Pair of Notre Dame defensive starters to miss ‘a couple weeks,’ but injuries aren’t season-ending

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Notre Dame safety Brauntae Johnson and defensive lineman Jason Onye have been ruled out of Saturday’s home opener against Rice and are expected to miss multiple weeks, coach Marcus Freeman said Tuesday.

His usual Monday news conference was pushed back one day because the Irish played their season opener Sunday night at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

Both starters suffered left foot injuries during the first half of the 41-13 victory over Wisconsin. Neither returned to the game.

“We expect them back at some point this season, but they’re not going to be back next week,” Freeman said. “It’s going to be a couple weeks.

“That’s why you have depth. I feel good about the depth in the D-line room, I feel good about the depth of the DBs room, the safeties room. But everybody’s roles increase when you lose two starters like Tae and Jason.”

Johnson was a second-team selection on the AP preseason All-America team after making eight starts and recording 48 tackles and four interceptions in 2025. Onye made his first career start Sunday and has 53 tackles, including one Sunday, and 3½ sacks during his six seasons with the Irish.

Freeman cited three possible replacements for Johnson: Luke Talich, Joey O’Brien and Ethan Long.

The Irish consider Talich, a fourth-year player from Wyoming, a starter. He had four tackles Sunday after recording 25 tackles (one for a loss) and three interceptions last season. Long, from Connecticut, appeared in four games in 2025, his first season in South Bend, and made three tackles. O’Brien is a Pennsylvania native in his first season at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame also has a strong depth chart along the defensive line and typically rotates players throughout the game. Freeman expects Francis Brewu, a transfer from Pittsburgh who had three tackles in his Notre Dame debut, and Tionne Gray, a third-year player from St. Louis, to help replace Onye. Gray made three starts last year and had five tackles Sunday.

“With Jason being out, there’s a little bit more on everybody’s plate,” Freeman said. “But Tionne and Francis both played really well on Sunday. It was great to see both those guys were difference makers.”

Freeman also delivered encouraging news about injured linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, who did not play Sunday as he recovers from last year’s torn anterior cruciate ligament. Officially he’s questionable against Rice, but Freeman is hopeful Viliamu-Asa will play Saturday.

He had 85 tackles and four sacks in 25 games during his first two college seasons despite making only three starts.

“He’s trending in a way we expect him to be out there Saturday,” Freeman said. “How much is to be determined, but at some point we’ve got to say: ‘OK, here’s the start. You’re not going to be out there and pick up where you left off.’

“So his practice volume has continuously increased. We were intentional about the work we put in last week to see if he could get to the point where mentally and physically he was ready to go, and we think we were a couple of days away.”