Notre Dame’s defense is heading into Saturday night with a familiar challenge and a fresh wrinkle: the Irish will have to lean on depth again, this time without captain Drayk Bowen in the middle of the unit.
Bowen’s lower body injury adds another hit to a defense that has already been dealing with plenty. Safety Brauntae Johnson has been out for the last seven and a half games with a lower body injury.
Defensive tackle Jason Onye is still working back toward full strength. Cornerback CJ McKinney is sidelined for an undisclosed amount of time with an ankle injury.
Now Bowen, a senior captain and middle linebacker, joins that list.
That means the “next man in” approach is more than a slogan for Notre Dame this week. It has to be the way the Irish survive a meeting with the No. 1 team in the country, Miami, and the defense will be without its primary on-field communicator.
Senior Jaiden Ausberry is one of the players expected to help fill that void. Notre Dame’s linebacker room has been one of the deepest and most experienced parts of the roster, and Ausberry said the group understands what’s in front of it.
"Drayk is a communicator," Ausberry said of the two-time defensive captain. "He’s our Mike backer, but we always have a ‘next man up’ mentality, It is what it is. We, me, Kyngstonn [ Viliamu-Asa ], Jaylen [ Sneed ], Madden [ Faraimo ], even the young guys, we all got to step up."
The communication piece looms especially large against Miami’s offense, which comes into South Bend ranked No. 1 in the nation. Bowen had been the “green dot” player, handling the coach-to-player communication from the sideline. Ausberry has experience in that role, though, and said he has worn the green dot before.
"I’ve worn it a couple of times," Ausberry said of the green dot. "I think I wore it like two games last year for a couple drives.
It’s definitely different because you really got to communicate more because you’re getting the call first. We still have signals coming in and stuff like that, but you definitely got to communicate. - I think it’s going to be KVA."
Ausberry also pointed to the way the defense is approaching the matchup emotionally and mentally. He said the group is energized, but not interested in overcomplicating things.
"Everybody is energized," Ausberry stated when asked what it’s like facing Miami. "Nobody has to be a superhero.
Nobody has to do anything crazy. Just do your job on every play.
And we’ll get the results that we want."
Notre Dame has already dealt with injuries on defense in recent seasons, including during its 2024 run to the title game, when several key starters were unavailable at different points before the Irish fell 34-23 to Ohio State in the national title game. This season has brought another wave of absences, and now the burden shifts again.
Against Miami, under the lights, with playoff implications hanging over the night, Notre Dame’s defense will need its leaders to settle everything down fast. Ausberry and the rest of the unit know what kind of game this is. The Irish will need the whole room to answer.
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