Notre Dame DL Rylie Mills returning for a fifth season
The Notre Dame football program received another boost to its defensive line Thursday. Senior Rylie Mills announced he is returning to the Fighting Irish for a fifth season. Mills has one more season of collegiate eligibility due to the COVID-19 season, which occurred when he was a freshman.
The 6-foot-5⅛, 306-pound Mills’ decision came after his best with Notre Dame. In 12 games — all of which he started — Mills had 45 tackles (22 solo), 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. He did have 6 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks the prior season as a junior. In 2022, he also registered 24 tackles, 8 of which were solo.
Notre Dame will run it back with a veteran defensive line in 2024. On Sunday, graduate student defensive lineman and second-team All-America recipient Howard Cross III announced he was returning to the Irish for a sixth season.
Then, on Wednesday, the Irish added former Duke defensive lineman R.J. Oben out of the NCAA Transfer Portal. The 6-foot-4, 260-pound Oben is set to replace graduate student Javontae Jean-Baptiste — an Ohio State transfer — at the strongside defensive end position.
At Duke, Oben appeared in 50 games and started in 32. He totaled 67 tackles (33 solo), 20 for loss and 14.5 sacks. He also had an interception, pass breakup and 5 forced fumbles in those outings.
The Irish could also return graduate student vyper Jordan Botelho, who has one more year of eligibility. Behind Botelho are two former linebackers — Joshua Burnham and Junior Tuihalamaka — who both played plenty of meaningful snaps in 2023. Burnham and Tuihalamaka are rising juniors.
Details on defensive lineman Rylie Mills’ Notre Dame football career
In Mills’ Irish career, he has played in 47 games, starting in 22, and compiled 92 tackles (40 solo), 16.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks.
In 2023, Mills made the full-time transition to defensive tackle. Over 87% of his 508 defensive snaps came at defensive tackle. Only 50% of Mills’ snaps were the interior the year before. The rest came primarily at defensive end.
Following the position change, Mills saw an increase in his defensive production. He had 27 pressures (18 hurries) and 26 run stops in 2023, compared to 23 pressures (14 hurries) and 10 run stops in 2022.
Mills appeared in 13 games as a sophomore in 2021. He had 16 tackles (8 solo), 3 tackles for loss and 3 sacks in his second year at Notre Dame. Mills also added 19 pressures (13 hurries) and 8 run stops.
As a freshman in 2020, Mills played in 9 games and had 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks.
