aspirations on hold, returned for his senior season and needs 9.5 sacks this fall to pass Tuck (24.5) as Notre Dame’s career leader. 

And with a chance to boost his draft stock, chase a national title, and graduate in December, Foskey said he couldn’t pass up the chance to give one more year to the school that has given so much to him.

“I know the goals that I want to set for myself but I feel like me throughout the season, it’s just about having fun,” Foskey said. “When I’m having fun, that’s when all of that stuff will come to me.”