Marcus Freeman Says Notre Dame Is Almost Three Deep at Defensive Tackle

Marcus Freeman closed Notre Dame’s fall camp Friday with what he estimated was close to a 100-play scrimmage, then got asked which position group had separated itself as the deepest on his roster. He named two. The room he led with was the one in the middle of his defensive front.

“I would probably say there are two of them. One would be the defensive tackle position,” Freeman said after the final practice of camp. “We’re deep with a lot of guys that will play, a lot of guys that can start. It’s great competition, and those guys really had a good camp.”

Linebacker was the other room he pointed to, with four players who have all started and, as he put it, “any one of those guys can be on the field at any time.” But Freeman came back to the interior before the answer was over, and the number he attached to it is the one that matters with the Irish a week out from game week.

“But the D-tackle position, you’re really almost three deep of guys that can go in a game and play,” he said.

How Notre Dame Got Here

That is not where this room was headed in January. Notre Dame had no guarantee that Jason Onye’s eligibility would come through, and Armel Mukam entered the portal before the staff convinced him to come back. Then Notre Dame added Francis Brewu and Tionne Gray out of the portal, and a spot that could have been the defense’s real problem in 2026 is now one of the deepest groups on the roster. Brewu put up 34 tackles and six tackles for loss at Pittsburgh last season. Gray had 18 tackles and two TFL at Oregon. Onye returns off 26 tackles with 1.5 sacks. In past years, this is the season a freshman like Elijah Golden, the No. 154 player nationally out of Sarasota’s Cardinal Mooney, gets rushed into snaps before he is ready. He does not have to now.

Mukam’s return, along with the development of Elijah Hughes, pushed the tackle rotation from two layers to nearly three. He had five tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss last season, rotational production from a player who then went into the portal and came back out of it. Asked how Mukam went from that to someone the staff would put in a starting lineup, Freeman did not qualify it.

“Yeah, I mean, he’s had a terrific camp. Really has elevated his play,” Freeman said.

Mukam’s Camp and Partridge’s Influence

Freeman then credited Charlie Partridge, who arrived in South Bend from the Indianapolis Colts and had to win over a defensive line room full of veterans who were already producing before he got there.

“And it’s credit to Coach Partridge, who’s done an amazing job with the D-line, top to bottom,” Freeman said. “I’ve always said this, when you’re a new coach that comes into a program that has guys that are established, guys that have done a really good job, it’s difficult. And he’s earned our trust and made those guys really, they’ve improved, and Armel has really had a great camp.”

Why the Rotation Matters

Having the kind of depth to be three deep on the inside without a major drop-off in production is a calling card of a national championship-caliber defense, and Notre Dame is settling at the position with more bodies than it usually has. Three deep inside keeps the same four linemen from absorbing every fourth-quarter snap and gives the front enough bodies to survive a September injury without redrawing the scheme around it. Notre Dame is favored by 20.5 over Wisconsin, a spread built on the expectation that the Irish control this game.

Freeman’s plan for the next seven days is recovery first, then a shift into an in-school schedule with afternoon practices once classes start Monday.

“We got to make sure we recover this week and get ready to attack next week as we’re about a week out of being in actual game week,” he said.

Whether the three-deep rotation holds through September comes down to whether Mukam is on the field in the first quarter against Wisconsin and still holding up at the point of attack when the rotation runs through him in the fourth, and Freeman’s read on him goes past the snaps he takes.

“His leadership is showing,” Freeman said. “He’s not only a leader by the way he plays, but his vocal leadership is showing up, and he’s making those people around him better.”