Notre Dame’s defense keeps proving that “next man up” is more than just a slogan, and Jayden Sanders gave the latest example against Stanford.
With Leonard Moore sidelined after suffering a concussion late in last week’s game against North Carolina, Sanders slid into the lineup and handled the assignment without blinking. Moore had been listed as questionable through most of the week, but Notre Dame chose to hold him out and give him a shot to return next week against No. 8 BYU.
Sanders responded with a performance that looked a lot like the kind Notre Dame has come to expect from Moore. He tied for the team lead in defensive snaps with 39 and finished with an 86.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus.
The transfer from Michigan has been working to carve out his place in South Bend since arriving this winter, and Saturday gave him a strong case that he belongs. After the game, Sanders talked about the competition inside the program and said it’s exactly what he expected.
“I come from a high school where we have something when you walk in, it says, ‘Iron sharpens iron.’ So just me in this great DB room that I keep speaking about and keep coming up.
I feel like they challenge me every day, and the receivers on the other side of the ball do too. I feel like both rooms are very good, and we challenge each other to be the best every day.”
Sanders’ stat line won’t jump off the page. He made just one tackle.
But the bigger story was how little Stanford got out of his side of the field. He also broke up two passes, was targeted four times, and gave up only one catch for five yards.
That’s the kind of outing Notre Dame has been leaning on all season whenever injuries have forced a change. This time, Sanders was the one who stepped in and held the line.
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Notre Dame Women's Basketball Just Landed A Massive Future Building Block
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For a program that has stayed among the national powers by stacking talent well ahead of time, this is the sort of pickup that keeps the pipeline strong. It also comes at a busy stretch around campus, with the hockey team opening with a weekend sweep of Niagara and football turning its attention to BYU, where the line has shifted after an injury to the Cougars star running back. [Read more 🡒]