Marcus Freeman confirmed on Thursday that the Irish will be without reserve defensive tackle Jason Onye, who will miss his second game due to a personal matter. Luckily for the Irish the return of Gabriel Rubio should help buoy the Irish in the trenches, though Onye’s presence would have been a boost against a strong Yellow Jacket rushing attack.
Freeman couldn’t elaborate any more on Onye’s status other than to confirm that the Irish would be without him again this weekend when they travel to Atlanta. In four games this season, Onye has 7 tackles and 1.5 sacks.
After a slow start to the season, Onye really started to come on against Purdue. In Notre Dame’s rout of the Boilermakers, Onye notched 4 total pressures and the 1.5 sacks he has on the season. He added another pressure against Miami of Ohio and then three more against Louisville while recording a season-high in snaps with 24.
Onye’s career followed a similar trajectory with a slow start, but he was just starting to come into his own this season prior to his unavailability against Stanford as he attends to the undisclosed personal matter.
Gabriel Rubio’s return last week could not have come at a better time with Onye out. After missing the first five games of the season, Rubio returned and made his presence felt. He was disruptive in 21 snaps against the Cardinal and provided depth behind Howard Cross and Rylie Mills, who are both playing the best football of their seasons as of late.
Donovan Hinish figures to continue to be the fourth defensive tackle. He’s averaging a little over 21 snaps a game. Sophomore Armel Mukam played in the blowout against Purdue but hasn’t logged a snap in another other game – including last week’s blowout of Stanford. No other interior defensive linemen have played this season.
While Rubio’s return helps, having Onye in the lineup would be even better for the Irish depth right now. The Irish have been decimated on the edges of the defensive line this season with injuries – although the return of Josh Burnham was a boost last week. Keeping everyone on the interior fresh with more of a rotation would be ideal. For at least this week though, the Irish will be a little bit more thin they’d like to be inside and outside.
