Notre Dame’s linebacker room is loaded again, and Jaiden Ausberry is still one of the names that tends to get buried in the shuffle. That’s not because he hasn’t produced.
It’s because he’s been doing the work in a group that already has a lot of attention. After starting 10 games last season and returning for 2026, the Louisiana native enters the fall as one of the most dependable pieces on the Irish defense.
Ausberry is listed at 6-1 and 226 pounds and comes from Baton Rouge, La., where he played at University Lab. He is a senior/junior and has put together a steady career in South Bend that now totals 110 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one pass defended.
Last season was his most active yet. Ausberry played in all 12 games and opened the final 10 regular-season contests at Will linebacker, starting from Purdue through Notre Dame’s final road game at Stanford.
He finished 2025 with 51 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, two sacks and 24 run stops, which ranked among the team leaders. His biggest performance came against Navy, when he posted eight tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble.
He also turned in a solid opener at Miami, finishing with five tackles even though he did not start that game.
The consistency has been the story with Ausberry. In 2024, he was tied for second on the defense in tackles for loss with 6.5 despite starting only two games, and he added 56 tackles, a half-sack, a pass defended and 26 run stops. Even in 2023, when his role was much smaller, he still found a way to contribute with three tackles and a run stop.
Spring gave him another layer of experience. With Drayk Bowen, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Madden Faraimo and Kahanu Kia dealing with injuries, Ausberry worked with the first-team defense at Mike linebacker.
That stretch was temporary, but it gave him valuable reps in the middle and should pay off as the offseason continues. Now he has a better feel for helping set the defense and getting the group into the right looks alongside Bowen.
He also heads into his second season in the Chris Ash system, which should only make him more comfortable. Even with the spring work at Mike, Ausberry is expected to remain at Will for the rest of the offseason, where the assignment is straightforward: keep producing and keep growing into a bigger leadership role.
The expectation is that Ausberry stays in the starting Will spot all season. New linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary inherits a room that brings back both starters from last year in Bowen and Ausberry, along with key rotational pieces Jaylen Sneed, Viliamu-Asa and Faraimo. All five are expected to play, and while the exact rotation is still unclear, Ausberry should be right where he was a year ago - right in the middle of the action.
The numbers back that up. Over the last two seasons, he has piled up 107 tackles and 10.5 tackles for loss, and those totals should keep climbing with Notre Dame likely playing a 15- to 16-game season. If the Irish front takes the jump it’s expected to take, Ausberry should keep benefiting, especially in a defense that plans to put a heavy emphasis on stopping the run.
A good season for Ausberry would mean holding down the starting Will job and finishing as one of the team’s leaders in tackles for loss. He has already shown he can do that kind of damage, and the idea here is that 2026 is the year the rest of the country notices it too.
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Igwebuike brings the kind of national profile Notre Dame wants in a linebacker target, with several programs still in the mix, while Parks has emerged as a priority along the defensive front. If the Irish can finish the job on both recruits, it would amount to a meaningful early statement for a 2027 class that is starting to take shape with some real upside. [Read more 🡒]