The praises of Notre Dame’s defense in the next five-plus months will be two-fold: its starting safeties and its excellent defensive ends, all four of the senior ends, two of which already considered the NFL.
Notice, depth is not included in the safety bit. There was hardly any before spring practice began and when Devin Studstill did not take part in the first practice because he intends to transfer upon graduation this May, the semblance of known depth dissipated entirely. Without Studstill, and rising senior Alohi Gilman limited both by minor injury and by load management, the Irish currently have rising senior Jalen Elliott (pictured at top) and rising sophomores Derrik Allen and Paul Moala available at the position.