Jaylen Sneed is heading into Notre Dame’s 2026 season with the kind of mileage that usually comes with a clear sense of where a career has gone. Instead, the fifth-year senior still sounds a little surprised to be here at all - still healthy, still in camp, and still waiting for that full-on breakout that has hovered over his name since he arrived in South Bend.
“It definitely does,” Sneed replied when asked if this feels like this is his last camp at Notre Dame. “It doesn't even feel like my fifth camp. it really feels like my second or third.
It just feels so good to still be here, still playing and still healthy. Thank God for that.”
That perspective fits a Notre Dame defense that brings back a ton of experience this fall. ESPN’s Bill Connelly said the Irish return the most production of any team in college football, and Chris Ash’s group is a huge reason why. The linebacker room is especially loaded with proven pieces, and Sneed sits right in the middle of it as one of the veterans expected to set the tone.
The 6-1, 227-pound linebacker from South Carolina came into the 2022 cycle as a highly touted recruit, and the production everyone anticipated still hasn’t fully arrived. But the flashes have been real.
Notre Dame has seen him flash as a three-down, off-ball linebacker, and he turned in a strong postseason in 2024 before stacking several more moments throughout the 2025 season. Last year was his most complete showing yet, and he’s carried that momentum into the offseason.
A big part of that growth came in the spring, when injuries in the room forced Sneed and fellow Will linebacker Jaiden Ausberry into new positions. That shuffle turned into a valuable teaching tool.
“I feel like it helped me a lot just because me and Aus [Jaiden Ausberry] don't really play both positions together," Sneed shared. "I felt like it made us communicate a lot more and made us really think about the defense and really learn every piece to the puzzle more than just knowing our position.
“We switched out at both positions and then we had Madden [ Faraimo ] also playing very well too," Sneed continued about his experience in the spring. "So just having us three in there, I felt like it made all three of us grow because Kyngstonn [ Viliamu-Asa ] and Drayk [ Bowen ] are the leaders of the team and we believe that. I just felt like it helped us all grow in our own ways.”
Sneed has also long had a defined edge as a pass rusher, and that piece of his game remains a real weapon. From 2023 through 2025, Pro Football Focus credits him with 40 total pressures and 18 hits plus sacks on the quarterback. Notre Dame plans to keep using that skill set, too, as the season moves forward.
“I feel like I'm definitely one of the linebackers who blitzes the most," Sneed stated. "I feel like Coach Ash is just trying all different types of ways to just get his linebackers involved in different types of ways.
We have four of us. It's hard to rotate, so he's just trying different ways to get all of us on the field at once and different ways to find us spots on the field.”
Notre Dame’s linebacker group has drawn plenty of confidence this offseason, and Sneed is a major reason why. If his spring and fall camp carry over once the games begin, he’ll have a chance to make the kind of impact that has been expected for a while.
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Notre Dame Nears A Receiver Decision That Will Define Its Depth
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What happens next will shape not just who travels, but how deep the Irish can realistically go at receiver once the games start counting. Notre Dame is expected to trim the number of wideouts it rotates on Saturdays, while the rest of the group shifts toward scout-team work to help prepare the defense by simulating upcoming opponents. It is the kind of late-camp decision that rarely gets much public attention, but it can say plenty about which receivers are ready to contribute now and which ones still need more development before their roles expand. [Read more 🡒]