Notre Dame’s defense has rounded a corner from its early-season struggles under first-year defensive coordinator Chris Ash, and may have submitted its best outing of the season against Pitt last week. However, the unit was dealt a serious blow heading into a Week 13 matchup with Syracuse.
The Fighting Irish defense will be short-handed on Saturday after the program announced on Friday that starting safety Tae Johnson will be out with a hand injury, missing his first game of the season.
Breaking: Notre Dame safety Tae Johnson is out for the Syracuse game with a hand injury. Blue & Gold was made aware of the situation Thursday. The program made the news public Friday.
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) November 21, 2025
Johnson leads the Irish with 4 interceptions.
Details: https://t.co/bK8TgaG4vc pic.twitter.com/GmJKrnIBLy
Tae Johnson ruled out for Week 13 matchup with Syracuse
The redshirt freshman safety has been a breakout star in his first season as a starter in South Bend, and he’s been incredibly reliable. Johnson leads the Notre Dame defense in defensive snaps played at 573, is third on the team in tackles, and leads the way with four interceptions.
One of those interceptions came last week, a 49-yard pick-six of Pitt freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel. It was one of two Notre Dame touchdowns within 10 seconds and put the Irish up 14-0 in the first quarter.
With Johnson out, Luke Talich and Jalen Stroman are likely next up on the defensive depth chart for the Irish. Talich, a redshirt junior safety, has played 170 defensive snaps and appeared in all 10 games this season, while Stroman, a graduate transfer from Virginia Tech, has recorded 216 defensive snaps, including 24 against Pitt in Week 12.
Stroman began the season in a starting role, playing a season-high 57 snaps in Week 1 vs. Miami, but his role began to dwindle after that loss, with Johnson replacing him in the starting lineup. Johnson played just nine snaps in Week 1, then 56 in Notre Dame’s Week 3 loss to Texas A&M.
The switch from Stroman to Johnson at safety has seemingly been a major catalyst for Notre Dame’s improved defensive performance throughout the season. Luckily for the Irish, Stroman won’t be tested much by Syracuse in Week 13 because the Orange have been without Notre Dame transfer quarterback Steve Angeli since a Week 4 injury in a win over Clemson knocked him out for the season.
Rickie Collins took over the job, but for Week 13, Syracuse head coach is giving the starting nod to freshman walk-on Joe Filardi. Filardi is 7-for-21 passing for 78 yards and a touchdown this season with appearances against North Carolina and Miami.
If there was a game for Johnson to miss, it was this one.