What Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa’s Return Means for Notre Dame’s Defense

Notre Dame linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary was asked Sunday what he has seen from Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and freshman linebacker Ja’Kobe Klapper now that both are back on the field in fall camp. His answer started with what the junior linebacker, who missed spring practice, brings back to a defense that spent April without him: not depth, but a set of jobs the staff can hand to one player.

“Obviously, Kyngston is a guy that’s played a lot, played high-level football here,” Jean-Mary said. “And, you know, to have him back is kind of what we talked about in the beginning. Not just the player, you know, the explosive player that can do so much, whether it’s, you know, rushing the passer, playing linebacker, dropping in coverage.”

Notre Dame got that version of Viliamu-Asa last season, when he finished with 48 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and two pass breakups, plus an interception he returned 14 yards against NC State. His best work came in stretches where the staff turned him loose: 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks at Boston College, a sack against USC, eight tackles and half a sack against Boise State.

For a defensive staff featuring new defensive line, linebackers, and secondary coaches still deciding what it can ask of the position, that matters more than just getting a body back in the rotation. It means the call sheet does not have to shrink when Viliamu-Asa is on the field. Notre Dame can change what it is doing on a given snap without swapping personnel and telegraphing the change, which is different from replacing him with a specialist for each look.

A Veteran Presence Back in the Room

Notre Dame’s veteran backers have returned from the injured list and took the teaching load off the coaches, and Jean-Mary said the difference showed up immediately.

“You feel the experience back in the room and the leadership now,” he said. “It’s a night-and-day difference from what it was in the spring.”

The leadership piece is where he stressed Viliamu-Asa specifically. “You know, it’s the leadership part also,” Jean-Mary said. “He’s almost a quiet presence that brings confidence to the whole team. So, that’s been, you know, great. And him being back on the field has been a big spark for us on defense. So that’s a blessing.”

Jean-Mary only arrived at Notre Dame earlier this year, but he’s been around the room long enough now to know what he inherited. He said he knew “probably 60 to 70% of the room ’cause I recruited these guys, you know, coming out of high school,” and that the group has exceeded his expectations. He also knows what the operating instruction is between now and the opener: “Obviously, keep them healthy. And, you know, try to finish the job.”

How Spring Changed His Perspective

Viliamu-Asa’s own account of the last eight months is less about the rehab than about what he did while he could not practice. He was asked what he learned while watching from the sideline.

“Being on the sideline through the spring really gave me an opportunity to expand, you know, what I know and to go learn from other position groups,” Viliamu-Asa said. “I’ll go learn from the running backs. I’ll learn from the O-line. I’ll stand next to the O-line when they’re doing drills, just to understand, you know, how the offense is trying to attack us to better understand how to play linebacker and how to defend certain things.”

He credited the people who got him back: “Training staff. Training staff have been a great help as far as recovery and rehab in getting me to this point.”

And he did not romanticize any of it. Asked for the biggest lesson from the time out, Viliamu-Asa said the stretch “just reinforces the fact that football is not going to last forever, you know, and to appreciate being at a place like Notre Dame that allows me to start thinking about what I want to do outside of football. That, and then also, you know, that I got to give it everything I got every play ’cause, you know, it might be my last.”

The Standard for a Veteran Defense

He carried the same tone to the defense at large, a group he described as having a lot of returning production. “We got a lot of experience coming back, but the challenge for us is, you know, to resist that entitlement,” he said. “We got to come back with fire and attack every day like we don’t got nothing.”

Jaylen Sneed, who put up 35 tackles, five tackles for loss and three sacks last season, is back in the same room. Dryak Bowen, who also missed the spring, brings with him 67 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and 4.5 TFL. Jaiden Ausberry had 51 tackles, 2 sacks, and 4 TFL and is back as well. With the full quartet of backers available in camp, Jean-Mary gets the next three weeks to find out how much of that package the defense can actually carry into the opener.