We’ve come to the end of our countdown of the top 25 Notre Dame football players in 2018. And we are about to spend a lot of time of the defensive side of the ball. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone considering the loaded defensive roster Notre Dame has thanks to the return of several NFL caliber defenders.
In case you missed any of the series of our rankings, here are links to all of the others.
- Notre Dame Football Top 25 for 2018: #21-25
- Notre Dame Football Top 25 for 2018: #16-20
- Notre Dame Football Top 25 for 2018: #11-15
- Notre Dame Football Top 25 for 2018: #6-10
5. Sam Mustipher, OC
Ballots: 3, Highest Ranking: 4, Lowest Ranking: 6
Recently selected as a 2nd team AP All-American, Mustipher has become the leader of the Notre Dame offense live. That is coming a long way since 2016 when he had snapping issues – outside of the bad snaps that he never should have had to make in the hurricane at NC State too.
Mustipher will end his career as a three year starter for the Irish and will be collecting a NFL paycheck at this time next year. Until that time, he is tasked with leading a Notre Dame offense line looking to replace two all-time greats and continue the level of play we saw from it in 2017 when they were named the Joe More Offensive Line of the Year.
Greg ranked Mustipher the highest and thinks he is one of the most underrated players on the team.
Probably the most underrated good player on the team, which makes sense because he’s a center. The line can only be good this season because of him and Bars being the anchors.
4. Drue Tranquill, LB
Ballots: 3, Highest Ranking: 3, Lowest Ranking: 5
Of the three defenders who came back to Notre Dame instead of leaving for the NFL, Tranquill was the first to commit back in December. His return helped start the momentum that resulted in the return of Tevon Coney and Jerry Tillery. All three just so happen to be in our top four.
Tranqill has overcome a lot in his career. He’s torn his ACL twice, he’s played for four defensive coordinators, and he’s now played three different positions. The move to BUCK was aimed at getting Notre Dame’s best trio of backers on the field at the same time and enhancing Tranquill’s NFL stock.
There is no question whatsoever that Tranquill will leave everything he has on the field this fall. The only question will be just how well he holds up as the BUCK two years after playing safety. There hasn’t been any indication this off-season that he won’t just handle it but also thrive at it. Look for Tranquill to make his impact felt and to pick up where Coney left off by racking up tackles left and right.
3. Julian Love, CB
Ballots: 3, Highest Ranking: 2, Lowest Ranking: 5
Greg is one of the best writers wev’ve had at UHND, but he is crazy having Julian Love as only the 5th best player on the Notre Dame roster. Love came in ranked second on the other two ballots because very well could be the first All-American cornerback for Notre Dame since Shane Walton (1st team) and Vontez Duff (3rd team) in 2002.
Matt and I both had Love ranked 2nd overall. Here’s Matt’s comments.
What’s not to love about Love? The returning 2nd Team All-American showed he had lockdown ability on the outside last year while also taking a few picks to the house.
Love was a freshman All-American in 2016 before forcing his way into the starting lineup last year. He turned the tides in both the Michigan State and NC State games with pick sixes and is primed to be a lock down corner in 2018. Brian Kelly said that Love got a bit interception at times in the spring and fall camp, but has said he’s settled back in to his lockdown ways.
If Notre Dame improves its pass rush this year as they believe they can, the interceptions will come for Love. So will a lot of post-season accolades.
2. Tevon Coney, LB
Ballots: 3, Highest Ranking: 1 (1), Lowest Ranking 3
The lone first place ranking for Coney came from me. Coney became a tackling machine for the Irish a year ago and explored his NFL options before returning for his senior season. With his return came the move to MIKE – the linebacker position that historically has been the playmaking position in the defense Clark Lea is running at Notre Dame. Nyles Morgan was not that playermaker last year.
The hope here is that Coney is that playmaker considering the impact he made at BUCK last year as a part time starter. Coney was an animal in the Citrus Bowl against LSU with 17 tackles and should pick up right where he left off this season.
Here’s Matt’s take on Coney:
Coney only started 7 games last season but still lead the team in tackles and TFLs. He has been working on his coverage skills this offseason and should have a tremendous senior season. Like Tillery it was a tremendous boost for 1st year DC Clark Lea to get a player of Coney’s talent back.
If Coney improves those pass coverage skills not only can he be the best player on the Notre Dame roster, he could be the first Notre Dame linebacker to be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft since Bob Crable in 1982.
Jerry Tillery, DT
Ballots: 3, Highest Ranking: 1 (2), Lowest Ranking: 3
Jerry Tillery came in #2 on two of the three ballots – Matt’s and Greg’s. I wasn’t quite as high on the senior defensive tackle and had him third. Tillery, like Alex Bars, has had an up and down career. He’s been a mainstay in the Notre Dame starting lineup since 2015, but it wasn’t until 2017 that Tillery started to play up to his potential. In fact, prior to 2017 Tillery made more news with off the field distractions than he made on it.
That changed last year though when Tillery led Notre Dame with 4.5 sacks and was third in TFL behind Coney and Tranquill with 9.0. That was playing as nose tackle – a postion where players usually don’t lead their team in sacks. Tillery had the chance to leave for the NFL and didn’t. He came back and moved over to defensive tackle where his ability to make negative plays should be greatly increased.
Thank God Tillery decided to come back for his senior season because all reports out of camp is that he has taken his game to an All-American level. Tillery will need to be double teamed and although his stats won’t be eye popping he will be the guy who helps pad the TFL stats for his teammates.
– Matt
Greg’s top two came down to Tillery and Coney, with Tillery coming out on top but barely.
Close between him and Coney, but Tillery has shown to be a three down player, while that’s something Coney is striving to do. And don’t forget, a lot of Coney’s excellence is the result of what Tillery does upfront. Razor thin between the two.
Notre Dame will need the negative plays to come in bunches from Tillery to get to the playoffs soo hopefully Matt is wrong that his stats won’t be eye popping. The Irish have not had a game altering defensive line since 2012 but can this year in large part because of Tillery and the potential he has to be a disruptive force.
Some people ask why these “D” players came back for one more year…well obviously to win a NC…but I also suspect that they wanted a second year of play in a coherent defensive scheme…to hone their skills…learn a little more – and why not – it makes perfect sense to me and will probably help their draft stock, not hurt it. Remember guys, these players were often confused two years ago, even on where to line up! But not so confused last year…a huge improvement. If they only just show natural improvement in the new system from 2017 to 2018 they will be a force to reckon with. You all know that one of the ancient goals for ND has always been to finish undefeated, untied, and unscored upon…and we’ve never been able to do that…though a couple teams actually came pretty close! I think the final tally of points scored against this defense could be pretty low. Remember, Georgia did not exactly run the score up against these guys!, and that was only the second game for this defensive scheme…imagine what they’ll be capable of in their 14th game!
BGC ’77 ’82