Most of the focus on Notre Dame this offseason has been on whether CJ Carr and the offense can get the Fighting Irish back to the College Football Playoff, despite the absence of Jeremiyah Love or Jadarian Price. However, Phil Steele's release of his pre-season All-American teams shows that once again, it will be Chris Ash's defense that makes or breaks the campaign.
Steele, considered one of the most reliable analysts in the college football world, has four All-American teams, and he puts together both offense and defense for each. That allows quite a few players from some of the better teams in the country to make the list. For Marcus Freeman's squad, it allowed six players to get peppered throughout, with four on defense and two on offense.
Six Notre Dame players make Phil Steele's Preseason All-American teams. That includes Leonard Moore as Defensive Player of the Year.
— Oliver VanDervoort (@itmeolliev) June 19, 2026
One Nebraska player, Jacory Barney makes 4th team All-American Special Teams as Punt Returner pic.twitter.com/QYoGiq0QKN
Defense leads the way for Notre Dame in Phil Steele's All-American teams
The only first-team player for either side of the field is defensive back Leonard Moore. As has been the case all offseason, he gets a ton of love here. In fact, Moore was named the Defensive Player of the Year by Steele, as well as one of his first-team All-Americans at cornerback.
Moore certainly deserves the nod. Despite missing two games due to injury, he still locked 31 tackles, 7 pass breakups, and a career high 5 interceptions. One has to wonder what those numbers would have looked like if he'd played in 12 games. Or even 13 if he'd been healthy and Notre Dame hadn't been wrongly left out of the CFP.
Safety Tae Johnson is next as he made the second-team All-American team. Like Moore, Johnson is still very young, as 2025 was his redshirt freshman season. He broke out after barely seeing the field in 2024, tallying 48 tackles, 3 pass breakups, and 4 interceptions as he looks to walk in the footsteps of former Irish great, Xavier Watts.
Phil Steele's third-team All-American team includes both defensive lineman Boubacar Traore and linebacker Drayk Bowen. Both players are gearing up for a big 2026 as they look to make the jump to the NFL after this season.
Notre Dame offensive players have a lot to prove according to Phil Steele
The lack of offensive skill position players on this team shows just how many questions Notre Dame has on that side of the ball. The good news here is that CJ Carr continues to get quite a bit of love, essentially ranked as the fourth-best quarterback in the country.
The sixth and final Irish member on Phil Steele's All-American teams is offensive lineman Charles Jagusah. He, like Carr, only makes the fourth team, but that is good enough to get quite a bit of love among the best offensive linemen in the country.
Notre Dame hopes that Phil Steele has to edit quite a few teams and puts more offensive skill players (as well as a few more defensive studs) on his post-season All-American teams. For now, they can celebrate getting six men in the pre-season list.
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