Notre Dame Football: 3 reasons the Irish defense will be top-10 in 2021

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Oct 3, 2020; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats assistant coach Marcus Freeman during pregame between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the South Florida Bulls at Nippert Stadium. Notre Dame Football Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports /

The Notre Dame Football team is replacing a lot of talent heading into the 2021 college football season, but the defense could be elite.

Heading into the summer months, the Notre Dame Football program will begin to embark on practice and get ready for their season opener against Florida State. For the Irish, this could be a season of transition, as they saw 14 players go to the NFL after a successful 2020 campaign where they went undefeated during the regular season.

Losing that much talent could decimate some programs, but this is Notre Dame Football, where their backups could start for most universities. There is plenty of talent left on the roster, and on the defensive side of the ball, they could be even better than they were a year ago.

Sure, losing defensive ends Daelin Hayes and Ade Ogundeji is going to hurt, and you can never fully replace Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, but there is more depth than last season. Also, they have some first-round talent on that side of the ball, so there is no reason why the Irish won’t be absolutely solid on defense in 2021.

Here, we look at three reasons why the Irish defense could end up being one of the top-10 in the country this season.

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